Kansas City cafe, bakery, market relocates and expands in old fire station south of the Plaza
Longtime Crestwood restaurant and retail shop Cafe Europa Gourmet Market & Bakery spent six months renovating a spot nearby that is now offering an expanded line of customer favorites.
It softly opened Tuesday in the 5,000-square-foot former Fire Station No. 32 at 4928 Main St., less than a mile from the Crestwood Shops.
“It really feels good. Everyone was so positive on the first day, we’ve been really blessed,” said owner Ben Cascio. “We want people to really enjoy it, to try new things.”
Cafe Europa first opened in the Crestwood Shops in 2001 as Europa! Cafe. Cascio purchased it in 2016.
When the pandemic started, his small dining room would have only seated six tables to comply with COVID-19 social distancing restrictions.
The cafe’s table and chairs went into storage. They were replaced by high-end wood shelves holding Italian pastas, olive oils, sodas and other specialty items. A cooler along one wall held grab-and-go meals and desserts.
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The concept was so successful, Cascio wanted to expand it. There wasn’t room at Crestwood so he leased the former fire station. Planet Sub/Station 32 Pizzeria had most recently operated in the building. Planet Sub relocated nearby.
Cafe Europa’s bakery has doubled in size and is centrally located in the open space, offering pies (including bourbon pecan, French coconut, sour cream apple and chocolate chess), brownies, its popular lemon cake and cupcakes, tarts, cookies (oatmeal and raisin is a popular cookie order) and Italian cookies. It plans to add cannoli later.
Along the south wall are Harney & Sons tea and tea jugs, Parisi Coffee (including a Cafe Europa blend) and coffee mugs, olive oil and sea salt crackers, organic sourdough flatbread bites and more. It also offers more Italian pasta, sauces and vinegars, and it has a table of cookbooks.
Cascio also doubled the size of the prepared food area. The cooler cases along the north wall have such items as fried chicken (formerly just a Sunday night special), chicken walnut salad, soups, lemon cakes, pies and quiches.
His wife, Shelly, has a home goods section in a room to the north with Italian dinnerware, European linens and candles.
The cafe menu includes Italian wedding soup, chili, green salad (with broccoli, avocado, cucumber, edamame, quinoa, feta cheese and sunflower seeds with a lemon vinaigrette), Caesar salad, and spinach and feta quiche.
It also has hot panini sandwiches, burgers, Reubens, BLTs, tuna salad sandwiches and chicken salad sandwiches (served with fries, soup or house salad).
Cascio plans to open a Cafe Europa in Leawood’s Town Center Crossing, 4343 W. 119th St., in September.
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