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Oil on Linen is Chef Ted Habiger’s restaurant inside Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art — opened November 2024 in the space that was Café Sebastienne for decades. Habiger is a Brookside native and three-time James Beard Outstanding Chef nominee whose menu rotates with the museum’s exhibition calendar, pairing edible art with the art on the walls. Its exhibition-inspired menu is served à la carte (the restaurant opened in 2024 with a $55–$65 prix fixe).

Description

Oil on Linen is the restaurant Ted Habiger built inside the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art — and by design, it doesn’t stay still. Habiger, a Brookside native and three-time James Beard Award Outstanding Chef nominee, took over the Kemper’s dining space in November 2024 when the long-running Café Sebastienne closed, insisting that the new restaurant must be genuinely new rather than a refresh of the old one. The menu rotates every two to four months in step with the museum’s exhibition calendar, drawing flavor and concept from whatever is on the walls. At opening the restaurant ran a four-course prix fixe with three parallel menus — omnivore, pescatarian, and vegetarian — priced at $55–$65; by 2026 the kitchen had shifted to à la carte across lunch, brunch, and dinner. Habiger’s long Kansas City career runs from Café Allegro (the city’s first farm-to-table restaurant, 1996–2000) through his flagship room-39 (opened 2004, still operating in Midtown and Westport). Oil on Linen is his most concept-driven room yet.

Tier classification

Tier 1 — Ted Habiger is a Brookside native. Habiger grew up in the Brookside neighborhood of Kansas City, MO.1 He is a lifelong Kansas City operator with a 30-year record in the metro — Café Allegro (1996–2000), sous chef at Danny Meyer’s Union Square Cafe NYC (2001–2003), room-39 (2004–present), and now Oil on Linen (2024). Three-time James Beard Outstanding Chef nominee. Tier 1 confirmed — KC-born/raised operator.

Last verified: 2026-07-14 · Source: Oil on Linen official menu PDFs (oil-on-linen.com) — Breakfast & Lunch menu (dated 07/09/26) and July Dinner menu · URL(s): https://www.oil-on-linen.com/s/BRUNCH-MENU_070926.pdf · https://www.oil-on-linen.com/s/DINNER-MENU_070926.pdf · Confidence: High for the current menu as published (both à la carte); note the dinner menu rotates monthly with the active Kemper exhibition, so specific dishes change

Format note (resolved 2026-07-14): Service shifted from the 2024 opening prix-fixe to à la carte across lunch, brunch, and dinner; the Infobox, lead, and Description above have been updated to reflect this. The current dinner menu is exhibition-inspired à la carte (July 2026: Puerto Rican-leaning, in step with the current Kemper show).

Chef Ted Habiger’s seasonal, farm-to-table cooking runs an all-day à la carte breakfast/lunch and a monthly-rotating, exhibition-inspired à la carte dinner.2

Breakfast & Lunch — Small & To Share

  • Pastry Basket — rotating assortment of house-made pastries (individual pastries $2.50 each: financier, lemon scone, banana teacake GF) ($14)2
  • Asparagus Grenobloise — brown butter, caper, lemon, parsley, croutons ($14)2
  • Muhamarra Dip — roasted red pepper, pomegranate, farmer greens, hakurei turnip, walnut, ciabatta ($14)2
  • House Salad — greens, tomato, cucumber, ricotta salata, pangrattato, herbed vinaigrette ($10)2
  • Soup of the Day — cup $8, bowl $102

Breakfast & Lunch — Mains

  • Overnight Oats — tahini, banana, seeded granola, raspberry jam, coconut yogurt, honey ($12)2
  • Popover Benedict — mortadella, poached farm eggs, hollandaise, chives ($18)2
  • French Toast — battered brioche, lemon mascarpone, strawberries, rhubarb ($16)2
  • 39er — two farm eggs your way, Webb City bacon, crispy potatoes, wheat toast, salsa roja ($15)2
  • B-Man’s Breakfast Burrito — eggs, rice, beans, potatoes, garlic aioli, pico, queso oaxaca, salsa macha ($16)2
  • White Curry Bowl — smoked tofu, coconut, broccoli, mushroom, white rice, peanut crunch, crispy shallot ($16)2
  • Chicken Milanese — Campo Lindo chicken, lemon-anchovy dressing, parmigiano, fennel chicories, torn herbs ($23)2
  • Grilled Salmon — English pea puree, black-eyed peas, carrots, pea shoots ($25)2
  • Jennifer Maloney Reuben — Farm to Market marble rye, red sauerkraut, wagyu corned beef, swiss, 10,000 island dressing, side salad or fries ($19)2
  • Cheese Burger — caramelized onion-bacon jam, gruyere, dijonaise, dill pickle, sesame butter bun, side salad or fries ($17)2

Breakfast & Lunch — Dessert

  • Flan de Queso — condensed milk, passion fruit, caramel ($12)2
  • Affogato — cinnamon ice cream, Broadway signature espresso, sea-salt chocolate chip cookie ($9)2
  • Scoops — cinnamon, coconut, or vanilla ice cream; concord grape + plum sorbet; mango sorbet ($5)2

Dinner (Thu–Fri, à la carte, exhibition-inspired) — Savory

July 2026 menu; rotates monthly with the Kemper exhibition.

