There’s a particular kind of evening that Kansas City does better than most cities, and Affäre on Southwest Boulevard has figured out exactly how to bottle it. I went on a Tuesday in late March when the rain had been going since noon and nobody felt like doing much of anything — which turned out to be exactly the right conditions for this place.
Affäre sits in the Westside neighborhood, a stretch of KC that still has the bones of its working-class German immigrant past but has been filling in with restaurants and studios over the last decade or so. The room itself is narrow and warm, with dark wood, low lighting, and maybe fifteen tables. It seats around sixty people on a good night, but on a Tuesday in the rain, we had something close to quiet. The windows were fogged at the edges. People were talking in low voices. My coat was still damp on the hook when the bread arrived.
The kitchen here is German-influenced in a way that doesn’t feel like a costume. Chef Megan Garrelts — who you might know from her work at Bluestem — runs the food program with her husband Colby, and the sensibility is about restraint and quality rather than novelty. Think schnitzel that’s actually pounded and fried properly, sausages made in-house, and sides that could carry a meal on their own. The spaetzle with brown butter is a thing I think about at odd hours. The pretzel comes with a sharp mustard that has some heat to it, which I appreciated.
On that rainy Tuesday I started with the charcuterie board — a proper one, not the kind where the charcuterie is mostly just crackers — and then had the Jaegerschnitzel with mushroom gravy. My friend had the bratwurst plate. We split a slice of the Black Forest cake at the end because neither of us was in any hurry. The pace of the meal matched the pace of the evening, which is exactly what you want from a restaurant like this.
The wine list skews German and Austrian, which makes sense. There are some good Rieslings and Grüner Veltliners by the glass in the $12–$16 range. The beer selection is shorter but thoughtful. Dinner for two, with a couple of glasses of wine each and dessert, ran us around $95 before tip, which felt fair for what we got.
Reservations are a good idea on weekends, and I’ve heard the place fills up fast for the holidays when they do their seasonal menus. But honestly, my recommendation is to go on a slow night. Go when it’s raining or cold or when you don’t have anywhere to be afterward. Bring someone you actually want to talk to. The restaurant does the rest.
Affäre is at 1911 Main Street — wait, no. It’s on Southwest Boulevard, around 1911 W. 39th Street area — you’ll want to double-check the address before you go, because this part of the Westside can be a little confusing to navigate the first time. Street parking is usually findable within a block or two. Just walk in damp and let the room do its thing.
