Walking into Osteria Bianchi feels like walking into someone’s home. The wall that greets you at the front, the one co-owner Kelly Bianchi calls the “wall of accountability,” features personal photos that showcase amazing chefs she and her husband, Josh, have met and worked with throughout their impressive careers in the food industry — not to brag but to continue to inspire the two. There are fresh flowers everywhere, and a bookcase — which literally came out of Kelly’s home — is filled with well-used cookbooks written by friends and colleagues.
It’s hard to believe the restaurant is actually in a strip mall in Liberty, which is Kelly’s goal — to transport you somewhere inviting.
“Being faced with a strip mall location, we wanted to make sure that the interior of the restaurant felt warm and comfortable,” says Kelly.
Kelly says it’s hard for her to talk style and design when it comes to her restaurant, Osteria Bianchi, which she owns and operates with her husband Josh. But you wouldn’t believe that looking at the cozy space that she designed, adorned with velvet curtains, moody colors, shiny wall treatments, whimsical wallpapers and a statement light fixture above the bar.
“A lot of the pieces that are in the restaurant are pieces that came from our house,” says Kelly. “We wanted it to feel warm and comfortable. I would say that, above all, we wanted it to be inviting.”
Kelly and Josh opened Osteria Bianchi this February as a chef-driven regional Italian restaurant. The married couple moved to the Kansas City area in 2023 after bouncing back and forth between New York and Las Vegas for 26 years. During their careers, they worked for an impressive array of restaurants and hotels including Vetri Cucina, DB brasserie, Picasso, Alize, The Wynn, and Palazzo in Las Vegas and Gramercy Tavern and Payard in New York.
Their new venture is definitely a change of pace from their Las Vegas livelihood, but they love the family-driven operation and living in Liberty. They now have a 5-minute commute to work and get lots of help from nearby relatives. Even their two teenagers have taken on roles in the restaurant.
While this is the Bianchi’s first brick-and-mortar restaurant that they’ve owned together, they bring their vast knowledge of hospitality to the table. In Osteria Bianchi, Kelly bounces around from table to table, chatting with guests and making sure the service team is tailoring the experience to each patron, while Josh leads the kitchen.
“We do our best to make sure every guest leaves being extremely well taken care of, and if that's not the case, we want to do everything we can to either bring them back to try us again, or to make it up to them, preferably while we're while they're still in the restaurant,” says Kelly.
On top of the special attention paid to the decor and guests is, of course, the thoughtfulness applied to each dish. In Osteria Bianchi, almost every ingredient — from the doughs to the pastas to the bread to the ice cream — is made in-house. The ingredients are sourced painstakingly by Kelly and Josh, who prioritize quality ingredients that go into the dishes that Josh and his team make in the kitchen.
But while the dishes are thoughtfully curated, Kelly and Josh’s goal is still an approachable restaurant — one where you can become a regular.
“I'd say the [best] part for everyone is developing a great group of regular clientele that the servers know who they are,” says Kelly. “We're a neighborhood restaurant, and we're not trying to be a special occasion restaurant.”
Whether it’s your first time in the space or you’re there to order the usual, the Bianchi’s are ready to get you fed, make you feel at home, and make sure you come back again.
Osteria Bianchi
9261 NE 83rd Terrace
Kansas City, MO
osteriabianchi.com
@osteriabianchi