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

Q13 Sports Bar & Grill is a Black-owned neighborhood sports bar at 2724 N 13th St in the Quindaro area of Kansas City, Kansas, opened by Javon Baker and run since at least 2025 by Tamara McConnell, its owner and operator. It is a late-night room — full bar, kitchen, big screens, DJ nights, trivia, live music, VIP sections — built, in its founder’s stated intention, to give the neighborhood a safe place to hold watch parties. When an August 2026 storm knocked power out across Wyandotte County, McConnell opened the bar to neighbors, handing out water and offering electricity and somewhere to sit out the evening. In September 2026 it is one of eleven participants in Kansas City, Kansas’s first Black Restaurant Week.

Description

Q13 Sports Bar & Grill occupies a corner of Kansas City, Kansas that its own owner says the rest of the metro writes off. “Often times, it’s stigmatized as a neighborhood that you don’t want visit,” Tamara McConnell told KCTV5 in September 2026. “Well we know that not to be true. You never meet a stranger at Q13.”1

The room is a sports bar in the full sense: a bar and a kitchen, big screens, DJ nights, VIP sections, and a late close. The city tourism bureau’s listing describes “a full menu, food and drink specials, trivia nights, live music and more,” and files it under nightlife, live music, full bar, group friendly, American, and bar and grill.2 Kansas Tourism’s listing is shorter and reads as the business’s own copy: “Hot fresh food, excellent drinks, good music and a great atmosphere.”3 The second Instagram account states the same offer in the compressed register of a bio — “Located in the historic Quindaro community Sports Bar&Grill| DJ| VIP | Big screens | Late night eats | Good Drinks.”4

The food is the least documented part of the business. In September 2025 McConnell and assistant manager Olisa Warren appeared on KCTV5’s MyKC Live for a segment titled “Game Day Grabs and Fall Cocktails,” described only as a chat about “their delicious menu” — a dated confirmation that a kitchen and a cocktail program exist and that the owner promotes both, but not a menu.5 Yelp categorises the business Cajun/Creole, which would be a real menu signal if it could be confirmed; it could not be this pass, and the dish names circulating on menu-scraper sites are not cited here.6 **** — a photograph of the board, or a phone call, settles it.

The Registry carries several of its neighbours from the same 2026 Black Restaurant Week roster: Ms. R’s Cafe on Quindaro Boulevard, Holy Smoke BBQ on Leavenworth Road, and Jones Bar-B-Q on Kaw Drive.

The name is not explained in any source read. Q13 sitting at 13th Street in Quindaro is an obvious reading and it is deliberately not asserted here.

Ownership and history

Javon Baker opened Q13 Sports Bar and Grill in November, hoping — in KCTV5’s summary of his account — “to bring a safe and enjoyable venue to the Quindaro neighborhood for watch parties and other events.” His own framing was broader than the room: “We strive to train the younger kids to look at things differently.”7 The article carrying that is dated 23 June 2023, so its unadorned “in November” points to November 2022; no source read states the year outright, and it is carried above as inference rather than fact.

In April 2023, during an NFL Draft watch party, a customer who was refused entry while carrying a gun opened fire on Baker and on the bar’s security guard, Darian Mitchell. Both men were wounded and both survived. “I’m doing a lot better now,” Baker said two months later. “I thank God for that.”7

What is recorded next is why the incident sits on this page at all. Still recovering, Baker went ahead with a community event he had already been planning: a Fourth of July celebration, starting at noon, for which the bar closed Quindaro Boulevard between N. 13th Street and Yecker Avenue and put on free food, fireworks, and family activities. He and his staff, KCTV5 reported, “felt it was important to show the surrounding area that they would not let a single incident affect their mission to run a family-friendly business in the area.” Tamara McConnell, then an employee, was the one quoted: “We’re really excited to have something like this where the community can be a part of what we’re doing.”7

McConnell is the owner by 2025. KCTV5 identified her as “Owner” in September 2025 and as “owner and operator” in September 2026.51 No source located this pass explains the change, gives its date, or says whether Javon Baker retains any interest in the business. That gap is real and is marked, not papered over. ****

McConnell’s own account of the work is about the neighborhood rather than the trade. On Black Restaurant Week: “For us being a part of Black Restaurant Week is really important because one: we offer a service to this community that’s not always, often seen. The restaurants here are family owned. The culture is family, bringing people together.” And: “Welcoming Kansas City in has been very important. It is often times overlooked. But we know, this is a very important moment for Kansas City’s restaurants, and Wyandotte County’s businesses to shine. And so that’s what we are using this time for.”1

Legal entity name and Kansas Secretary of State registration were searched this pass and not found.

