KANSAS CITY, Mo. — More than a year after an explosion and fire reduced a popular plaza restaurant to rubble, JJ’s Wednesday announced that it’s coming back. The new Plaza Vista office tower soon will be home for the new restaurant.
The Frantze brothers say it was important to them to bring their business back to life in same West Plaza neighborhood they’ve called home. And they say more than 90 percent of their former employees are going to come back when the new restaurant reopens.
The new J-J’s will be on the first floor of Plaza Vista and includes outdoor patio seating where the Frantzes and developer Van Trust Real Estate made the big announcement.
There is still design work to be done, including just how much space the new restaurant will occupy.
JJ’s, known for it’s Paco Shrimp and one of the best wine lists in the world, was a favorite among lawyers on the Country Club Plaza, including their new neighbors the Polsinelli law firm.
Mayor Sly James, a lawyer himself, called JJ’s Kansas City’s “Cheers with real gusto.”
“I know there was a burning desire to not allow such a huge part of any life or any memories regarding lives that you came into contact with to end in quite that way,” James said. “I know that was one of the things that pushed him, and he said JJ’s would be rebuilt and I knew that somehow it would.”
The restaurant will be different from the old J-J’s but the Frantzes say it will start with same menu that the restaurant had on the day it exploded. The West Plaza neighborhood association presented Jimmy Frantze with a sword from a French champagne club that was initially believed to be lost in the rubble of the old restaurant. It has been restored in celebration of JJ’s rebirth.
To celebrate, the brothers are donating a private table on the new restaurant’s first Saturday night to highest bidder at the upcoming Leukemia Lymphoma Society auction.
