For the owners of Attitude, the new breakfast and lunch spot now open at 31st and Cherry, their favorite sign in their antique-filled restaurant is the one that says “Open,” that sits in their front window.
Their second favorite is the one they keep at the cash register that reads, “attitude is everything, pick a good one.”
It has taken every bit of two years for Patti Allen and her partner of three years, Greg Kormanik, to finally get the doors open on their 20-seat café. Between the time it took to install an entire commercial kitchen from scratch and get the parking variances they had to seek just to open their doors, the couple realized their original estimated opening date was just a pipe-dream.
“We are just so grateful to finally be in open for business and cooking in our own kitchen at this point,” says Allen. “I think we were naïve on what it was really going to take before we were ready to open.”
During this time, Allen sold her share of the West Bottoms antique shop, Bella Patina, to her children, so she and Kormanik could work full time on getting Attitude ready to open.
They opened their doors quietly the first week in April, wanting to make sure that the two of them, plus two employees they have hired would be enough to handle the traffic they hoped would be coming in for their comforting breakfast dishes and Italian-inspired lunch sandwiches.
“The first week, when we really had not told anyone we were open, we had some busy days and some quiet days,” Allen explains. “I was worried about crowd control because I had been used to seeing 10,000 people in one weekend come through the doors at my old antique shop, but I realize now that the scale of this is more slow and steady.”
Allen and Kormanik both are quick to point out that the neighborhood has been incredibly supportive before and after they got their restaurant open, and some have been coming in almost every day to eat and bringing friends.
Drawing from Allen’s past selling antiques, Attitude features plenty of it. With glittering chandeliers that hang from the ceiling, along with old antique doors that are used to divide the spaces between the kitchen, dining room and bathrooms. The antiques in the restaurant are for sale and worth poking around before you leave.
Hungry? Then look for the green chalkboard that hangs from the ceiling to see the daily selections. It is divided between breakfast items and lunch, with breakfast being served from 7:00 am – 11:00 am only and lunch from 11:00 am - 2:00 pm.
If you are looking for a big breakfast, order “All That Attitude,” which is a plate that starts with house-made biscuits topped with sausage gravy, fried potatoes, bacon, sausage patties, scrambles eggs, grilled sweet peppers and cheddar cheese and more gravy for $12.
Kormanik makes the cinnamon bread from scratch that is used to make his cinnamon bread French toast, a great deal for only $6. A plate of two pancakes pass by and they are large, light and fluffy, hanging off the side of the plate they are resting on, served with hot maple syrup on the side which is also only $6.
At lunch, the menu seems to cater more to Allen’s Italian family roots with a dipped Italian beef sandwich topped with spicy giaradiniera for $8.50, and a popular meatball sub with provolone for $9.
There are several grilled paninis are on the menu including a vegetarian one, for around $8. The special that day was a Cuban pork panini.
As the baker in the family, Kormanik says the recipes for many of his sweets come from his Polish grandmother. His talents are clearly highlighted at Attitude, as he fills the antique case every morning with his greatest baking hits from over the years, when he sold them at Bella Patina.
“Here, I am making a from-scratch, traditional walnut povitica bread,” Kormanik says with pride.
He is also introducing Kansas City to “gobs” as he calls them, also known as whoopie pies, and they are as cute as they are delicious. They consist of two soft Polish sandwich cakes that are then filled with vanilla, chocolate, cherry or peanut butter cream. One taste, will remind you of your favorite chocolate childhood snack cake.
Other bakery hits are his homemade cookies which include a chocolate chip, a chewy oatmeal raisin cookie and his family's unbelievably good Snickerdoodle recipe.
It is time to start your day at Attitude, open Tuesday through Sunday 7:00 am – 2:00 pm.
Attitude, 600 E. 31st Street, Midtown, Kansas City, Missouri, instagram.com/attitudeinkc
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