The Making of a Foodie

Top 5 Restaurant Trends in KC in 2010

I love this time of year. It is a chance to look back at the entire year and ponder what was really new, and noteworthy in food in Kansas City. The sad fact is, the economy forced many restaurants into taking very little chances with their menus and their expansion plans. I don't blame them. This was a survival year, after the crappiest year on record in 2009. This was a great year to play it safe, while planning for the future, if you owned a restaurant. Safe, solid and sound advice. 

In spite of the economic buzz-kill on the restaurant industry as a whole, there were significant movement and trends coming from the comfort food category. You will notice many of the examples I give in my short list below, come from restaurants that are more quick casual than fine dining. These folks had concepts or cuisines that were wholly understandable and affordable, while keeping it tasty.

Because money was tighter for most of us in 2010, it became the year in KC we started looking for good food at a small price. We also got more adventuresome in our interest in ethnic cuisines because of the flavor/taste/price equasion. Even fine dining got into the act, with almost every place in town offering some sort of incredible cheeseburger or slider on their menu. We saw places like Aixois in Brookside start serving delicious Taco Tuesdays in their high-end French restaurant.

There were certainly many more bright spots to the KC dining scene in 2010 than just what I mention below, but they were just that, bright spots, not sustainable, newsworthy trends. It takes more that one restaurant to make a trend.

I had a whole list of predictions for restaurant trends in KC for 2010, but many of them I was a little early on. I'm saving them for next year, perhaps those trends will hit our fly-over state in 2011, as predictions for the health of the restaurant industry look much brighter in the new year.

1)    Burger, Burger, Burger, Dog - The back-to-basics, Americana comfort food trend that has swept the United States in the last two years continued in Kansas City this year. We saw a plethora of local burger joints and a few notable hot dog joints fly on our radar. Our local favorite, Blanc Burgers + Bottles, opened their second burger concept in Lee Summit called B:2, and moved to their Westport location to a more high profile position in the Country Club Plaza. B.R.G.R. Kitchen + Bar opened this year in Prairie Village serving the neighborhood community “Juicy Lucy” burgers and sweet potato fries along with a hopping bar scene. Beer Kitchen opened in Westport giving us great beer and burgers stuffed with burnt ends, while others were topped with duck confit. Five Guys Burgers & Fries and Smashburger were notable chains with a good little burger that rapidly expanded across the KC metro. In the hot dog scene, the biggest splash was made by Chef Marshall Roth, and business partner, Harry Blasco, when they opened Dog Nuvo in the old Souperman location on Main Street. Big City Hot Dogs on Grandview Road made a name for themselves with their “city style” hot dogs. Serving everything from Chicago to Boston to Detroit and even Santa Fe-style dogs. The Kansas City dog is topped with pickles, bacon, diced onions, BBQ sauce & blue cheese.

  2)    Kicking it in KCK – I wrote a blog post a couple of years ago called “What’s Wrong with KCK?” wondering why people seemed so hesitant to go over the bridge to enjoy of the most authentic Mexican food in the city. The heart of Mexican food in this town no longer sits exclusively on Southwest Boulevard, it can be found in “The Dot”. This year Kansas City woke up to that fact, with food bloggers    and the local press beginning to give the truly authentic Mexican restaurants in Kansas City, KS the props they so richly deserve. Like El Camino Real for $1.50 street tacos filled with pork, beef, chicken or some of the nasty bits that taste so good, like brains or tongue. El Pollo Rey on Kansas Avenue is another place serving a wonderful ½ a grilled chicken and serving it with beans, salsa and tortillas for under $10. Paleteria Chihuahua on Kansas Avenue serves wonderful Mexican snacks, fresh fruit popsicles, like tamarind and mango, and authentic Mexican flavored ice creams.

3)    KC Chefs & Restaurants Represent – We were lucky enough to have two Chefs, one wine shop owner, a cupcake guy and a host of other local restaurants featured on Food Network or other nationally broadcasted shows this year. This was our opportunity to show the nation the kind of food culture we have here in KC. Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-in’s and Dives paid us another visit this year featuring BBQ joints along with other local favorites like Happy Gillis. Man vs. Food also made a stop  through town this year with the Travel Channel. But it was Executive Chef Debbie Gold from The American Restaurant on Season 2 of Top Chef Masters and Executive Chef/Owner of Julian, Celina Tio, who admirably competed on Food Network's Season 3 of The Next Iron Chef, that truly showed the nation the kind of culinary talent, cool under pressure, classy with a “c” kind of Chefs we have in this town. Girl power. Booyah! 

  4)    Egg was the new Bacon – Bacon has certainly been the single most important ingredient in the last few years on the KC food scene, but this year the scale tipped to bacon’s breakfast counterpart, the egg. Whether fried or poached, we saw eggs on everything, and it’s not just for breakfast anymore. Happy Gillis has them on their redonculously delicious “Keller-eque BLT”,  Succotash features one on their Cobb Salad, the running yolk making the most rich and delicious salad dressing. Blue Grotto in Brookside puts it on their breakfast pizza and Blanc Burgers + Bottles has one on their Brunch Burger.

