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Dear Donna is a chef-owned daytime corner restaurant in Columbus Park, opened in March 2026 by husband-and-wife chefs Johnny and Helen Jo Leach — the James Beard–recognized team behind The Town Company — in the former Happy Gillis space, serving an approachable American lunch-and-brunch menu named for Johnny Leach’s mother.

Description

Dear Donna is a chef-owned daytime corner restaurant at 549 Gillis St in Kansas City’s Columbus Park neighborhood, just northeast of downtown. It opened on Saturday, March 7, 2026, in the space that for years housed the beloved neighborhood café Happy Gillis. Run by husband-and-wife chefs Johnny and Helen Jo Leach, Dear Donna trades the tasting-menu format of their flagship, The Town Company, for an approachable, everyday concept built on care and craft.

The restaurant operates as a counter-service spot seating roughly 36 guests, leaning into lunch with select brunch and a few always-available breakfast items. The small, rotating menu has included dishes such as a dutch baby topped with fried chicken and hot maple syrup, a meatloaf panini, mushroom croquettes, house French fried potatoes, kimchi pimento dip, daily soups, and a slate of rotating salads, vegetarian dishes, and desserts. Helen Jo Leach leads an updated pastry program. The interior is described as airy and minimalist with pastel tones and a homey, approachable feel — fine-dining sensibility delivered casually (silverware arrives in baskets; the owners mingle with diners). The restaurant currently operates Wednesday–Sunday, roughly 9 a.m.–2 p.m., and does not take reservations.

Ownership and history

Dear Donna is owned and operated by chefs Johnny Leach and Helen Jo Leach, a married culinary team best known for The Town Company, the restaurant inside Hotel Kansas City (formerly the Hotel President) downtown. Johnny Leach has been a James Beard Award semifinalist for multiple consecutive years, and Helen Jo Leach has earned James Beard recognition for her pastry and dessert work. The pair continued to run The Town Company kitchen while opening and operating Dear Donna, giving the new venture a clear lineage from one of the city’s most decorated kitchens at a more casual, accessible price point.

The restaurant is named in tribute to Johnny Leach’s mother, Donna Bennett. The Leaches purchased the former Happy Gillis Café & Hangout corner — a long-running Columbus Park breakfast-and-lunch fixture — and announced the new concept in 2025, aiming to preserve the corner café’s approachable, neighborhood-gathering spirit while introducing their own perspective. The restaurant opened in March 2026.

The seed record listed a founding year of 2026 with possible alternatives of 2023/2024; web research confirms the March 2026 opening date and rules out the earlier years (the concept was announced in 2025 for an early-2026 opening). Ownership is independent and local; there is no corporate parent, though it shares its ownership team with The Town Company.

See also

Sources

See also

Categories
  • Locally owned
  • American
  • Columbus Park