This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

a Black-owned soul-food bar-and-grill and live blues/jazz venue at 1700 E 18th St in the historic 18th & Vine Jazz District, founded by KC entrepreneurs Benny and Calvin Shelby and run by Andrea Shelby; Tier 1 as a deeply rooted, family-owned anchor of the city’s Black music heritage.

Description

The Kansas City Juke House (operating as The KC Juke House and Kansas City Blues & Jazz Juke House) is a soul-food bar-and-grill and live-music venue at 1700 E 18th St in Kansas City’s historic 18th & Vine Jazz District, immediately adjacent to the American Jazz Museum.123 It bills itself as “a throwback to the greats,” programming live blues, R&B and jazz alongside open-mic, poetry and karaoke nights.3 The room seats roughly 215 and stages live blues on multiple nights of the week.3

The kitchen runs a Southern / soul-food bar menu — hot wings, steamed crawfish, fried catfish and butterfly shrimp are signature items, with the broader card spanning fried chicken sandwiches, fish po’boys, gumbo, chicken and waffles, burgers and fried appetizers.13 The venue offers dine-in, takeout and a full bar, plus party rentals and private events.14

The Juke House is one of the few sustained live-music rooms keeping the blues-and-jazz tradition alive inside the 18th & Vine district, the cradle of Kansas City jazz; KCUR’s April 2026 guide to KC’s jazz clubs lists it among the city’s current venues for live jazz.5 Its Shelby-family ownership ties it directly to a lineage of Black-owned KC nightlife businesses stretching back to the late 1970s.6

Ownership and history

The Juke House was launched by brothers/longtime KC entrepreneurs Benny and Calvin Shelby, who opened the Kansas City Blues and Jazz Juke House Bar and Restaurant at 1700 E. 18th St. in the 18th & Vine district.6 The Shelbys were fixtures of Black Kansas City nightlife for decades, owning a string of establishments — The Epicurean, Bodyworks, Mingles and The 9th Inning Sports Bar & Grill — between 1978 and 2021 before concentrating on the Juke House.6 The venue is now operated by Andrea Shelby, Benny Shelby’s daughter, who serves as the general manager/operator.67

The motivation behind the venue was the lack of a regular weekly home for blues in the district — a place “for blues people to go on a weekly basis to hear some good blues music.”6 The business is commonly cited as having opened around 2008, though a precise founding date is not firmly documented in available sources.7

Like much of the 18th & Vine corridor, the Juke House weathered pandemic-era disruption and district street/construction closures, which suppressed business for an extended stretch before recovery.7

Last verified: 2026-06-17 · Source: The KC Juke House official food menu + homepage food-photo captions, cross-checked against KCUR/Yelp/VisitMO · URL(s): https://thekcjukehouse.com/kansas-city-kansas-city-juke-house-food-menu · https://thekcjukehouse.com/ · Confidence: High (items and prices pulled directly from the official online food menu, June 2026)

Soul-food / Southern bar-and-grill kitchen running full service alongside the live blues/jazz programming — dine-in, takeout, and a full bar.34 Happy-hour appetizers run half-price 5–7 PM.8

Signatures

  • Juke House Jumbo Wings — grilled or crispy jumbo wings with choice of side; tossed in Buffalo or the house Sweet & Savory sauce. $12 (2) / $16 (3) / $18 (5).8 The wings (often plated with cornbread, cabbage and yams) are the venue’s most-cited signature.93
  • Fried catfish / Catfish Special — fried catfish served with red beans and rice; a long-standing signature plate of the house.39
  • Butterfly shrimp — fried butterfly shrimp, a signature listed across the venue’s bar menu.3
  • Chicken & Sausage Jazz Gumbo — chicken and turkey sausage gumbo served with honey-butter herb-spice cornbread. $16 (add shrimp +$6).8
  • Chicken & Waffles — Belgian waffle (blueberry or plain) with wings or tenders and the house Sweet & Savory sauce. $14 (2 wings) / $15 (3 tenders).89

Entrees & plates

  • Juke Basa Fillet — breaded or blackened basa filet with choice of one side. $14.8
  • Juke House Tacos (3) — beef, chicken, or shrimp, served with beans and rice. $10 / $12 / $13.8
  • Juke House Spaghetti Plate — ground-beef spaghetti with garlic pita bread. $15.8
  • Chef Jah’s Black Mamba Pasta — sausage over penne with spinach and pepper-jack cheese. $18 (add shrimp +$6).8
  • Chicken Tender Meal — tenders with one side. $15.8
  • Juke House Chicken Wrap — grilled or crispy chicken, vegetables, cheese and ranch in a flour tortilla. $14 (add shrimp +$3).8
  • Not Your Traditional Mac & Cheese — pepper-jack penne. $12 (add chicken +$3).8

Sandwiches & burgers

  • Angus Burger — $15.8
  • Chicken Breast Sandwich — grilled or crispy. $15.8
  • Basa Fish Filet Sandwich — $14.8
  • Philly Sandwich — steak or chicken with grilled onions, peppers and pepper-jack cheese.8

Starters & shareables

  • Southwest Egg Rolls — $12.8
  • Spicy Battered Green Beans — $12.8
  • Homestyle Breaded Mushrooms — $12.8
  • Mozzarella Sticks — $12.8
  • Spicy Cauliflower with Cheese — $12.8
  • Steamed crawfish — seasonal/specialty bar item cited among the venue’s signatures.3

Juke Pita Pizzas

  • Cheese $10 · Hamburger $11 · Chicken $12 · Sausage $12 · Shrimp $14 (extra toppings +$1).8

Sides

  • Collard greens, cabbage, red beans & rice, green beans, onion rings, house-cut fries, gumbo, side salad, mac & cheese, spaghetti, cornbread (roughly $3–$8).8

Bar

  • Full-service bar with beer (including local craft), wine and cocktails; house cocktails include a Strawberry Margarita and a Cosmopolitan.49

Prices reflect the official online food menu as of June 2026 and may change. Side and Philly/combo sandwich prices were not individually itemized on the source menu “.

