THE ART of DINING
THE STORY BEHIND THE PLATE
The menu at Oil on Linen embodies Chef Ted Habiger's exploration of the aesthetics, influences, and origins of each dish. In harmony with the museum's exhibition calendar, it evolves to create connections to the art on display. Inspired by the visual language of Barbara Takenaga’s paintings, her childhood in Nebraska, and her Japanese-American heritage, Oil on Linen presents four courses in dialogue with Awestruck at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art (October 9, 2027-April 11, 2027).
THE DINNER SESSION
This season, our menu at Oil on Linen responds to Barbara Takenaga’s exhibition: Awestruck. Raised in North Platte, Nebraska, Barbara Takenaga developed a visual imagination shaped by the expansive Midwestern landscape and her Japanese-American heritage.
Takenaga reminds us that painting is a discipline shaped by both action and chance, so too is looking and perceiving: we make the work through our active gaze. Known for her mesmerizing, intricate compositions, this exhibition examines Takenaga’s work through four thematic sections: an emphasis on process, a masterful confusion of scale, an embrace of illusion, and reverent nods to art history. Together, these strategies work to upend the viewer’s expectations, engaging imagination and stoking curiosity.
CHEF OWNER, TED HABIGER
Ted Habiger has spent more than three decades building a life around food, from the kitchens of New York to the farmers, cooks, and restaurants that have shaped his work in Kansas City.
His career began at Cafe Allegro, Kansas City’s pioneering farm-to-table restaurant, before he moved to New York to serve as sous chef at Danny Meyer’s Union Square Cafe. In 2004, he returned to Kansas City and opened Room 39, where his cooking begins with what his farmers are growing, grounded in relationships that stretch back more than 30 years. He is a three-time James Beard Foundation Best Chef: Midwest semifinalist.
Habiger’s practice increasingly moves between food and contemporary art. As owner and chef of Oil on Linen at Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, he develops menus in dialogue with artists and exhibitions, using food and the table as another way to encounter an artist’s work.
Photo: Alysaa Broadus, 2025
Located inside the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Oil on Linen is open for Brunch Wednesday–Sunday from 10am-3pm. On Thursdays & Fridays, the restaurant opens for dinner featuring menus inspired by current exhibitions. Dinner service is available from 4:30pm-9pm with the last seating at 8:00pm.
Left: Rachel Rossin, After GTA V, 2015, oil on canvas, 60 x 78 inches.
Collection of Bill and Christy Gautreaux, Kansas City, Missouri. © Rachel Rossin, courtesy of the artist and ZieherSmith, Nashville, TN.
Photo: Anna Petrow Mulvihill, 2024.
hung and PLACEd
Works by artists including Sanford Biggers, Ronald Jackson, Annie Lapin, and Joiri Minaya among others from the internationally acclaimed collection of Kansas City-based collectors Bill and Christy Gautreaux are on view in the courtyard and entrance.
Also on view in the courtyard is a durational drawing titled set in place (mis en place) by Kansas City-based artist Kevin Townsend. This drawing performance began in September and is taking place over more than 200 hours, evolving in full view of diners with each dot capturing the cafe’s dynamic energy.
Frederick James Brown’s floor-to-ceiling site-specific installation of more than 100 paintings, titled History of Art, remains on view in the café gallery as it has since 1994. In the installation, the Brown both paid homage to the artists and styles throughout history that influenced him, and contextualized his own work within that history.
The Toledo chairs designed by Jorge Pensi that were original to the courtyard when it was first enclosed have returned, soft seating has been added to encourage longer and more casual visits, and new custom-made artisanal furniture by Kansas City-based designer Matt Castilleja has been added throughout the space.