This family-owned restaurant is a Kansas City icon — and my new favorite steakhouse

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Jess & Jim’s Steakhouse , a third-generation family-owned and operated restaurant in south Kansas City, makes everyone, even first-time patrons, feel like part of the family.

I recently made my first visit to the 86-year-old steakhouse and was blown away by the welcoming staff, homey space and best steak I’ve ever had.

Though I just recently learned about Jess & Jim’s after it was named one of the “most legendary steakhouses in the South” by Southern Living magazine, the restaurant has been recognized for its excellence many times before.

Jess and Jim’s Steakhouse at 517 E. 135th St. opened for business in April 1938 by Jess Kincaid and Jim Wright. It first came to national fame in 1972 when Playboy Magazine published an article about the restaurant. Nearly 30 years later, Playboy named Jess & Jim’s one of the top 10 steakhouses in the world. The restaurant’s menu pays homage to the magazine with the Playboy Strip , described as “25 oz. of pure beef goodness.”

Since that first Playboy feature, Jess & Jim’s has made multiple lists of the best steakhouses in the US and the world, including a Yahoo ranking in 2016 that put Jess & Jim’s alongside steakhouses in Las Vegas, New York and Paris.

“I looked at my son when that came out and I go, ‘Now you’ve gotta top that. You gotta be a top 10 steakhouse in the universe.’ He goes, ‘I don’t know how you do that.’ And I go, ‘Well, I don’t know, but you better figure it out,” said Mike VanNoy, nephew of founder Jim Wright and now-owner of the restaurant with his wife, Debbie.

This tough love and drive to uphold a family legacy is part of what makes Jess & Jim’s the legend it is today.

Pictures of the family from past decades line the walls of Jess & Jim’s, alongside plaques in honor of long-time customers, thanking them for their patronage.

Mike and Debbie’s daughter Ashley Fancher, who manages Jess & Jim’s alongside her brother Mike Jr., recalled what it was like growing up in the restaurant.

“You have a whole other family here on top of your actual family,” Fancher said.

Upon entering Jess & Jim’s, I was hit with a wave of nostalgia for a time and place I had never been that felt oddly familiar. After being greeted by the giant Hereford statue on the roof of the building, my dining companion and I were seated by a young hostess, who I later learned was Mike and Debbie VanNoy’s granddaughter.

While other steakhouses might bring out a basket of bread when you’re seated, Jess & Jim’s serves plates of house-made pickled beets — something I had never tried before.

Debbie VanNoy told me the story of their origin. Wright’s Aunt Mame, a cook at the restaurant, used to make pickled beets and give them out to diners. After learning that pickled beets are an antioxidant and support digestion, Wright decided they would serve pickled beets to everyone, so if their customers digested their meals well, they’d want to keep coming back.

So that’s just what they did.

“People will either say they love them or they taste like dirt,” Debbie VanNoy said.

I thought the pickled beets tasted surprisingly sweet, slightly sour and acidic, but smelled like… well, dirt. Sliced up on my salad, per Debbie’s advice, was much more palatable.

To start our meal we ordered the appetizer sampler ($16.99), which includes breaded chicken wings, homemade onion rings, and gouda mac and cheese bites, served with marinara and ranch dipping sauces.

The onion rings are, like everything on the menu, made in house and battered and fried for a light, crispy texture. The wings have a crunchy breading and meat that falls right off the bone. However, the real star of the sampler was the gouda mac and cheese bites. The melty cheese and tender macaroni are encapsulated in a crunchy breading, making them perfect for dipping and popping .

My stomach is sensitive to fried foods, so the rings and wings weren’t my favorite, though I cannot deny they were delicious. On my next visit, I would skip the sampler and go straight for the mac and cheese bites ($12.99) or try the Sante Fe egg rolls ($13.99).

For my main course, I got the 10-ounce KC strip steak ($36.99), cooked to a perfect medium. Like any respectable steakhouse, Jess & Jim’s won’t serve well done steaks — the menu says so.

Mike VanNoy said he heard stories that his uncle Jim, co-founder and namesake of the restaurant, would come out of the kitchen to the dining room and “educate” people if they ordered their steak well done.

I sliced into my steak to inspect it, and was pleasantly surprised to find a soft, pink center, cooked just enough to keep blood from dripping on the plate while staying deliciously tender. The house seasoning highlighted the quality of the meat and had each bite bursting with flavor.

Every meal comes with homemade garlic toast, a house salad and choice of a side. For my side, I opted for the twice-baked potato, which is loaded with butter, cheese, bacon and sour cream (an extra $1.50 to make it loaded, but well worth it).

Debbie brought us a bowl of the steak soup to try ($7.99 for a bowl, or a $2.99 upgrade for your salad) which reminded me of a slow-cooked pot roast, with tender beef that falls off your fork, plus carrots and potatoes.

As each course made its way to our table, I only wished I had room in my stomach for more. I kept wondering how I hadn’t heard of this place sooner, and when I would get to come back next.

With simple, traditional dishes, a place like Jess & Jim’s is easy to overlook. You can get a steak and potatoes just about anywhere, after all. But one bite was all it took for me to see why Jess & Jim’s has withstood the test of time.

Though we were both stuffed from our meals, which we each took about half of home to eat leftover, my dining companion and I ordered the carrot cake, because I could not leave without trying it.

The carrot cake, which Fancher bakes from scratch each week, is served chilled with a caramel cream cheese frosting. The cake is rich, dense and deliciously spiced, and makes for a perfect finale to the meat-and-potatoes dinner.

As we ate our meals, Debbie VanNoy reminisced on how many happy memories have been made at Jess & Jim’s.

“Everybody that comes here and has been coming here for years has really fond memories, and they’re happy memories,” Debbie VanNoy said.

But more than anything, it’s the family legacy that keeps Jess & Jim’s running.

“Dad wanted to be a top 10 steakhouse in the United States, and he hit that,” Mike VanNoy said. “But Uncle Jim, he just wanted a great Steakhouse in Kansas City, and he did that.”

Mike VanNoy said he tells his kids, “This place is a living, breathing entity. If you don’t take care of it, it will not take care of you.”

Mike VanNoy Jr. knows there will be a day when he takes over the restaurant from his parents.

“We’ve been open for 86 years, and on the fourth generation, it’s kind of what motivates you to keep it going,” VanNoy Jr. said.

“I just always hope I can make my dad and my grandpa proud. That’s where it always lands.”