On Thursday night, Stephanie Cashion looked around her new restaurant and was nearly moved to tears.
Inside the downtown Shawnee space, she said, the restaurant was full of customers connecting with each other over drinks and small plates.
The experience had been more than two decades in the making for Cashion. After learning about Spanish culture at a young age and then getting to visit the country, she said she fell in love with Spain’s focus on community — particularly the way that food brings people together there.
“It’s a healthier approach to food — it’s not the sit down and clean your plate kind of situation,” she said. “The goal is not even necessarily in the food or the drinks — both of which are very important, of course — but it’s about getting the community together.”
She knew she wanted to emulate that culture back on her own home turf.
So she and her business partner, Bryan Albers, teamed up to execute that vision.
After a lengthy remodel, their new tapas restaurant and bar, Gildas Bar de Tapas, softly opened its doors in downtown Shawnee last week.
Gilda’s opened at 5815 Nieman Road
- The restaurant and bar moved into a space just off Johnson Drive and Nieman Road in downtown Shawnee, near cocktail bar Wild Child and bar and grill Hank’s Garage.
- The space previously housed offices for a funeral home, which closed sometime in 2021.
- During its soft opening phase, Gilda’s will be open three days a week — from 4 to 9 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Gilda’s specializes in Spanish-inspired small plates
Gilda’s is still in the process of rolling out its menu gradually, which features a variety of tapas, or small, savory dishes and appetizers.
The restaurant’s name itself comes from a type of tapa — a dish served with olives, peppers and anchovies.
Jake Gable, chef de cuisine at Gilda’s, said some of the stars of the Gilda’s menu are the signature Gilda’s house dip (a sweet roasted red peppers and almond dip), the Catalan bikini sandwich (with Serrano ham and mozzarella), fried eggplant, char-grilled lamb chops and beef tenderloin.
On the libation side, Gilda’s offers a variety of craft cocktails — from bourbon chocolate espresso martini and signature Gilda’s margaritas to “strawberry smash” gin and tonics.
“Our ingredients are great, and we work hard to make sure everything tastes fresh,” said Emerald Rook, lead bartender at Gilda’s.
This is not Cashion’s first restaurant
Before opening Gilda’s, Cashion owned and operated multiple other eateries in the Kansas City area, including breakfast restaurant The Glass Cat in Bonner Springs.
By being in downtown Shawnee, Cashion said she and Albers are excited about the support that Gilda’s has already received from other restaurants and bars in the area.
“They support us, and we support them,” she said. “In this area, there’s a little something for everybody.”
Ultimately, Cashion said, food is an art form. It’s one that lots of people can appreciate, she said, and it’s one that can help people bridge the divide between them.
That’s what Cashion said she hopes to achieve at Gilda’s.
“If you’re not sharing food with a stranger in this room, I’ve done something wrong,” she said. “I want everybody that’s been divided over everything to just come back and talk about what really matters.”
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