Texas Tom's (Leavenworth Road)

Texas Tom’s on Leavenworth Road is a drive-through burger, chicken and catfish stand at 38th & Leavenworth in Kansas City, Kansas, open until 1 a.m. most nights and 3 a.m. on weekends. It carries the name of Tom Nigro’s 1953 Kansas City chain — 26 stores strong when he sold in 1983, now a loose family of independently run survivors — and is the only Texas Tom’s with its own website, which promises “classic American fast food with a bold Texas twist”: Texan Burgers and Taco Burgers, chili cheese tots, gyros, Buffalo chicken fries, Philly cheesesteaks, catfish baskets and milkshakes, made to order. Byrd’s Hot Chicken is directly across the street.

Description

The stand is on the south side of Leavenworth Road at 38th Street, “just a few minutes from Quindaro Park” in the site’s words, with a drive-through and a free lot; across the road at 3801-B is Byrd’s Hot Chicken.¹² Its hours are the longest of any Texas Tom’s in Kansas — 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. Sunday through Wednesday, 2 a.m. Thursday, 3 a.m. Friday and Saturday — which puts it in the small set of KCK kitchens serving after midnight.¹

The site’s self-description is the brand’s sprawl compressed into a paragraph: “classic American fast food with a bold Texas twist,” “cooked to order to guarantee freshness,” with the Texan Burger, Taco Burger and cheeseburgers up front, then fried chicken, chili cheese tots, gyro sandwiches, catfish baskets, Buffalo Chicken Fries, taco salad, Philly cheesesteak and milkshakes.¹ That mix — burger stand, taqueria, gyro shop and fish fry on one board — has been the Texas Tom’s signature since the 1970s, when The Pitch could describe the Linwood store’s menu as cheeseburgers, Italian steaks, tacos, gyros, hot dogs, fried catfish, chicken wings and seafood baskets.³ Yelp files this unit as “Fast Food” with a listing updated February 2026.⁴

Ownership and history

The name. Tom Nigro created Texas Tom’s in 1953; the first store, at 8401 Winner Road, was conceived as an ice-cream shop and briefly called Frigid Cream, and by the 1983 sale the chain numbered 26 stores in and around the metro.⁵ Since then the name has been carried by independent operators: the Chaudhri brothers reopened the 1972-vintage Linwood store in 2014 after a four-year closure, and Ali Nazam, owner of the Prospect Avenue store, briefly ran a second on Troost in 2015.⁶⁵⁷³ Who bought the chain in 1983 and how the name was parceled out is not documented. The full lineage is on the 7th & Quindaro page.

This unit. The Leavenworth Road store’s owner and opening date are not named anywhere found — not on its site, which carries no history, and not in press. Its separate domain (texastomsks.com) and Menufy ordering account distinguish it from the Prospect Avenue store’s site (texastomsprospect.com) and from the 7th & Quindaro stand, which has no site at all; whether either KCK stand shares ownership with the other is unknown.¹⁸⁹ Yelp’s listing suffix (-10) and its February 2026 update suggest a relatively recent listing, but not a date.

Other surviving units (2026): 7 Quindaro Blvd, KCK; 709 E Linwood Blvd and 6950 Prospect Ave, Kansas City, MO; 5522 Independence Ave, Kansas City, MO; 10690 E US Hwy 40, Independence, MO.^91081112

Links

• Website: https://www.texastomsks.com/
• Order online (first-party, Menufy): https://www.texastomsks.com/order
• Location page: https://www.texastomsks.com/location
• Sister unit: texas-toms (7th & Quindaro)

Menu

Last verified: 2026-08-29 · Source: official website, home page item list; the Menufy order page renders only with scripts and its prices could not be retrieved · Confidence: Moderate on items, none on prices.¹

• Burgers: Texan Burger · Taco Burger · cheeseburgers (the Prospect sister site’s board adds a Double Junior Cheeseburger and a Kids Cheeseburger Basket, likely shared)⁸
• Chicken & fish: fried chicken · chicken baskets · Buffalo Chicken Fries · catfish basket · fish baskets · wings
• Sandwiches & more: gyro sandwich · Philly cheesesteak · taco salad · chili cheese tots · chili dog
• Drinks: milkshakes

Sources

Footnotes

1. Texas Tom’s — official website (home and location pages). Retrieved 2026-08-29 — Confirms: 3800 Leavenworth Rd, Kansas City, KS 66104; (913) 283-8755; hours Mon–Wed 10–1, Thu 10–2, Fri–Sat 10–3, Sun 10–1; “classic American fast food with a bold Texas twist”; “just a few minutes from Quindaro Park”; dine-in, drive-through, carryout, delivery; free parking; item list (cheeseburgers, fried chicken, chili cheese tots, gyro sandwiches, catfish baskets, Texan Burger, milkshakes, Buffalo Chicken Fries, Taco Burger, taco salad, Philly cheesesteak); order link TexasTomsKS.com/order. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

2. Apple Maps — “Byrd’s Hot Chicken, 3801 Leavenworth Rd, Kansas City, KS 66104.” — Confirms: Byrd’s directly across Leavenworth Road. ↩

3. Charles Ferruzza, “Texas Tom’s on Troost closes after two months,” The Pitch, 2015-08-03 — Confirms: Troost closure; the Linwood store’s four-decade menu (cheeseburgers, Italian steaks, tacos, gyros, hot dogs, fried catfish, chicken wings, seafood baskets). ↩ ↩²

4. Yelp — “Texas Tom’s — Updated February 2026 — 3800 Leavenworth Rd, Kansas City, Kansas — Fast Food.” — Confirms: address; category; listing active 2026. Body not machine-readable. ↩

5. 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; Linwood opened 1972, closed 2010, reopened 2014 by Javaid and Arshad Chaudhri. ↩ ↩²

6. Charles Ferruzza, “Closed: Texas Tom’s on Linwood,” The Pitch, 2010-01-21 — Confirms: Linwood closure; 5522 Independence Ave and 5401 Blue Parkway open in 2010. ↩

7. Charles Ferruzza, “New Texas Tom’s restaurant opened today at 3360 Troost,” The Pitch, 2015-05-22 — Confirms: Ali Nazam as operator of 6950 Prospect and the Troost opening. ↩

8. Texas Tom’s Prospect — official website. Retrieved 2026-08-29 — Confirms: 6950 Prospect Ave, Kansas City, MO 64132; (816) 216-6239; separate site; items Kids Cheeseburger Basket, 5pc Wings Combo, Chili Dog Combo, Double Junior Cheeseburger, Tots with Chili & Cheese. ↩ ↩² ↩³

9. Yahoo Local — “Texas Tom’s in Kansas City, KS.” Retrieved 2026-08-29 — Confirms: the other KCK unit at 7 Quindaro Blvd, 66101, (913) 371-0885, with reviews to January 2026. ↩ ↩²

10. Yelp — “Texas Tom’s — Updated May 2026 — 709 E Linwood Blvd, Kansas City, Missouri.” — Confirms: Linwood unit active 2026. ↩

11. Yelp — “Texas Tom’s Restaurants — Updated June 2026 — 5522 Independence Ave, Kansas City, Missouri.” — Confirms: Independence Avenue unit active 2026. ↩

12. Yelp — “Texas Tom’s — Updated July 2026 — 10690 E US Hwy 40, Independence, Missouri.” — Confirms: Independence, MO unit active 2026. ↩