Cosmo Burger brings its mouth-watering tots, boozy milkshakes to East Crossroads’ bustling streets of eats

Bringing Cosmo Burger to the Crossroads required cousins Atit and Jugal Patel to cook their plans to perfection, serving up the brand’s first full-service brick-and-mortar location after years of trial by griddle.

Inside Cosmo Burger XR in the East Crossroads; photo by Joyce Smith

The result: a beefed up version of the owners’ original concept in one of the city’s most popular dining and entertainment districts.

“This is such a big jump up for us,” said Atit Patel, describing the journey to Cosmo Burger’s newly opened location at 1815 Locust St. “This space is more than doubling our total square footage. So a lot to digest.”

It’s near such popular East Crossroads draws as Grinders Pizza, HITIDES Coffee, iTap Xroads, Kata Nori Hand Roll Bar, King G bar and delicatessen, Parlor KC food hall, Take Care by OLEO coffee and more; and Session Taco.

“Other people say, ‘Oh there’s competition.’ But it’s synergetic to be around other great brands,” Patel said. “Where are these great pockets of bars and restaurants to be a part of?”

Cosmo Burger XR’s soft launch rust today through Sunday with a grand opening slated for July 7-11.

Cosmo Burger XR in the East Crossroads; photo by Joyce Smith

Pressing into a longterm rollout

Cosmo Burger had a humble beginning — smash burgers and tater tots — served out of a tiny kitchen in a Waldo bar. Launched in October 2020, the strategy was mostly to boost to-go cocktail sales at Dodson’s Bar & Commons during the pandemic.

The owners — founders of 916 Hospitality LLC, the parent company of Cosmo Burger, Dodson’s, and Goat & Rabbit on the West Side — brought in Chef Jacob Kruger who was partial to the smash burgers he’d grown up eating.

Jacob Kruger at Cosmo Burger within Dodson’s Bar and Commons in Waldo, 2022; photo by Channa Steinmetz, Startland News

Kruger spent a few weeks trying the competition across town, then testing recipes until he came up with the perfect combination: a ball of quality ground beef from Herzog Farm in Higginsville, Missouri, pressed into a piping hot flat-topped grill with onions, then stacked on a buttered Roma Bakery potato bun — a choice of single, double or triple patties.

The idea: Craft not just a burger, but a burger so good bar visitors would have to tell everyone about it.

Standard toppings include housemade pickles, cheese, and its special sauce (complementary, not overwhelming like ketchup, Kruger said). Customers also can add bacon, lettuce, tomato, and chopped chiles. It also has a Beyond Meat burger, vegan cheese, and vegan sauce.

From the archives: How this Waldo burger stand crafts the tastiest patties in the cosmos

At first Cosmo Burger just placed orders for 20 pounds of beef, but then it was 25 pounds, then 30. The mostly to-go operation offered tater tots instead of fries since they travel better. 

Three years ago, the Patels opened a kitchen in Lenexa Public Market to see if Cosmo Burger’s “tight menu” could draw its own following. It was so successful they began planning a standalone restaurant in a 13,000-square-foot building they bought in the East Crossroads in 2024.

RELATED: Cosmo Burger expanding to standalone Crossroads spot, smashing into brand’s longtime brick-and-mortar dream

The Lenexa location closed in April as the owners ramped up construction on Locust Street.

Mari Matsumoto, beverage director at Cosmo Burger XR, crafts a milkshake at the bar; photo by Joyce Smith

Shaking up the menu

With 1,700-square-feet of the space reserved for Cosmo Burger XR, the restaurant has room for a full bar and boozy milkshakes.

Smash burger, tater tots and milkshake at Cosmo Burger XR in the East Crossroads; photo by Joyce Smith

Beverage director Mari Matsumoto (formerly general manager at Goat & Rabbit) has concocted such treats as the Elvis Shake with Dirty Monkey peanut butter banana whiskey, vanilla ice cream, banana, milk and chocolate, and topped with two strips of bacon.

“We’re kind of bringing back the classics,” she said. “Phosphate sodas and milkshakes were the staple of old school diners.”

The treats come with or without alcohol, as well an option for vegan ice cream from Sweet EMOtion KC.

Cosmo Burger XR also has two house-made seltzers: a tequila-based prickly pear (a vibrant purple color), the other is more like “Cosmopolitan in a seltzer” so they are calling it a Cosmo Seltzer.

“One I’m getting a lot of love for is the pickled Margarita with Cosmo pickle juice and topped with our Cosmo pickles,” Matsumoto said. “It’s good for all the pickle lovers out there.”

The menu includes gluten-free buns, the brand’s signature tater tots, and newly introduced fries. Desserts include chocolate chip cookies with sea salt and cinnamon crunch tots.

It will later offer burger specials such as Waldo’s recent Olive My Love — Cosmo Burger’s take on a regional Minnesota burger topped with a creamy, briny olive sauce.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, and 11 a.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays. 

The cousins hope to open Arrow Dart Club, a technology based dart experience, in September in 8,300 square feet of the building. They are looking for a tenant for the remaining 3,000 square feet.

They also plan to keep to the same slow and steady pace they took with Cosmo Burger’s expansion.

“In probably a year we will be looking for our next project,” Patel said. “We don’t have anything in Kansas at this point but we plan to be back. I don’t know which concept but we will be back over the border.”

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.