Over the last few years, Penny and Doug Mufuka have gone from simply being restaurateurs to full-fledged empire-building entrepreneurs, having opened five restaurants, and closed one, since the launch of their first restaurant. They credit their good fortune to offering good food and taking the right opportunities at the right time.
The couple has also built a loyal team, including the managing partner, Michael Werner, an industry veteran, and Jenn Tosatto, the beverage director for all the restaurants, adding her wine knowledge and cocktail expertise.
As newlyweds, the Mufukas opened their first restaurant together, Thai House, in south Kansas City in 2013. Next, came the cute and casual KC Thai at 135th Street in 2020. That same year, they also opened a Mexican restaurant, Str-Eatz, just a few doors down from Thai House.
After that came the opening in 2021 of their signature “Penny’s,” Bamboo Penny’s, which features a coveted rooftop bar and outdoor patio in the heart of bustling Park Place in Leawood. The location had been sitting empty for several years, and the Mufuka’s used that leverage to make their move into the highly trafficked spot at the height of the pandemic.
In 2022, they sold their interest in Thai House and spent the next two years preparing to open Aqua Penny’s, their upscale, coastal-inspired seafood spot across the street from its sister concept, Bamboo Penny’s.
Although we are only three months into the new year, the couple just opened Penny’s in the Village, a new Thai street-food restaurant, to rave reviews.
The buzz is legitimate. Their inspired choice, Penny’s in the Village, located on the edge of The Shops of Prairie Village, was a stroke of pure marketing genius. The beauty of this location is that it’s cradled between the Mission Hills mansions and cute bungalows filled with young families. Everyone’s looking for places to dine out that are close to home. It’s the perfect generational soup that has benefited so many places that have opened in that location.
Inside, those familiar with the other Penny’s will recognize the handiwork of Penny Mufuka, who has a keen interest in “fauxliage,” or faux flower arranging, and Penny’s in the Village is no different. In this small space, the added greenery gives the space a lush, almost tropical vibe.
The entire restaurant is bathed in three different shades of green—walls are clad in hues of light green and moss green, while chartreuse chairs dot the space. The main bar area immediately pulls you in with a dramatic sculpted ceiling replete with a flock of tiny glass birds in flight.
The bar serves a selection of American and Asian beers, Korean soju, and an affordable but quaffable wine list. It also offers a corkage fee if you want to bring in your own bottle. Tosatto is having the most fun here with the list of nonalcoholic and crafted cocktails, such as the Lemongrass Basil Margarita and the Fig Around and Find Out, made with whiskey and fig syrup.
The food menu at Penny’s in the Village is similar to Bamboo Penny’s in Park Place. There’s the intentional addition of more shared plates and Thai street-food dishes, which will make this location the perfect date night and happy-hour destination. For a taste of the newer menu items, stick to the appetizers and street-food dishes.
Wraps, rolls, and dumplings dominate the shared-plate menu. The refreshing spring rolls, crafted of soft rice-paper wrappers filled with seasoned ground chicken, thin, bean-thread noodles, tender lettuce, crisp bean sprouts, and cilantro, are a fine start. Served alongside are a creamy peanut sauce and a spring-roll sauce dotted with finely chopped peanuts. It’s an easy way to get your vegetables, especially when dunked into one or both of the sauces.
Next, a flurry of dumplings descended on the table. Traditional dumplings filled with your choice of ground chicken or pork can be ordered steamed or pan-fried. The pan-fried arrived with a perfectly crispy, golden char on each side. A quick bath in Penny’s Thai ponzu sauce benefited the slightly under-seasoned chicken.
The gloriously grape-colored chor muang, or Thai flower dumplings, named for their vibrant color and floral shape, are painstakingly handmade using pea flower-dyed dough that gives them a royal flush of purple. Here, these traditional Thai dumplings have a slight chew to them, plump with a sweet-and-salty tuna and peanut filling, an inspired choice that made these dumplings taste as special as they looked.
Penny’s curry puffs, considered a snack in Southeast Asia, are petite hand pies served two to a plate. Each pie is filled with a mildly spiced, bright yellow curry colored from the turmeric coating the bite-sized bits of chicken, onion, and potatoes in a deep-fried, golden-brown pastry shell.
Which brings us to one of my favorite Thai dishes, laab. The salad is an almost iconic representation of all of the flavors found in Thai food wrapped into one dish. Laab is filled with seasoned and cooked ground meat, either pork, chicken, or beef, which is tossed with a trio of fresh herbs (mint, cilantro, and basil), dried chilis, salty, savory fish sauce, tart lime juice, and sliced shallots, all dressed in toasted ground-rice powder, uniting the flavors into a single dish that’s served atop shredded green cabbage. The medium spice was perfectly balanced for my palate.
The Thai street-food menu was curious, mostly entrée dishes not previously seen on Penny’s menu, so maybe this is where Penny and her team will be able to have some fun and dip into more regional Thai specialties. The krapow moo krob is fat shingles of deliciously crispy house-made pork belly sautéed with bell peppers, all coated in Thai basil sauce and served with a fried egg alongside steamed rice.
After eating dinner at Penny’s in the Village, I came away from my meal wondering: Are Penny and Doug Mufuka successful because they have opened the right restaurants, at the right time, and in the right places? Or are they successful because they day-in-and-day-out deliver excellent Thai food, seafood, and even tacos that meet or exceed their customer’s expectations? The answer is a resounding yes!