KC Perky

You Say Tomato, a corner grocery-turned-coffee shop and diner serves a select few items, but has selected well. Appearing to be a combination of an urban living loft apartment and a coffee shop, YST will delight your senses and sensibilities. Just a few blocks south of UMKC’s Dental school in the Longfellow neighborhood, YST bakes better than Mom, brews coffee meticulously, and lives by the notion that the customer is their best friend.

As you enter the bright tomato red front door, you will probably guess wrong: it’s a push, not a pull. Don’t let the handle fool you. After passing that trial, you are greeted by 9 dining room tables of various sizes and shapes, each surrounded by their own matching style of chairs. Just as dining rooms are suited well to families sharing their days and having a meal, these tables are perfectly suited to friends catching up and having a bite to eat. But that isn’t where the family approach to this coffee shop stops- as you continue towards the counter, you’ll pass through the YST pantry, reminiscent of when this building was the Weneck Bros corner grocery store. Feel free to pick up some noodles, fruit, or butter on your way through. Had you taken the other path to the counter, you would pass by the current art being shown in the YST rotating gallery.When you finally approach the cash register, the real charm of You Say Tomato shines through: the politeness of the staff, Michael, Mark, and Randy.

I will mention the coffee last, but it is certainly not least. Even without all the above, the coffee alone could land this shop squarely on this top 10 list. I have never had a mocha with so much attention to detail paid to it, until I went to You Say Tomato.

[map for You Say Tomato]

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 7th, 2008 at 9:03 am and is filed under shop, top perky picks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.