First look: Chef behind Strang Hall favorite Anousone brings his popular Laotian fare downtown
March 19, 2024 | Startland News Staff
A new menu option at the Strang Chef Collective at lightwell hits familiar flavors for diners who already have fallen in love with renowned Chef Anourom Thomson’s Southeast Asian-inspired comfort food, said Shawn Craft.
Anousone at Strang Chef Collective at lightwell; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
Anousone — a popular staple with the Strang Hall food hall concept in downtown Overland Park — has opened a new location within lightwell’s Strang pocket restaurant space. It joins Panacea, a New American bistro, in the two-concept, 4,805-square-foot food and beverage setup, which features additional outdoor seating along Main Street in downtown Kansas City.
“We know that the Central Business District is hungry for fast-casual lunch options that are also chef and season-driven,” said Craft, CEO of Strang Chef Collective. “It was a no-brainer to expand this popular concept into multiple locations.”
Anousone’s menu draws from Laotian-born Thomson’s journey as a refugee who found solace in his mother’s home cooking, according to Strang Chef Collective. The eatery provides a unique blend of flavors that pay homage to Laotian cuisine while incorporating Thomson’s extensive experience in American fare.
Click here to check out what’s cooking at Anousone.
“I am thrilled to announce the grand opening of our new restaurant at Strang Chef Collective at lightwell,” Thomson said in a press release. “This additional location will feature customer-approved dishes that meet our high-quality standards and reflect our commitment to providing an exceptional dining experience for busy professionals.”
The new space opened March 11.
Chef Anourom Thomson, Anousone
Strang Chef Collectives — a platform for local culinary talent and food entrepreneurs to showcase their skills and provide authentic chef-driven experiences — has locations in Downtown Overland Park, Downtown Kansas City, and the historic Country Club Plaza.
RELATED: Plaza’s two-floor, chef-driven food hall and late-night hangout now open
Thomson first launched Anousone’s Mobile Cuisine in 2017 within the Little Piggy food truck hub on Southwest Boulevard.
At Strang Hall, he has been an inspiration for his fellow chefs, which notably include his former sous chef Chris Jones — who now runs Khai-Noy, a Southeast Asian within Strang’s Plaza location — and Chef Ameet Malhotra — who recently opened Elephant Wings at Parlor KC in the Crossroads.
Featured Business
2024 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
City Market eats: Master roaster hopes hungry Kansas Citians will flock to Murmuration
A new eatery and cocktail bar that now shares a space with the popular City Market Coffee Roasters is designed to reflect a vision of bringing people together, fostering connection, and embracing the diversity that makes the City Market so special, said master roaster Nikole Ammer. Plus, the people are hungry — from day to…
Chamber showcase fills Union Station with real-life social networking for small biz owners
Entrepreneur Dane Moss likes to do things a little over the top, he shared Wednesday from inside the Grand Hall at Union Station, noting that simply handing out T-shirts and koozies to event attendees simply doesn’t fit his style. So for his first KC Chamber Small Business Celebration Candidates’ Showcase, Moss and his team from…
1 Million Cups relocating back to Kauffman Foundation, renewing weekly meetup’s energy, sense of purpose
After more than six years connecting entrepreneurs in Midtown, 1 Million Cups Kansas City is returning to its roots — relocating the weekly event series April 9 to the Kauffman Foundation Conference Center where the now-coast-to-coast morning meetup series first percolated. Changing the brew for the Wednesday entrepreneur pitch showcase came from the same voices…
Why the Savannah Bananas founder is coming back to KC (with a tip of his hat to winning leadership styles)
Jesse Cole isn’t afraid to reimagine the way things are done in business, he shared, and his brand of Banana Ball is paying off. In the past nine years, the ringleader of the Savannah Bananas — baseball’s answer to the trick ball-handling and exhibition athleticism of the Harlem Globetrotters — has gone from selling his…