Novel Restaurant Opening New Chapter in East Crossroads

By Kevin Collison

Novel KC restaurant will be packing up the house soon–literally–and moving from the Westside neighborhood to the East Crossroads.

After operating five years in a cozy house at 815 W. 17t St., the fine-dining restaurant, it’s actually about “Novel American cuisine” not books, is relocating to 1927 McGee St. and plans to open there April 6. Its last day in the house is March 24.

“When I moved back from New York I wanted to open something in the Crossroads,” said chef and owner Ryan Brazeal. “It has such a cool vibe with the arts scene and it’s a great spot for night life and dining.”

The new space in a former commercial building is about the same size square-footage wise as the current Novel location, but much more useable. The upstairs-downstairs nature of serving food in an old home was not easy to manage.

“This house has a lot of charm, but it’s not conducive from an operations standpoint to run a restaurant,” Brazeal said.

“The new restaurant will be more open, it’ll have a different vibe, a little more welcoming and hopefully a convivial environment…We’ll still have the quality food and service you expect from Novel.”

The Novel interior is being designed by el dorado architects and artist Peregrine Honig. (Image from el dorado)

The 3,300 square-foot restaurant interior is being designed by the el dorado architecture firm and renowned Kansas City artist Peregrine Honig.

“The 62 seat dining room features an eighty foot long tile mosaic invoking the transition and relationship of nature and day in the Midwest,” according to a description on Novel’s Facebook page.

“An intimate chefs counter will give you entrance to the workings of chef Ryan Brazeal’s updated dinner menu.”

The new space also will allow Novel to expand its menu. Brazeal said the food will continue to feature unique ingredients for adventurous diners and now pasta will be added to the offerings.

The restaurant also will include an 18-seat bar designed by Liquid Minded Concepts.

“We hope to open a little earlier for Happy Hour, and offer a lunch and brunch on weekends if there’s demand,” Brazeal said.

For now, the restaurant plans to keep the hours it had on the West Side, Tuesdays through Thursdays from 5 p.m. to 9:30, and Fridays and Saturdays from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

The new Novel restaurant location at 1927 McGee is scheduled to open April 6.