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The Belfry is chef Celina Tio’s global comfort food restaurant in Kansas City’s Crossroads — open since 2014, with one of the Midwest’s largest bourbon and American whiskey collections. Tio is a 2007 James Beard Award winner and a Top Chef alumna. Also operates The Belfry Collective (Gerard’s Pool Hall, Ground Control, Wolf Den) and ANNX Spirits Co.

Description

The Belfry is chef Celina Tio’s flagship restaurant in Kansas City’s Crossroads Arts District — a bar-forward, globally-influenced room that has been open since 2014, and has grown into the anchor of The Belfry Collective: a multi-venue entertainment campus that also includes Gerard’s Pool Hall, Ground Control, and Wolf Den. Tio trained at Drexel University in Philadelphia and built her early career in Ritz-Carlton kitchens — she was executive chef of the Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia grill room at 23 — before relocating to Kansas City, where she won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Midwest in 2007. The Belfry’s menu leans toward elevated comfort food with a global passport: familiar enough to feel good, unfamiliar enough to surprise. The back bar is one of the most serious in the Midwest, anchored by one of the region’s largest collections of bourbon and American whiskey. Tio also founded ANNX Spirits Co., her award-winning spirits label. Dinner Tuesday through Saturday.

Tier classification

Tier 2 — Philadelphia-born, KC-dedicated 15+ year operator. Celina Tio was born and raised in Philadelphia and trained at Drexel University — not KC-born/raised.1 She relocated to Kansas City and has been one of the city’s most prominent chef-operators for over 15 years, winning the James Beard Award in 2007. The Belfry has been open since 2014 and she has expanded into a multi-venue collective and her own spirits label. Tier 2 confirmed: long-tenure, civically invested KC restaurateur; not KC-born/raised.

Last verified: 2026-07-14 · Source: The Belfry itemized menu via allmenus (aggregator); The Belfry’s own current menu is published on belfrycollective.com as a printed-menu image dated 04-2026 · URL(s): https://www.allmenus.com/mo/kansas-city/409449-the-belfry/menu/; https://www.belfrycollective.com/the-belfry · Confidence: Medium (dishes and prices itemized from a reputable aggregator; The Belfry runs a seasonal rotating menu and its current 04-2026 printed menu is image-only, so specific dishes may have changed)

The Belfry serves chef Celina Tio’s globally-influenced elevated comfort food — starters, sandwiches, seasonal mains, and desserts — alongside craft cocktails and one of the Midwest’s largest bourbon and American-whiskey selections. The kitchen menu rotates seasonally.2

Starters

  • Olive Oil Whipped Goat Cheese — roasted beets and pistachio ($7)2
  • Local Lettuces — walnut vinaigrette, blue cheese and dried cranberries ($7)2
  • Arugula and Frisée — citrus vinaigrette, pistachio and goat cheese crema ($7)2
  • Cumin Roasted Carrots — harissa crème fraîche ($6)2
  • Yesterday’s Soup ($5)2
  • Butter Griddled Farm to Market Bread — with red wine apple butter ($4)2
  • Pulled Chicken Tacos — house-made corn crepe, crème fraîche and pickled onion ($8)2

Sandwiches n Stuff

  • House Ground Cheese Burger — house ketchup and bread-and-butter pickles ($11)2
  • Our Cheese Burger — with added mushrooms, bacon or an egg ($13)2
  • Arugula and Frisée (with Seared Scallops) — citrus vinaigrette, pistachio and goat cheese crema with seared scallops ($16)2
  • Pulled, Roasted Chicken — creamy slaw, bacon and smoky sauce on a Farm to Market hoagie ($10)2
  • Monte Cristo — city ham, Gruyère cheese and pear jam on French toast ($10)2
  • Spanish Mac n Cheese — Manchego cheese sauce, serrano ham and smoked-paprika bread crumbs ($11)2
  • Creamy Polenta — autumn ragout and sunny egg ($14)2

Mains

  • Scallops — cauliflower purée, shaved Brussels sprouts and caramelized house bacon ($25)2
  • Lamb — shepherd’s pie, mashed potatoes, carrots and mushrooms ($19)2
  • Baked Rigatoni — house-made sausage, tomato and house-made ricotta ($14+)2
  • Campo Lindo Chicken — fig couscous, herb-roasted pear and almonds ($22)2
  • Seared Fluke — parsnip purée and buttery braised greens ($24)2
  • Bone-in Short Rib — creamy polenta, mushroom ragout and crispy carrots ($25)2

Desserts

  • Chocolate Cake — caramel and almond ice cream ($5)2
  • Cheese Plate — with house-made jam ($10)2
  • Vanilla Bean Cheesecake — red wine pears ($5)2
  • Warm Cookies ($4)2

Bar

  • Bourbon & American Whiskey Collection — one of the Midwest’s largest3
  • Craft Cocktails — spirits-forward bar program (cocktail menu dated January 2026)3
  • ANNX Spirits Co. — Tio’s own spirits line3

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Wikipedia — Celina Tio — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celina_Tio — Confirms: Philadelphia-born; attended private Quaker boarding school outside Philadelphia; Drexel University culinary training; Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia executive chef by age 23; Spoodles/Citricos Florida; relocated to Kansas City; James Beard Award Best Chef: Midwest 2007; Top Chef appearance. Also: Great Chefs profile. Also: Feast Magazine — “Celina Tio retools and reopens The Belfry in Kansas City” — https://www.feastmagazine.com/travel/kansas-city/celina-tio-retools-and-reopens-the-belfry-in-kansas-city/article_6cb34800-29d0-11e7-bfc5-9f2a5b12535e.html — confirms reopening details and evolution of the concept. ↩

  2. The Belfry — itemized menu via allmenus aggregator, https://www.allmenus.com/mo/kansas-city/409449-the-belfry/menu/ (accessed 2026-07-14). The Belfry’s current menu is published on belfrycollective.com as a printed-menu image dated 04-2026 and rotates seasonally, so this list may lag the live menu. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18 ↩19 ↩20 ↩21 ↩22 ↩23 ↩24 ↩25

  3. The Belfry / The Belfry Collective — belfrycollective.com — confirms address (1532 Grand Blvd, KCMO 64108), phone ((816) 471-7111), hours (Mon–Thu 4–10; Fri–Sat 4–midnight; Sun closed), concept (global comfort food, bourbon/whiskey collection), related venues (Gerard’s Pool Hall, Ground Control, Wolf Den), ANNX Spirits Co. Yelp (June 2026) — https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-belfry-kansas-city — 189 photos, 156 reviews, active. (Accessed 2026-06-29.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3

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On the record — ks.city/registry/the-belfry · record updated 2026-07-17