Yahoo Finance Beleaguered Westport restaurant’s new owners ‘hope people will judge us for who we are’
BeerKC, longtime Westport restaurant and bar owners, had a silent and small equity position in the famed Port Fonda restaurant.
Now they are the owners, recently closing on a deal to take over the operation at 4141 Pennsylvania Ave. for an undisclosed price.
BeerKC said Port Fonda has been closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. They plan to reopen it in early June with the same name and menu, including favorites such as spicy pork tamales, and chilaquiles.
It will be open for lunch and dinner on weekdays, and brunch and dinner on the weekend. They plan to start hiring employees by the end of the month.
BeerKC owns Mickey’s Hideaway, Char Bar Smoked Meats & Amusements and Beer Kitchen in Westport. The owners said they were “thrilled to add Port Fonda to our culinary lineup.”
“I think Port Fonda is an amazing restaurant,” said James Westphal, who has partnered with Mark Kelpe in Westport operations since 1997. “We think it is a vital part of the Westport neighborhood and we have invested so much of our time and effort into the area. It’s a great Kansas City restaurant, and we think it should stay open.”
In 2010, chef Patrick Ryan opened Port Fonda in a 36-foot Airstream trailer, hosting six-person, chef’s table dinners.
Two years later, Ryan and Jamie Davila opened the brick-and-mortar restaurant in Westport. Westphal and Kelpe served as consultants and took a small equity ownership. But they were not involved with day-to-day operations.
Ryan was a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Midwest from 2015 to 2017, and recently helped to open The Town Company in the Hotel Kansas City.
Westphal said BeerKC decided to keep the Port Fonda name, even though he acknowledged that Ryan and the restaurant were the focus of negative publicity in February over employee complaints.
“That’s the risk anyone takes when you take over a business,” Westphal said. “We hope we will be judged on our excellent food and great service. I hope people will judge us on who we are.”
Port Fonda, he said, is known as a “hipster hot spot.”
Ryan did not return phone calls or emails seeking comment.
Port Fonda also had a short stint in Lawrence.