Nick & Leslie Goellner

Nick Goellner and Leslie Newsam Goellner are the chef-and-wine-director couple behind two acclaimed Kansas City restaurants — The Antler Room (2016) and Anjin (2025) — whose work has earned repeated James Beard Award recognition.

Biography

Nick Goellner studied at the University of Kansas and trained at the French Culinary Institute in New York, then cooked with chef Alain Allegretti in New York, as a sous chef at Boulevard in San Francisco, and at the world-renowned Noma in Copenhagen before returning home to Kansas City.¹

Leslie Newsam Goellner, a wine director with more than two decades in hospitality, drew early influence from Kansas City’s Room 39 while attending UMKC, and later worked for restaurateur Danny Meyer in New York and the Delfina Restaurant Group in San Francisco.¹

In 2016 the couple opened The Antler Room in the Longfellow neighborhood near Hospital Hill.¹ Nick has been a James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef: Midwest three times (2019, 2020, and 2023), and the restaurant has drawn national notice.² In July 2025 they opened Anjin, an izakaya-inspired restaurant in the Crossroads (with partner Drew Little), which was named a Best New Restaurant finalist in the 2026 James Beard Awards — Kansas City’s lone finalist that year.²

Legacy

The Goellners exemplify a generation of Kansas City chefs bringing world-class technique and hospitality home, building intimate, ambitious restaurants that have earned the city national culinary respect.

See also

• the-antler-room
• anjin

Sources

Footnotes

1. The Antler Room — “About” (theantlerroomkc.com); Feast Magazine — Nick’s and Leslie’s backgrounds; opened 2016. ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. “Kansas City’s Anjin named Best New Restaurant finalist in 2026 James Beard Awards,” KCUR (2026-03-31) — Nick a three-time Best Chef: Midwest semifinalist (2019, 2020, 2023); Anjin opened July 2025 in the Crossroads (co-owner Drew Little); Anjin a 2026 Best New Restaurant finalist. ↩ ↩²