Johnny Leach didn’t set out to be a chef. “I was working in a record store with no huge life plan in front of me,” he says. “A friend got me into cooking kind of out of the blue. It was something he was really interested in, and it built an interest with me that just grew and grew.”
Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Leach moved to New York City and added an impressive list of restaurants under his belt, including Del Posto and Momofuku. Leach and his wife, executive pastry chef Helen Jo Leach, moved to Kansas City in March of 2020 to open The Town Company inside downtown’s Hotel Kansas City.
“We moved out maybe a week before the lockdown,” says Leach. “It was definitely stressful; we didn’t know about the status of our jobs or how that would affect the development as a whole.” The restaurant had a planned opening in June, which was pushed back to October. In the years since, The Town Company has blossomed into one of Kansas City’s best restaurants, and Leach, as executive chef, is known for turning simple, seasonal ingredients into complex, refined, Midwestern dishes.
Last month, the James Beard Foundation nominated Leach for the Best Chef in the Midwest award. “It’s pretty humbling,” he says. “But it’s a very proud moment for the team as a whole.” Four chefs from the Kansas City area received nominations, but it’s the second such nomination for Leach, who finds it difficult to quantify the team’s success. “I’m so proud of what everybody puts into their jobs and how we work together. We try hard to make people feel great the moment they walk in. We take the food and our product very seriously, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously.” The Town Company’s menu is rustic simplicity—at its finest. Leach and his team work hard to keep the menu rotating with new inspirations and seasonal ingredients, using the hearth as another ingredient of sorts to enhance the flavors.
One ingredient essential to Leach’s success appears to be the working relationship between him and his wife. “Her work is always very balanced and very intentional,” he says. “She has such a creative spin on everything she does. We really work well together, and we really push each other.” Despite the couple’s cooking prowess, they keep it simple at home, opting for vegetable soups and basic salmon and rice dishes. “We have an 8-year-old daughter, and we actually cook a lot,” says Leach. “I think for Helen especially, it’s important our daughter grows up with Korean culture around her, so we eat a lot of Korean food.” Leach remembers being surrounded by family cooking Mexican food growing up and still loves cooking simple seafood-based Mexican dishes.
Leach brings subtle Mexican and Korean touches to the menu at The Town Company. “We definitely do it in ways that might not be as obvious,” he says. “Take our pork chop, for example. I cook it very much in a way you would marinate Cochinita Pibil. There’s a very citrusy, bright, and herby taste, with annatto seed and chilies for a deep marinade that we use on the pork before we cook it. Those ingredients and techniques are in our toolbox, but we keep things a little ambiguous.”
If Johnny Leach is any indication, Kansas City’s culinary scene is still on the rise. “There’s a very genuine interest in all things food and beverage here,” Leach says. “I think Kansas City is growing, and it’s exciting to see that. Watching the youthful energy, the creative energy, and seeing the scene build and build, even within the past few years, it’s definitely exciting.”