Joy Jacobs’ new R Bar leads West Bottoms revival

A Jewish entrepreneur has transformed the old Sutera’s restaurant, across from The Golden Ox and Kemper Arena in KC’s West Bottoms, into the stunning, new R Bar that is winning rave reviews from local foodies.

Joy Jacobs, former proprietor of the Yako Gallery in Westport and midtown’s Nutty Girl juice bar, called on some of her art-world friends, including John O’Brien of the nearby Dolphin Gallery, to help her transform the well-worn, family-owned shotgun bar into something that is both contemporary and timeless. For instance, O’Brien, who is an expert framer, used bits of salvaged wood to construct what bartender Shawn Moriarty calls KC’s longest bar at 37 feet. And artist Archie Scott Gobber helped out with the décor, which includes several large representations of the place’s namesake letter, some salvaged from outdoor signage.

Jacobs explained that the name R Bar is an abbreviation of her first idea of a name for the place — the Royal Bar, after the nearby American Royal livestock and horse, etc., show.

“It’s also kind of a play on the words Our Bar,” Jacob said.

She bought the building at 1617 Genessee St. from the Sutera family back in January, and spent most of 2009 tearing down the 30-plus-year-old interior and building it back up.

The idea for R Bar came from Jacobs’ sojourn in the San Francisco area, where food culture is raised to high art. She came home and began to think about opening her own upscale casual restaurant. She hired Alex Pope, a veteran of the American Restaurant kitchen staff, to be her executive chef and City Tavern veteran Moriarty to tend bar.

Pope’s version of American cuisine tends to employ seasonal ingredients, sometimes in unusual combinations. For instance, his sweet potato bisque comes with pickled figs and dollop of cinnamon crème fraiche. The chicken pot pie is made with meat from the Campo Lindo Farms in Lathrop, Mo. But not everything is regional. There are seafood dishes, after all, like octopus and crab cakes.

Pitch restaurant reviewer Charles Ferruzza e-mailed his thoughts on R Bar:

“I’ve only eaten there once, but it was great,” Ferruzza wrote. “My comment would be that Joy has done an unbelievable job turning the old Sutera’s restaurant into a magnificent space that looks as if it had been there since the heyday of the Stockyards. It’s sophisticated and laid-back at once.”

For her part, Jacobs wants to help lead the gentrification of the West Bottoms.

“That’s why I came down here,” she said. “It was an affordable building.”

Since R Bar opened a few weeks ago, Jacobs has been arriving at 9 in the morning and working until the wee hours. She’s the scheduler, buyer, hostess, waitress and, when need be, bottle washer, if not chief cook. She also books the bands R Bar has been hosting on Thursday and Saturday nights.

“It’s the hardest thing I have ever done,” Jacobs said. “It’s more exciting and fun, but it makes retail look easy.”

Jacobs has gotten satisfaction as word of mouth on R Bar has spread, drawing increasingly large crowds. Last Friday at lunchtime, almost every seat in the place was full.

R Bar, 1617 Genessee St., is open for lunch and dinner Tuesday through Saturday; closed Sunday and Monday. For reservations, call (816) 471-1777. For more information, visit RBarKC.com.

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