5)    Sous Vide Me - French for "under vacuum", sous vide is a method of cooking food sealed in airtight plastic bags in a water bath for long periods of time—72 hours is not unusual—at an accurately determined temperature much lower than normally used for cooking, typically around 140 °F. The intention is to maintain the integrity  of ingredients. The result is a juicy, moist, tender cut of meat that can be held and served at the perfect temp. It gives Chefs much more control in the kitchen of what their finished product will look and taste like. We saw many of these machines being shared in KC a few years ago with Chefs swapping one or two machines between themselves. Now, even places that serve simple hot dogs, like Dog Nuvo, are using these machines to make their lives easier. There is even a home cook version of a sous vide that you can buy for around $500, or if you use the Google there are plenty of websites telling you how to make your own sous vide MacGyver-style. Sous Vides are everywhere making them a permanent piece of equipment in many Chefs kitchens and home cooks kitchens in KC.

I had the opportunity to discuss my Top 5 Restaurant Trends in KC in 2010 with Carolyn Long from KCTV 5 on the 4 pm news yesterday. Here's the video of my first television appearance. (Woot!)

 

 

What's Cooking at the KITCHEN?

What's cooking at the hottest new restaurant in Tulsa, called the KITCHEN? I'll tell you, these guys are. (But, more on them in a moment.)

As many of you know, I have been splitting my time between Kansas City and Tulsa for the past several months. It has been for personal reasons pertaining to my Mom's health and work-related reasons pertaining to the expansion of my underground supper club called The Test Kitchen.

See, I have been eating and drinking in Tulsa in an attempt to set up a series of Test Kitchen dinners to launch my second club. I also have my eye on Oklahoma City, and plan to make a trip there in November to scout for Chefs and locations. Finally, I will be visiting St. Louis this week to meet a contact there to see if I could put together a Test Kitchen chapter there as well. I quickly see my Test Kitchen empire taking shape, and I am so grateful. Truth is, I owe everything to the Chefs here in Kansas City, the event spaces and finally the fantastic members, all who have been willing to support the vision of what Test Kitchen is and could be. Your support allowed me to believe in this dream, called The Test Kitchen, and for that I am eternally grateful. It does mean that you will see blog posts, tweets and Facebook postings pertaining to what's happening in food in Kansas City, Tulsa, Oklahoma City and St. Louis as begin to weave myself into the culinary fabric of those cities as well. The good news is I will be your very own culinary road trip guide. Want to travel 4 hours any direction from KC? I'll have you covered. 

So, back to what's cooking in Tulsa with these two Chefs above . . .I met Chef Paul Wilson first. Stocky with a bald head, sharp brain and fast-talking mouth, Paul is a Katrina transplant to Tulsa, OK. Paul had cooked under one of only 50 Master French Chefs in America, Chef Rene Bajeux in New Orleans, and he eventually ended up at The Chalkboard. After his stint there, Chef Paul, flew on my radar when I received notice of an underground supper club in Tulsa called Staage that was headed up by Paul. Using a little Google-magic, I was soon befriending Chef Paul on Facebook. Within weeks, we had met for drinks to discuss his cooking background, my marketing background and our mutual love of the idea of creating true Chef culture in a town like Tulsa, that already had its own unique food culture. We talked of raising the bar on the quality and type of food served by Chefs in Tulsa, and what it would take to get Chefs excited about stepping outside their boxes to cook for members with open and excited palates, willing and game to try anything the Chef was down for making. It was a true meeting of the minds.

\ Then we talked of Paul bringing his supper club, Staage, and my underground supper club, The Test Kitchen, together for a one night only culinary love-fest in Tulsa. We both agreed that each of our clubs would only benefit from coming together, so we began planning our first dinner. That's when Paul told me he had taken a job as Chef de Cuisine working for Executive Chef Ian Van Anglen at a new restaurant in Brookside called the KITCHEN. He encouraged me to come in and eat some of the wonderful things he and Chef Ian had been cooking up in the KITCHEN.

When weeks went by, finally, Chef Paul, texted me and asked, "When are you coming in to eat our food?" I looked at my calendar and picked an evening to come and sit at the Chef's Table at the KITCHEN. This would allow me the best opportunity to talk to both of the Chefs, observe their culinary creativity, as well as see their techniques and skills for getting food out on the table. This is how I research possible Test Kitchen, Chefs. I go and eat their food, and interview them as the dinner progresses. There are certain things I am looking for when considering a Chef for Test Kitchen, and this was going to be their interview, whether they knew it or not. I signed up for the full monty, I was coming in to eat 10 courses with 10 wine pairings of their choice. I was beyond excited.

Upon parking, I realized I had been in the space earlier this year, when it was still the Center 1 Market. I had wandered in to speak to the owner at the time, James Cooper, who is no longer a part of the KITCHEN, about his market and to see if he had any interest in doing a Farm to Table dinner for Test Kitchen. That was when he had pointed out Chef Ian, back in the kitchen space prepping, and mentioned that Ian had most recently worked at Michael Fusco's Riverside Grill and before that he had been in Portland, OR cooking for a restaurant called the Blue Hour that changed it's menu daily.

It was at that moment, I realized Chef Ian had been on the line the night I came in and spoke to Chef Michael Fusco about doing a Test Kitchen event. I knew I had seen him before, with his curly blonde hair and Buddy Holly glasses he comes across as intelligent, thoughtful and creative. He had been pointed out to me, by not one, but two people as being the Chef with the talent for the kind of cooking I had in mind. He was a Chef I already had on my list. Score!