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Ale Espinosa, “KCK bar that helped neighbors during storm blackout gears up for first Black Restaurant Week,” KCTV5, published Sep. 5, 2026 at 10:47 PM EDT — the URL path reads 2026/09/06; both are recorded. Accessed 2026-09-08. URL (Retrieved via Firecrawl. Asserts: Tamara McConnell as “owner and operator of Q13 Sports Bar & Grill”; that a violent storm left Kansas City, Kansas in the dark “two weeks ago” and that local business owners became a resource while the community waited on official emergency response; her quotes “We took water, we did those things” and “We let them know we are open if you need electricity, a place to come for the evening we’ll be here”; that slow response left many feeling isolated and that being overlooked is familiar in her part of town — “Often times, it’s stigmatized as a neighborhood that you don’t want visit. Well we know that not to be true. You never meet a stranger at Q13”; that FEMA assessments were still underway; her Black Restaurant Week quotes — “we offer a service to this community that’s not always, often seen. The restaurants here are family owned. The culture is family, bringing people together” and “Welcoming Kansas City in has been very important… this is a very important moment for Kansas City’s restaurants, and Wyandotte County’s businesses to shine.” The article links KCTV5’s own report that the governor declared a disaster emergency for Wyandotte County, dated 22 August 2026.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. “Q13 Sports Bar & Grill,” Visit Kansas City, Kansas (Kansas City Kansas Convention and Visitors Bureau) directory listing, accessed 2026-09-08. URL (Retrieved via Firecrawl; the URL returns HTTP 403 to a plain fetch. Asserts: 2724 N 13th St, Kansas City, KS 66104; Q13sportsbar@gmail.com; (913) 232-8233; description “Sports bar with a full menu, food and drink specials, trivia nights, live music and more”; Hours of Operations: Mon, Thurs-Sat 4:30PM-1:30AM; Sun 12PM-1:30AM; amenity tags Nightlife, Bar, Live Music, Group Friendly, Full Bar, American, Bar & Grill; map destination 39.1363273, -94.6432378. Its “Visit Website” button is a CRM click-counter whose payload decodes to facebook.com — i.e. the bureau records a Facebook page, not a domain, as this business’s website. Note: the page footer renders the bureau’s own address and phone, 727 Minnesota Avenue and (913) 321-5800 — those are the CVB’s, not the bar’s.) ↩

  3. “Q13 Sports Bar & Grill,” Kansas Tourism (TravelKS) listing, Kansas City KS 66104, accessed 2026-09-08. URL (Retrieved via Firecrawl. Asserts: “2724 N. 13th Street, Kansas City, KS 66104”; Q13sportsbar@gmail.com; (913) 232-8233; description “Hot fresh food, excellent drinks, good music and a great atmosphere”; map destination 39.1363273, -94.6432378. Its “Social Media Link” is a CRM click-counter whose payload decodes to a malformed double-prefixed URL, facebook.com/https://ne-np.facebook.com/Q13sportsbarandgrillkc/, i.e. a locale-mirrored Facebook handle Q13sportsbarandgrillkc. Runs on the same Simpleview CRM as the Visit KCK and KC2026 listings and is not independent of them.) ↩

  4. Q13 Sports Bar and Grill on Instagram (@q13_sports_bar_and_grill), accessed 2026-09-08. URL (HTTP 200 to a plain request; profile body not fetched, bio as indexed. A second live Instagram account for the same business, carrying the larger archive — 265 posts, 158 followers — and the display name “Q13 Sports Bar and Grill.” Bio as indexed: “Located in the historic Quindaro community Sports Bar&Grill| DJ| VIP | Big screens | Late night eats | Good Drinks | Open Late Thur-Sunday 4:30-2am.” Source of the Quindaro location claim alongside KCTV5, of the DJ/VIP/big-screens programming, and of the 2AM close that conflicts with the tourism listing’s 1:30AM.) ↩

  5. KCTV5 Staff, “Q13 Sports Bar and Grill: Game Day Grabs and Fall Cocktails,” KCTV5 MyKC Live, published Sep. 15, 2025 at 2:47 PM EDT, accessed 2026-09-08. URL (Retrieved via Firecrawl. A video segment; the page text is one line. Asserts: “Q13 Sports Bar and Grill Owner Tamara McConnell and Assistant Manager Olisa Warren joins Shane and Kerrigan to chat about their delicious menu!” Used as the earliest located evidence of McConnell as owner, for Warren’s role, and as dated confirmation of a game-day food and cocktail program. No dish or price is stated in the text and none is taken from it.) ↩ ↩2

  6. “Q13 Sports Bar & Grill,” Yelp, 2724 N 13th St, Kansas City, Kansas. URL (Read from the search index only. The page returns HTTP 403 to a plain fetch, and Firecrawl declines yelp.com outright — “we do not support this site.” Asserts, as indexed: the business is categorised Cajun/Creole, at 2724 N 13TH ST, Kansas City, Kansas, with the listing title carrying “Updated March 2026.” Cited solely as the origin of the Cajun/Creole category signal, which no first-party source confirms. Dish names and prices circulating on Yelp and on menu-scraper sites are not reproduced.) ↩

  7. Nathan Vickers, “KCK bar owner plans community event after being wounded in shooting,” KCTV5, published Jun. 23, 2023 at 7:55 PM EDT, accessed 2026-09-08. URL (Retrieved via Firecrawl. Asserts: Javon Baker opened Q13 Sports Bar and Grill “in November” — no year given — “hoping to bring a safe and enjoyable venue to the Quindaro neighborhood for watch parties and other events,” and his quote “We strive to train the younger kids to look at things differently”; that in April 2023, during an NFL Draft watch party, a belligerent customer tried to bring a gun into the bar and, on being refused entry by Baker and security guard Darian Mitchell, opened fire on both men, wounding both; Baker’s quote “I’m doing a lot better now. I thank God for that”; that he proceeded with a Fourth of July community event starting at noon, closing Quindaro Boulevard between N. 13th Street and Yecker Avenue, with free food, fireworks and family activities; that he and his employees “felt it was important to show the surrounding area that they would not let a single incident affect their mission to run a family-friendly business in the area”; and Tamara McConnell, then described as an employee, quoted: “We’re really excited to have something like this where the community can be a part of what we’re doing.” Injury detail present in the source is deliberately not reproduced here.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3

See also

Categories

On the record — ks.city/registry/q13-sports-bar-and-grill · record updated 2026-09-08