A new oyster bar is coming to Kansas City, serving sparkling wine and martinis
Oysters from “everywhere” are coming to a small L-shaped bar in the Crossroads likely before the end of the year, along with some bubbly and martinis, from a Kansas Citian who’s passionate about shucking. The Shuckers Union is from Brandon Hayden, who shucks oysters at The Parker Hollow, and his business partner Brad Barta, and it has quickly become one of the most anticipated restaurant openings in Kansas City ahead of the year’s end. It’s taking over what Hayden described as a former alley with a roof and cinder block walls, in a space where all the action — shucking, drink making, oyster and drink consumption — will happen in one room. Despite Kansas City’s landlocked, heartland location, oysters are not that difficult to find here. But a diner’s trust in an establishment that serves raw oysters is another matter, so Hayden still faces an uphill battle when it comes to convincing Kansas Citians they should eat these bivalves in the Midwest. “I really didn’t even like them when I first (worked with oysters),” Hayden admitted. “They’re expensive, they’re messy, they’re hard to do. They make my Wednesdays hard.” That was his opinion in 2021, when he worked at Coast