There were other differences in the KITCHEN space from what I remember. The open kitchen in the back of the market now had two tables with four seats total where you could sit and have the Chef's Table experience. Literally seated in the kitchen, you get to watch these two cook, while you order between 5-10 courses for around $10-$12 a course with wine pairings. An absolute steal for the quality of food these boys are laying down. This is literally the best seat in the house, and in my opinion the best way to experience the best of what these two Chefs have to offer. You are putting yourself in their hands. Reservations are a must to secure these seats at the KITCHEN.

The rest of the KITCHEN blows down a long, sleek space past a lovely little bar and towards the front door that faces Peoria. It is in this space that you could order from the regular lunch and dinner menu, they also serve a great brunch on the weekends. Chef Ian changes the menu every Tuesday. I do not know of another place in Tulsa that changes their entire menu weekly. A dish or two maybe, but the entire menu weekly . . .color me impressed. 

Their ability to change their menu weekly really has everything to do with their commitment to using local meats, eggs, produce, breads in their dishes. In that sense, the KITCHEN is committed to the goals of the Center 1 Market when it first opened of providing guests with the freshest, best tasting local ingredients and using them in season. Many restaurants in Tulsa talk about serving local, seasonal ingredients, but if you are truly doing it right, it means your menu should be changing more than 4 times a year. I'm just sayin'.

Aside from the restaurant at the KITCHEN, they are also still planning to keep the market open, 7 days a week. Anything that is currently being served on the menu, you can typically buy those same ingredients to cook with when you get home. Like the lamb chop you ate at the KITCHEN? You can take a half a dozen of them home with you to cook. In the Raw Sushi, pre-packaged, is also being sold in the market, giving their neighbors down the street some extra carry-out business.

This place definitely looks more restaurant than market in it's new skin. Although, the market is still very much up and operating, and you will see many of the old customers coming over to shop just like they always have . . . a bit confused right now as to how this modern little restaurant now seems to have invaded their local market. This will change the longer the KITCHEN is open, right now they have been up and running for a month or so.

Sure, there are little things they need to work out at the KITCHEN . . .they have a commercial hood they are waiting on and need to install and they are finally getting a professional service team in place. I'd also like to see more development of a proper wine list. But like most new restaurants, all these guys need is a little time to get all the kinks worked out.

The night of my 10 course tasting at the KITCHEN, I was greeted by Chef Paul at the door and escorted back to the Chef's Table in the back of the space. Snagging the seat closest to the stove, I positioned myself for the best view of the action. I planned to talk to both Chef Ian and Chef Paul as they prepared my meal. I knew my window of focus would be less and less the longer the dinner went on, as I would get more wrapped up in the food and wine and less focused on the Chefs in the kitchen. I had to strike early and often during the first courses of what was to be the best meal I have had in Tulsa to date.

The first thing Chef Paul did after I was seated, was come by and collect the menus in front of me, saying under his breath with a smile, "You won't be needing these." I was now on their turf, in their house, and I was about to be served their food. Honestly, I love the feeling of being cared for that way. After all of the decisions I have to make during my busy day, the last one I want to make is what to order for dinner. It's true! I just want the best and freshest thing you got in today, Chef. No problem, here at the KITCHEN. These two Chefs, had my number.

The one thing I noticed right away, was the geniune respect and true air of collaboration these two share in the kitchen. I have to confess, it is a rare thing to see two Chefs share and collaborate in the same kitchen, on the same dishes, as well as these two seem to working on my dinner that night. They appeared to take turns, back and forth between courses. Chef Ian would do his course, then Chef Paul would follow with his course. I mentioned this to them, and that was exactly what they were doing. They were competitive with each other in a respectful sort of way. However, ordering just 5 courses from them, would be a major source of angst, I suspect.

Toward the last few courses, I knew I had found the perfect Chefs to host my second Test Kitchen dinner in Oklahoma. They were full of creativity and passion for what they do, they clearly loved working with each other and fed off the energy the other brought to the party, their plate presentations were beautiful without feeling forced, the portion sizes were spot on for a tasting, the food was expertly executed and cooked to perfection and both of them enjoyed discussing food and had the type of personalities that would shine if given a spotlight. Afterall, at the end of the day, that is what Test Kitchen is, a spotlight that I shine on Chefs doing interesting and unique menus inside and outside of their restaurants.

Last week, we held our second SOLD OUT Test Kitchen event featuring Chef Ian Van Anglen and Chef Paul Wilson from the KITCHEN. I was pleased to have had the opportunity to introduce these two Chefs to my Oklahoma members last week, but I am even more pleased to present them to all of you. Passion like theirs, should not go unnoticed or uneaten. Go, spread the word. They are that good.

the KITCHEN

3524 South Peoria Avenue

Tulsa, OK

918.619.9332

 

 

 

What I ate today in Chicago

After a 30 minute "El" train ride from the city, and a 20 minute walk, Tastie and I arrived at my Mecca for this trip: Hot Doug's.

I'd like to introduce you to the "Victor Willis" the Celebrity Dog today at Hot Doug's. A Thai Chicken Sausage with Sriracha & Mayo with seaweed salad on it. This is what I ate in Chicago today.

Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony

Sometimes, it is the everyday, yet unexpected, luxuries that seem the most indulgent. Like the practice of sharing coffee with friends, for example. That is a luxury of time. It is a luxury that you give to yourself and to your friends. It is about being in the moment, and being there for the ones who love and support you. Time is such a precious commodity these days, sometimes it is hard to remember to give yourself that luxury.

Because we consider our time to be luxury, when we do spend it with the ones we love, we should honor it. Respect it. In fact, it deserves it own special ceremony. It is a reason to celebrate.