Sources

Disputes

(None active.)

Footnotes

  1. The KC Juke House — official website — https://thekcjukehouse.com/ — asserts: address 1700 E 18 Street, Kansas City, MO 64108; hours (Wed/Fri/Sat 5 PM–2 AM, Sun 7 PM–1:30 AM); phone (816) 472-0013; soul-food/American menu (fried chicken sandwiches, fish po’boys, gumbo, chicken & waffles, wings); Friday live band; weekly events; party/private rentals. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Yelp — Kansas City Blues & Jazz Juke House — https://www.yelp.com/biz/kansas-city-blues-and-jazz-juke-house-kansas-city — asserts: address 1700 E 18th St; listing updated February 2026 with 55 reviews; categorized Jazz & Blues / Restaurant; phone (816) 472-0013. ↩

  3. VisitMO — Things to Do — The KC Juke House — https://www.visitmo.com/things-to-do/the-kc-juke-house — asserts: located at 1700 E. 18th St. in the historic 18th & Vine jazz district; live blues, R&B and jazz plus open-mic, poetry and karaoke; menu of hot wings, steamed crawfish, fried catfish, butterfly shrimp; ADA compliant, year-round. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  4. Restaurant.com / general listings — https://www.restaurant.com/locations/kansas-city-blues-jazz-juke-house-kansas-city-1700-e-18th-st — asserts: dine-in, takeout, full bar, party rentals and private events at 1700 E 18th St. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. KCUR — “Kansas City’s best jazz clubs and lounges for live music,” April 25, 2026 — https://www.kcur.org/arts-life/2026-04-25/jazz-kansas-city-live-music-concerts — asserts: The Kansas City Juke House is listed among current KC Jazz District venues for live jazz (as of April 2026). ↩

  6. EURweb — “My Cousin Benny Shelby, The Life of a Kansas City Legend” (2021) — https://eurweb.com/2021/my-cousin-benny-shelby-the-life-of-a-kansas-city-legend/ — asserts: Benny and Calvin Shelby launched the Kansas City Blues and Jazz Juke House at 1700 E. 18th St.; the Shelbys owned The Epicurean, Bodyworks, Mingles and The 9th Inning Sports Bar & Grill between 1978 and 2021; motivation was a weekly home for blues. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  7. Search-synthesized reporting / interview references (April 2026) and Kansas City Blues Society listing — https://blueskc.org/kc-juke-house-looking-for-blues-band/ — asserts: Andrea Shelby (daughter of Benny Shelby) operates the venue; commonly cited ~2008 opening; venue seats ~215 with live blues multiple nights; pandemic/street-closure disruption noted in a 2026 interview reference. Opening-year precision unconfirmed. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  8. The KC Juke House — official online food menu — https://thekcjukehouse.com/kansas-city-kansas-city-juke-house-food-menu — asserts (as of June 2026): appetizers $12 (Southwest egg rolls, spicy battered green beans, breaded mushrooms, mozzarella sticks, spicy cauliflower; half-price 5–7 PM happy hour); Juke House Jumbo Wings grilled/crispy with Buffalo or Sweet & Savory sauce $12/$16/$18; Juke House Tacos beef/chicken/shrimp $10/$12/$13; Chicken & Waffles (Belgian blueberry or plain) $14/$15; Chicken Tender Meal $15; Juke Basa Fillet (breaded/blackened) $14; Spaghetti Plate $15; Chicken Wrap $14 (+$3 shrimp); Chicken & Sausage Jazz Gumbo $16 with honey-butter herb cornbread (+$6 shrimp); Chef Jah’s Black Mamba Pasta $18 (+$6 shrimp); Mac & Cheese $12 (+$3 chicken); Spinach Salad $14; Juke Pita Pizzas $10–$14; sandwiches — Angus Burger $15, Chicken Breast $15, Basa Fish Filet $14, Philly (steak/chicken); sides (collards, cabbage, red beans & rice, green beans, onion rings, fries, gumbo, mac, cornbread) ~$3–$8. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18 ↩19 ↩20 ↩21 ↩22

  9. The KC Juke House — official website homepage, food-photo captions and beverage notes — https://thekcjukehouse.com/ — asserts: pictured/named dishes include Juke wings with cornbread/cabbage/yams, chicken & waffles, gumbo with cornbread, fish po’boy, red snapper with cornbread and green beans, fried chicken sandwich, Angus burger with onion rings, Southwest egg rolls, Juke Basa fillet, fritter sampler, house salad; cocktails include a Cosmopolitan; online ordering via Toast. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

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On the record — ks.city/registry/kansas-city-juke-house · record updated 2026-06-23