JCCC alum opening new restaurant in downtown KC

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by Pete Schulte

Editor-in-Chief

pschult6@jccc.edu

The Homesteader Café is set to open in downtown KC this September with college alum Megan Kendall and her husband, Jeremy Lane, at the helm.

The couple is opening their first restaurant together with nearly 30 years of experience between the two of them. Located at 100 E. Seventh St. near the City Market, the focus on savory homestyle meals while utilizing fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs is one of the key inspirations for the name of the restaurant.

“We have our little house in KCK, and we started growing things. We like growing stuff,” Kendall laughed. “We have this garden … and have lots of stuff we grow. I have fruit trees, grapevines and lots of vegetables and herbs in the back. With that thought process, we came up with ‘The Homesteader’ because it’s like [our] little homestead.”

Kendall graduated from the college in 2006 with much of her emphasis in the pastry program and felt that the program itself and the subsequent placement helped her get to where she is today.

“[The college] prepared me a lot. Going through there and getting placed … at 40 Sardines right out of pastry school prepared me. I worked there for almost a year and I learned a lot through there too. It’s good, hard work, but it’s stuff I enjoy doing,” Kendall said. “Pastry school taught me how to make everything, make it look good, make it look pretty and that type of stuff. How do you make something look pretty? I can make something taste great no matter what, but to make it look pretty and taking that time for the visual appearance also [helped].”

A chocolate rum cake with a unique story is one of the main pastries that Kendall is looking forward to making for her patrons. The couple actually made the cake initially for their wedding last September with rave reviews from friends and families, which led to requests for the cake after the wedding. In addition, the couple will be highlighting a catfish po’boy sandwich, a mustard-crusted pork chop, a full bar and sides that will change seasonally in efforts to give the restaurant variety throughout the year.

“We both can do the savory stuff, but the fact that we have the pastry side on there is going to make a big difference because not everywhere has a pastry chef on hand, so that’s a big thing. I think our style of food is going to be a really nice combination of food and how it all flows together nicely.”

The Homesteader is scheduled to open the last weekend of September and will be open Tuesday through Sunday, with lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and dinner from 4 to 9 p.m. on weeknights and 4 to 10 p.m. on weekends. For more information, visit http://thehomesteadercafe.com/.

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