On a recent trip to the City Market, I decided to start my day of exploration with a wonderful platter of Ethiopian food from Blue Nile Cafe. I'm telling you, if you have not tried: 1) Ethiopian food or 2) eating with your fingers, using just injera bread to pick up and eat your food . . .you have not been living right. 

When you go, be sure to order one of their platters to sample many different Ethiopian dishes they have to offer. The platters are $20-$25 and feeds 2-4 people. A tip: do not forget to eat the piece of injera bread directly under the food. It sits like a sponge and soaks up all of the delicious sauces and juices of each dish. It is the most prized part of this dish. Do not miss it.

Looking on the menu, I noticed the Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony for $15, which serves 2-5 people. You have to order it with your food, as it takes time to prepare it. Meaning they hand roast your beans in the back before grinding them up to prepare them for your fresh coffee. I wondered what the "ceremony" looked like and tasted like so I ordered it on whim. (See video above for visual, of the condensed ceremony.)

That's when I noticed a large table of good looking African-American men sitting across the room from me. They looked like they were all of Ethiopian descent and they had just started their coffee ceremony. They were speaking a language I did not recognize. It was with great interest that I watched them enjoying the coffee ceremony, and then sharing the cups of coffee once it had been properly brewed in front of them table-side. I also noted that they were all men, chatting over coffee. It seemed like they were all performing some sort of familiar ritual. They were bonding.

I looked up "Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony" online and I found this great article that explained the purpose and history of the coffee ceremony:

"Ethiopia's coffee ceremony is an integral part of their social and cultural life. An invitation to attend a coffee ceremony is considered a mark of friendship or respect and is an excellent example of Ethiopian hospitality. Performing the ceremony is almost obligatory in the presence of a visitor, whatever the time of day. Don't be in a hurry though - this special ceremony can take a few hours. So sit back and enjoy because it is most definitely not instant."

Considering that nearly 2/3 of Ethiopia's earnings is dependent on growing, picking and selling some of the finest coffee beans in the world, it makes sense that so much emphasis is placed on the ceremony of drinking the very thing that most of them earn their living from producing.

This process does take time. From the time they come and set up your coffee to brew, to the time it takes you to actually drink it, is about an hour. But the novelty and time, not to mention a simply terrific cup of coffee, is a luxury you should not deny yourself at the Blue Nile Cafe. 

After, I enjoyed my Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony, I stumbled out into the City Market so late in the afternoon that I had missed most of the good stuff, and people were starting to pack things back into their vans to go home. I shopped the permanent stalls, and picked up a few things here and there, buzzed on coffee, but feeling no remorse over the time I spent . . .on myself.

When was the last time you took the time for a little ceremony?

Cordish Courts Local Restaurants

You know what they say about playing with fire?  Click on the image above to see how I felt the heat. The heat that comes from the passion of a local restaurateur from another part of the country, deciding to expand his operation and take a gamble opening a new restaurant location in a new Cordish Company development, like the Power & Light District. 

When millions of dollars are at stake, you tend to honor that kind of risk-taking, especially in this economy. I went to visit the newest restaurants in the Power & Light District to learn more about their concepts and their food, and in the process I got a glimpse of how the Cordish Company actually courts successful local restaurant concepts from other cities and gives them a chance to expand their concepts to other Cordish entertainment districts nationwide. A very tempting and potentially profitable opportunity for local restaurateurs ready for expansion to other markets outside of their own.

I got the invite a couple of months ago to join, Rachel Felix, Sponsorship Marketing Manager for the Power & Light, on a tour through the latest round of new restaurants that have opened in the Power & Light District downtown. This video was filmed at the very pretty Kobe Japanese Steak House, where Manager, Frank Ha, and his entire team, really went above and beyond to try to impress this Foodie with what they had to offer. They did. The sushi was made with top-notch fish, and my two new friends here really showed their sushi skills when making this wooden boat of sushi right before my eyes. The Kobe restaurant concept has locations in Virgina, West Virgina, Maryland, Michigan and now Kansas City. Two of their six locations are in Cordish Entertainment Districts.

Just like our local restaurant concepts, once you are in a Cordish property, they are checking you up and down for expansion opportunities within their family of entertainment districts. They would like for you to come and expand in their districts on your own dime, but if you fill a niche they are looking to fill they might look to franchise you as a Cordish-owned and managed restaurant. Which I am guessing might be the future fate of their newly acquired Chefburger concept, that was started and owned by local Chef Rob Dalzell, but was turned over to Cordish in a squabble over back rent that was due. Chef Rob Dalzell had told me that Cordish was, when he first opened his burger joint in the Power & Light District, courting him to take Chefburger to their newest project, Ballpark Village adjacent to Busch Stadium in St. Louis, MO. A great second location opportunity for someone with the desire to expand a concept to other cities.

I was thoughtful about whether to accept this invite to visit the new restaurants in the Power & Light District, because like many of you, when it first opened I was initially disappointed in the lack of locally-owned restaurants and the long list of chains they opened down there. Amid rumors of astronomical rents which supposedly prevented local restaurateurs from being able to make the leap to this new development downtown, Cordish did score several locally-owned concepts including the gorgeous Bristol Seafood Restaurant, The Peachtree Restaurant and the long-awaited Cosentino's Market Downtown.

