Restaurants in Merriam

Pho 2's chefs send taste buds on a tour of Southeast Asia charted by a menu of family recipes hailing from Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. Diners can start meals by sharing fresh spring rolls, ladling cups of spicy tom yum soup, or conducting blindfolded taste tests with papaya salad prepared either Thai-style or Laos-style. A rainbow of red, green, and yellow curries decorates tables alongside noodle dishes such as pad thai. Vietnamese coffee and thai iced tea sweeten palates, and, on weekends, Pho 2's chefs re-create authentic Southeast Asian desserts.

The next time you’re at Paul & Jack’s Tavern, sidle up to the bar and ask the local sitting next to you to describe the tavern’s original owners. Following an initial smile, you’re likely to be met with a blank stare. That’s because brothers Paul and Jack founded their eponymous bar and grill all the way back in 1948—a time when North Kansas City still lacked a laid-back tavern where the neighborhood’s diverse crowd could gather for live entertainment and old-fashioned American burgers and chili.

Though the tavern’s popularity has climbed steadily in the six decades since the brothers opened their doors for business, its menu remains a testament to mid-century Americana. The dining room tends to be rowdiest around lunchtime, when crowds descend to sample footlong hot dogs, deli sandwiches, and bowls of chili still made according to a 50-year-old recipe. Later in the evening, after dinners of USDA Choice steaks and deep-fried catfish, guests can head out to the enclosed back patio and throw bouquets of hot wings at the live-music performers they most enjoy.

When diners arrive at Frida's Contemporary Mexican Cuisine, they glide across sleek hardwood floors toward plush booths and tables surrounded by coral-hued walls and modern hanging lights. Amiable staff members whisk colorful dishes topped with regional spices and seafood toward their waiting taste buds. After filling their bellies with the authentically Mexican fare, guests can lounge in the bar area, harnessing enough low-alpha brain waves via nine big-screen high-definition TVs to properly digest a meal.

Mesob Pikliz's culinary team crafts authentic Ethiopian and Haitian cuisine that accommodates diners' diets with both vegetarian and meat-laden dishes. Shrimps sautéed in a mild chardonnay sauce and marinated chunks of fried goat represent the menu's Haitian faction, and spices imported from Ethiopia flavor traditional East African dishes from beefsteak tartars to stewed red lentils. The dining room's colorful artwork and bright orange walls cocoon guests in a sunny ambiance as they dine.

Since throwing open their eatery’s doors in 2006, the Wing Busters clan has made it their mission to treat every customer like family. The chefs glaze crispy wings in 46 distinct sauces and seasonings, adding doses of garlic-parmesan, hickory-smoke-barbecue, or incendiary habanero sauce that enables diners to singe their own eyebrows with a single breath. They also craft po' boys and beefy burgers to order, plus down-home sides including jalapeño hush puppies and okra.

After ordering from the counter, guests can mosey over to one of the four-seat tables speckling the snug dining area. Dangling pennants adorn the walls alongside an array of framed pictures, memorabilia-filled shadowboxes, and freshly inspected fire extinguishers.

Tim Griffin has come a long way from washing dishes. That first job gave set him on a path into the restaurant industry, which led to stints in almost every position including bartender, server, manager, and dish taster for visiting monarchs. He first used his experience to launch a catering company, and then kept evolving and founded his own restaurant, J.Bean's Gathering Place. Today, Tim—along with his wife Ibby and head chef Blair Johnson—welcome guests with a creative menu of dishes ranging from crab-rangoon dip to fish tacos. The two-level dining room evokes a warm, welcoming atmosphere with an abundance of hardwood furnishings and trim anchored by a stone fireplace. The establishment also often hosts special events, such as occasional live music on the patio.