While much of the media's attention on Leawood has been focused on the growth of the 119th Street corridor and its high-end restaurants like North and Sullivan's, it's 15 blocks away at 105th and Mission where many of the local restaurateurs are staking their claims. New development Mission Farms is slowly building up a number of local outposts such as Blue Koi and Blanc Burgers & Bottles.
While in the area to get a peek at Joe DiGiovanni's new restaurant Zest (more on that restaurant soon), I looked across the center to see a lovely coffee and pastry shop called Natasha's Mulberry & Mott.
Mulberry and Mott are the names of two streets in New York, and Natasha refers to Natasha Goellner, the pastry chef and French Culinary Institute graduate who owns the business along with her mother Vicki Goellner. The name should sound familiar to 39th Street corridor residents.
The Goellners moved Natasha's Mulberry & Mott from 39th Street and Genessee in the spot where the
also-just-opened Duchess of Flanders is now. They opened in this new location just two weeks ago.
"The reason for the move
is partly because our customer base is more out here [Leawood] and
partly because this gives us so much more space -- three times as much,
which means we can have more items and also have more stuff like a full
espresso bar," Vicki explained to me. "Don't forget ice cream," Natasha
added. Natasha went on to explain that while the store doesn't have
ice cream yet, it will soon. "I'm waiting for this special machine
with four legs, but there's a back order."
In addition to the pastry and coffee shop, the Goellners also
make wedding cakes out of the back, but "that's a different beast,"
Vicki said. "We see that as a different business." While there is a wedding cake in the window, the focus inside the store is all on pastries.
While seating is somewhat limited inside, the chairs looked like
something out of Alice in Wonderland to me. "That's actually a ghost
chair by Phillipe Starck," Vicki corrected me. In the summer, there's
seating out front; in the winter, for couples, the store provides blankets
to snuggle under while you drink coffee outside.
As for the food itself, it's boutique pastry goods. Chestnut croissants cost $2.25, and goat cheese croissants go for $3. A
cream puff pistachio is $4, which is also the cost of one of the
huge, red, fluffy handmade raspberry marshmallows.
Natasha's Mulberry & Mott is located at 10573 Mission Road and is open
from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30
p.m. Sunday. Its phone number is 913-341-0300. -- Owen Morris
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