City: Kansas City, MO

Category: Restaurants

Telephone: (816) 471-1777

Address: 1617 Gennessee (West Bottoms)

Description: Once the area known for Kansas City’s famous stockyard trade, the West Bottoms is now a neighborhood coming into its own as a magnet for boutique eateries, art galleries, and unique shops. The cowboy influence—albeit in a cheeky way—is evident in the R Bar’s decor. The long bar looks like it’s seen its share of rodeos and if you visit the Web site you can’t help but notice there’s a horse in the center of the room.But it’s the food, conceived and prepared by up-and-comer chef Alex Pope you’ll want to hitch your wagon to. He learned under two local James Beard Award winners, Debbie Gold and Celina Tio, at the American Restaurant before R Bar owner Joy Jacobs snapped him up. This is comfort food with a sophisticated wink. His foie gras is served on a cinnamon raisin bagel with whisky apple butter, and a meltingly tender pork belly nestles next to pickled cherries and smoked collard greens. The egg noodles with chunks of pumkin and walnuts in a sinfully rich brown butter sauce is what dreams are made of and diets are for.But back to that bar, pardner. Two of Kansas City’s stand-out mixologists keep things interesting. Shawn Moriarty (the dapper gentleman in the vest) has a following from his days at another local restaurant, and Arturo Vera-Felicie recently won top honors at Greater Kansas City Bartending Competition. Fittingly, he named his winning concoction the West Bottoms Social Club. Within a few months of opening, the hip crowd soon discovered R Bar, turning the slender space into a sea of shoulders most weekends. Reservations are a must, especially Thurs through Sat when owner Joy Jacobs schedules a wide variety of musical talent including the popular duo of Kathleen and Frenchie, David Basse, or Angela Hagenbach.