I decided to keep and open mind, and take Rachel up on her offer to meet the folks behind Fran's Restaurant, Kobe Japanese Steak House, Pizza Bar and locally owned second location for the very popular lunch spot, The Mixx. Owned by popular caterer turned restaurateur, JoMarie Scaglia, The Mixx is another local addition to the Power & Light. During my discussions with JoMarie, about her choice to go into the Power & Light District, she explained that The Mixx does a lot of catering to downtown offices, and having a location closer to where her business comes from just made good financial sense.When I asked her if she was being approached by Cordish to expand her concept to their other properties, she said she is considering opening other locations that have nothing to do with Cordish properties. She did not confirm or deny, and seemed to leave the door open for future possibilities. With a great concept, eco-friendly focus and healthy creative menu, The Mixx will do well wherever it goes.

Pizza Bar is a Cordish-owned restaurant concept that I think hold much potential in terms of it's family friendly food and location directly across the street from the Sprint Center. I can't tell you how many times I have left the Sprint Center after an event with my seven year old son, Tastie, only to realize there was no place I could take him to eat close by that did not feel more like a bar than a restaurant. Pizza Bar has pretty good pie, fast service and is within walking distance of the parking lot. Get the Zeppole, fried bits of pizza dough dusted with sugar for dessert. Delicious.

Finally, there is Fran's Restaurant . . .a gorgeous, light, bright and modern restaurant that has a full bar open almost 24/7 and a menu with home cooking and diner classics. Fran's started out as a family run restaurant in Canada in 1940's. It was a beloved location back in the day, and still in Canada carries great brand recognition. I met during opening week with the two brothers who now own the restaurant and have licensed the name. Richard Kim, the President, is in the black shirt in this photo. With Fran's other 2 locations in Canada, this is their first US outpost. But they are another example of a successful locally owned restaurant concept that got introduced to the folks a Cordish and are right now shopping around for other Cordish properties that might be right for their concept to expand. They consider Cordish a great partner in helping them to make the connections to expand their concept in the US. The food and atmosphere at Fran's is absolutely great. I really enjoyed eating their Eggs Benedict and their Lasagna.

Fran's is also the first 24/7 restaurant in the Power & Light district. All those watering holes, really needed a place to land for breakfast when the bars close for the night. 

So, I came away from my tour of these new restaurants that have opened in the Power & Light thinking . . .oh, okay so not all chains . . .but local guys, from somewhere else . . .trying to make the leap to the big time . . .just like many of our own locally-owned restaurant concepts.

Sometimes, local guys, may not be local to your city, but they are considered local guys somewhere in this world. 

Meaty Wine Pairings

If you love good food and wine in this town, there is no better way to learn more about both than to attend any number of wine dinners or wine pairing events hosted at your favorite restaurant. You learn more about the restaurant hosting the event, the Chef who is cooking for it, and the Wine Director or Sommelier who has done the pairings. You may also get the chance to meet the winemaker himself/herself, which is a sweet treat at any wine event.

All of the local restaurants typically host wine dinners at different points and to highlight different wines, cuisines and winemakers throughout the year. I have either been to or heard good things about wine dinners at: 1924 Main, Avenues Bistro, Starker's, Michael Smith, bluestem, and The American. These restaurants have some fantastic wine lists, and they can usually pull together the supplier support to allow you to sample some incredible wines. I hear about them because, I have signed up to receive email from all my favorite restaurants. Then they can push you the information about these special wine dinners when they are scheduled.

P.S. If you do end up going to one of these events and you are not a collector of fine wines, as of yet, be sure to introduce yourself or better yet, sit by, the wine collector, wine rep or winemaker in the room for a chance to sample some of the "good stuff" they usually tote in to these dinners to share amongst themselves. NEVER ask for a sample of what they are drinking. Be patient. Remember, unless you are packing "Old Soldiers" to share yourself, you are on the outside of the circle of trust . . .until you are invited in with a single pour.

However, after you have attended several of these events, some of them start to feel the same. It's the same people at them, perhaps the same style of food, maybe you are even drinking the same "darling, of-the-moment" wines. You can begin to feel like you have been there and done that.

That's why when you attend one that holds your interest, you sit up and take note. I have just come from one of a series of really unique and impressive wine events happening at Benton's Steak and Chop House at the top of the Westin Crown Center. Which, by the way, in case you are like me and have not made it up to the 20th floor of the Westin Crown Center in a while, you must. The view of the Liberty Memorial, Union Station and all of downtown is so worth the elevator ride. That view is the stuff that romance novels speak of, which you can see from almost any seat in the house.

I attended the "Wagyu Beef and Malbec" wine pairing event hosted by Chef Martin Heuser and Manager Brent Grider . . .and it was interesting both for the featured food (Wagyu) and for the featured wine (Malbec).

Imagine pairing, the most tender and coveted (i.e. expensive) type of beef known to pass human lips (Um, these cows are massaged daily to ensure tenderness, for pete's sake.) with a sexy Argentinean red wine that is richly balanced, food friendly with big fruit, juicy boldness and smooth tannins. What an incredible tease for your palate!

The event was $50 per person, and for that you were able to sample (nice sized pours) of over 30 different Malbec's or red blends with Malbec as the predominate grape. They even had a sparkling Malbec and a port made with Malbec to sample. I have never been to a wine tasting event that featured so many wines of a single grape. What a fantastic opportunity to really dive deep into Malbec and taste some from California, Australia, France and, of course, Argentina. It was also interesting to note how different the terroir in each of these places, affected the flavors found in each Malbec. To taste multiple kinds of the same grape is truly a way to teach your palate the subtle nature of terroir.

