If this post looks familiar it's because it was first featured on The Pitch's musical Wayward Blog yesterday. Our wonderful music editor Jason Harper went exploring the former midtown space that was Jilly's and came away with this gem.
BY JASON HARPER
As a Westside dweller and Crossroads worker, I've been curious as to the progress of Coda, which announced itself with a "coming soon" sign in the window of the vacated Jilly's sometime last year.
Yesterday while driving by, I noticed the "coming soon" had been updated to "now open," so I gathered up the Buckle Bunny for a drop-by. Here's one view of the inside. Jilly's had its own dingy appeal, but this place is vastly cleaner and more open.
Coda's owners, married couple Dan and Annie Tutko, were happy to pause from their ongoing labors to give us a rundown of the joint's progress. The place opened a week ago, serving lunch only .
The Tutkos are still working on getting their liquor license and plan
to have it nailed down by mid-April. They decided to get all-new
business and liquor licenses rather than take over the ones from
Jilly's. They are struggling, however, to secure an entertainment
license.
The city's Regulated Industries
makes it virtually impossible to open a music venue within 300 feet of
a church. What church is within 300 feet of 19th and Broadway, you ask?
Why, a local branch of Soka Gakkai International
(SGI), a Buddhist organization. It's in the low-slung, whitewashed
building across 19th to the south of the bar. I'd parked in its lot
many a time in Jilly's' heyday and never realized it was a Buddhist
church. (Hidey-ho there, Gautama!)
Although Dan says the good people at SGI have signed consent
forms saying that it's fine with them if Coda books bands within 300 feet of
their building, the city has so far not budged. "I just got to the
point where I needed money coming in," says Dan. And that's why he and
Annie, along with their partner, local musician Clint Hoffmeier,
decided to start opening for lunch. Once the liquor license is secured
in April, they'll begin opening for dinner and serving drinks until
1:30 a.m. Without that entertainment license, they can't book bands or
DJs, but they can book solo acts. "We were thinking everything from
rock, to blues, to jazz and classical," Dan says, noting that the performing arts center may bring in an older crowd when it opens up the street.
As to the question of how Jilly's was able to book bands and
DJs, Dan thinks that its entertainment license must have been
"grandfathered in" over the course of decades of license renewals at
the location. Because the Tutkos are applying for new licenses (Jilly's
licenses would have come with too many debts attached, they say), they
are encountering these regulatory obstacles. Let's hope Coda gets a dose
of good karma quick.
As for the restaurant side, the Tutkos have worked in the
local industry a long time. Eateries on their combined resume include
EBT, the American Restaurant, Starker's Reserve and the Majestic
Steakhouse. The lunch menu now offers Beer-Battered Fish and Chips
($9.99), Lemonada Chicken Breast ($9.99), 10 oz. Pepper Steak ($15.99)
and a variety of sandwiches and burgers under $8 (pulled pork, cheese
steak, etc.).
"We should come here for lunch," said the Buckle Bunny as she and I
left. "That Mango Salmon Salad [$7.99] is calling my name."
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Finally !!!!! A very respectable establishment run by two very respectable and highly experienced hometown people!
The menu is, without a doubt, one that will please any palet! And not to mention, the wallet too! Congrats ANNIE & DAN on your fine establishemnt!!!! The people of KC raise a toast to you!
KUDO'S to CODA'S !!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
Hats off to Dan and Annie Tutko! We need new small business'es to open up and jump start our declining economy!
I, myself find CODA's to be warm and welcoming! Something so desperetely needed during a time of so much hardship. To know u can go into a place where the owners r friendly and the food is great! This also is
accompied with reasonal prices. And later in the evening join friends and family for an evening of great awesom local music and drinks!
The Tutko's with their determination and fresh ideas bought a run down, out of date place like Jilly's and gave birth to a new and refreshing atmosphere.
CODA's will bring nothing but positive and great times to the area.
This new and exciting place is just what local people need at this time in our country. Hopefully other small business owner's will also take risks to get KC back to what it once was.
A fun and memorable place where people can gather for homestyle hospitality, great food, and talented local music, And don't forget that drink! I say, " GO CODA's~GO CODA's
I agree. The KC city gov't is being un-American, out of touch with reality, and pig-headed.
All too often religious organizations due to their choice of locations for their place of worship or in this case, meditation, hinder what makes this country great. Hard work. People who don't work for themselves simply do not realize how much hard work it takes to run a small business.
In this case the buddhist orgainzation, SGI, it appears has even said they don't even mind and signed consent forms to that effect only to be blocked by the KC city gov't staunchly supporting and outdated law on the books.
Don't you just wish you had someone who could quickly review this types of laws and say, "Yeah, your right, this is stupid" and quickly strike it. What kind of sense is this? So is this area within this 300' radius now permanently off limits until they decide to move?
Just makes you want to wring somebody's neck like the pious dumbass who wrote this law and then at the same time the clerk who can't relate and won't help out but just sits their collecting their bi-weekly paycheck off our tax dollars, and yet just sits their saying, "So sorry, can't help, now leave." Ughhh! Makes me want to puke every time I encounter this type of nonsense.
This is just what makes you love the government bureaucracy.
Can't have a music venue within 300 feet of a church? How long has this law been on the books? Is it possible to license a music venue within 300 feet of a hospital or a day care center? If so, how is such a law still warranted? Religious organizations already have enough protection under the law. This rule is arbitrary and it hinders commerce.
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