Downtown restaurant fires up the summertime bar and grill in former KC Daiquiri Shop
June 25, 2025 | Joyce Smith
It’s a few days into AJ’s Bar & Grill’s soft launch in downtown Kansas City.
A private VIP room at AJ’s Bar & Grill on Grand Boulevard in downtown Kansas City; photo by Joyce Smith
Managing partner Matthew Hill stands by the kitchen window, fielding lunch orders for both to-go, dine-in and delivery (he was running some orders to nearby offices in sweltering 90-degree-plus temperatures).
Inside the new Grand Boulevard restaurant: it’s cool and low-lit, with customers gathered at the bar and couples cozying up at tables.
The menu at 1116 Grand Blvd. — the former KC Daiquiri Shop — includes such loaded baked potato options as The Brisket with hot or cold cheese, sauteed onions and a choice of sauce; the chicken with butter, cheese, pico de gallo, sauteed onions, sour cream, green onions and parsley; and the vegetarian with butter, broccoli, sauteed mushrooms, bell peppers, onion, cheese and sour cream.
Early this week, many AJ’s Bar & Grill customers were opting for the freshly grilled Philly cheesesteaks. The spot also features burgers, wings, wraps, salads, tater tots and fries, and loaded tater tots and fries.
View this post on Instagram
Hill’s family has been in the restaurant business for years. He worked for his father’s Raytown barbecue restaurant, ran concession stands, and was a store manager for a couple decades. He is now regional vice president at Primerica.
He also aided promotions for the previous tenant, KC Daiquiri Shop, and liked the space’s proximity to the Power & Light District. He spent about three months renovating it. It has two VIP rooms with glass walls looking out to the main dining room, a full bar, and 16 TVs with more coming (he likes the vibe).
A grand opening for AJ’s Bar & Grill is scheduled for Tuesday, July 1 with drink specials and more.
“I want to make my dad proud and I get a chance to inspire people, to show them what we can do,” he said.
The bar and grill is named using the initials from the middle names of two of the three business partners behind the venture: Hill, his fiancée, Larissa Grayson, and Grayson’s cousin, Diana Ogilvie. (The women have full time jobs and help out in the evenings and weekends.)
“We wanted to be a place where people can come in to watch the game, to enjoy good food,” he said. “A friendly place to have a great time.”
Hours are set for 10 a.m. to midnight Mondays through Saturdays, and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays.
KC Daiquiri Shop closed in late 2024 after “six incredible years.”
On a Nov. 25 Facebook post, the owners said: “We have faced a slow economy, challenges with local and state government, and ongoing legal battles with neighboring businesses that have been less than supportive.”
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
$1.6M grant will create incubator for low-income, minority entrepreneurs
A large federal grant will help reanimate an older industrial building in Kansas City to serve as a small business incubator. The U.S. Economic Development Administration recently awarded a $1.6 million grant to the Hispanic Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City, Missouri. The Kansas City organization said that the grant should create about 90 new…
Kauffman report: KC ranks 28 out of 40 in entrepreneurial growth
Fewer Kansas City companies are growing to become medium- or large-sized firms, according to a report released Thursday by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. It’s a common story across the U.S., as the nation rebounds from the slump of the Great Recession, the report says. The 2017 Kauffman Index of Growth Entrepreneurship report suggests the…
Housing trends show young professionals don’t care about Troost’s stigma, UC-B says
Lance Carlton initially was skeptical of developing east of Troost Avenue, he said. “But the mentality of the market has changed,” said Carlton, co-managing partner of UC-B Properties, which brought its offices to the 4300 block of Troost in August 2016. The company helped prove an appetite for residential development on the corridor with 19…
Mac Properties plans four-corner food startup village at Armour and Troost
Mac Properties’ Kansas City arm wants to turn a “sleepy intersection” on Troost into a four-corner incubator for thriving residential and restaurant activity. The vision is to create a “food startup village” as the foundation of the development, which would bring 400 new market rate apartments to Armour Boulevard and Troost, said Peter Cassel, director…