Brothers behind Session Taco launching ‘destination Mexican spot’ in upscale JoCo dining district
May 8, 2025 | Joyce Smith
Just weeks after closing Session Taco in Leawood’s Park Place, the owners expect to revamp the prominent spot for a new destination Mexican restaurant.
Lapez Mod Mex is scheduled to open this summer at 11563 Ash St.
The former Session Taco space at 11563 Ash St. in Leawood’s Park Place, which is set to become Lapez Mod Mex; photo by Joyce Smith
Brothers Adam and Jason Tilford first opened Mission Taco Joint in the space in June 2023. It rebranded as Session Taco in September after their company was sued for trademark infringement by a tortilla maker that uses the same name.
Then Session Taco closed in mid-March when sales were underperforming.
The Tilfords also closed their South Plaza restaurant in 2024, but they have a Session Taco in the East Crossroads, as well as six in the St. Louis area.
Adam Tilford said Session Taco had more of an urban vibe, but other Park Place venues, such as Bamboo Penny’s and Aqua Penny’s, are more well-appointed and are destination locations.
“What we are creating is a destination Mexican spot,” he said. “More entree-driven. More knife-and-fork-plus, not eating tacos with your hands. Bamboo Penny’s is a great example. Not your typical Thai spot.”
Aqua Penny’s underwent an extensive $1.4 million transformation of the former Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant space before opening in Park Plaza a year ago.
Jason Tilford is working on the Lapez menu but it will include such entrees as shrimp al pastor (jumbo prawns, achiote butter, smoked pineapple, coconut rice and grilled chayote), carne asada (wood-grilled prime steak, huitlacoche butter, and chile mashed potatoes), and chile-braised short ribs with mole negro and roasted polenta.
Appetizers will include quesadillas, blue corn sopes with duck confit and chipotle-cherry sauce, and tostaditas with chile-seared tuna, jicama, pineapple, pickled radish and smoked salt. It also will have tacos.
The brothers had a similar upscale restaurant in St. Louis, the award-winning Milagro Modern Mexican, for eight years but they said it was not a convenient location for their customers. When the lease expired, they closed it to expand their popular Mission Taco Joint concept.
They will change the decor at the Leawood location and slightly alter the seating arrangement.
Previous tenants were Ingredient True Eatery and The Ainsworth. The Leawood spot overlooks Barkley Square community space.
“We absolutely love the location,” Adam Tilford said.
Startland News contributor Joyce Smith covered local restaurants and retail for nearly 40 years with The Kansas City Star. Click here to follow her on Bluesky, here for X (formerly Twitter), here for Facebook, here for Instagram, and by following #joyceinkc on Threads.
2025 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Scared away from networking events? Anti-social introverts can turn to tech
Networking strength comes in numbers — even for anti-social introverts, Jeremy A. Smith told a crowd Tuesday at Global Entrepreneurship Week. “Anti-social people, myself included, hate events,” he said. But like all other entrepreneurs, such introverts still must build and maintain actionable professional networks from which they can request and receive value, Smith said. In-person networking…
Longfellow Farm coworking the soil amid KC’s urban food desert
In a city ripe with coworking office spaces, there’s a hunger for similar environments outdoors, Ami Freeberg said. As with maintaining individual workplaces, traditional urban farming also can be isolating and expensive, the Longfellow Farm manager said. By working together, however, the collaborative process allows for shared resources, greater human expertise and, of course, more…
Procrastinating? Eat the frog, don’t chase the squirrels
On the metal wall in front of my desk, I’ve magnetically fastened a famous recommendation from Mark Twain. “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day,” the humorist from Missouri wrote. Though it can become an aspiration rather than a rule,…
KCultivator Q&A: ‘Fashionpreneur’ Jordan Williams on starting with nothing but his smile
Editor’s note: KCultivators is a lighthearted profile series to highlight people who are meaningfully enriching Kansas City’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Check out our features on Plexpod founder Gerald Smith, innovation coach Diana Kander, Victor & Penny’s Erin McGrane, SEED Law’s Adrienne Haynes, Code Koalas’ Robert Manigold, Prep-KC CEO Susan Wally and community builder Donald Carter. Jordan…