Ted's Montana Grill Expands to Kansas City

by Chris Becicka

The prime rib at Ted's Montana Grill, one of several bison selections on the menu.

"Oh give me a home

Where the buffalo roam . . .”

And I’ll give you Ted’s Montana Grill. Actually, the buffalo are mostly in Montana, on Ted Turner’s 1.7 million acres. His restaurant chain, first calved in Atlanta in 2002, has grown to 52 restaurants in 17 states. Three are here in Kansas City—Legends West, Leawood and Zona Rosa where we recently ventured north with some Shawnee Mission friends.

Actually, we didn’t try the buffalo. We tried the bison. Although both belong to the same family, Bovidae, true buffalo are found only in Asia and Africa and they are definitely different from what we think are buffalo.

American bison actually have some advantages over cows—the use of growth hormones is illegal here; they grow more slowly than cattle so they get to live longer; and best of all, for them I suppose, they are not castrated nor artificially inseminated.

The fact that bison are also not as tame or friendly as cows makes me feel a bit better as I’m knifing into a steak and staring at the taxidermied head of one across from my table. It’s very big and its eyes are very small. I have to avert my own as I dig into the meat touted as healthier and less fattening than beef or chicken.

The bison is very good as it’s prepared here. My bison filet seems to me to be chewier with more texture than beef. There’s also bison chili, bison Kansas City Strip, bison Delmonico and bison prime rib, all of which they also have in beef, for fewer dollars. They were, much to Jane’s chagrin, out of the bison short rib special by 8:05 p.m. so she, knowing the rule that everyone has to have something different and I get a bite of everything, opted for the bison pot roast, which was very tender with the necessary creamy brown gravy. It came with great, crispy green beans.

Gary’s bison meatloaf is a bit on the sweet side, filling but without filler. A manly guy, he refused to let the size daunt him and pronounced it almost as good as his mother’s. He loved his squash casserole side as much as I liked my sweet potatoes, which were not too sweet and had a noticeable dash of cinnamon. My companion opted for a bison cheeseburger cooked medium rare, as he asked, so he was happy—plus his requested well-done fries came just that way.

Now, you do not have to eat bison here. I’ve also tast-ed the remarkably tender beer-can chicken, the planked salmon, and the veggie burger. There are eight salads, seven soups, malts and milkshakes, all kinds of sides and desserts. Everything is made fresh here every day, including the fries and big, crusty onion rings, and they brag that the only thing that they have in their freezer is ice cream. They definitely want to deliver an “authentic turn-of-the-century Montana moment”—their doggy bags are labeled with that and there’s not a bit of Styrofoam® in the place. Jane definitely feels that her margarita made with Bombay gin (their idea, not ours) adds to the Montana experience.

Ted’s has a nice bar and they offer most of their 11 white wines by the glass as well. They list their reds by intensity, which makes life simple. There are 22 bottled beers which makes the boys happy. The steaming hot apple crisp with vanilla ice cream makes all of us happy.

By 9:15, the place has pretty much cleared out. There were many families and larger groups there, and the atmosphere is attractive and the prices reasonable. As we braved the cold to find our car in the unfinished parking lot, we decided that we were glad that Ted’s bison have found a good home in Kansas City—even if they’re not exactly roaming.