Since the mid-1990s, I’ve called it my happy place—the freestanding store on the northwest corner of 119th and Roe in Leawood, Kansas that bears the unmistakable block letters/ampersand of Dean & DeLuca. That familiar signage heralds the culinary Disneyland awaiting customers beyond the store’s double glass doors.
Located in a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, the store represents more than a retail outlet of an iconic gourmet emporium whose flagship is in New York City. Leawood’s Dean & DeLuca punctuates the cycles of my life, the changing of the seasons, the celebrations of family and friends.
It’s a refuge when I’m sad and need a bit of Christopher Elbow chocolate to realign my attitude; holiday headquarters when I’m stocking up on recipe ingredients and gifts; a satellite office where I sip espresso drinks and dunk biscotti in the café when meeting clients. It’s the first place I go to restock my spice cabinet and replenish my olive oil can. It’s my fast food of choice, where I order a Caesar salad to go so I can watch the employees theatrically toss the perfectly dressed greens in the air and then plop them into a container. It’s my tasting kitchen where I sample the latest in cheese and charcuterie. It’s my source for countless hostess gifts—tea towels, tins of tea, a truffle shaver. It’s the place that, when my husband was ill with terminal cancer for two long years, our support group went to keep our refrigerator shelves filled with sustenance.
Acquaintances outside Kansas City, from both coasts and in large cities, are surprised—sometimes downright incredulous—when they learn that a Dean & DeLuca is located 15 minutes from my home.
“In Kansas, really?” they ask, and then query again to make sure I heard them correctly. “The real Dean & DeLuca? In Kansas?”
Truth is, Kansas City is a foodie destination that is gaining national prominence—James Oseland announced on the Today show in late December that KC will have its food moment this year, Zagat and Fodor’s wax poetic about KC chefs and restaurants and Frommer’s hails it as one of the top travel destinations in 2012. Anthony Bourdain put Oklahoma Joe’s, a Kansas born-and-bred barbecue joint, on his bucket list of 13 places you have to eat before you die. People here are sophisticated in their tastes, and know what they like. We have James Beard chefs, celebrity chef-owned restaurants, food trucks, mixologists, world-class ethnic food, coffee roasters, pop-up restaurants…and Dean & DeLuca.
Dean & DeLuca has painstakingly built its reputation and brand on quality—and boutique labels. Shop the aisles of the Leawood store and you’ll discover artisan foods produced in the region—some as close as 5 minutes away—cheeses, chocolates, cookies, sauces.
Leawood general manager Tony Foley and his staff, including assistant manager Brandon Henderson, executive chef Kevin Johnson and packaged foods manager Emma Bland, comb the area for locavore products that meet Dean & DeLuca’s stringent requirements.
For the lucky folks in the Heartland who get to shop Dean & DeLuca every day—buying the best in artisan products from around the world, including Kansas—there really is no place like home.
If you’re ever in town, look me up. I’ll meet you at the Leawood Dean & DeLuca café for a latte and biscotti. My treat.
-Kimberly Winter Stern
photo by: Danna R. Suellentrop
Day in the Life: Leawood Dean & DeLuca
Prepared Foods: Executive chef Kevin Johnson and his kitchen staff start in the early morning hours, cooking from scratch the 40 – 60 items in the case, plus the soups that are offered each day. Chicken salads with Dried Cherries and Apricots and Lobster Dip are among the most popular prepared food items.
Candy: Glistening apothecary jars are filled with a Willy Wonka parade of sweet delights, including gummies, licorices and malted milk balls. According to packaged foods manager Emma Bland, the double-dipped malted milk balls are a customer favorite.
Crowd Control: On any given Saturday, the Leawood Dean & DeLuca will have at least 1,000 customers who purchase from one of its departments, bakery or café—and that doesn’t include the sightseers. Add another 1,000 during the holidays and you have one of Kansas City’s most popular food destinations.
