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

Menu

Last verified: 2026-06-17 · Source: Cru official site — current Food Menu PDF (dated 06/2026), supplemented by KC press · URL(s): https://www.crukc.com/menu · https://kansascitymag.com/cru-bistro-and-bottles-is-perfectly-brookside/ · Confidence: High

Cru’s kitchen runs a seasonal, locally sourced European-American bistro menu that the owners say “changes frequently”; items and prices below reflect the official 06/2026 menu and rotate with the seasons. Prices are from the official menu unless flagged.⁵

Signatures

• Steak Tartare — USDA Prime steak, egg yolk, caper, shallot, hot mustard aioli, house-made potato chips; $18 (+ caviar $12). The signature raw-bar plate; press has praised the tartare’s “horseradish mustard” heat.⁵⁶
• Pork Schnitzel — Cru’s most-talked-about dish in early coverage; classically fried with a light cream sauce, dotted with green peppercorns (in place of capers) and served with arugula salad. Seasonal — not on every printed menu.⁶
• Charcuterie — curated selection of meat, cheese and seasonal accoutrement; $19. The dual bottle-shop/wine-bar concept’s centerpiece grazing board.⁵

Appetizers / small plates

• Caviar Chips — house-made potato chips, crème fraîche, egg yolk jam, Missouri Hackleback caviar; $18 (+ extra caviar $12).⁵
• Yellowtail Aguachile — yellowtail sashimi, jalapeño leche de tigre, mango salsa, tamari ponzu, sesame, cilantro; $19 (+ trout roe $5).⁵
• Whipped Brie — triple-cream brie, local honey, honeycomb, fresh thyme, toasted baguette; $16.⁵
• Mushroom Croquette — oyster mushroom, bell pepper, chive, Creole rémoulade; $14.⁵
• Burrata & Heirloom — fresh burrata, heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil, balsamic glaze; $16.⁵

Soup & salad

• Old-School Wedge — RomaCrunch spears, Roquefort blue, Burger’s Smokehouse bacon, heirloom tomato, red onion, house dressing; $14.⁵
• Arugula Caesar — arugula, white-anchovy dressing, Grana Padano, garlic croutons; $7 (+ anchovy $3, + chilled chopped chicken $6).⁵
• Goat Cheese & Walnut Salad — goat cheese crumbles, spring greens, candied walnuts, cherry tomatoes, basil vinaigrette; $7 (+ chicken $6).⁵
• Tomato Soup — San Marzano tomato, thyme, coconut cream; $8. Carrot Ginger Soup — local carrots, ginger, garlic, coconut cream, crispy shallot; $10.⁵

Entrées

• Prime New York Strip — USDA Prime NY strip, grilled broccolini, béarnaise; $42.⁵
• Flat Iron Frites — grilled USDA Prime flat iron, Burgundian black-truffle butter, house fries, garlic aioli; $39.⁵
• Faroe Island Salmon — grilled salmon, red cabbage slaw, mustard-seed/apple-cider/white-wine lemon butter sauce; $28.⁵
• Fried Chicken — three pieces, country-fried, whipped Yukon Gold potatoes, tangy-spicy buttermilk chipotle; $23.⁵
• Pasta Primavera — heirloom cherry tomatoes, spring vegetables, basil, ciliegine mozzarella, penne; $22.⁵
• Chicken & Biscuits (brunch) — Amish chicken, local carrot, Yukon Gold potato, Gruyère, drop biscuits, fresh thyme; $22.⁵

Handhelds

• Cru Burger — Angus patty, Muenster, sautéed onions, house pickle, Cru sauce, brioche, house fries, garlic aioli; $18 (+ bacon $3).⁵
• Pork Loin Sandwich — fried pork loin, heirloom tomato, chipotle crème fraîche, iceberg, brioche, house fries; $17.⁵
• Avocado Club, Heirloom BLT — panini-bread sandwiches with house-made chips; $16–$17.⁵

Wine & beverage program

• Wine — the core of the concept: a 200-plus-bottle list emphasizing small-production, family-owned and independent producers (including Greek and Swiss varieties), with 20-plus pours available by the glass at all times. The adjacent retail “Bottles” shop sells the same curated wines to go.¹⁶
• Cocktails — classic craft cocktails built around Kansas City distilleries such as Tom’s Town; draft beer also available.¹³
• Deals — Happy Hour (Tue–Fri 3–6 pm): $7 wine, $9 cocktails, $2 off beer & apps. “GRL Dinner” Tuesdays: half-price bottles; cocktail + fries + salad + charcuterie for $25.⁵

Menu rotates seasonally; verify current offerings and prices against the live menu before publishing.

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 ↩³ ↩⁴

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 ↩⁷

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

5. Cru Bistro & Bottles — official current Food Menu PDF (dated 06/2026): appetizers/small plates, soup & salad, entrées, handhelds, charcuterie, with prices; plus Happy Hour and “GRL Dinner” deal details — https://www.crukc.com/menu — accessed 2026-06-17 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²²

6. Kansas City Magazine — “Cru Bistro and Bottles is perfectly Brookside” (signature pork schnitzel & risotto, beef/steak tartare with horseradish-mustard, charcuterie board, mustard-glazed pork chop, fish/chicken options, wine program emphasis) — https://kansascitymag.com/cru-bistro-and-bottles-is-perfectly-brookside/ — accessed 2026-06-17 ↩ ↩² ↩³