Splurge in Kansas City

The Antler Room

• ★ 4.8
• Mediterranean
• $$$$
• Longfellow

Nick and Leslie Goellner's Longfellow room in Kansas City is the chef's-counter pick of the city: Persian, Mediterranean and East Asian small plates.

Novel

• ★ 4.6
• Tasting menu
• $$$$
• Crossroads Arts District

Ryan Brazeal and Jessica Armstrong's East Crossroads tasting menu in Kansas City pairs chef-driven small plates with Jessica Armstrong's pastry.

The Restaurant at 1900

• ★ 4.5
• New American
• $$$$
• Mission Woods

The Restaurant at 1900 in Mission Woods, on the Kansas side of Kansas City, runs a tasting-menu programme inside a renovated 1967 Modernist building.

Rye Plaza

• ★ 4.5
• Fried chicken
• $$$$
• Country Club Plaza

Colby and Megan Garrelts' Rye Plaza on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City refined the Midwestern restaurant template. Fried chicken, biscuits.

Le Fou Frog

• ★ 4.5
• French fine dining
• $$$$
• River Market

Mano and Barbara Rafael's French bistro in Kansas City's River Market has run Provencal classics on the corner of 5th and Oak since 1996. Book 2 weeks ahead.

The Capital Grille

• ★ 4.4
• Steakhouse
• $$$$
• Country Club Plaza

Order Dry-aged porterhouse for two with lobster mac and cheese, and a bottle from the cellar.

The Capital Grille on Kansas City's Country Club Plaza dry-ages its beef in-house for 18 to 24 days and hand-cuts to order, with a 3,500-bottle wine cellar.

Anton's Taproom

• ★ 4.4
• Steakhouse
• $$$$
• Crossroads Arts District

Anton's Taproom in the Kansas City Crossroads is a butcher shop plus steakhouse with grass-fed regional beef, in-house aging and a natural-wine programme.

Lidia's Kansas City

• ★ 4.4
• Tasting menu
• $$$$
• Crossroads Arts District

Lidia Bastianich's Kansas City room opened in 1998 with son Joe, set in a converted railroad house. Located in Crossroads. Tasting menu $55 pasta tasting.

Extra Virgin

• ★ 4.3
• Mediterranean
• $$$$
• Crossroads Arts District

Michael Smith won a James Beard Award before Extra Virgin and runs a Mediterranean tapas concept in the Kansas City Crossroads with wood-fired plates.

Golden Ox

• ★ 4.2
• Wine bar
• $$$$
• West Bottoms

Golden Ox in Kansas City's West Bottoms opened in 1949 inside the Live Stock Exchange as the birthplace of the KC strip. Led by chef Wes Gartner.