Jasper’s Italian Restaurant
The original Jasper’s Italian Restaurant location is at 75th and Wornall and the south Kansas City Jasper’s Italian Restaurant is on 103rd Street.
Jasper’s Restaurant was designed by Matthew Connolly, A.I.A. of MDC Architecture. He incorporated many items from the old restaurant on 75th Street including carpet, mirrors, 80-year-old doors, and other dining room fixtures for the contemporary rustic Italian decor. A patio offers a view of the Indian Creek and seats 50. The dining room features a small private dining room that seats 8-10 and includes all of the awards, family pictures, and articles from the former Jasper’s. We have another private dining room in the wine cellar that seats 16-24 guests. Jasper Sr. helped design the restaurant and menu before his death. Many of his signature items are on the menu. The dress is casual.
The history of Jasper’s Restaurant at 1201 W. 103rd Street in Kansas City, Missouri is a Horatio Alger story, an American saga of success attained through hard work and steadfast devotion to excellence. Today, enjoying a premier status among American dining establishments. Jasper’s was a simple enough neighborhood place at the time of its founding sixty-two years ago. But even then, an uncompromising standard of food quality and service set Jasper’s apart from its contemporaries. The progress from simple steak and pasta meals to exotic meat, fowl, and seafood specialties with distinctive, subtle sauces has been a dramatic one. But it has also been a logical development, given the restless perfectionism of the restaurant’s founder, Jasper J. Mirabile.
In the earlier years, Jasper pursued his quest for culinary excellence through restaurant trade journals. As his business grew, he started to travel to places, both here and abroad, where the finest food is served. Today, his sons and grandson might fly to either coast or to Europe for a single meal at a restaurant where he has heard of an outstanding dish being served. Recognition has been gratifying on a nationwide basis. In addition to its position as “Kansas City’s Most Prized Restaurant” in terms of prestigious awards, Jasper’s has been praised by national media and celebrated personages. In reporting the 1976 Republican Convention in Kansas City, TIME MAGAZINE spoke of Jasper’s as one of the two best restaurants in the city. America ‘s foremost food critic, Craig Clairborn, has included Jasper’s recipe in his book on great veal dishes. A bevy of famous celebrities such as Bob Hope, Walter Cronkite, Hank Stram, Milton Berle Anthony Quinn and Mitzi Gaynor, and many others have all dined at Jasper’s and have praised its service.Jasper’s tradition promises to be a continuing one.
The restaurant’s operation, which is overseen by Jasper’s two sons, Leonard and Jasper Jr. Leonard is an alumnus of the School of Restaurant Management at the University of Denver. Jasper Jr. has attended the counterpart of that school at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. A thorough-going family enterprise in spite of its cosmopolitan dining atmosphere, Jasper ‘s makes all its own pasta and desserts. The latter are generally the work of Jasper’s wife, Josephine. Every Sunday night, the family tests new recipes in the spacious kitchen at the Mirabile Home, where three generations of Mirabile’s and an assortment of friends provide a rigorous standard of judgment. “If a dish can pass this test”, says Jasper Jr., “it’s good enough for our customers.”
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