Cru Bistro & Bottles

Cru Bistro & Bottles is a family-owned neighborhood bistro and retail wine/bottle shop in Kansas City’s Brookside neighborhood, opened in early 2025 by husband-and-wife owners Avery Bailey and Hannah Koenig — built with no investors and no corporate backing, and rooted in Bailey’s having grown up in Brookside.

Description

Cru Bistro & Bottles is a neighborhood bistro and wine bar paired with a retail bottle shop, located at 128 W 63rd St in the Brookside neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri. It opened in early 2025 in the space formerly occupied by Michael Forbes Bar & Grille, following a full interior remodel.

The bistro serves a seasonal, locally sourced menu the owners describe as European-American rather than strictly French — boards of cheese and charcuterie, salads, fish and chicken plates, and signature dishes including a pork schnitzel and risotto. Beverage program highlights include a wine list of 200-plus bottles with 20-plus by-the-glass pours, draft beer, and classic craft cocktails built around Kansas City distilleries such as Tom’s Town.¹²³

The “Bottles” half of the concept is a retail bottle shop accessible from the dining room and from a separate entrance just east of the main door. The shop curates small-production wines from family-owned, independent producers, including varieties from Greece and Switzerland. The name “Cru” references the section of a vineyard where the best grapes are grown.²⁴³

The room is appointed with white tablecloths, a long wine-bottle wall display, large operable streetfront windows, and an upstairs bar. Cru is open Tuesday through Sunday for lunch and dinner and is closed Mondays.¹³

Ownership and history

Cru Bistro & Bottles was founded by husband-and-wife owners Avery Bailey and Hannah Koenig, who opened the business in early 2025.²⁴³ Both previously worked at Brookside’s Italian deli and market bella-napoli — reported as business/managing partners, with Bailey having served as general manager.²³

Avery Bailey grew up in the Brookside neighborhood, and the couple live in Brookside. They have framed Cru as filling a gap in the neighborhood’s dining options — Koenig noting that “nothing is open on Sundays except sports bars” — aiming for a spot “nice enough for a celebration, but not so nice that you only go once a year.”² On the business’s own account, Cru was built “from the ground up with our own hands — no investors, no corporate backing.”⁴

Cru occupies the former Michael Forbes Bar & Grille space at 128 W 63rd St, which the owners gutted and remodeled before opening.²³

Links

• Website: https://www.crukc.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crukc/
• Phone: (816) 955-2627

See also

• brookside
• bella-napoli
• Registry

Sources

Footnotes

1. Cru Bistro & Bottles — official website and “Our Story” page (concept, owner-built / no investors framing, wine program, hours) — https://www.crukc.com / https://www.crukc.com/our-story — accessed 2026-05-30 ↩ ↩²

2. Kansas City Magazine — “Cru Bistro and Bottles is perfectly Brookside” (owners Avery Bailey & Hannah Koenig, Bella Napoli background, Bailey grew up in Brookside, Brookside dining-gap vision, former Michael Forbes space) — https://kansascitymag.com/cru-bistro-and-bottles-is-perfectly-brookside/ — accessed 2026-05-30 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

3. Inside Brookside — “Another Dining Choice in Brookside: Cru Bistro and Bottles Now Open” (March 2025, menu, hours, bottle wall, upstairs bar, Tom’s Town cocktails, Greek/Swiss varieties) — https://insidebrookside.com/2025/03/12/another-dining-choice-in-brookside-cru-bistro-and-bottles-now-open/ — accessed 2026-05-30 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

4. The Pitch — “Flight Cru: Popping the bubbly on Brookside’s new American bistro” (early-2025 opening, bottle shop concept, small family producers, name meaning) — https://www.thepitchkc.com/flight-cru-popping-the-bubbly-on-brooksides-new-american-bistro/ — accessed 2026-05-30 ↩ ↩² ↩³