Editor’s note: The following is from the Let’s Dish newsletter from KC Food Insider Katelyn Umholtz, published weekly on Tuesdays. Let’s Dish also publishes on Fridays from restaurant reporter Jenna Thompson. You can sign up here to get them delivered to your inbox.
Welcome back to Let’s Dish — an inside look at food and drink in Kansas City. I’m Katelyn Umholtz, The Star’s Food Insider.
If you prefer oat or almond milk in your latte, you’re probably accustomed to always paying more for your caffeinated beverage. But would the idea of some coffee shops dropping that charge make you a loyal customer? I get into this slow-but-growing trend below.
Fans of fall and Halloween will appreciate one KC bartender’s recommendations for On the Menu this week. Despite the warmer weather this week, I’m following her advice and drinking some hot apple cider this weekend (probably not in a chunky sweater, though).
Let’s dig in.
Free dairy-free milk
It’s kind of a revolutionary idea to not charge for dairy-free milk. A decade ago — before oat milk was even readily available in cafés — you paid extra for a milk alternative in your latte. You might have found it frustrating, but it was the standard. The way of the world for those of us who are lactose intolerant, vegan or not consuming milk for whatever reason.
But in the last few years, the concept of charging for dairy alternatives has seemed to wane, especially among new coffee shops opening (and in Kansas City, there are always coffee shops opening.)
A barista at Blip Coffee Roasters pours oat milk for a latte on Friday, October 2, 2026, in Kansas City. The coffee shop is one of several shops in Kansas City that offer alternative milk free of charge. Dominick Williams dowilliams@kcstar.com
I spoke to multiple coffee shop owners who have made the decision, either as they opened their doors or within years of being in business, to no longer charge customers extra for wanting dairy-free milk in their coffee. It coincides with more customers ordering dairy-free milk, especially oat milk, for their lattes.
But it’s not an easy decision for all cafés to make, and despite it being a trend, it’s slow-moving here in Kansas City.
Bailey Wilson’s favorite bites
Goat and Rabbit’s lead bartender Bailey Wilson loves this time of year. The produce, the temperature outside and Halloween all help to make fall her favorite season.
So the cocktail bar on 39th Street is kind of the perfect place for her to have landed two years ago. The crew goes all out for Halloween with their Nightmare on 39th Street pop-up, and both the pop-up and house cocktail menus have received the autumnal treatment.
When she’s not dressed up as a witch behind the bar, making dark red cocktails in blood bags at Goat and Rabbit, here’s where she goes to really take in autumn in Kansas City — for the few weeks that we get to enjoy it.
Here are a few of Wilson’s recommendations:
Chambre Coffee: OK, yes, coffee and tea are year-round beverages, but there’s nothing better than cradling a mug that contains a tasty hot drink inside of it, outside on a porch during a beautiful fall day. Great news: You can order Wilson’s drink of choice as a hot beverage, a banana caramel matcha. “Chambre Coffee has the best matcha in the city.”Louisburg Cider Mill: Wilson is now the reason I have weekend plans off of a state highway in rural Kansas. Hot apple cider and fresh cider doughnuts are fall musts, and this cider mill has both of them. “All you can smell when you get there is fresh-baked doughnuts and hot apple cider.” There are also apparently baby goats, as if you needed more convincing to go here. .jpeg "doughtnuts food 050417 tll (8)")
Louisburg Cider Mill’s doughnuts are “very simple and sometimes people are surprised at how simple they are, but in their simplicity they’re just really, really tasty and hard to only eat one,” owner Josh Hebert says. Tammy Ljungblad tljungblad@kcstar.com
You can get more recommendations from Wilson. Want your recommendations featured here? Drop me a line!
À la carte
✴️ A Kansas City-area taproom is closing after only a few months. The owners said the business was “done wrong,” reports my colleague Jenna Thompson.
✴️ For the first winter ever, French Custard will close for the season. But do not fret: There are pop-up plans in store for the colder months.
✴️ It started with a TikTok video where two girls called one local coffee shop “demonic.” Kansas Citians flocked to the shop to show their support instead.
Eat like a food reporter
How does a Kansas City food reporter eat each week? Well! Here are the food and drinks I’ve enjoyed recently:
Sesame grilled chicken salad from Billie’s Grocery: My hedonistic ways would have me eating comfort food daily — pizza, oysters, steak — but I must force myself to find salads every once in a while. Luckily Billie’s Grocery is around, and it’s become my go-to for actually tasty healthier meals when I’m feeling sluggish from my food-focused job.
Pastor tacos from Carniceria Y Taqueria San Antonio Katelyn Umholtz/The Star
Tacos from Carniceria Y Taqueria San Antonio: Everyone says they’re the best tacos in the metro. And while I haven’t been to every taqueria in KC, I believe the people are onto something with San Antonio. It’s my second time at the KCK grocery store-restaurant, and this time I gave my tacos a more liberal dousing of the slightly spicy avocado salsa. This is the way.
Double cheeseburger from Disco Burger: OK, back to hedonism. If I could really have my way, I would eat this meal — a double smash burger and fries from Disco Burger — most days of the week. I shouldn’t, but I nearly do.
Hungry for more?
Happy eating! We’ll see you next time.
The Kansas City Star
Katelyn Umholtz is The Star’s Food Insider and covers Kansas City’s restaurant scene and food and beverage news. She comes to Kansas City from Boston, where she was an award-winning food and restaurant reporter for Boston.com and the Boston Globe Media Partners. She has worked in newsrooms across the country for nearly a decade as an education journalist, breaking news reporter and editor. Katelyn is a graduate of the University of Georgia, where she studied journalism.