From a food standpoint, you were treated to several different passed appetizers featuring Japanese Kobe Beef (which was served sashimi style with a spicy asian slaw), Blackmore Wagyu from Australia (served seared and skewered with a peanut dipping sauce) and American Wagyu (served in sliders) from the Dan Morgan Ranch in Nebraska. A large table in the middle of the room was filled with fruits, cheeses and chocolates as well.

There were 6 different wine tables set up, each with their own wine reps manning them. The best part about the event was you were handed a tasting sheet that also had the prices per bottle for sale, almost no mark-up were on these bottles. This means if you found something you really liked, you could purchase it right there and take some home with you. Brilliant.

Apparently, Chef Martin starting hosting these single ingredient paired with a single type of grape wine events back in the Spring with a Scallop and Sauvignon Blanc event. For the Fall, he did the Wagyu and Malbec and in the Winter (Jan. 2010) he will be doing a Housemade Sausage and Syrah tasting. They all sound incredible, and for the experience and food you get along with the selection of wine, it is a great value as well.

Let me tell you how I found out about this event, as that is perhaps even more surprising than this wine event.

I met Chef Martin Heuser, the Executive Chef of the Westin Crown Center and Benton's Steak and Chop House, at the Chef Johnny Iuzzini dessert and wine dinner promoting his new cookbook Fourplay hosted at The Amercian. The desserts we were being served from Chef Johnny Iuzzini and Chef Nick Wesemann from The American were somewhat technical in nature and Chef and I began discussing the pros and cons of molecular gastronomy. I had written about most of these toys in a blog post about Todd Schulte's connection to Phillip Preston, the CEO of PolyScience that makes most of these new fangled culinary playthings. I talked with Chef Martin about their expense, and how many Chefs in KC were borrowing them from one another to take them for a test drive, so to speak.

That's when Chef Martin looked me in the eye and said, "Yes, I have all of those toys in my kitchen at Benton's Steak and Chophouse." You do, I thought. Really? How can it be that I never knew this? When I asked him how he used his anti-griddle at Benton's, he told me about this globe dessert he serves using the anti-griddle to freeze a dessert suspended inside a sphere. Again, I am left speechless.

On Benton's menu this dessert is described as a "Chocolate Globe “meltdown” filled with tiramisu and peanut butter ice cream, coffee scented Jaconde cake and Peanut Brittle for $9."

I had an opportunity to meet Chef Ned Karamujic, an Australian Chef working in Germany who was visiting KC with Dan Morgan the American Wagyu beef rancher from Nebraska. After the Wagyu and Malbec event, Ned was staying in KC to shadow Chef Martin at Benton's to learn more about his immersion circulator and anti-griddle. Chef Ned told me one of the nights he was staying at the Westin, he went up to the Benton's dining room, unannounced, and ordered the "Chocolate Globe Meltdown" just to see it and taste it for himself. He said in his most colorful Australian, laced with German, accent, "Dammit, Jenny, it was an amazing dessert to receive and it tasted unbelievably good." I believe him.

Chef Ned told me he was visiting Dan to cut a deal to purchase his Wagyu beef to serve in his brand new American-style steakhouse he is opening in Germany called "Ox". I asked him: "Why are you buying US raised Wagyu to ship to Germany?" He said because there are very few ranchers in the world that raise Wagyu beef cattle. It is a very expensive meat that very few can afford, so there is little demand for it. It is cheaper for him to purchase it from Dan Morgan and have it shipped to him in Europe than to try to purchase it from Australia or Japan.

Dan Morgan had told me at the Benton's event when he was pouring me a glass of a red Argentinean Malbec he produced with friends there called Desafio, that he had an office in Europe to handle all of the business that he was doing over there in addition to his ranch in Nebraska. I asked him what the difference was between his Wagyu and the Japanese Kobe. He said that American Wagyu is usually sought out by Chef wanting to serve Wagyu steaks, as the "eye" of the meat was not as large as Japanese Kobe beef, therefore you could cut thicker steaks from it, and they would not end up being so Fred Flintstone large as to take up your whole plate. Sadly, his wine, Desafio, is not currently for sale, but was one of the best wines I tasted of the night. I gave him my card and told me to call me when he had some to sell. You can also order Wagyu beef directly from Dan Morgan Ranch from his website. Honestly, if you can afford to order some of his beef, and know the proper way to cook such an expensive delicacy, be sure to call Foodie over for dinner.

The next day, I agreed to drive Chef Ned around Kansas City as he shopped for things to ship back to Germany to spec to use in his "authentic" American restaurant. We bought Montreal Steak Seasoning from Planter's Seed & Spice in the River Market, big honkin' steak knives from Ambrosi Brothers Cutlery, plateware and copper pots to serve sides in from Pryde's in Westport and had lunch at Oklahoma Joe's.

Overall, I really enjoyed myself at this event. I learned much about the many subtle differences of terroir in Malbec wines and I learned a great deal about Wagyu beef and the business of buying and selling it. I also learned that Chef Martin up at Benton's has many fun culinary toys that he is using with great success and finally I enjoyed meeting new people from other parts of the world.

This event was a win-win-win.

Krause Dining to Close

This is the email those of us who are on the Krause's email list received on Wednesday afternoon from Chef Robert & Molly Krause who own and operate Krause Dining in Lawrence, KS:

There is a season for all things...

