Kau Greensboro

 

Located at 2003 Yanceyville Street in Revolution Mills in Greensboro, Kau is a combination steakhouse restaurant/bar/butcher shop. It is open from 4-10 Wednesday to Friday, 11-10 on Saturday, and 11-9 on Sunday. Indoor and patio seating are available, and there is also a private dining space. Brunch is available on Sundays.

 

A labor of love for Natty Green’s/Old Town Draught House vet Kayne Fisher, Kau occupies a beautifully repurposed industrial space. The scope of it – multiple bar areas, hand-cut Braveheart Prime steaks, etc. – makes it seem out of reach for all but the most special of occasions, but it needn’t be. As my wife and I found out, it also makes for a fantastic weekend lunch spot.

 

Kau understandably likes to play up its meat offerings, but there is a lot more than just steak and chops on the menu. An impressive assortment of apps, salads, sandwiches, burgers, tacos, and bowls makes for a very tough decision. Upon the recommendations of our server, we went with a collard dip starter, a pretty bird sandwich, and a meatloaf sandwich.

 

We hadn’t long to wait for our food, and Ashley did not steer us wrong. The collard dip featured three kinds of cheese (cheddar, parm, and cream), bacon crumbles, and thick, warm pieces of housemade pita. It was deliciously cheesy, and it felt like the absolute apex version of a classic spinach dip. The meatloaf was a bit loose, which led to some interesting sandwich structural integrity challenges, but the flavors (a bit sweet, a bit smokey) were excellent. This is as strong a challenger I’ve seen to the meatloaf sandwich GOAT (Morgan’s Tavern in New Bern) in years. The pretty bird’s chicken too was smokey and flavorful, and it paired very well with the sweetness of the roasted red peppers. The lemon aioli was understated, and balsamic might have been a better pairing. Both sides – a refreshing tomato-cucumber salad and thick-cut, parmesan-and-herb-laden fries – were quality.

 

Kau was not a cheap lunch (the dip was $12 and the sandwiches were in the teens), but it was a lot more reasonable than the steakhouse cachet would suggest, and the food was absolutely worth it. I don’t get out to this side of Greensboro very often, but Kau may very well hasten my return.