Customer Service: One of Kansas City’s top customer service gurus is behind the prepared food counters. Ric Delaney knows his regulars—thousands of them—by name and food preference. And cashier Barb Hilber, who has been ringing up sales for nearly 13 years at the Leawood Dean & DeLuca, has a fan club. Like Delaney, she knows her customers well—and they line up at her station to chat and catch up as she’s taking of business.
On the Locavore Trail
General manager Tony Foley and assistant manager Brandon Henderson keep the Leawood Dean & DeLuca shelves filled with handpicked local products from Kansas and Missouri small-batch food manufacturers. Saturday is sampling day at the store, when two or three products are featured, often with the food artisan on hand. Here are some popular items.
Bob’s Biscotti from Benish’s Bakery
Kansas City, Mo.
These all-natural cookies for grown-ups are a favorite with shoppers at the Leawood Dean & DeLuca. Thin enough to nibble but sturdy enough to dunk, the line of biscotti includes The Citrus, which combines lemon and orange zests and oils, Cognac and spices.
Christopher Elbow Artisan Chocolates
Kansas City, Mo.
The No. 1 chocolate sold throughout Dean & DeLuca nationwide during the holidays is this award-winning, highly touted luxury product from chef Christopher Elbow of Kansas City, Mo. The signature white boxes wrapped with a silk chocolate-colored ribbon contain divine, handcrafted pieces made from top-shelf ingredients such as 100 percent Venezuelan bean chocolate, French lavender and Grand Marnier. Christopher Elbow chocolates are tiny works of visual art that have garnered the acclaim of connoisseurs the world over.
Landeria Goat Cheese
Olathe, Kan.
Kathy Landers raises every one of her 100 American Alpine goats in Olathe, a Kansas City suburb; she has what she dubs a “close herd.” Landers gets close to 130 gallons of milk daily from her goats, and makes hard and soft cheeses, including the Farmstead Cave-Aged Goat Cheese that’s available in the Leawood Dean & DeLuca cheese case.
Grinders Signature Hot Sauces
Kansas City, Mo.
Chef Aarón Sánchez of “Chopped” and “Heat Seekers” opened up a restaurant five minutes from the Leawood Dean & DeLuca store called Mestizo; he has fallen in love not only with Kansas City, but also with local artist, entrepreneur and foodie Stretch Rumaner’s line of searing hot sauces. The store carries this line of palate-challenging sauces that customers use on chicken wings, in barbecue dishes, as marinades and dipping sauces, including Wimpy, Molten, and Near Death.
Overland Park, Kan.-based freelance writer Kimberly Winter Stern writes travel, food, lifestyle and design. Also known as the gregarious and cuisine-informed Kim Dishes, listeners tune in weekly for her on-the-road segments on “LIVE! From Jasper’s Kitchen,” a popular Kansas City radio food show. Prolific in eating, writing and discovering, this foodie satisfies an innate desire to sample the world’s gastronomic rainbow by meeting food artisans and trendsetters, gaining insight into the culinary points-of-view of everyone from cheese makers, chocolatiers and chefs who set their city’s locavore pace to farmers who are passionate producers. Stern is a sought-after writer, with work appearing in Better Homes and Gardens, Unity, KANSAS! Magazine, 435 South magazine, KC Homes & Gardens, Generation Boom, Shawnee Magazine, KC Magazine, KC Home Design, KC Business and Midwest CEO. Stern is a national blogger for the Dean & DeLuca Gourmet Food Blog where she cooks, styles, shoots and writes about life and cooking … and loves to lick the bowl clean. This writer may have been given product and/or other compensation from Dean & DeLuca for this post.
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Comments ( 2 )
What do your friends say when they find out that it's headquartered in Kansas too?
@dantheman1977 added these pithy words on Jan 17 12 at 11:32 am That happened after the store opened in the 1990s in Leawood…I'm not sure that people know where the distribution and corporate HQ are.
Kimberly Stern added these pithy words on Jan 17 12 at 1:46 pm 
