R ichard and Sheila Swift started small: selling their Cajun cuisine out of an existing bar and grill in Kansas City, Kansas, in late 2022.
Within a few months they had a loyal following.
Still, they wanted their own operation. So they paused and spent a month planning their next step. They formed an LLC, splurged on a flat top grill and took Swifts Cajun Cuisine on the road, setting up in front of a high-traffic car wash.
Cajun fried rice at Swifts Cajun Cuisine; photo by Joyce Smith
A month later, they purchased a white tent and sold their Cajun fried rice and “must have” Cadillac sauce in front of barber shops, at festivals and other temporary stops across the metro. Demand surged, so they bought another grill, and two black tents, hauling them around in their pickup truck.
“People prefer a food truck so it was kind of hard at first with the tents,” Sheila said. “But you can definitely tell that it is fresh. Such quality in a fast-paced environment, it just drew them in. People started calling us to come and set up our tent at 18th & Vine, wineries.”
In November 2023, they purchased a food truck. In June, they signed a lease for Swifts Cajun Cuisine at 3415 Main St., just south of McDonald’s, and near a future KC Streetcar stop.
EsKCobar, a Caribbean and Ethiopian fusion restaurant, formerly occupied the spot.
The Swifts have spent most of the summer gutting and remodeling the space, opening it in August with a “sultry and romantic” black-and-red decor with touches of gold, and exposed brick walls.
Interior of Swifts Cajun Cuisine; photo by Joyce Smith
Signs line a back wall, a verb and then a description: Hustle. Grind. Execute.
The signs are a nod to Richard’s philosophy.
“He is just a goal-oriented person. Just his resilience,” Sheila said. “A lot of times food trucks take a season off. We didn’t. We were out there with foot warmers, windows freezing over. It was so cold and he never stopped running.”
Swifts is known for its Cajun fried rice, which the couple perfected through taste tests with family and friends, and a few tips from their Louisiana relatives. They cook it with fresh vegetables including five types of peppers, onions and garlic, along with Cajun seasonings.
Customers can add such ingredients as broccoli, scallops, shrimp, king crab, Maine lobster, chicken or beef smoked sausage. The couple’s butter-based seafood Cadillac Sauce is a “must have” with the Cajun rice, they said. It also is sold in 16-ounce bottles.
Other Swifts Cajun Cuisine menu items include Cajun pasta, and entrees such as seafood boils, fried catfish, fried basa, chicken wings, Main Street corn (their Cajun spin on Mexican street corn), and shrimp and grits.
The Cadillac Platter is piled with king crab, snow crab, shrimp, lobster, sausage, corn, potatoes, egg and fried rice, and serves three to four people for $120.
Swifts also has fried chicken wings, and fried fish baskets (catfish or basa) with fries.
The Swifts received their liquor license Thursday and planned to have a full-bar starting this week.
“Traffic has been pretty steady, a lot of new customers,” said Sheila, who took leave from her nursing career to open the restaurant. “Midtown has been very welcoming to us here. We’ve had flowers sent to us. The support has been amazing.”
Hours for Swifts Cajun Cuisine: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays. It is closed Mondays.
Startland News contributor Joyce Smith covered local restaurants and retail for nearly 40 years with The Kansas City Star. Click here to follower on X (formerly Twitter), here for Facebook, here for Instagram, and by following #joyceinkc on Threads.
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