"We have truly felt appreciated and supported from our customers - some of you for many years now. We are grateful for the friendships we have made, and so it with mixed feelings that we announce that we are no longer going to be serving from our house as of January 11, 2010 (which is Robert's 50th birthday). Like so many things in life, the best parts of working and living in the same place are also the hardest parts as well. So, in order to gain back a part our family life, we have decided to pursue other interests in food operations.

We are not going away - we will continue to operate and improve The Burger Stand, we have a new restaurant opening early next year at 801 Massachusetts serving casual Latin American food, our cookbook will be published next year, and we will teach cooking classes as well.  We hope that you will have the opportunity to dine with us at Krause Dining before Jan. 11th, and other than the week of November 2nd when we will be out of town, we will be serving a lot in order to see you.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to do what we have loved for so long. Many of you spent time writing letters in our support when we were in our zoning conflict, which meant so much to us. We consider you all friends and are grateful for this incredible ride."

SIncerely,

Robert & Molly

(785) 838-9830

I wrote about my first experience dining at Krause's home in 2007. It was the first restaurant I ever wrote about for this blog. It was after Robert's fight with his neighbors and the city zoning committees in Lawrence, and it was after the remodel that had to be done to make him a legal restaurant operating out of his home . . .and it was amazing, spectacular and completely unlike any dining experience I had ever had before, or ever will again, once their doors close on January 11, 2010.

I was in the process of doing the research for my underground supperclub at the time, and Krause being the closest thing I could find to someone who ran a similar operation, so I went to Lawrence to pick his brain.

I had been eating Chef Robert and Molly's food for many years prior to dining in their lovely home. Chef Robert's culinary background (Gary Danko in San Francisco) gave him big city street cred when he decided to move to Lawrence and continue his culinary career where he could raise a family. He and his wife Molly, opened a successful catering business called Krause's Catering in Topeka, which later morphed into a full-fledged restaurant he eventually sold called New City Cafe.

I worked for the Payless ShoeSource corporate office for 10 years in Topeka, commuting every day from Kansas City. Working in Topeka, it was tough to find really good locally-owned restaurants to eat at for lunch. The foodies in Topeka flocked when Robert opened his original Krause's Catering location for lunch and continued their migration later when he opened the New City Cafe. He was heaven sent for people working in Topeka looking for high quality, gourmet food.

The President of Payless ShoeSource during part of my time in Topeka was Maxine Clark, who later went on to start the Build-a-Bear retail chain. Maxine was a great supporter of mentoring other women in the workplace, (which was the only way I think I scored an invitation) and I received an invite to her home for her annual corporate Christmas party. I remember people at the party buzzing about how wonderful the food was, and I remember coming up the stairs to see none other than Chef Robert Krause in his white Chef's coat, busily refilling and arranging new delights with an intensity that could have lit up Cleveland.

If you don't know anything else about Chef Robert Krause, know this . . .he takes his food very seriously.

From there my understanding is he started serving dinners illegally from him home to friends and family. Back then you had to know someone in Lawrence who knew Robert to get into one of these dinners. Eventually the word of his secret dinners spread to Kansas City, to rave reviews, and that's when the authorities got involved and put a stop to his "illegal" underground restaurant.

He could have given up. He could have stopped serving dinners in his home and open up a restaurant down on Mass Street, which he did for a period of time. Instead, he chose to fight. From his own pocket, he remodeled his home into a legally acceptable restaurant. He even bought the home of the complaining neighbor that created a stink about his restaurant operation, refurbishing it into a rental house. He had friends write letters of support when he went to court because he believed it was worth the fight to keep his restaurant something special and personal. Eventually, Robert was allowed to re-open his place as a legal restaurant he called Krause Dining.

I honor his spirit. I honor his fight. I honor his talent. I have been inspired by him.

Others, running restaurants in unorthodox locations, are no stranger to what can happen when one complaint is made, whether it is valid or not.  Remember Chef Jonathan Justus legal issues with operating his restaurant with the word "drugstore" in it's name? Silliness, but serious. Serious money, time and labor to resolve.

So, please if you are the one that has been talking about "someday getting up to Krause's to eat," I recommend you do not wait. Robert is going to book up and you do not want to miss this unique dining experience while he is still offering it to all of us.

After everything he has been through, and everything he is as a culinary talent, we owe him a visit of thanks and to wish him well with his future restaurant and cooking adventures.

Krause Dining has only one seating for dinner, and can only accommodate 30 people in his home restaurant. You must call for reservations in order to come for dinner, that can be done by calling 785-838-9830. They offer a 6 course menu for around $80 per person. This price excludes tax, tip or alcohol.

Enjoy.

Forget-Me-Nots

I received a few other invitations to dine this month that came from places not always top of mind for me. They are places that I seem to forget about, not on purpose, but perhaps because they have existed a while on the scene, or they are hidden away in a place not always remembered first for their food. They can be places I keep meaning to get into but never seem to make it happen or they can even be old friends that I have much love for, but somehow end up neglecting with all the new places to go and see.

Each of these places,The Drop, Cafe Sebastienne and Chaz at The Raphael, falls into one of these categories above. It is not a testament of their skills, but more a testament to my schedule and ability to remember them. They are all places that should be considered Forget-Me-Nots in your Spring dining bouquets.

The Drop - Eddie Crane and Chef Kelli Daniels at The Drop had been asking me to come in and taste some of Chef Kelli's food for at least a couple of months. I knew I would get myself in to meet my old friends for dinner eventually, but something always came up, and I never seemed to get it on my calendar.

