My first experience with Happy Gillis was like trying to approach a hot guy or beautiful woman in a bar, surrounded by their protective friends. Now, I have been married since I was too young to go to bars, so please understand my conception of such a thing is constructed purely from the movies. I imagine, though, it to be a lot like what happened between Happy Gillis and me. I arrived in the neighborhood, the historic Columbus Park and immediately I felt like I was intruding. Gillis is situated on the corner of Pacific and Gillis, a corner that, itself, has a lot of history behind it. The Columbus Park neighborhood, at least the part I was intruding on looked like a small European town somehow tucked away in the middle of Kansas City. A lot of this comes from the neighborhood’s beginnings, of which I was completely unaware at the time. Essentially, though, its roots are in what was Kansas City’s “Little Italy,” (Dennis, Flatlandkc.org 2021). To me, on that day, it was all very intimidating. It was a gorgeous day, one of the first of the year, and the sun bounced off the brilliant red of the brick buildings that lined the street and spoke of the community’s storied past. It was this sense of history, a history I had no knowledge of and certainly had not been a part of, that caused the hesitation I was feeling. Should I even be here? I had to press on, however; Happy Gillies was just too enticing to give up on just because I was suffering from a little lack of confidence. Perhaps I would be rejected, but I had to try.
I entered the small (and I mean small) building and again I was struck by the location’s pure beauty and again this beauty intimidated me. The color scheme of the dining area immediately stood out as it was so clean and uniform. It gave off a very warm feeling, but it was just so dang pretty that I felt out of place. I cannot say what the colors were as I am partially colorblind, so I may tell you it was a light blue, but it’s possible it was actually green. It was the way the colors worked together, however, that made it so appealing to the eye. The large windows allowed for plenty of sun to pour in, as well, so surfaces glowed, adding to the space’s charm (i.e. intimidation factor).
The next thing that hit me was the smell of frying eggs and bacon. It was like walking into someone’s kitchen right in the middle of them preparing breakfast. This only makes sense, as right next to the host at the register were chefs frying up some morning goodness. It instantly reminded me why I had come here. I had heard so many good things about the breakfast at Happy Gillis, that I had to press on.
I was not the only one who had wandered into that kitchen that morning though. It was a busy morning and the tables were all taken. At Happy Gillis, though, you order at the counter and then find your seat, so I hoped that by the time we made it through the line, something would open up. This led to some anxiety on my part, though. I like to know where I will be sitting before ordering my food, but I was prepared to be a bit uncomfortable for a chance to experience this place. So, I stood in line and began to study the menu. This is where I started to feel some more trepidation as I came closer to actually interacting with the beautiful restaurant. I felt like I needed to have my order down before getting to the head of the line. This was comppunded by the fact that there is so little space for the line and I needed to do my part to keep things going. It reminded me of the soup kitchen in Seinfield and the last thing I wanted was to get to the point of order and be told, “No beautiful food for you.”
That is where things started to turn, though. You see, Happy Gillis is quite intimidating at first glance. At least, it is to me because I overthink everything. I worry that I am out of place or that I will make a mistake ordering and it will cause an interruption to everyone else’s experience. I realized, however, that none of this was actually projected by the restaurant itself. Gillis is actually a welcoming place and does everything it can to allay the typical anxiety induced by a small hip food spot. I realized this when looking at the menu. Somehow, the proprietors here have crafted a menu that is both streamlined to allow for quick, easy decision making and yet still bursting with interesting options. My anxiety literally vanished as I looked at the menu. Where typically I would feel like there are so many good options that no matter what I picked, I would be missing out, here I felt like no matter what I picked, I would wind up with the best possible dish. Each entree on the menu had so much going for it that I felt I could not go wrong. It was a small menu, so it did not take long to get to know all of its offerings. With plenty of time to spare, I settled on the breakfast burrito, which had poblanos inside and was topped with “Crum’s smoked chile cream sauce.” I look forward to going back and trying something different next time, but I felt no sense of loss choosing this entree over another.
So, I made it to the point of order and knew what I wanted. My wife had her order ready as well. However, what I found was a staff so friendly and so good at what they do, it likely would not have been a big deal if we were still deciding. They took our order, while making us feel welcomed in their kitchen. I had made it past the intimidating set of protective friends, gotten over my fears of rejection and now what I found was that the beautiful little cafe was maybe not as far out of my league as I had thought. I became comfortable enough to make my order with confidence. Along with my burrito, I ordered a coffee and a bloody mary. We paid and then it was time to find our seats.
