Beer Kitchen

Beer Kitchen is a Westport gastropub billed as “Kansas City’s original gastropub,” pairing a deep craft-beer list with made-from-scratch food and one of midtown’s most popular weekend brunches. Opened in 2010 by Mark Kelpe and James Westphal, it anchors the Culinary Virtue restaurant collective.

Description

Beer Kitchen positions itself as “Kansas City’s first true gastropub,” built around a carefully curated, rotating craft-beer program paired with award-winning, made-from-scratch food.¹ It opened in 2010 with eight taps and more than 40 bottles, a serious craft selection for the Westport market at the time, and has since expanded its draft program.²³ The kitchen is known for a Kansas City-style burnt-ends burger and a heavily-attended weekend brunch featuring its “Drunken Doughnuts” and dishes like the cornflake-crusted chicken & waffle.¹⁴ The house tagline is “Honest Food. Damn Good Beer.”¹

Ownership and history

Beer Kitchen was founded in 2010 by co-owners Mark Kelpe and James Westphal, who set out to bring a serious craft-beer-driven gastropub to historic Westport.²⁵ The same ownership group operates as the Culinary Virtue restaurant collective, a Kansas City-metro group whose concepts include Beer Kitchen, Char Bar (Westport and Parkville), Meat Mitch Barbecue (Leawood), and Strang Hall (Overland Park).⁵⁶ Beer Kitchen is presented as the collective’s flagship gastropub and “Kansas City’s original gastropub.”¹⁵

Menu

Last verified: 2026-06-17 · Source: Beer Kitchen official menu (beerkitchenkc.com) + delivery listing · URL(s): https://beerkitchenkc.com/menu/, https://beerkitchenkc.com/lunch-and-dinner-menu/ · Confidence: High

Beer Kitchen’s menu is scratch American gastropub fare across lunch, dinner, and a heavily-attended weekend brunch, anchored by a rotating craft-beer program. Categories below reflect the current (Aug/Sep 2025-dated) official menus.⁷ Prices are not published on the official menus and are omitted.

Signatures

• Smokestack burger — beef burger stacked with Kansas City-style burnt ends and house-made BBQ sauce; the house signature.⁷
• Drunken Doughnuts — small homemade donuts served with a boozy chocolate sauce; the marquee brunch item.⁷
• Build-your-own mac & cheese — jumbo elbow shells in a Wisconsin cheddar / fontina / romano blend with buttered breadcrumbs, customizable with add-ins.⁷
• Brown butter lobster roll — toasted roll with brown-butter lobster; a frequently-cited standout.⁷

Bar bites / shareables

• Burnt-end nachos — house chips loaded with Kansas City burnt ends.⁷
• Cheesy ancho corn dip, deviled egg toast, pretzel twists, zucchini fries, stockyard fries, crispy thigh fries, brussels sprouts — rotating starters and shareables.⁷

Burgers

• BK Classic, Smokestack (burnt ends), Brickhouse, The All-Nighter, and It’s Possible (vegetarian).⁷

Sandwiches & tacos

• Sandwiches: triple cheese, hogtied, the big fish, turkey turkey, Gaucho chicken, Nashville chicken.⁷
• Tacos: beer-battered cod, green chile carnitas, butternut squash.⁷

Fan favorites / entrees

• Ale-battered fish & chips, chicken & waffle dinner, wild salmon bowl, plus the build-your-own mac & cheese.⁷
• Sides: Belgian-style fries, sweet potato fries, truffle parmesan fries, pub chips, house coleslaw, seared brussels sprouts.⁷

Brunch (Sat–Sun 9a–2p)

• Cornflake-crusted chicken & waffle, Dutch baby pancakes, eggs Benedicts, omelets, French toast, huevos rancheros, avocado power toast, breakfast stacker, and a waffle smash burger — alongside the Drunken Doughnuts.⁷

Beer program

• Craft-beer-driven gastropub built around a curated, rotating draft + bottle/can list. Opened in 2010 with eight taps and 40+ bottles, later doubled to roughly 16 taps.² Dedicated gluten-free and vegan menus are also published.⁷

Links

• Official site: https://beerkitchenkc.com/
• Culinary Virtue (parent collective): https://culinaryvirtue.com/restaurants/

Sources

• Status verified active 2026-06-23 via Yelp — Beer Kitchen (accessed 2026-06-23). Listing “Updated June 2026,” 1,338 reviews, active at 435 Westport Rd.

Disputes

None recorded.

Footnotes

1. Beer Kitchen — official site. https://beerkitchenkc.com/ — asserts: “Kansas City’s original gastropub,” address 435 Westport Road KCMO 64111, current 2026 hours, brunch, tagline “Honest Food. Damn Good Beer,” signature items. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. Feast Magazine, “Beer Kitchen Doubles Its Taps, Expanding Selection.” https://www.feastmagazine.com/travel/kansas-city/article_b989c7da-bc45-11e4-8057-0350055f4c48.html — asserts: Beer Kitchen opened 2010 with eight beers on tap and 40+ bottles; co-owners Mark Kelpe and James Westphal; tap expansion. ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. The Pitch, “After a 180, a prime Westport spot becomes Beer Kitchen No. 1.” https://www.thepitchkc.com/after-a-180-a-prime-westport-spot-becomes-beer-kitchen-no-1/ — asserts: Beer Kitchen’s Westport origin and history. ↩

4. Yelp — Beer Kitchen, 435 Westport Rd. https://www.yelp.com/biz/beer-kitchen-kansas-city — asserts: listing updated May 2026, 1,300+ reviews, gastropub category, address, active operation; recent brunch reviews. ↩

5. Culinary Virtue — Restaurants. https://culinaryvirtue.com/restaurants/ — asserts: Beer Kitchen is part of the Culinary Virtue collective; described as “Kansas City’s first true gastropub”; located in historic Westport. ↩ ↩² ↩³

6. Culinary Virtue — collective overview. https://culinaryvirtue.com/ — asserts: group operates multiple KC-metro concepts including Beer Kitchen, Char Bar, Meat Mitch Barbecue, Strang Hall. ↩

7. Beer Kitchen — official menu page (verified 2026-06-17; lunch/dinner & brunch menu PDFs dated Aug/Sep 2025). https://beerkitchenkc.com/menu/; https://beerkitchenkc.com/lunch-and-dinner-menu/ — asserts: current menu categories and items — bar bites (burnt-end nachos, cheesy ancho corn dip, deviled egg toast, pretzel twists, zucchini/stockyard/crispy-thigh fries, brussels sprouts); burgers (BK Classic, Smokestack/burnt-end, Brickhouse, All-Nighter, It’s Possible veggie); sandwiches; tacos; fan favorites (fish & chips, chicken & waffle, salmon bowl, build-your-own mac & cheese); truffle parmesan fries; brunch (chicken & waffle, Dutch baby, Benedicts, omelets, French toast, huevos rancheros, avocado toast, breakfast stacker, waffle smash burger, Drunken Doughnuts); dedicated gluten-free and vegan menus; Smokestack/burnt-ends burger and mac & cheese descriptions. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