Something new is cooking at the site of a former taco shop in Leawood.
The Missouri-based owners of Session Taco closed the eatery’s only Johnson County location earlier this year. But the lights won’t be out in its former space for much longer.
Soon, brothers and restaurateurs Adam and Jason Tilford plan to open their upscale Mexican eatery, Lapez Mod Mex, in its former space at Leawood’s Park Place.
If all goes to plan, then the restaurant could open in late July or early August, Adam Tilford said.
Lapez Mod Mex is coming to 11563 Ash St.
- The restaurant will occupy a space at the Park Place shopping center, next to Panache Chocolatier and the green space that also doubles as the Ice at Park Place each winter.
- Session Taco (formerly Mission Taco Joint) occupied that space for roughly two years before its closure.
- Regular hours for Lapez Mod Mex have yet to be finalized.
Lapez Mod Mex will serve “higher-end” Mexican cuisine
The menu is still being finalized, but Adam Tilford said it will differ from the “southern California-style” Mexican cuisine for which Session Taco was known.
Instead, Lapez Mod Mex will offer entrees like carne asada (wood-grilled prime steak, huitlacoche butter and chile mashed potatoes) and chile-braised short ribs (mole negro and roasted poblano polenta).
The restaurant will also serve appetizers like “Mexico City style” quesadillas (crispy corn masa turnovers with goat cheese, huitlacoche, wild mushrooms, crema and cilantro-pepita pesto) and tostaditas (corn tortilla with chile-seared tuna, jicama, pineapple, pickled radish and smoked salt).
In contrast to Session Taco, Adam Tilford said the new concept will complement the “higher-end” atmosphere of Park Place’s surrounding restaurants, such as Thai eatery Bamboo Penny’s, French bistro Aixois and 801 Chophouse, a little bit more.
“I think people in the (Leawood) area are looking for a little more refined experience, more entree-driven,” Adam Tilford said. “It’ll be nicer ingredients, using things like micro-cilantro and micro-greens. Just a little more upper-end feeling.”
Some minor interior renovations are underway to make the space a bit “cozier” — a couple more booths with partition walls between them, and some new decor.
Lapez Mod Mex has similarities to a previous venture for the owners
Though Lapez Mod Mex is technically a new concept, it’s not the first of its kind for the owners.
Prior to opening the first Session Taco (called Mission Taco Joint at the time), the Tilford brothers owned and operated a “higher-end” Mexican restaurant in St. Louis called Milagro Modern Mexican.
The restaurant, offering a “modern take on Mexican food”, closed its doors in the spring of 2018. So in a way, Adam Tilford said, Lapez Mod Mex feels like a return to their roots — and it’s a chance for Jason Tilford, who is also the restaurant’s head chef, to exercise a wider range of his culinary skills.
“That was our kind of where we made our name,” he said. “(We’re excited to) show the Leawood and Overland Park area what we can do, from a culinary perspective.”
Want more food and drink news? New ‘dirty soda’ shop Swig in the works in Overland Park — Here’s when more are coming
