The brainchild of pastry chef Jessica Armstrong and chef Ryan Brazeal (late of Nobu 57 and New York’s Momofuku empire), Novel was a sensation the moment it opened. Housed in a brand-new space in Kansas City’s Crossroads Art District, the restaurant feels almost like a museum, with a 50-foot-long mosaic mural of foxes and insects running the length of an entire wall. The large granite bar is the ideal place for a pre-dinner cocktail—perhaps the K.C. Jones, made with whiskey, amaro, Suze, and sherry—while the airy dining room is perfect for enjoying such sophisticated dishes as chilled corn soup, short rib ravioli, and wild Alaskan halibut with trout roe. Whatever you order, don’t miss the desserts, which range from lemon chess pie with local black raspberry ice cream, to coconut gooey butter cake with blood orange sherbet.
