When Alan Gaylin decided to open a second restaurant at Corinth Square, he wanted it to be different than other restaurants in the area. He came up with the concept he now calls Urban Table, which opened Monday, Aug. 1, at 8332 Mission Road in Prairie Village. The Jewish man, along with partners Glenn and Jean Roberts, owns Urban Table’s parent company, Bread & Butter Concepts, which also owns BRGR Kitchen + Bar in Corinth.
Urban Table is the contemporary interpretation of the corner café and market.
“We thought if we’re going to do something else besides BRGR, let’s see if we can’t offer them something else that is going to attract them to stay in this market and in this center rather than going off to another restaurant in Prairie Village, Brookside or the Plaza or whatever,” Gaylin said.
Urban Table combines the best qualities of a dine-in or take-out breakfast kitchen, lunch shop and dinner destination. It opens at 7 a.m. and customers can choose to enjoy a full breakfast menu, a fresh pastry bar and an extensive coffee bar featuring Intelligentsia coffees — all either dine-in or carry out. Breakfast items are served until 4 p.m. daily.
Lunch is served beginning at 11 a.m. and continues until 4 p.m. The menu includes “bistro gourmet-type” sandwiches, salads, chili and a seasonal soup that changes daily. Patrons order at the counter for both breakfast and lunch. Servers then deliver the food to the table.
“It’s a very casual atmosphere during the day and I think a lot of people will come and grab something and sit down and eat it as well as order something and sit down and eat. Others, we think, we’ll grab something and take it with them,” he said.
The bar features “impressive wine and craft beer lists.” All menu items will be “locally brewed and homegrown” using fresh, local and organic ingredients.
Gaylin said dinner is more of a “wine bar full-service operation.”
“The dinner menu includes many appetizers, bruschettas and fresh entrees created every day using fresh ingredients and pastas,” he said.
In addition to the food prepared to order, Urban Table has some retail components. Customers can purchase fresh flowers, or pick-up pre-made breakfast goods and salads. Retail products also include sauces, oils and flavored popcorns.
“We’re trying to respect our neighbors (Great Harvest) so we don’t do fresh breads. We don’t do fresh cheese because there’s a grocery store (Hen House) that has a gourmet section. We’re just limiting it to some fun things that they probably couldn’t get at an actual grocery store,” Gaylin said.
Gaylin said he added the retail aspect because “it’s fun and really cool to look at.
“We’re not retailers. It really goes hand-in-hand with what we do.”
Urban was chosen as a part of the name, Gaylin said, as a way to tell people that they were bringing something urban to the neighborhood. As for the table, Gaylin said they thought it implied multi uses because “you can eat there, you can take it home and eat at your own table.”
“It’s something unique to Kansas City. I don’t think that there is anywhere else in the market that does a combination of what we will do at this place. I think people will be really excited to be able to use it that way. Literally people can come by twice a day if they want. They can drop by in the morning and grab a coffee and a bagel or a pastry and they can come back and have a glass of wine or some cool apps for happy hour or you could come back for dinner. It’s really a neighborhood place where people can use it as many times as they choose to use it in many different ways,” he said.
Gaylin is the managing partner who does everything for the restaurants. He started coming to Kansas City as vice president of operations for Houlihans Restaurant Co. in the late 1990s, eventually moving here as the company’s chief operation officer. In 2005 he decided to become a Houlihans franchisee and moved to Arizona.
As Urban Table gets up and running, he will spend a lot of his time there. But when he has to go to BRGR, he can walk from one to the other in less than a minute.
“BRGR has been in business for 18 months now and I have a great team of managers and they run it well,” said Gaylin of the popular restaurant.
The Gaylins still officially live in Arizona, but purchased a home here right before they opened BRGR in March of 2010. As they continue to spend more and more of their time here, Gaylin said they look forward to becoming more a part of the Jewish community.
For more information visit urbantablekc.com or call (913) 948-6900.