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Resturants

MISSION TACO JOINT: SOUTH PLAZA

Mission Taco Joint:
South Plaza

5060 Main Street
Kansas City, MO 64112

SERVICES
Architecture
Interior Design
Custom Fabrication

Occupying a storefront on the first floor of a residential building, Mission Taco Joint’s South Plaza location is the second Kansas City outpost of St. Louis’ popular restaurant. The owners selected a 3000 square foot space that had a long, shallow footprint, so a mezzanine was necessary to accommodate the right seating-to-kitchen ratio. Since it was new construction, our design team opted to embrace the natural elements of the building — concrete, exposed beams, and glass — because those textures complement the Mission Taco brand so well.

We tucked a compact bar at the entry, and lined the expanses of glass on the first floor and mezzanine with seating to take advantage of the natural light and views. A custom wood storage crib floats underneath the stairs to the mezzanine to effectively use that space. The restaurant features SPACE-fabricated tables, wall cladding, booths, backbar, steel booths, and even custom light fixtures above the bar. Like the other Mission Taco locations, local artists painted murals in the space: David Keith’s work is featured in the first floor dining room, and Brew Lamb’s (aka Spaceship Zulu) work is on the second floor.

I have worked with SPACE on all Mission Taco Joint stores. They helped me create the architecture which embodies the brand MTJ, and helped lead to our success. I like working with them because of our productive collaboration to continue to improve our store, both functionally and aesthetically. For our latest MTJ-Kirkwood, by far our largest location, I used SPACE both for design and construction. It is without a doubt our most beautifully detailed MTJ.

— Adam Tilford, Owner, Mission Taco