At that point, we had two options. None of the inside tables were available yet, but there was a little countertop and there were some tables outside. Though the sun was out in full force, there was still an early morning chill in the air, so we opted to stay inside. The counter was up against the window facing the sun and next to the line of people yet to order. It was a little cramped, but we took our seats at the counter, the feeling of being an intruder almost completely gone now. I felt relaxed, which according to the cafe’s website, is exactly the feeling the owners are going for. There is a reason the word “hangout” appears on the signage. They want you to come in and lay back. Despite my insecurities and tendency to overthink things, the staff made me feel welcome and I could simply enjoy the beauty that is Happy Gillis.
Soon, our food was brought to us and at first some of the intimidation returned. The burrito that was placed before me was literally the most beautiful burrito I have ever seen. So much so that I was hesitant to cut into it; the creme was so smoothly layered on top and had such a striking smokey color. However, cut into it I did and am happy for it. After all, if this was just a story about how I saw a beautiful cafe, worked up the guts to approach it, and then just sat and stared at it, it would be a pretty lame story. No matter how beautiful, how welcoming the place and food was, if actually biting into the burrito was a bad experience, all would be negated.
Thankfully, the flavor, the substance of Happy Gillis is its most appealing facet. Like everything at the hometown hangout, the burrito is made up of local ingredients. The ham, the chiles, everything is locally sourced and fresh. This manifests in a truly complex flavor. Typically, when you have a burrito with this many different ingredients, one or two ingredients might overshadow everything else. Not here, though. Immediately, I was struck by how I could pick out each individual flavor. The burrito consisted of sweet potatoes, poblanos, ham, eggs, cheese, and of course the smoked chile cream sauce on top. The creme was what made the burrito so beautiful, but it was the potatoes that formed the basis for the overall flavor. Each ingredient then complimented that. Both the poblanos and chile creme added a smokiness to it and the pickled jalapenos (did I mention there were pickled jalapenos on top?) added a bit of heat. Inside, the eggs and cheese added that comforting home cooked feel you need in a good breakfast burrito. It was unlike any burrito I had sampled before. It was upon my first bite that I realized there was more to Happy Gilles than a beautiful facade or a cool location in a storied neighborhood. There was amazing food here, too.
My wife went with the biscuits and gravy with a side of bacon. She can be a bit hard to please when it comes to biscuits and gravy. She is not one to be easily impressed by good looks and a healthy dose of starch. Most of the time, when I ask her how her biscuit is at a new restaurant, she just shrugs and says, “It’s Ok.” However, here, she thoroughly enjoyed her pillowy biscuits and 50/50 split of mushroom and sausage gravy. The side of bacon, which I did sample, was thick and had that perfect level of crunchiness. In fact, the bacon might be some of the best bacon I have had at a restaurant in recent memory.
With everything else that Happy Gillis has going for it, it is the excellent food that makes me glad that I overcame my own insecurities and introduced myself to the cafe, despite how out of my league it had seemed at first. Happy Gillis might seem intimidating, with its location’s storied past that reaches back to before WWII and its immaculate beauty inside and close quarters dining experience. At least, it may seem that way if you, like me, are always overthinking things and worrying that you may be out of place or not measure up. If that describes you, though, I hope you, too, manage to push past that and walk right up to Happy Gillis and introduce yourself. They are more welcoming than you might think and more importantly, the food is beyond worth it.
The “B”eer side.
In each post, I plan to talk a little about the adult beverage offerings each place has. If you’re not into this part, you can just read the post above. But, if you’d like to know what’s on tap, figuratively and literally when applicable, then this section is a good compliment to the main post.
I went to Happy Gillis on a Saturday for brunch, so it was a bit early to sample the beers they had on offer. They did have a good selection from the great Kansas City mainstay, Boulevard Brewing and another local gem, Martin City Brewing. I particularly like that they have a rotating option from Boulevard’s smokestack series. I, however, stuck to the more traditional brunch option: the bloody mary. Like all their cocktails, the bloody mary is made using liquor from J. Reiger and Co, a Kansas City distillery. The house bloody mary mix was actually pretty good. I would have liked a few more “toppings” on it. After all, if a bloody mary does not have a dang salad on top of it, I think it is kind of missing the mark, but the drink itself had a nice peppery kick, so I enjoyed it. I would also like to mention the coffee here. It is bottomless Messenger coffee so that is all you can really ask for in that department. Sure, there was no alcohol in it, so not really a “B”eer side thing, but I wanted to bring it up. There are few better ways to start a Saturday than all the Messenger coffee you can drink. Over all, it was not a long list of cocktails, but it had the ones you would expect for a brunch spot, so if you go on a Saturday or Sunday morning, you should be covered.
Eatin' to Know You, KC 