Italian pasta becomes more interesting when dinner lets the diner notice the decisions behind it: the shape, the filling, the sauce and the way one course follows another. In Kansas City, Missouri, Farina and Lidia’s Kansas City offer two ways to pay attention. Around the Crossroads and the railroad buildings near Union Station, these restaurants make pasta the organizing idea of an evening, with enough breadth for a table whose tastes do not all match.
At Farina, Michael Smith’s kitchen treats regional Italian cooking as a changing conversation with Midwestern seasons. Hand-shaped pasta carries that approach. The current menu pairs potato gnocchi with braised rabbit and duck-filled mezzaluna with Gorgonzola cream. Cheese-filled caramelle take a Marsala mushroom sauce. Those choices make the form of the pasta part of the dish: a filled pocket, a dumpling and a ridged shape provide different ways for a sauce to meet the rest of the plate.
The meal can also begin at the oyster bar before moving inland toward pasta. Classical choices such as cacio e pepe and rigatoni all’amatriciana sit alongside the more elaborate fillings, while seafood and a wood-grilled steak give a companion another route through dinner. Nancy Smith directs the wine program. Farina is particularly suited to a meal in which choosing the courses is part of the pleasure, with the restaurant’s seasonal rhythm encouraging attention to the menu in front of the diner.
Lidia’s changes the structure. Its former railroad building just north of Union Station gives the meal a local setting, and the daily pasta tasting trio gives it a recognizable ritual. The chef’s selection arrives in successive servings; the three-course option includes Caesar salad and dessert. The appeal is the chance to discover several preparations through one order. The individual pastas are the day’s choice, so the trio should be understood as a format for exploration, not three fixed dishes.
A diner who prefers to choose a single main course can follow another path under executive chef Cody Hogan: fettuccine Bolognese, gnocchi with duck ragù, or eggplant Parmigiana. Red-wine-braised beef and pork-shank osso buco accommodate a companion less interested in pasta. Farina draws attention to construction and seasonal invention; Lidia’s combines a tasting ritual with a broad Italian table. Pick Farina when a particular shape or filling captures your curiosity, and Lidia’s when the appeal is discovering the kitchen’s daily selection together.
Explore the profiles: Farina · Lidia’s Kansas City
Recommended restaurants
The profiles below explain each restaurant’s cooking and give practical details for planning a visit.
Michael and Nancy Smith’s Crossroads restaurant puts handmade pasta, regional Italian recipes and an oyster bar at the center of its modern approach.
Regional Italian cooking; handmade stuffed pasta, gnocchi, Roman pasta classics and an oyster bar.
In a former railroad building near Union Station, Lidia Bastianich’s restaurant brings a daily pasta tasting trio and a broad Italian dinner menu to the table.
Italian cooking; daily pasta tasting trio, fettuccine Bolognese, duck-ragù gnocchi and braised meats.
Sources & references
Sources for the information and reporting discussed in this guide.
- Farina: location and hours ↗ Primary source farinakc.com · Accessed September 28, 2026
- Farina: handmade pasta and current menu ↗ Primary source farinakc.com · Accessed September 28, 2026
- Farina: Michael and Nancy Smith ↗ Primary source farinakc.com · Accessed September 28, 2026
- Farina: 2026 wine dinners and events ↗ Primary source farinakc.com · Accessed September 28, 2026
- Farina: Google Maps listing ↗ Primary source www.google.com · Accessed September 28, 2026
- Lidia’s Kansas City: building and team ↗ Primary source www.lidias-kc.com · Accessed September 28, 2026
- Lidia’s Kansas City: menu and pasta trio ↗ Primary source www.lidias-kc.com · Accessed September 28, 2026
- Lidia’s Kansas City: location and hours ↗ Primary source www.lidias-kc.com · Accessed September 28, 2026
- Lidia’s Kansas City: Google Maps listing ↗ Primary source www.google.com · Accessed September 28, 2026