Earl's Premier

Earl’s Premier is a Maine-inspired oyster bar and neighborhood seafood restaurant in Brookside, opened in May 2022 by veteran KC restaurateur Todd Schulte and co-owner Cory Dannehl, and widely regarded as Kansas City’s premier raw bar.¹

Description

Earl’s Premier occupies a compact 38-seat room — plus a 30-seat patio — at the corner of 59th and Holmes in Brookside, in the space previously held by Pakistani restaurant Chai Shai for more than a decade. The room was reimagined with a weathered coastal Americana aesthetic: zinc-walnut bar, vintage ship paintings, and a design meant to feel like the place has been there thirty years. The result is a neighborhood bar that happens to shuck some of the best oysters in the Midwest.¹

Oysters are the anchor: fresh bivalves flown in three to four times weekly from Maine Oyster Co., typically available within 24–48 hours of harvest. The broader menu extends to housemade crudo, blue crab guacamole with yuzu and serrano, a shrimp cocktail with slow-roasted salsa, and a rotating cast of daily specials — tacos and tequila on Tuesdays, steak frites on Wednesdays, fish and chips on Thursdays, and a Saturday shrimpboil. Desserts include the Atlantic Beach Pie in a jar and vanilla soft serve. The cocktail program leans coastal, with a Frozen Gin & Tonic that sold more than ten gallons on opening weekend.¹

Demand has outpaced the room consistently since opening. The restaurant runs a month-long reservation waitlist and reserves roughly one-third of tables for walk-ins. Earl’s Premier won Best Seafood Restaurant in The Pitch’s Best of KC 2023 awards.² A sister retail shop, Earl’s Provisions, operates next door at 649 E 59th St.³

Ownership and history

Todd Schulte is one of Kansas City’s most consequential independent restaurateurs, having shaped the city’s neighborhood dining scene for more than two decades. His career began with Uncommon Stock, an all-natural soup company he built and delivered by bicycle, which grew into The Happy Soup Eater catering and delivery operation. In 2008 he opened Happy Gillis Café & Hangout in Columbus Park — a brunch institution that earned national attention via a Thrillist feature — and later sold it to focus on his next project. He then transformed a vintage gas station in the West Side into Genessee Royale Bistro, a cult neighborhood café. Subsequent ventures include Speak Sandwiches, Bacaro Primo, and Sea Capitán. Schulte developed the menu at Earl’s Premier and leads its culinary direction.⁴

Cory Dannehl brings beverage and hospitality experience; he and Schulte have been friends since 2005 and developed their shared vision for a Maine-style oyster bar through years of coastal travel together.¹ The four co-owners (Schulte, Dannehl, Patricia O’Dell, and Jen Dannehl) signed the lease in late December 2021 and completed renovations by mid-January 2022, opening to the public May 10, 2022.¹

The restaurant draws explicitly on the tradition of KC’s neighborhood corner bar — a space that has long anchored working-class KC blocks — and positions itself as the direct inheritor of that community identity at 59th and Holmes.⁵

Links

• Official site: https://earlspremier.com/
• Tock reservations: https://www.exploretock.com/earlspremier

Sources

Disputes

None at this time.

Footnotes

1. Feast Magazine — “In Brookside, Earl’s Premier is now shucking some of the best oysters you can find in the Midwest” — https://www.feastmagazine.com/travel/in-brookside-earl-s-premier-is-now-shucking-some-of-the-best-oysters-you-can/article_cf278106-db71-11ec-9dd6-ff94ed0ca8d0.html — Asserts: founding date (May 10, 2022), address (651 E 59th St), concept, menu details, owner names (Schulte + Dannehl), Maine Oyster Co. sourcing, seating capacity, lease/renovation timeline. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

2. The Pitch — Best of KC 2023 — Best Seafood Restaurant — https://bestofkc2023.thepitchkc.com/PitchKC/best-of-kc-2023/food/best-seafood-restaurant/earls-premier — Asserts: Earl’s Premier winner, Best Seafood Restaurant, Best of KC 2023. ↩

3. Earl’s Premier official website — https://earlspremier.com/ — Asserts: currently active, Earl’s Provisions sister location at 649 E 59th St, Monday–Saturday hours. ↩

4. The Pitch — “Four Inane Questions with restaurateur Todd Schulte” — https://www.thepitchkc.com/four-inane-questions-with-restaurateur-todd-schulte/ — Asserts: 20+ years shaping KC food scene; career arc from soup delivery → Happy Gillis → Genessee Royale → Earl’s Premier / Bacaro Primo / Sea Capitán. ↩

5. Earl’s Premier official website — About page — https://earlspremier.com/about/ — Asserts: four co-owner names (Todd Schulte, Cory Dannehl, Patricia O’Dell, Jen Dannehl), restaurant mission and community identity. ↩