Quay Opens at The Nelson & Other Weekend Possibilities

Quay Coffee is holding its grand opening at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (4525 Oak St.) from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. The new coffee bar is in the Block building, and they’ll have a latte art station for the next generation of baristas (i.e. children) and a photobus GIF booth. This is the second spot for Quay. The original location is at 412 Delaware St., Suite B, in the River Market.

Decadent Dessert Bar (5661 W. 135th St., Overland Park, Kansas) is celebrating National Cupcake Day in style. Friday is the day to honor cupcakes — feel free to shun or embrace them the other 364 days of the year according to your innate cupcake instincts — and Decadent Dessert Bar is giving away cupcakes from 4 to 6 p.m.

BKS Artisan Ales (633 E. 63rd St.) is holding its grand opening at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. Keep an eye peeled for Holstein, a coffee milk stout. Canihaveabite will be serving street tacos and KC Pretzel Boys will have pretzels, too. Fringe Beerworks (224 SE Douglas St., Lee’s Summit, Missouri) celebrates its first anniversary this weekend. Don your best ugly sweater for the contest that kicks off at 1 p.m. Saturday.

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The fifth 39th Street Holiday Party is Saturday from 4 to 8 p.m. Grab a cup of hot cider, take a photo with Santa or Mrs. Claus, and enjoy live carols (6 to 8 p.m.). The party is at Prospero’s Books (1800 W. 39th St.).

If you need to snag some local goods for the holidays, Park Place is hosting a Handmade Holidays Pop-Up Shop (11555 Ash St., Leawood, Kansas) through Dec. 31. The store, curated by Dragonfly Gourmet Goods, features Yummylicious cookies, Just Enough Heat hot sauce, Heartland Honey, the Bacon Explosion, Scoby Masters Kombucha and Papperdelle’s Pasta, among others.

The best cocktails may very well start in the garden. Powell Gardens hosts “Making Spirits Bright: Boozy Botanicals, Live Jazz and Holiday Lights,” from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday. Tom’s Town Distilling Co. will be on hand to talk about how botanicals feature into their spirits, particularly gin, and you can enjoy live jazz and an appetizer buffet. Tickets, which include two cocktails, are $50 ($75, if you opt for the bus leaving from Kauffman Gardens at 5 p.m.).

The Holiday Winter Wonderland at Union Station is from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday (as well as next Saturday, Dec. 23). In addition to the festive atmosphere inside, check out the Astro Botanical Garden exhibit in the Haverty Family Yards. The exhibit is a series of eight inflatable sculptures ranging from eight to 15 feet tall, that are lit in holiday colors. The Holiday Winter Wonderland and Astro Botanicals exhibit are free.

Fall in love with Havana at the Papa Sociale Cuban Pop-Up Dinner from 6 to 9 p.m. Sunday at La Bodega (4311 W. 119th St., Leawood, Kansas). Dive into Cuban cuisine (seafood soup, fried plantains, ropa vieja (slow braised beef) and guava flan), get a freshly rolled cigar, and a signed copy of former Kansas City Star scribe Steve Paul’s new book, “Hemingway at Eighteen: The Pivotal Year That Launched an American Legend.” The Cuban tasting menu is $35 per person.

Hogshead Kansas City opened last week at 4743 Pennsylvania Ave. in the former California Pizza Kitchen space on the Plaza. Eaters with an interest in history should also note that this address was also a Houlihan’s (the very first location) for more than three decades. The Hogshead menu is new American with local touches: KC Canning Co.’s hoppy pickles on the cheeseburger, chorizo from Broadway Butcher in the cornbread for the Eggs Benedict. The executive chef is Clark Grant, who Plaza diners might recognize from his time at Capital Grille.

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