It started as a bakery and cafe. Now KC restaurant is serving dinner and pizzas
When Banksia eased into operations in downtown Kansas City in late 2017, the Australian bakery and cafe didn’t even change its name at first, operating for nearly half a year as Sasha’s Baking Company, the business it replaced at 105 W. Ninth St.
But word gradually spread about the avocado toast, sausage rolls and ricotta hotcakes, and Banksia grew a big enough fan base that in 2020 it opened a second location on the South Plaza.
Owner Robert Joseph, who founded Banksia with his wife, Kate, and business partner Erika Vikor, has taken a similarly unhurried approach to the next phase of Banksia. Earlier this year, he closed the Ninth Street location and moved into a space three times its size at 1111 Main St. They’ve been serving breakfast and lunch there since June, but over the past few weeks, Banksia has been quietly rolling out a happy hour and dinner menu — the primary reason behind the move.
“We’ve really become a totally different restaurant,” Joseph said. “The daytime menu at the cafe was about applying Australian cooking techniques and ideas to sandwiches and salads. With dinner we can be a lot more sophisticated.”
With the new menu comes a new name: Banksia Bistro. The classic Banksia menu is still served every day between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. But Wednesday through Sunday between 3 and 9 p.m., Banksia is serving a small plates “grazing menu” and entrees, most of which draw from Australian influences.
That includes dishes like a kangaroo loin (made with a port wine and blueberry reduction and served with a potato pavé; $22), Australian king prawns (served with king oyster and shiitake mushrooms and chili lime aioli; $28) and Australian lamb cutlets crusted with dukkah and served on a bed of Moroccan chickpeas, Israeli couscous, and sweet potatoes ($25).
“We set out to source as many Australian proteins as we could,” Joseph said. “Australia has the most multicultural population on Earth and a lot of those ethnic diasporas are reflected in the cuisine I experienced growing up there. Our menu has a lot of homages to that.”
They’re also serving Neapolitan pizza. Banksia inherited a 6-foot domed pizza oven at the new space (Joseph said he thinks it was left over from when Ingredient operated there about a decade ago) that inspired him to try his hand at making hand-tossed pies. One is topped with garlic prawns, but the others are more traditional: a pancetta, a pepperoni, a pesto and cherry tomato.
They’ve been a hit so far.
“I stood by the oven and made about 40 pizzas the other night,” Joseph said. “There’s some good Neapolitan in Kansas City, but not too many. We felt that this area could use an option like this.”
The space has a patio that adds another 50 seats, plus sections that can be reserved for hosting parties and other events. (Validated parking is available for guests who park in the lot at 1201 Walnut St.) It also has a full bar — another priority for the new Banksia.
“We’re down here in this area where there’s 25,000 office workers within a few blocks, all connected through the skywalk,” Joseph said. “We want to be a place for people who live or work in this hub of town and want a drink and a small bite after work. You know, don’t just go home and watch Netflix. Talk to your friends at our bar. Or talk to a random person at our bar. That’s certainly what an Aussie would do.”
