Planning a trip to Kansas City—one of the barbecue capitals of the United States? We got you covered! Here’s are 4 Vegan-Friendly Restaurants in Kansas City.
Kansas City was the third stop in our six-week, 10-state road trip searching for the best vegan eats in the southern United States. Now granted, Kansas City is a bit of a detour. It’s not technically in the South. But we were also on a quest to find some of the best vegan barbecue (BBQ) in the United States. And it just didn’t feel right skipping over a BBQ epicenter on our expedition.
We gave just about all the vegan BBQ options a try. We also had some BBQ-flavored sushi for good measure. And let’s just say the BBQ did not disappoint! So without further ado, here are some of our favorite vegan-friendly restaurants in Kansas City.
If you love to travel as much as we do, make sure to check out our other vegan food & travel guides: 5 Vegan Friendly Restaurants in Marrakech, 6 Great Vegan Restaurants in NYC, or 5 Vegan Breakfast Taco Joints in Austin.
🌳 TREE HUGGER KITCHEN
- Address: 1841 NW Vivion Rd, Riverside, MO 64150
- Hours: Sunday-Monday, Thursday-Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.) Closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
- Notes: This restaurant is 100% vegan.
Tree Hugger was probably our favorite stop in Kansas City. A food truck turned brick-and-mortar, Tree Hugger does comfort food well. Everything is made to order, and the final product is hearty with perfectly balanced flavors.
Of course we had to try the KC BBQ Sammy—Jackfruit marinated in KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce, house-made coleslaw, jalapeño and fried onions on a toasted bun. The homemade slaw with mayo added amazing texture, freshness and creaminess to the sandwich. The jalapeños were also a nice touch of heat and the onions provided a necessary crispy element.
The Loaded Tater Tots were piled high with nacho “cheese”, “bacon” bits, scallions, jalapeños, and sour cream. The tots were freshly fried and crunchy. The toppings were deliciously decadent, and the “cheese” very much like the real thing.
OUR RATING: 10/10
🍖 CHAR BAR
- Address: 4050 Pennsylvania Ave, Kansas City, MO 64111
- Hours: Monday-Thursday 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Friday 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.
- Notes: Not a fully vegan restaurant, but offers a number of vegan options.
What is the one cuisine most associated with Kansas City? BBQ of course! Being from Texas, we can respect a city that takes its vegan BBQ seriously. So naturally, our first stop in KC had to be for BBQ.
Located in the heart of the historic Westport neighborhood, Char Bar is a Kansas City BBQ fixture. The restaurant has a large yard with tons of outdoor seating and entertainment like cornhole. Char Bar offers a massive menu of vegan and non-vegan options. We ordered the Jackknife Sandwich, which consisted of smoked jackfruit, fried onions, and avocado. We added pickled jalapeños for an extra charge.
The smoke on the jackfruit was beyond legit. 10 out of 10. You could see the dark smoke rings nestled in the jackfruit. The sauce was thick with a light undertone of vinegar. We found the sauce to be rather sweet—much sweeter than the Texas variety. We would’ve preferred a touch more acid. The sandwich came with a kale slaw, which was sweet and vinegary.
We also ordered a side of smashed potatoes and the Country Crunch Salad. The smashed potatoes were crisp and speckled with coarse salt flakes. The Country Crunch Salad came with Napa cabbage, kale, iceberg, cauliflower, spiced pecans, and dressed in a cider vinaigrette. We loved the crunch of the salad. Overall, the salad had a better balance of sweet and acidic elements.
OUR RATING: 8/10
🍔 THE FIX!
- Address: 1841 NW Vivion Rd, Riverside, MO 64150
- Hours: Sunday-Monday, Thursday-Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.) Closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
- Notes: This restaurant is 100% vegan. It’s also known for its vegan breakfasts.
Located in a former old-timey drugstore in Midtown, The Fix! is a cute little vegan restaurant dedicated to slinging some of the most delectable vegan delights in Kansas City. They’re proud plant pushers. They even say so on their website.
We ordered the Fried Chicken Sammie with fries. The made-in-house seitan fried “chicken” was tossed in BBQ—we had to get our BBQ FIX while we were in town! (Pun totally intended). The seitan had the perfect consistency—not too soft and spongy, not too firm and dense. And the sauce was a classic sweet, thick and tangy BBQ sauce. The pickles were thick cut and tasted as if they were scratch made.
OUR RATING: 9/10
🍣 BLUE SUSHI SAKE GRILL
- Address: 4705 Rainbow Blvd, Westwood, KS 66205
- Hours: Monday-Wednesday 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Thursday 11:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday 11:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Saturday 12:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Sunday 12:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
- Notes: Not a fully vegan restaurant, but offers many vegan options.
A Blue Sushi Sake Grill location opened in Houston, shortly before we left for Kansas City. Many of our vegan friends back home were amongst the first to snatch reservations. Sadly, we were so busy prepping for six weeks on the road, that we missed out on sampling the offerings.
Blue Sushi Saki Grill is a popular concept restaurant of Nebraska-based Flagship Restaurant Group. There are currently 19 Blue Sushi Sake Grill across the country. Each offering a hefty, plant-based menu to accompany their sustainable seafood options.
On our last night, we found ourselves working late and still needing to pack. So we called on the DoorDash gods to deliver us something good. And what do you know? Blue Sushi Sake Grill was right there on the app. Our two favorites were the Cowgirl Roll and Thai Hippie.
The Cowgirl Roll was one of our favorites. The rice paper is smoked, resulting in a BBQ flavor. BBQ EVERYTHING! Inside were tempura pickles, fried onions and tonkatsu sauce with a touch of mayo. Very fitting for sushi enjoyed in Kansas City.
The Thai Hippie was a trip! It looked like a sushi roll. It was even served in a sushi restaurant. But it tasted like a Thai spring roll. The roll consisted of tofu tempura, cucumbers, carrots, basil, cilantro, and mint and it’s all topped with a peanut sauce. It was light, fresh and reminiscent of one of our favorite appetizers of all time.
OUR RATING: 10/10
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Thanks for joining us on our virtual Kansas City vegan crawl! We hope this blog post gave you some inspiration for your next trip to KC!
Signing off,
Val & Mani
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