What to eat at the new KCI airport terminal?

Editor’s note: Welcome back to our series Let’s Dish, Kansas City, showcasing some of our favorite restaurant meals. Click here to sign up for our new newsletter. And scroll down to learn how you can participate.

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One of the worst things about the old terminals at Kansas City International Airport was the scant food options. Now, the 2-week-old $1.5 billion terminal brims with possibilities — more than 30 places to eat and drink, many with familiar Kansas City names.

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Now the problem is choosing what to eat. I’m here to help with a sampling of recommendations.

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But first, know that only ticketed passengers can pass through security to the restaurant cornucopia beyond. (The airport may eventually allow people without tickets into the secure area, but that would involve background checks and planning ahead.)

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Come, let’s pass through security, and see what awaits.

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Small space, quick turnaround

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Our first stop is breakfast in the A Concourse to the right after you get out of security.

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Bloom Baking Co. serves fresh-baked pastries, breakfast sandwiches, cookies, lemon bars, brownies and coffee drinks featuring Mother Earth Coffee. It will soon expand its lunch menu.

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I tried the ham and swiss croissant ($8), which has become the most popular item on the menu, said owner Sarah Darby. It’s easy to understand why. The golden brown pastry is light and flaky, with just the right amount of chewiness and the buttery taste you’d expect from a croissant.

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The applewood-smoked ham and Swiss cheese make this pastry pass as a sandwich option too. Add a medium latte ($4.30) and you have the perfect quick meal to grab before dashing off to your flight.

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The KCI location is about 10% the size of its City Market location, said Darby, and the shrinking has been a challenge and learning opportunity.

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Bloom Baking is open from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m., one of the few places in the terminal that are open that early.

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“I was very excited to open up here,” Darby said. “This has been a two year project in the making, and we planned and we planned and we’ve done some more planning and changed plans. But there’s nothing quite like operationalizing something that you’ve put so much effort into.”

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Full-service, sit-down experience

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Our next stop is through the 630-foot connector to B Concourse, where you’ll find Brown & Loe, a full-service, sit-down restaurant.

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Its corner location affords arguably one of the best views in the new terminal, looking out on airplanes coming and going from their gates.

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“This view is insane,” said Kate McLaughlin, owner and operator. “I can’t believe we got so lucky with having all these windows.”

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The KCI location includes some familiar elements from the restaurant’s City Market location, with globe lights and a full-service bar that stretches the length of the place. But the menu is a scaled down version.

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I tried one of the more popular items, the Smoked Gouda Mac ($20.70), which McLaughlin said is “to die for.”

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I have to agree. The smoked Gouda cheese sauce gives it an interesting twist, both creamy and smoky. Corkscrew-shaped cavatappi pasta picks up the sauce well. Peppered bacon enhances the smokiness, but not too much for my taste. The dish is then topped off with garlic-herb bread crumbs.

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Grilled chicken ($9.20) or grilled salmon ($16.10) can be added to round out the dish. I went with chicken, which was well-seasoned and paired nicely.

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For now, Brown & Loe is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Eventually, it will open earlier and serve breakfast.

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“I wanted the challenge,”McLaughlin said of the reason she desired to be at KCI. “I like to always have something working, and it was hard to pass up. We were so fortunate and lucky to even be asked and considered.”

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Smell of Kansas City barbecue

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Of course I had to try the barbecue — after all this is Kansas City.

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While there are other options, I headed over to the Made for KC Barbecue experience, also in Concourse B, to try something I can’t get elsewhere: Smoke ‘n Magic barbecue, created by the competition team Bre Via and Brad Colter of Grain Valley.

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They had to compete in last year’s Made for KC BBQ Championship to earn their spot in the new terminal. They won a one-year licensing agreement to prepare the menu and train the pitmasters. A competition will be held every year to determine who gets the spot next.

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“A huge honor and opportunity for us to be some of the first experience people have with Kansas City barbecue and then to also be part of Kansas City history,” said Via, who is a special education teacher in Lee’s Summit.

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With meat in the restaurant’s two large smokers, passengers getting off planes in Concourse B are hit right away with the aroma of Kansas City barbecue.

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“You know you’re home when you’re in Kansas City airport,” said Colter, a safety representative for Martin Marietta in Kansas City.

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I tried one of their most popular items — the sliced brisket sandwich ($15.99) with a side of coleslaw ($7), pit beans ($7), and crinkle fries ($9).

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The verdict: Smoke ‘n Magic is a great introduction to competition Kansas City barbecue. The sandwich has an ample portion of thick-sliced brisket that is full of flavor, stays juicy and has just the right amount of smoke.

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You add your own sauce, either sweet or spicy. I preferred the spicy, which has just enough heat to add flavor. A third sauce, called Southern Twang, is being developed.

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“In competition, a judge has one bite to make a decision whether that food is perfect or less than perfect,” Colter said. “In the restaurant, we have done everything we can to simulate a competition piece of meat.”

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Colter said it was a Cinderella story going from a little barbecue team to being one of the BBQs featured at KCI.

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“It’s a life changing experience,” he said. “It’s a once in a lifetime to get this kind of opportunity. So we’re very excited.”

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