Coming to midtown KC: Champagne and small plates. Next: French bakery, an Asian spot

After opening The Russell and Tailleur restaurants on Main Street with a partner, Heather White is branching out again with two more concepts on the midtown stretch.

Cheval brasserie is scheduled to open at 3940 Main St. in mid-August. It will offer wines by the glass or bottle, champagne, handcrafted cocktails, small plates and desserts. It will seat about 35 people.

White was a competitive equestrian show jumper starting at 9 years old, and the name — “cheval” is the French word for horse — is in homage to her love of the animal and the sport. While Tailleur also has horse prints and saddles as part of its decor, Cheval will have a Gatsby theme with hunter greens, dark wood and chandeliers.

“It will be a place to go have drinks and light eats,” White said. “People always want to change scenery before or after dinner. To come to meet friends before going home.”

Oddly Correct Coffee and Transit Coffee formerly occupied the space.

Menu items will include Persian olives (marinated in walnuts, pomegranate molasses and herbs), tapenade spread (field greens, cherry tomatoes, capers and Parmesan), marinated mozzarella, shrimp cocktails, cheese and charcuterie plates, smoked salmon, and hummus with heirloom carrots.

Desserts will include dark chocolate panna cotta and rosemary lemon shortbread.

White also will open a French bakery and marketplace, Enchante, at 3934 Main in mid-September. There will be a couple of seats for dining in but it will be more of a to-go operation.

“We created this kind of triangle. I can just walk across the street,” she said.

White opened The Russell, at 3141 Main, with Amante Domingo in 2017. A year ago, they expanded, opening Tailleur at 3933 Main.

They pivoted for the pandemic. It was so successful they opened another KC restaurant

Now in a “friendly parting of the ways,” White said she owns Tailleur while Domingo is owner of the Russell.

“We’re both very proud of each other. We just wanted to keep expanding our businesses and felt it would be much better if one business had a single owner,” White said.

Meanwhile, Domingo plans a new concept a few blocks east of Main.

He leased the former Bond’s Chicken & Blues spot at 334 E. 31st St. for Noka restaurant, offering “passively Asian” cuisine. It will have a Japanese farmhouse decor and use old barn wood from the farm where he grew up near St. Joseph. He is still working on the menu and design but hopes to open by the end of the year.