New Small Business of the Year

Tucked away in Merriam, off of Johnson Drive, is a little gem of a restaurant: Anita’s Cuisine. Just named by the Hector Barreto, Sr. New Small Business of the Year by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Kansas City, Anita’s Cuisine is a small, but mighty, local restaurant, owned and operated by a family not afraid of a little hard work and dedication to REALLY good food!

Anita’s has been open for a little over a year. The Rodas Family moved out to Kansas in 2006. Anita, the matriarch of the family, was working two jobs – kitchen manager in the KCK school district and Walmart and her husband was working two jobs as well. Anita had a dream though and wanted to open a restaurant to honor her family’s heritage and recipes that she had learned by heart from her grandmother. When presented an opportunity to open their own restaurant, the Rodas family took it!

Anita and her daughter Steffanie quit their jobs and opened the door to Anita’s on June 3rd, 2015. The whole family, with Hugo, Anita’s husband and Brian, their son helps out now when they can as well.

Anita and Hugo moved out to the United States in the 1980s from El Salvador when the civil war was at its worst. This did not make Anita shy away from her roots. Anita’s Cuisine serves both Mexican and Salvadoran food. Since their opening, they have pushed to grow the business and was recently named “salsa champion”  Viva los Reales as well as the Small Business of the Year.

A New Place for Taco Tuesday (Or any other day of the week!)

14264099_968236319966562_6663653421585178566_nSpeaking of the salsa, it’s delicious, as is the rest of the “breakfast all-day or lunch” menu. Anita’s Cuisine is open Monday through Saturday from 6:30am-3:30pm, offering authentic, fresh options for breakfast and lunch. We loved the Egg, Potato, and Chorizo Burrito and at $3.00, this is a breakfast you should not miss! Looking for a new Taco Tuesday spot? $1.00 Tacos are the special with the choice of the crispy ground beef and chicken tacos. Chips are homemade and all menu items are made fresh daily. Catering and private events also available. Prices are very reasonable and the service is friendly, always with a smile. Great local spot, small, clean and cozy with delicious food and awesome prices- perfect!

Find Anita’s Cuisine on Facebook and Instagram as well as Yelp. #EatLocal #SupportLocal #PromoteKC

The “Local Finds” section of Promote KC is a new feature, finding the small but mighty local owners in KC and highlighting their products. Think you have a Local find worth mentioning? Contact us at [email protected] and we will check it out! Please follow us on Facebook,Twitter and Instagram to see stay up-to-date with all things Kansas City. 

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Hope Malone-McPheeters is a blogger, teacher, mom, and advocate in Kansas City. She is a contributing editor for Promote KC because she loves Kansas City and the entrepreneurial spirit within our city! She is also a contributor to blogs on Ella's Hope for Autism and Autism Support Now Behavioral Services. Hope has two children, Ella and Luke and lives in KC with her husband Sam and children.