Yoli Tortilleria Wins James Beard Award

Awards

Yoli Tortilleria Wins James Beard

It is with extreme pride in our city’s food scene that we can say Yoli Tortilleria was named the ‘Outstanding Bakery’ for 2023.

• Yoli Takes Home Gold: The James Beard Awards are often referred to as the “Oscars of Food”, going to the best restaurants and chefs across the country each year. Yoli Tortilleria in the Westside neighborhood, was given the national award for their homemade tortillas.

• These Tortillas Are GOOD: Yoli hand makes all of their tortillas using the ancient method of nixtamalization that owner Marissa Gencarelli learned growing up in Sonora, Mexico.

• Rare Air: Yoli joins the exclusive list of prominent Kansas City restaurants, bars, and bakeries to win the award. They Join names like Michael Smith of Farina and Colby Garrelts of Rye, just to name a few.

Yoli is open weekly Tuesday through Saturday closing at 4 pm each day. If you didn’t already have it on your to-do list, pop into Yoli Tortilleria to purchase their tortillas or watch their 8-step process come to life.

Economy

KC Budget on Cloud Nine

With the passing of Amendments 2 and 3 to legalize medical and recreational marijuana use in Missouri, Kansas City has seen an explosion in the industry with a windfall in tax revenue.

• Government Funding: According to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, the nearly $100 million since 2019 in licensing fees and sales tax is split between operational expenses and funding government programs like veteran support groups and drug addiction treatment programs.

• Metro Impact: The governor is expected to pass a budgeting bill to begin appropriating those funds on July 1. KC has seen a large amount of tax revenue from the program, as there are now over 30 dispensaries in the KC metro.

• Operational Expenses: How much of those tax dollars will actually go to veterans and drug addiction treatment? About two-thirds. The rest goes towards operating expenses such as paying for DHSS staff and attorneys to expunge former marijuana-related arrests and charges.

While there may still be some debate surrounding the usage of marijuana on a recreational level, one thing is for sure- it’s a huge money maker. The industry just in Missouri alone is on pace to crack $1 billion in sales this year.

Community

Big Muddy Gets a Cleaning

The Missouri River, starting in Three Forks, Montana, is a part of the longest river system in North America. As you can imagine, all of that length creates plenty of room for the river to collect trash.

• Missouri River Relief: KC Magazine wrote this past month about the Missouri River Relief, a program established to bring health to “Big Muddy” and hopefully make the drinking water safer for the nearly 40% of Missouri residents who drink from it.

• All Aboard: The MRR hosts many events to bring awareness to the condition of this crucial water source, but one that may interest KC residents is the river cleanups where volunteers have the opportunity to ride boats down the river and collect trash. This spring, the organization collected 8 tons of litter from the river.

• Volunteer: Currently, only two scheduled cleanups are still on the calendar for this year, but MRR tells interested volunteers to check back as events will be added.

If you’re interested in attending an MRR event, you can sign up for a river cleanup here.

KC Daily Picks

In Other News

• 🎸Luke Combs → KC: The Luke Combs World Tour will take place this weekend at Arrowhead Stadium.

• 🎷Juneteenth Celebration: This Saturday, The Nelson-Atkins Museum will be hosting a Juneteenth celebration with live jazz, storytelling, and more.

• 🏠KBP’s New Home: KBP Brands shows off its new $40 million dollar home in Leawood.

• 🏥Big Donations: This year’s Big Slick Weekend raised a record-breaking $3.5 million towards Children’s Mercy cancer research.

• 🌹RIP Norma Hunt: The Chiefs family lost a beloved member, as Norma Hunt passed away Sunday. Norma was the wife of Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt and was the only woman who had attended every Super Bowl.