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

Texas Tom’s on Independence Avenue is the Northeast’s Texas Tom’s — a fried-chicken, catfish and burger stand at 5522 Independence Ave near Budd Park that has been open continuously longer than any other unit under the name: it was one of the two survivors The Pitch counted when the Linwood store went dark in 2010, and it is the best-reviewed of the family today. It trades as “Texas Tom’s Restaurants” and, on its former site, “Texas Tom’s Fried Chicken and Sea Food,” opens at 9 in the morning, and stays open to 1 a.m. on weeknights and 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Independence Avenue had two Texas Tom’s when Tom Nigro sold his 26-store chain in 1983; this is what remains.

Description

The stand is on Independence Avenue at about Brighton, in the Historic Northeast, “just a few minutes from Budd Park” in the words of its former website.1 It opens earlier than any other Texas Tom’s — 9 a.m., 9:30 on Sundays — and closes at 1 a.m. weeknights and 3 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays; there is outdoor seating, which a July 2026 reviewer faulted only for lacking trash cans.2 Restaurantji aggregates 370 reviews at 4.4 stars, far above the family’s other units, and a reviewer that month wrote, “Been coming here for years, best food in the metro, never once had an issue.”2 Yelp files it as “American” with 27 reviews and a listing updated June 2026.3

The board leans harder on chicken and fish than the burger-first units: the former site described “Chicken, Seafood, Sandwiches” and named catfish nuggets, a spicy chicken sandwich and a hot-wings basket, and Restaurant Guru’s item reviews cluster on the Philly cheesesteak and the fish-and-chicken basket.14 A third-party transcription dated May 2023 gives the shape of the pricing — junior hamburger 89 cents, junior cheeseburger 99 cents, Texan cheeseburger $3.79, four-piece tenders $4.49, two-piece dark chicken with biscuit $2.69, two-piece catfish with biscuit $5.89, four tacos $4.49, a regular shake $2.39 — which is the cheapest fast-food board documented anywhere in the Registry, though it is not first-party and is three years old.5 No current first-party menu exists; see Menu.

Ownership and history

The chain. Tom Nigro created Texas Tom’s in 1953. According to Northeast News publisher Michael Bushnell, quoted by The Pitch, the first one at 8401 Winner Road was conceived as an ice-cream shop and briefly called Frigid Cream; by the 1983 sale there were 26 Texas Tom’s in and around the metro, “two of them on Independence Avenue.”6 The name has since been carried by independent operators — the Chaudhris on Linwood (texas-toms-linwood), Ali Nazam on Prospect (texas-toms-prospect) — rather than a company; who bought the chain in 1983 and how the name passed unit by unit is not documented. The fuller lineage is on the 7th & Quindaro page.

This store. 5522 Independence Avenue is the one unit with a continuous documented run. When The Pitch reported the Linwood store boarded up in January 2010, it named “5522 Independence Avenue and 5401 Blue Parkway” as the only Texas Tom’s still open; a 2013 Yelp thread of Kansas Citians trading memories confirmed the Independence Avenue store operating then, when others they remembered — Turner, 38th & State, Rainbow, Stadium Drive, Blue Ridge — were gone.78 Blue Parkway has since closed, leaving this store the longest-running survivor. Its owner has never been named in print, its opening year is unrecorded, and its own website — a Menufy-built “Texas Tom’s Fried Chicken and Sea Food” site at texastomskansascity.com — now redirects to a Menufy error page, suggesting a lapsed ordering account rather than a closure, since aggregator listings and July 2026 reviews are live.129

Not verified. The store’s first-party site and Menufy ordering page are dead; no current menu board or price list is published by the operator. Items named above come from the former site’s description and third-party listings; the May 2023 price snapshot is third-party and is not a current menu.15

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Texas Tom’s Fried Chicken and Sea Food — former official website. Retrieved 2026-08-29 — Confirms: HTTP 301 redirect to order.menufy.com (dead Menufy account); search-engine title “Home - Texas Tom’s Fried Chicken and Sea Food” and cached description (“Chicken, Seafood, Sandwiches … Catfish Nuggets, Spicy Chicken Sandwich, and Hot Wings Basket … just a few minutes from Budd Park”). Cached text only. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. Restaurantji — “Texas Toms, Kansas City — Menu, Reviews (370).” Retrieved 2026-08-29 — Confirms: 5522 Independence Ave, 64123; (816) 832-8747; hours Mon–Thu 9–1 a.m., Fri–Sat 9–3, Sun 9:30–12:30; 4.4 stars / 370 reviews; July 2026 reviews (outdoor seating without trash cans; “Been coming here for years, best food in the metro”). Aggregate; used for hours, dating and reviewer color. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. Yelp — “Texas Tom’s Restaurants — Updated June 2026 — 27 Reviews — 5522 Independence Ave, Kansas City, Missouri — American.” — Confirms: the “Texas Tom’s Restaurants” name; address; listing active 2026. Body not machine-readable. ↩

  4. Restaurant Guru — “Menu at Texas Toms restaurant, Kansas City, Independence Ave.” Retrieved 2026-08-29 — Confirms: address; phone; item review counts (Philly Cheesesteak 16, Fish & Chicken Basket 49); “#70 of 974 fast food in Kansas City.” Aggregate. ↩

  5. MenuCollectors — “Texas Toms Menu Prices at 5522 Independence Ave, Kansas City, MO 64123,” menu dated 2023-05-16. Retrieved 2026-08-29 — Confirms: address; phone; hours; 3.9 stars / 805 reviews (Google mirror); 2023 prices (Junior Hamburger $0.89, Junior Cheeseburger $0.99, Texan Cheeseburger $3.79, Chicken Tenders 4 pc $4.49, 2 pc dark with biscuit $2.69, Catfish 2 pc with biscuit $5.89, 4 Tacos $4.49, regular shake $2.39). Third-party; not a current menu. ↩ ↩2

  6. Charles Ferruzza, “Texas Tom’s is back! Linwood location reopens,” The Pitch, 2014-03-03 — Confirms: Tom Nigro, 1953; 8401 Winner Road / Frigid Cream; 26 units at the 1983 sale, two on Independence Avenue (Michael Bushnell, Northeast News); the Chaudhris’ Linwood reopening. ↩

  7. Charles Ferruzza, “Closed: Texas Tom’s on Linwood,” The Pitch, 2010-01-21 — Confirms: 5522 Independence Avenue and 5401 Blue Parkway as the two Texas Tom’s still open in January 2010. ↩

  8. Yelp Talk — “What Happened To Texas Tom’s? | Kansas City,” thread of 2013-07-07 to 07-12 — Confirms: 5522 Independence Ave operating in 2013; remembered closed units (Turner, 38th & State, Rainbow, Stadium Drive, Blue Ridge). Anecdotal; used only as labeled. ↩

  9. DoorDash — “Texas Tom’s Restaurants — Kansas City, MO.” — Confirms: a live third-party listing under the “Texas Tom’s Restaurants” name. Not used for prices; body not machine-readable. ↩

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On the record — ks.city/registry/texas-toms-independence-avenue · record updated 2026-08-29