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

Room 39 is a chef-owned, farm-to-table American restaurant on 39th Street in midtown Kansas City, opened in the early 2000s by three-time James Beard nominee Ted Habiger.

Description

Room 39 is a chef-owned American restaurant on the 39th Street corridor in midtown Kansas City, near Westport. It is a defining example of the city’s farm-to-table movement, with a frequently changing menu built around what local farmers and producers have available. The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and maintains an award-recognized wine program.

The restaurant is led by chef-owner Ted Habiger, a repeat James Beard Foundation nominee whose résumé includes time as chef at Café Allegro and as a sous chef at Danny Meyer’s Union Square Cafe in New York City. The restaurant’s name references its original 39th Street address.

Over time the Room 39 team has extended beyond the flagship into other ventures and partnerships, including museum and stadium food service in the Kansas City area. A former second location at Mission Farms in Leawood, Kansas operated for several years before closing.

Ownership and history

Ted Habiger opened Room 39 on 39th Street in the early 2000s; secondary accounts variously cite a 2003 founding and a November 2004 opening, and the official site (in 2026) describes the restaurant as roughly 21 years old. Habiger’s background includes Café Allegro (long a top-rated KC restaurant) and Union Square Cafe in NYC.

Habiger has been recognized by the James Beard Foundation multiple times — described as a three-time nominee/semifinalist for Best Chef: Midwest (cited years include 2008, 2012 and 2014). Andrew Folger is listed as general manager.

A second Room 39 at Mission Farms (Leawood, KS) operated before closing in early 2019, consolidating the operation back toward the 39th Street flagship and other ventures.

Last verified: 2026-07-13 · Source: Room 39 official site menu page (daily-changing; the site presents “an example of what could be on the menu”) · URL(s): https://www.rm39.com/our-menu · Confidence: Medium (no fixed menu by design — true daily farm-to-table; items and prices change with each day’s deliveries, so representative dishes are listed name-only)

Room 39’s menu changes daily based on what its farmers deliver, so there is no fixed published menu. The recurring, representative dishes below are drawn from the restaurant’s own example menus across breakfast, lunch and dinner; prices are omitted because they vary by day.1

Toasts

  • Avocado Toast — poached eggs and crispy bacon1
  • Artichoke Toast — artichoke-cream cheese schmear, poached egg and arugula1

Breakfast & Brunch

  • Biscuits & Gravy — sausage or mushroom gravy with potatoes1
  • Quiche of the Day1
  • Smoked Salmon Scramble1
  • Waffles1

Lunch & Dinner

  • Soup of the Day1
  • Arugula & Fennel Salad1
  • Lump Crab Cakes — remoulade, lemon and arugula1
  • Chicken Livers1
  • Salmon Bowl1
  • Chicken Bowl1

For today’s actual offerings and prices, see OpenTable, Instagram, or call (816) 753-3939. Representative-item notes archived in 99_Archive/2026-05-31_room-39-menu/capture.md.

Tier classification

Tier 1. Room 39 is owner-operated by its founding chef, Ted Habiger, with 20+ years of continuous tenure on the 39th Street corridor and a James Beard-recognized, locally-sourced identity tightly bound to KC farms and the midtown community. A long-tenured, chef-owner-operated, deeply local independent — a clear Tier 1. (Pending confirmation that Habiger meets the born-and-raised dimension is not required; tenure + owner-operation + local-rootedness independently satisfy Tier 1.)

See also

Sources

  1. Room 39 — official site / About (chef-owner Ted Habiger, GM Andrew Folger, ~21 years in operation, James Beard nominee language, ventures) — https://www.rm39.com/about — accessed 2026-05-30
  2. Visit KC — “Kansas City’s James Beard Award Restaurants and Bars” (Habiger James Beard recognition) — https://www.visitkc.com/articles/kansas-citys-james-beard-award-restaurants-and-bars/ — accessed 2026-05-30
  3. Feast Magazine — “Room 39 to Close Mission Farms Location in February” (second-location history/closure 2019) — https://www.feastmagazine.com/room-39-to-close-mission-farms-location-in-february/article_932ce028-2347-11e9-9c86-23630e4d25d5.html — accessed 2026-05-30
  4. KSHB — “Room 39 bringing culinary passion to KC Current fans” (CPKC Stadium partnership) — https://www.kshb.com/sports/local-sports/kc-current/room-39-bringing-culinary-passion-to-kc-current-fans-with-restaurant-at-cpkc-stadium — accessed 2026-05-30
  • Status verified active 2026-06-23 via Room 39 official site — About (open, current hours; renders address as 1717 W 39th St) and Yelp — Room 39 (updated June 2026) (accessed 2026-06-23). Flagship 39th St location open; Mission Farms (Leawood) remains closed since 2019. Note: official site confirms civic number as 1717 W 39th St vs. the 1719 pin — the pre-existing 1717-vs-1719 conflict stands.

Verification

Drafted 2026-05-30 from web research; 4 sources (official + 3 independent). Flagged: exact opening date (2003 vs Nov 2004), precise James Beard award category (Best Chef: Midwest semifinalist vs Outstanding Chef nominee), and civic street number (1717 vs 1719 W 39th St — base-data 1719 used for the pin). Instagram/Facebook handles inferred as @room39midtown from the official About page reference; confirm exact URLs on review.

Menu capture (2026-05-31): Daily-changing farm-to-table nature documented per official site (“menus change daily based on what our farmers deliver”). Representative examples from OpenTable, Restaurant Week, and Toast (toasts, biscuits & gravy, bowls, crab cakes). No fixed menu by design. Earned tags added conservatively (farm-to-table, toast). Full notes + examples in 99_Archive/2026-05-31_room-39-menu/capture.md.

Footnotes

  1. Room 39 — official menu (daily-changing; example menu), https://www.rm39.com/our-menu (accessed 2026-07-13). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13

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On the record — ks.city/registry/room-39 · record updated 2026-07-13