This Kansas City business has closed. KS.City keeps its page on the record.

In memoriam. LaPez Mod Mex was a short-lived upscale modern-Mexican restaurant in Leawood’s Park Place dining district, opened September 2025 and closed by ~May 2026 — less than a year in operation. It was the Kansas City-metro venture of St. Louis restaurateurs Adam and Jason Tilford (Mission Taco Joint / Session Taco), reviving the “knife-and-fork” modern-Mexican concept of their former award-winning St. Louis restaurant Milagro Modern Mexican. This page records a brief but ambitious chapter at 11563 Ash St. Classified Tier 2 — St. Louis-based group ownership, not a deeply-local KC independent.

Description

LaPez Mod Mex was an upscale modern-Mexican restaurant in the Park Place shopping and dining district of Leawood, Kansas, at 11563 Ash St.12 Where most of owners Adam and Jason Tilford’s prior concepts traded in casual, hand-held Cali-Mex tacos, LaPez was explicitly the opposite — what Adam Tilford described as “more entree-driven, more knife-and-fork-plus,” a destination Mexican restaurant built around wood-fired cooking and refined plating.3

The menu spotlighted modern interpretations of traditional Mexican cuisine with Spanish influences: dishes such as shrimp al pastor (jumbo prawns, achiote butter, smoked pineapple, coconut rice, grilled chayote), wood-grilled prime carne asada with huitlacoche butter and chile mashed potatoes, chile-braised short ribs with mole negro and roasted polenta, and chicken mole, alongside starters like blue-corn sopes with duck confit and chile-seared tuna tostaditas.23 The bar ran a craft-cocktail program — margaritas, mezcal old-fashioneds — backed by a wine list drawn from Spain, South America, France, and Italy.2 The concept consciously revived the Tilfords’ former St. Louis restaurant Milagro Modern Mexican, which they had run for roughly eight years.34

Ownership and history

LaPez Mod Mex was owned and operated by brothers Adam and Jason Tilford of St. Louis, Missouri — the same team behind Mission Taco Joint (founded 2013) and its rebranded successor Session Taco.13 Jason Tilford led the kitchen and concept, describing the upscale Mexican format as a long-held ambition: “This type of food has always just been my love… It’s just been a long time coming.”2

The Leawood site had a layered Tilford history. The brothers first opened Mission Taco Joint at 11563 Ash St. in June 2023; it rebranded to Session Taco in September 2024 after a trademark settlement with Gruma Corporation (Mission Foods).14 That casual taco concept underperformed and closed in mid-March 2025.13 Rather than abandon the space, the Tilfords re-tenanted it themselves with the more ambitious LaPez concept, which opened in September 2025.12 (Earlier, pre-Tilford tenants of the space included Ingredient True Eatery and The Ainsworth.)3

The “LaPez” name and “Mod Mex” concept were also deployed at a sibling location in St. Louis’s Central West End, where the Tilfords converted a Session Taco into a LaPez Mod Mex around the same period.5 The St. Louis location and the Leawood location were distinct operations; this page concerns the Leawood, KS restaurant.

Local-ownership assessment: LaPez was not a deeply-local Kansas City independent. Both the ownership locus and the company base were in St. Louis, and the concept was part of a multi-location regional group. That places it outside the deeply-local / born-and-raised criteria for Tier 1.

Closure

LaPez Mod Mex’s Leawood location closed roughly in spring 2026, after fewer than nine months of operation. As of May 2026 the restaurant is listed as CLOSED on its Yelp business page (title updated May 2026).6 The exact closing date and the owners’ stated reason have not been independently confirmed in press coverage, though the short tenure echoes the underperformance that had closed the predecessor Session Taco at the same address a year earlier.13

The Tilfords’ separately-operated St. Louis LaPez Mod Mex (Central West End) is a distinct business and its status is tracked elsewhere; its operation does not bear on the Leawood closure recorded here.5

Legacy

LaPez Mod Mex is a record of an ambitious, short-lived swing at upscale modern-Mexican dining in suburban Johnson County. Its brief life is notable on a few counts:

  • It was a rare attempt to bring a refined, entree-driven, wood-fired Mexican format — rather than the now-ubiquitous fast-casual taco model — to the Park Place dining district, consciously reviving the Tilfords’ acclaimed St. Louis Milagro Modern Mexican.3
  • It marked the second consecutive Tilford concept to close at 11563 Ash St. within roughly three years (Mission Taco → Session Taco → LaPez), a cautionary data point about that specific Leawood space and about upscale Mexican demand in the submarket.13
  • As a closed business under out-of-state group ownership, it sits in the Registry as a historical / in-memoriam entry rather than an active local-business listing.

See also

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Johnson County Post — “Former taco spot to become ‘modern’ Mexican eatery in Leawood.” 2025-05-15. https://johnsoncountypost.com/2025/05/15/taco-spot-closed-in-leawood-this-year-its-owners-are-cooking-up-something-new-259678/. Source asserts: Session Taco (formerly Mission Taco Joint, opened June 2023; rebranded Sept 2024) closed mid-March 2025 due to underperforming sales; Tilford brothers re-tenanting the 11563 Ash St. space with LaPez Mod Mex; address; Park Place. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  2. Johnson County Post — “New Mexican eatery, LaPez Mod Mex, opens in Leawood.” 2025-09-18. https://johnsoncountypost.com/2025/09/18/lapez-mod-mex-leawood-268703/. Source asserts: opened Wed., Sept. 17–18, 2025; owners Jason and Adam Tilford; address 11563 Ash St., Park Place; modern Mexican w/ Spanish influences; menu (shrimp al pastor, carne asada, short ribs, mole); cocktail + wine program; Jason Tilford quote; Milagro connection. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  3. Startland News — “Brothers behind Session Taco launching ‘destination Mexican spot’ in upscale JoCo dining district.” 2025-05. https://startlandnews.com/2025/05/session-taco-lapez-mod-mex/. Source asserts: “more entree-driven / knife-and-fork-plus” concept (Adam Tilford quote); wood-fired cooking; full menu detail; site history incl. Ingredient True Eatery and The Ainsworth; Milagro Modern Mexican operated ~8 years in St. Louis; summer-2025 opening target. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  4. KCUR (NPR Kansas City) — “Missouri-based Mission Taco rebrands as Session Taco after lawsuit from tortilla company.” 2024-09-10. https://www.kcur.org/arts-life/2024-09-10/mission-taco-session-kansas-city-st-louis-trademark-lawsuit. Source asserts: St. Louis-based Tilford ownership; Mission Taco Joint founded 2013; Gruma/Mission Foods trademark suit and 2024 rebrand to Session Taco; KC + St. Louis locations. (Establishes ownership locus and group history.) ↩ ↩2

  5. Sauce Magazine — “Lapez Mod Mex will replace Session Taco in the Central West End.” https://www.saucemagazine.com/topic/places-topic/lapez-mod-mex-will-replace-session-taco-in-the-central-west-end/. Source asserts: a separate St. Louis (Central West End) LaPez Mod Mex location, a Session Taco conversion — distinct from the Leawood restaurant. ↩ ↩2

  6. Yelp — “LaPez Mod Mex,” 11563 Ash St., Leawood, KS. https://www.yelp.com/biz/lapez-mod-mex-leawood. Source asserts: business listed as CLOSED; listing title updated May 2026; 43 photos, 27 reviews; Mexican cuisine; Leawood address. (Primary basis for the ~2026 closure determination.) ↩

See also

Categories
  • Kansas City–owned
  • Mexican
  • Leawood