  • Ensalata de Chicharrón — tomato, cucumber, jalapeño, red onion, culantro, cotija, avocado vinaigrette ($15)2
  • Camarones y Pulpo — lime, asparagus, green peppers, peas, cilantro, tostones ($20)2
  • Bacalaítos — salted cod fritter, pickled green-bean relish, green sofrito aioli ($16)2
  • Chayotes — fermented mango, capers, green olive, kumquat, marcona almond ($15)2
  • Gilda’s Pintxos — white anchovy, smoked olive, piparras pepper, sauce ajvar ($15)2
  • Caldo Santo — mahi mahi, crab, shrimp, coconut salon broth, cassava, sweet potato, white bean, cilantro ($36)2
  • Pastelón de Hongos — plantain, mushroom, pigeon peas, sofrito, mozzarella, ricotta, avocado, chili oil ($26)2
  • Pollo al Mojo — grilled chicken thigh and leg, coconut-braised greens, arroz con gandules, lime ($30)2
  • Chuleta Kan Kan — crispy belly-on pork chop, arroz amarillo, tostones, pickles, cucumber, radish, lime, parsley sofrito; serves 2–3 ($90)2

Dinner — Sweet

  • Flan de Queso — condensed milk, passionfruit, caramel ($12)2
  • Ice Cream Sandwich — toasted coconut ice cream, graham cookie, dark chocolate ($14)2
  • Layer Cake — chocolate cake, earl grey ganache, cocoa crumb, coffee ice cream ($14)2

Kids Menu (brunch & dinner)

  • Chicken Strips — ketchup, side of fries or fruit cup ($10)2
  • French Toast — maple syrup, side of fries or fruit cup ($9)2
  • Quesadilla — corn tortilla, queso oaxaca, salsa roja, side of fries or fruit cup ($9)2
  • Scrambled Eggs & Bacon — side of fries or fruit cup ($10)2
  • Dessert — one scoop of house-made vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, cherry2

Bar — House Cocktails

  • Espresso Martini — espresso, Five Farms, 360 vanilla vodka, white chocolate, Cointreau, Kahlúa ($18)2
  • Classic Daiquiri — Planteray 3 Star white rum, lime, turbinado ($15)2
  • Carrot Margarita — Espolòn tequila blanco, Boomsma, lime, carrot, agave ($14)2
  • House Old Fashioned — Woodford Reserve, PX sherry, angostura bitters, orange ($15)2
  • House Martini — fennel & orange-infused vodka, dry vermouth, saline, castelvetrano olives ($17)2
  • Kumquat — Lifted Spirits Brillant vodka, kumquat liqueur, lemon, cranberry ($14)2
  • Black Manhattan — James E. Pepper 1776 rye, Averna, Montenegro, bitters ($17)2
  • Bitter — Campari, Antica Carpano, prosecco, fresh orange ($14)2
  • Milk Punch — Bronson’s original clarified milk punch, orange twist ($11)2
  • N.A. Elderflower Spritz — freshly squeezed lemon, elderflower, mineral water ($7)2
  • Bloody Mary ($12) · Freshly Squeezed Mimosa ($11)2

Beverages

  • Broadway Cafe Coffee ($4.50) · Latte / Cappuccino ($7) · Espresso ($4.50)2
  • Perrier ($4.50) · S. Pellegrino 1L ($7) · Hot or Iced Tea ($4.50)2
  • Daily Culture Kombucha ($7) · Fresh Orange Juice ($6) · Fresh Lemonade ($6)2
  • Mandarin Jarritos ($4) · Mexican Coke ($5) · Diet Coke / Coke / Sprite ($3.50)2
  • French Cream Soda ($5.50) · Italian Soda — peach, strawberry, lavender, coconut, vanilla ($5)2

Beer, wines by the glass (sparkling, orange & rosé, white, red), and a full wine list are also published on the drink list at oil-on-linen.com.2

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Ted Habiger biography — “native of Brookside” confirmed in KC Magazine profile (Feb 2025 — see 3). Career timeline: dishwasher at Village Green (Prairie Village) at age 16; Southern Methodist University (history degree); high school teacher in Niagara Falls, NY; sous chef at Union Square Cafe NYC (2001–2003); returned to KC; opened Room 39 (2004); Food Truck Central commissary kitchen (KCMO); chef-partner at Ánima (Mérida, Mexico). Three-time James Beard Outstanding Chef nominee. Sources: rm39.com/about; Best Chefs America profile; The Pitch KC profile. ↩

  2. Oil on Linen — official menu PDFs, Breakfast & Lunch menu https://www.oil-on-linen.com/s/BRUNCH-MENU_070926.pdf and July Dinner menu https://www.oil-on-linen.com/s/DINNER-MENU_070926.pdf (accessed 2026-07-14). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18 ↩19 ↩20 ↩21 ↩22 ↩23 ↩24 ↩25 ↩26 ↩27 ↩28 ↩29 ↩30 ↩31 ↩32 ↩33 ↩34 ↩35 ↩36 ↩37 ↩38 ↩39 ↩40 ↩41 ↩42 ↩43 ↩44 ↩45 ↩46 ↩47 ↩48 ↩49 ↩50 ↩51 ↩52 ↩53

  3. KC Magazine — “Chef Ted Habiger is breathing new life into the Kemper Museum’s restaurant” (Feb 18, 2025) — https://kansascitymag.com/chef-ted-habiger-is-breathing-new-life-into-the-kemper-museums-restaurant/ — Confirms: November 2024 opening; Habiger intentionally ended Café Sebastienne rather than refresing it; rotating menu tied to exhibition calendar; 4-course prix fixe (omnivore/pescatarian/vegetarian menus, $55–$65); dinner Thu–Fri; travel and Mexico influence on current menu. Also: IN Kansas City Magazine — “Reservation for One: Oil on Linen” — https://www.inkansascity.com/eat-drink/restaurants/reservation-for-one-oil-on-linen/ ↩

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On the record — ks.city/registry/oil-on-linen · record updated 2026-07-17