{"id":33440,"date":"2026-09-29T08:40:28","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T08:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/33440\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T08:40:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T08:40:28","slug":"flower-child-to-open-in-leawood-at-former-houlihans-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/33440\/","title":{"rendered":"Flower Child to open in Leawood at former Houlihan’s site"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Chefs,<\/p>\n

Chefs, line cooks, and trainees swiftly navigate the front counter station at the new Flower Child restaurant on Friday, Aug. 7, 2026.<\/p>\n

Sophia Buonpane<\/p>\n

sophiabuonpane@kcstar.com<\/p>\n

A Johnson County restaurant boasting of fresh food and allergen-friendly options is still in its infancy, but it\u2019s already planning a second location.<\/p>\n

Fast-casual chain Flower Child will open a spot in Leawood, according to an application submitted to the city.<\/p>\n

\"An An array of dishes is displayed on a table at the new Flower Child restaurant on Friday, Aug. 7, 2026. From top left, clockwise, are the Mother Earth bowl; a customizable entr\u00e9e with grass-fed steak, gluten-free mac and cheese and roasted broccoli; the 1924 wrap; a ginger miso crunch salad; a Peruvian braised beef bowl; avocado hummus with pita and crudit\u00e9; and, in the center, the green chile queso. Sophia Buonpane sophiabuonpane@kcstar.com <\/p>\n

A spokeswoman with the brand confirmed that Flower Child is opening in Leawood and anticipates a late 2027 opening date.<\/p>\n

The prospective location at 4900 W. 119th St. will be the Arizona-based chain\u2019s second in the metro. Its first spot opened more than a month ago at 3915 W. 83rd St. in Prairie Village.<\/p>\n

Part of Fox Restaurant Concepts, Flower Child offers protein-packed bowls, salads, wraps and more.<\/p>\n

Dishes include the ginger miso crunch salad ($10.75), Peruvian braised beef bowl ($17.25), avocado hummus ($8.25) and chicken enchiladas ($15.95). The building is decked in yellow and green accents and murals.<\/p>\n

At the time the first KC restaurant opened, The Star sat down with regional operations manager Kenny Barsalou.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we always had a really great concept, and people gravitated to it initially because it makes healthy food craveable,\u201d Barsalou explained. \u201cComing out of COVID, I think we really fine-tuned the operation quite a bit and really put ourselves in the position to hit the ground running when the world opened back up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A A 1924 wrap and an ice black tea are served at the new Flower Child restaurant in Prairie Village on Friday, Aug. 7, 2026. The 1924 wrap is a grilled chicken teaser wrap. Sophia Buonpane sophiabuonpane@kcstar.com <\/p>\n

If you ask a Flower Child employee for a recommendation, they might point you toward the Mother Earth bowl ($12.45) with ancient grains, sweet potato, portobello mushroom, avocado, cucumber, broccoli pesto, charred onion, leafy greens, red pepper miso vinaigrette and hemp seed. It\u2019s the most popular item on the menu.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just great food, prepared with a lot of love and really great ingredients,\u201d Barsalou said.<\/p>\n

He added that each of Flower Child\u2019s restaurants has its own touches. The brand aims to make their spaces anything but \u201ccookie cutter.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Prairie Village spot was Flower Child\u2019s 45th location in the nation and its first in Kansas. It\u2019s had a St. Louis location since 2024.<\/p>\n

The Leawood space was once home to Houlihan\u2019s, which operated there until at least the mid-90s until it closed in March.<\/p>\n

The development referred to in planning documents as \u201cFrench Corner\u201d was previously approved by the city to include two restaurant buildings.<\/p>\n

\"An An inside look at the new Flower Child restaurant in Prairie Village on Friday, Aug. 7, 2026. It is the first Flower Child location to open in Kansas. Sophia Buonpane sophiabuonpane@kcstar.com <\/p>\n

Houlihan\u2019s now has just one location in the metro, at 11851 W. 95th St. in Overland Park.<\/p>\n

Its former Fairway location was once set to become Whitney VinZant-owned restaurant American Fire, but those plans fizzled.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Kansas City Star<\/p>\n

\"Profile<\/p>\n

Jenna Thompson<\/p>\n

The Kansas City Star<\/p>\n

Jenna Thompson covers retail news for The Kansas City Star. A native of Lincoln, Nebraska, she previously reported for the Lincoln Journal Star and graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she studied journalism and English.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chefs, line cooks, and trainees swiftly navigate the front counter station at the new Flower Child restaurant on Friday, Aug. 7, 2026. Sophia Buonpane sophiabuonpane@kcstar.com A Johnson County restaurant boasting of fresh food and allergen-friendly options is still in its infancy, but it\u2019s already planning a second location. Fast-casual chain Flower Child will open a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19613,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7,8],"class_list":["post-33440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-restaurants","tag-restaurant","tag-restaurants"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dnc\/117353435840731633","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}