Anousone

Anousone is a Lao-American comfort-food restaurant founded by chef Anourom Thomson, a Laotian refugee who arrived in the Kansas City area as a boy in 1980. Named in memory of Thomson’s late brother, the concept began as the food truck Anousone’s Mobile Cuisine in 2017 and now operates as a stall inside Strang Hall in downtown Overland Park, serving a fusion of Lao and Thai home cooking. A second, downtown Kansas City location at the Strang Chef Collective in the lightwell building (Crossroads-adjacent) ran from March to November 2024 before closing.

Description

Anousone is a Laotian and Thai comfort-food concept operating as a kitchen stall inside Strang Hall, a chef-driven food hall at 7313 W 80th Street in downtown Overland Park, Kansas. The restaurant describes its food as “a fusion of Lao and Thai home cooked cuisine that will transport you to a home far away,” framing the cooking as Southeast Asian comfort food brought “to the heartland.” The menu draws on recipes founding chef Anourom Thomson learned from his mother in Laos.

Laotian cuisine is uncommon in the Kansas City metro, and Anousone is among the small number of dedicated Lao-forward kitchens in the area, which has given it an outsized profile in local food coverage relative to its small footprint. The business began as a mobile vendor and grew into a fixed food-hall stall rather than a standalone full-service restaurant.

Ownership and history

Anousone was founded by chef Anourom Thomson, described in the business’s own materials as the founding chef and strategic partner. Thomson was born in Laos; his family escaped the country in the aftermath of the Vietnam-era conflict, spent roughly two years in a refugee camp, and resettled in the United States in 1980, when Thomson was a boy (reported as age six). He is a 1993 graduate of Shawnee Mission South and briefly studied psychology at Johnson County Community College on a soccer scholarship before a knee injury — and a love of cooking for friends — redirected him toward the culinary field. He accumulated more than two decades of kitchen experience, working from apprentice up to executive chef at Kansas City restaurants including Pierpont’s and Hereford House.¹²

The restaurant takes its name from Thomson’s late brother, Anousone, and is presented as an homage to his memory.³

Thomson first introduced his Laotian cooking to Kansas City through the food truck Anousone’s Mobile Cuisine, launched in 2017 at the Little Piggy food-truck lot on Southwest Boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri.²⁴ When the Strang Hall food hall opened in downtown Overland Park’s Edison District in December 2019, Thomson moved into a permanent stall there, and Anousone became one of the hall’s anchor concepts.¹⁵

In March 2024, Thomson expanded to a second outpost at the Strang Chef Collective at lightwell, 1100 Main Street in downtown Kansas City, Missouri — a location near the Crossroads, sharing the space with other Strang concepts.²⁶ That downtown KC location closed on November 26, 2024, when the Strang Chef Collective at lightwell shut down; the original Overland Park Strang Hall stall remained in operation.⁶

Links

• Website: https://stranghall.com/anousone/ (current; the domain anousone.com in the seed no longer resolves to the restaurant — it now hosts an unrelated film/photo portfolio)
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anousonekc/
• Phone: (816) 399-5975 (per seed) / (913) 701-7041 (Strang Hall listing)

See also

• crossroads-arts-district
• Registry

Sources

Footnotes

1. Shawnee Mission Post — “Shawnee Mission Faces: Anourom Thomson, Strang Hall chef and proud Lao-American” (2020-02-14) — https://shawneemissionpost.com/2020/02/14/shawnee-mission-faces-anourom-thomson-strang-hall-chef-and-proud-lao-american-87884/ — refugee story, arrival 1980 at age six, SM South 1993 graduate, JCCC soccer scholarship, Pierpont’s and Hereford House career, food-truck origin. [Page returned 404 on direct fetch 2026-05-30; details captured via search index — re-verify.] ↩ ↩²

2. Startland News — “First look: Chef behind Strang Hall favorite Anousone brings his popular Laotian fare downtown” (2024-03) — https://startlandnews.com/2024/03/anousone-strang-downtown-lightwell/ — chef Anourom Thomson, 2017 food-truck launch at Little Piggy, lightwell location opening March 11 2024, Laotian comfort-food concept, mother’s home cooking. ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. Anousone at Strang Hall (official stall page) — https://stranghall.com/anousone/ — “founding chef and strategic partner” Anourom Thomson, restaurant named for “his late brother,” “fusion of Lao and Thai home cooked cuisine,” located 7313 W 80th St, Overland Park. ↩

4. Tripadvisor — “Anousone’s Mobile Cuisine, Kansas City” — https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g44535-d13009097-Reviews-Anousone_s_Mobile_Cuisine-Kansas_City_Missouri.html — corroborates food-truck era name and KCMO operation. ↩

5. Feast Magazine — “Strang Hall to Open in Downtown Overland Park in December, Featuring 6 Brand-New Concepts” — https://www.feastmagazine.com/kansas-city/collection_fa835ec4-07d4-11ea-87fd-ab60063022c7.html — Strang Hall opened December 2019, Edison District, six concepts. ↩

6. Kansas City Magazine — “KC’s Strang Chef Collective Is Closing” — https://kansascitymag.com/kcs-strang-chef-collective-is-closing/ — lightwell/Strang Chef Collective at 1100 Main St, last day Nov 26 2024. ↩ ↩²