BY JOYCE SMITH MARCH 26, 2021
Kansas City Star Cityscape
Downtown Parkville may soon be home to several new businesses, including family operations that will offer barbecue and baked goods, as well as a coffee bar. And that’s on top of a general store and flower shop that recently opened and a gourmet popcorn shop moving to a new location.
Whitney George and her mother, Janine Wilson, planned a March 27 opening for The Baker’s Table at 115 Main St. The menu will include pies, cinnamon rolls, cakes, cookies, cupcakes, chicken pot pies, quiche, coffee and tea. “It’s been me and my mother’s lifelong dream to work side by side, to carry on my grandmother’s recipe box,” George said. “Everything is made from scratch, fresh ingredients, just your hometown bakery feel.”
Wilson had a bakery in New Mexico, where George and her four siblings grew up. George moved to the Kansas City area nearly a dozen years ago to be closer to family. A relative is married to Mike Garozzo of Garozzo’s Ristorante, and George has been a bartender at his Columbus Park restaurant. She still plans to work there once a week, while doing the bakery full-time.
Meanwhile, her father-in-law, Wardell Hooks, is in final negotiations to open his barbecue in the same building. Hooks started cooking when he was 10, adding barbecue to his lineup five years later. In 2015, when he was about 50, the UPS manager started catering Kansas City Chiefs tailgate parties. He soon expanded with a food truck. He now wants to open Off the Hook BBQ in a retail space. It would have a walk-up window serving sandwiches, baked beans and chips, along with some specials, but just Thursday through Saturday. If all goes as planned, Hooks hopes to open in May. Then he will gradually add more items such as ribs, beef nachos and chicken wings.
In other Parkville updates:
Popculture opened it's second location on 8/11/20! Visit us in Downtown Overland Park! 8004 Foster St, Overland Park, Kansas 66204