A visit to the bustling Q39 (1000 West 39th Street) usually requires a wait — particularly if you’ve come for barbecue on the weekend. Owner Rob Magee aims to ease your pain, beginning December 1. That’s when he expects to open an expansion on the west side of his current space, accommodating nearly 100 additional diners.

“We’ve really drilled down on our Yelp reviews,” Magee says. “The goal is to cut down on the wait time.” The space he’s adding, formerly a nail salon, has been gutted to make way for a private-events room that can be used for regular service as well. It’s under construction and will accommodate up to 50 diners. A three-season outdoor patio, with a covered pergola and outdoor heaters, will seat up to 48 more. (Meanwhile, a 200-seat second location for Q39, at 11051 Antioch in Overland Park, is slated to open next May.)

And these aren’t the only new things going on at Q39. For the past three months, Jenn Tosatto, The Pitch’s 2016 Best of Kansas City Best Bartender winner, has worked as Q39’s bar manager, and has just released her first cocktail menu for the restaurant.

“My style is brown, bitter, stirred, and in your face,” Tosatto says. The new menu, she adds, “is a good blending of my style and Q39.” And while a competition-caliber bartender is not typically what you’d find in a barbecue restaurant, this particular meeting of the minds is definitely working. Her latest drinks more than stand up to the rich food here.

Tosatto calls her new Everybody’s Girl one of her favorite cocktails to make. It mixes Grant’s scotch, cream sherry, Averna, a house-made cherry cordial and Bitterman’s burlesque bitters, and it delivers mellow sweetness without any scotch burn.