Today we’d like to introduce you to Jasper Mirabile.
Hi Jasper, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In 1954, my father, Jasper Mirabile Sr., started Jasper’s with my grandparents in the Waldo neighborhood of Kansas City. It was a little Italian restaurant with just 12 tables, but to our family, it was the beginning of something very special.
My grandparents had come to Kansas City from Sicily, bringing with them the traditions, recipes and love of food that had been passed down through our family. My father was young, but he had a vision. He wanted to create a place where people could enjoy the food he grew up eating and where everyone who walked through the door would feel like family.
There was nothing fancy about that first little restaurant. Just 12 tables, a kitchen, good food and a lot of hard work. My grandparents worked alongside my father, and everyone pitched in. The restaurant was a family affair in every sense of the word.
My father believed that if you started with good ingredients, cooked with passion and treated people right, they would come back. And they did.
Over the years, Jasper’s grew, but we never forgot where we came from. The recipes, the traditions and the philosophy my grandparents brought from Sicily are still a huge part of who we are today.
I grew up in that restaurant. Some of my earliest memories are of being around the kitchen, watching my father and grandparents work, listening to stories and learning that a restaurant is about much more than putting food on a plate. It is about hospitality, family, tradition and creating memories.
What started in 1954 with my father and grandparents, in a little 12 table restaurant in Waldo, became a family legacy that continues today.
I am incredibly proud to be the next generation carrying that torch. Every plate that leaves our kitchen is connected in some way to those early days, to my grandparents, to my father and to the little restaurant where it all began.
Seventy two years later, I still think about those 12 tables.
That little restaurant may have been small, but my father had a very big dream.
And somehow, all these years later, we are still here telling the story, cooking the food and keeping the family tradition alive.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Business was not always great. It was a struggle back in 1954. Didn’t even have a door knob on their house front door. But over the years, my father saved and saved and continued to add onto the Restaurant and travel to get new ideas and bring back many new menu items and started winning awards in business became much better. At one time we were Kansas City’s only four star Italian in the restaurant in one of the top 10 restaurants in North America.
We’ve been impressed with Jasper’s , but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Jasper’s is more than a restaurant to me. It is my family’s story, a story that began in 1954 when my father, Jasper Mirabile Sr., opened a small 12 table restaurant in Waldo with my grandparents. They came to Kansas City from Sicily with a love for food, family and hospitality, and those traditions became the foundation of everything we do. What started as a little neighborhood restaurant grew over the years, but the heart of Jasper’s has always remained the same.
I grew up in the restaurant, watching my father and grandparents work and learning from them every day. I learned that Italian food is not about making things complicated. It is about great ingredients, time honored recipes and putting a lot of love into what you do. It is also about bringing people together. That is what my father understood from the very beginning, and it is something I have carried with me throughout my life. When you walk into Jasper’s, I want you to feel like you are walking into our home.
Today, Jasper’s continues that tradition while always looking ahead. We still make many things the way my family has made them for generations, while continuing to create new dishes and experiences for our guests. After all these years, I am proud that what my father and grandparents started with 12 tables has become such an important part of Kansas City’s food history. For me, Jasper’s has never simply been a place where people come to eat. It is a place where families celebrate, friendships are made, stories are shared and generations come together around the table.
We have grown over the years to now having a live radio show on Saturday mornings, Live! From Jasper’s Kitchen on KCMO Talk Radio, a catering company and we have written two cookbooks. We also have our products on the market, including our Italian salad dressing and tomato sauces.
What does success mean to you?
It’s not about how much your sales are or how many people you do every night it’s about the relationships we have made over the years especially when great grandparents come in with their great grandchildren and tell us stories about their past at Jasper’s and now they are introducing our Restaurant to their children. 72 years in a business and we have something that we like to tell all, it’s MITH, Mirabile in the house and is always a Moley this Restaurant from the time it opens until the time it closes. That’s why it’s been for 72 years.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jasperskc.com
- Instagram: Jasperskc
- Facebook: Jasper’s Restaurant & Marco Polo’s Italian Market
- Twitter: Jasperskc
- Youtube: Jaspers YouTube Channel.
