Dining With Flair at Third Street Social

We were looking for a restaurant, that presented dining with flair, in downtown Lee’s Summit. We decided to visit Third Street Social, which is located at 123 SE 3rd Street. Third Street in downtown Lee’s Summit, Missouri offers up an eclectic collection of dining opportunities. Burgers, tacos, wings, bar grub, pizza, and many other food groups are presented in around two dozen locations. All of these are in this downtown area, and all within a short walk from each other. It would be safe to say that just about every level of dining option is covered. Here you will find anything from fast food joints to fine dining restaurants.

The Dining Space

The restaurant resides in Arnold Hall, which was originally built in the mid-1940’s as a manufacturing facility. The building is on the National register of Historic places. Inside you will find an exposed beam ceiling, plush booths, and a large open kitchen. Guests can relax on leather sofas, which flank the fireplace. Nearby the bar area features shining metallic accents. Our visit was to test a couple of their savory dishes, so a dinner reservation ensured we would find seating on a Friday evening. Since we had sampled an appetizer at the bar next door, we bypassed the shareable options offered here.  We did take note of a couple of interesting items, like Korean Steak Tacos or Queso Fundido, for a future visit.

Our Choices

Crystal had noted the Truffled Grilled Cheese sandwich, and asked our server about the amount of mushroom flavor. After a short discussion on the topic, she returned to the menu to select an alternate. The server had mentioned that Tomato Bisque was the soup of the day. I knew it would make an excellent accompaniment to the Truffled Grilled Cheese sandwich. Ordering them together made for a classic American restaurant meal. I could hardly wait to taste the combination. The soup was creamy, and had a nice basil undertone. It had plenty of body, and was a great compliment to the sandwich. The Third Street Social grilled cheese is made with Taleggio, Fontina, and white cheddar cheeses. The addition of Telaggio brings a fruity tang to the sandwich, and compliments the fairly pungent Fontina.

Crystal finally picked her second choice, the Chicken Pot Pie. The chicken is braised with a red wine, which adds a heartier flavor to the dish. The filling is covered with a homemade pastry, which is crisp and flaky. After our orders were placed, the server rushed back to our table to tell Crystal that there were mushrooms in the pot pie. A decision was made to forge ahead with her choice. She was pleasantly surprised that the mushroom flavor she dislikes was not apparent in the finished product. We had been testing drinks and foods throughout the afternoon, so we found ourselves too full to eat much of our dinners. I knew that soup is difficult to transport, but Crystal desired to have the remaining portion of her dinner boxed up for later. By the way, it made for an excellent lunch the following day.

The Extras

Our server asked if we would like to see the dessert offerings. We thought it would be good for us to see what was available. Although we were stuffed, the Pecan Pie was a very tempting treat. After just a quick deliberation, we decided to pass. I’m confident that we will savor these on a future visit. The presentation certainly helped with the appeal. Our server assured us that they tasted every bit as good as they look.

Back on the street, we spoke for quite some time about the fabulous dinner we had just enjoyed. Owners Domhnall Molloy and Andy Lock have hit another home-run. This is their third restaurant in the Kansas City metropolitan region. The open air feel makes Third Street Social an appropriate name, and the place can get a little loud when full. The menu features a scaled back number of options, compared to its sister site, the Summit Grill in Waldo. We are sure over time the made from scratch offerings will increase, but we hope that the attention to detail remains. As long as they stay true to this concept, then we expect many years of success.