Reservation for One: Red Kitchen KC

All photos by Aaron Leimkuehler

It takes a special kind of chef to get up early every day and operate a breakfast-and-lunch-only restaurant, especially in an industry that usually requires dinner service and a solid bar program to be profitable.

It takes an extra-special chef to cook something other than the traditional American breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast, choosing instead to serve eggs inside burritos, tacos, tortas, and over chilaquiles.

Alejandra de la Fuente is that chef. Always an early riser, de la Fuente gets up at 4:30 a.m. every day, and is usually at her restaurant, Red Kitchen KC, with her key in the front door by 6 a.m. The restaurant relocated at the end of 2023 from the Lenexa Public Market to downtown Overland Park. She immediately begins prepping for another busy day serving her own brand of Mexican breakfast and lunch specialties when her doors open at 7 a.m. weekdays and Saturdays and 8 a.m. on Sundays, and she doesn’t stop cooking until she closes at 2 p.m., seven days a week.

Originally from Guadalajara, Mexico, de la Fuente was working as a Spanish-language interpreter when she decided to try selling tamales under the name Red Kitchen Tamales. She crafted the tamales inside the red demonstration kitchen located at the Lenexa Public Market. After several weekends of sellout crowds, the market offered her a spot downstairs with the full-time food vendors.

Her business grew quickly. The signature breakfast burrito was recognized as one of the best in the state of Kansas by Food & Wine magazine in 2018, and she soon moved to a larger space inside the market in 2021. By the end of 2023, she realized was ready to open her first brick-and-mortar location.

De la Fuente decided on a name change when she opened in her new location directly across the street from the award-winning Overland Park Farmers Market—Red Kitchen KC: Cien por Cineto Mexicana, which means 100-percent Mexican. It was meant to express that her food was made by a Mexican woman, the way it’s done in Mexico. Recently, she decided to reclaim the original Red Kitchen KC name, using “100-percent Mexican” as the tagline to her brand, because most of her guests still referred to her restaurant as Red Kitchen KC from her days at the Lenexa Public Market.

It was a perfect fall morning when I stopped in for brunch, ready to try something other than her breakfast burritos. The scent of carne asada, onions, and potatoes cooking on the flat-top grill, along with corn tortillas, fried eggs, and coffee, wafted out to the sidewalk and pulled me right into her warm and colorful space.

Red Kitchen’s soup and platter.

The menu board is located on the wall next to the kiosk where guests order and pay electronically. I tapped the screen, deciding on chilaquiles with carne pastor and a fried egg, the chicken tinga torta (torta is a signature dish of Guadalajara), and the beef birria taco platter. To drink, it was a large, black coffee (of course) and one of the two agua frescas flavors for that day—cantaloupe or pineapple. I chose the latter.

The chilaquiles came to the table in a large round bowl, full of house-made blue and yellow corn tortilla chips assembled in layers, with supple chunks of seasoned and marinated grilled pork and onion smothered in a mild house-made salsa, drizzled with crema and sprinkled with cotija cheese. Then the process was repeated. The tortilla chips retained some of their crunch around the edges, really holding up in the bowl as the center softened perfectly from the generous spiced salsa, cooled with just a faint bit of crema and crumbly cotija cheese. Two perfectly cooked sunny-side up eggs topped it all. Once a fork dipped into the bowl, the eggs mingled satisfyingly with the pork, onion, chips, and salsa. These chilaquiles were the closest I’ve had to the real deal since my last trip to Mexico in 2022. 

The chicken tinga torta surprised me. The flavorful chicken is cooked in a smoky tomato chipotle sauce that soaks into the bolillo roll, making it deliciously soft and pliable. House-made beans and onions, shredded chicken dripping with tomato and chipotle sauce, layered with mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, jalapeños, and avocado, filled the split and toasted roll. The longer it sat the better it got. Crunchy gone soft is my favorite food texture on the planet, and this sandwich totally checked that box.

Sweet pineapple agua fresca reminiscent of the fresh pineapple juice it was made with happened to be just what I needed to complement my nicely spiced torta.

The beef birria taco platter was exceptional. Kansas City has had queso birria tacos popping up on menus since videos of flour tortillas topped with cheese and seared on a flat-top grill before getting filled with beef, goat, or mutton were first posted on social media. Two six-inch Caramelo flour tortillas are griddled, with plenty of soft white cheese, until caramelized and dotted with crunchy, dark-brown bubbles. They’re piled high with de la Fuente’s rich beef birria before topping them with a fiery salsa roja, cilantro, and chopped red onions. Rice and beans are served on the side. Instead of au jus, she serves it with bright, fresh green salsa to dunk your taco into, bite after bite.

Speaking of her salsas, de la Fuente is currently working with Kansas City Canning Company, which will produce and bottle a line of salsas made from her personal recipes under the Red Kitchen KC brand. She’s particularly excited about having a four or six-pack of her salsas available for people to pick up and take to parties or tailgating—or wherever a little spice is needed.

I don’t think it’s possible to eat at Red Kitchen KC without feeling like you’ve devoured a meal at de La Fuente’s own kitchen table, and if I can’t get all my food made with this much love and care, I don’t want it.