Besides, I felt like I already knew the food at The Drop. The near cult-like love, and most copied dish in all of KC - The Drop's bruschetta, or how about the Arugula salad or delicious soups. It was the food I remember eating when Chef Josh Eans was with Eddie and Ernesto cooking at The Drop. I loved it then, and I love it now. So, when Eddie and Chef Kelli kept calling me to come eat, I couldn't imagine why or what had changed. Now, I know what has changed, and who has changed it. Chef Kelli Daniels. Period.

The funny part is, I actually introduced Eddie to Kelli after I had met her briefly at the Christmas party. My impression of her was that she was someone who was very poised and mature, someone who knew who she was and was open to what would be coming next in her culinary future. She had just left a Chef's position at Skies Restaurant at the Hyatt downtown and she described to me her culinary style as Low Country Delta cooking meets Mediterranean food, which I thought was an interesting combo. But, what struck me the most was listening to her talk about all of the various skills and jobs she had held on her way to becoming a Chef and how her father, who is a well known Chef, was also a major influence in her life and her "waste not, want not" approach to cuisine. At different points in her career, she had worked for a fish monger and a butcher. She had held high end cuisine jobs and casual cookin' gigs. She had worked the gamut and was still in the game. She was also the perfect person to step into The Drop and help Eddie figure out how to get the most from every dollar of food cost. She breaks down her own proteins, makes delicious sauces from what's already in inventory like Apple Cider Vinegar and yet she doesn't cut corners where it counts by using local Campo Lindo Chicken and Elysian Field’s Farm lamb or more widely known among foodies as "Chef Thomas Keller's lamb."

When I did make it in to eat dinner with Eddie, Chef Kelli sent out the dishes she wanted me to see and eat and I was struck by the fact that these where not nibbles or small plates, these were full on entrees. The Drop was officially serving dinner in lovely little, picture perfect portion sizes. Eddie ordered the crab cakes to start and they were very good, with little flecks of fresh herbs mixed in with the crab, but it was the Greek Antipasti platter that made me forget all about The Drop's bruschetta. Literally, as good as their bruschetta is, it is old news, compared to this plate of slices of delicious pork sausage, grilled Halloumi cheese, fresh feta cheese and house made Naan bread toasty warm served with a side of cucumber kalamata olive topping. (If you follow me on Twitter, you know what a freak I am for cucumber.)

After that was a series of her "serious" entrees:

House made gnocchi with roasted chicken, shitake mushrooms, toasted walnuts, arugula in a whiskey butter sauce for $12.

Half a rack of lamb with truffle mint potatoes, wilted spinach and apple cider reduction sauce. $22

Pork Tenderloin encrusted in cumin & cinnamon, grilled polenta, apple slaw and a romensco sauce. $13

I asked Eddie why he had never served food like this before at The Drop. He said, from the day they opened, they had really been severely limited by the kitchen, or lack of kitchen, that they had.

Then Chef Kelli came out to the table and we began talking about her amazing food, and that's when Eddie said "What Kelli has been able to do with a hot plate, a toaster oven and a small convection oven is impressive."

"Wait, a minute", I said, "are you telling me that there is no stove or commercial gas range in the back?"

They both looked at me and shook their head, no. How can this be? The food I just had could not have come from a kitchen without a stove, impossible. Without another word, I picked up my camera and said, "show me, right now."

Behind the black curtain, is a very small T-shaped kitchen. With a medium sized walk-in, a dish pit on one side and a prep station and convection oven on the other side. By the back door, which is kept propped open when it is nice out to help ventilate a room with no hood, is the safe with a little stainless table on top and two hot plates next to the slicer. This is what serves as the range top at The Drop.

I turn to Chef Kelli and shook her hand. I said, "you are one creative, talented lady to be cooking with this set-up."

She showed me her prep list which she has to carefully organize her time around with only two hot plates in the back. She starts most things off on the hot plate and then finishes them off in the convection oven.

She talked about the fact that because they have a smaller oven, it means that only certain sized pots and pan can even fit in there.

It totally makes sense now why my friend Chef Josh Eans went bruschetta as their hero small plate . . .look at what he was working with back there. It is with new eyes, that I now have to reconsider what I thought the food at The Drop was all about. Let's just say, I now have a new appreciation for the labor it takes to turn out a beautiful plate of food like the ones I enjoyed above. Go eat at The Drop and see for yourself why Chef Kelli and Eddie deserve to be remembered.

Cafe Sebastienne  - Chef Jennifer Maloney was the first Chef in Kansas City who upon meeting me, said "Yes, I read your blog. I like it very much." You could have knocked me over with a feather. I have seen Chef Jennifer at many, many culinary events over the last year or so and she is always so very nice to me, and remembers me, which I also find so flattering and kind. But, that is just the way Jennifer is, she is friendly, she is outgoing, she is nice. She also happens to be very well liked and respected by other Chefs in this town. That's because she is extremely talented and because she is passionate about using and finding seasonal food.

We became Facebook friends several months ago, and one night she popped up to chat and said: "So when are you coming to eat at my place?" See, I had confessed to Jennifer that although I had eaten her food at culinary events, I had not made it into the Kemper Museum to eat at her restaurant. Several mutual friends, who love Chef Jennifer and Cafe Sebastienne had also told me what I had been missing and encouraged me to get into her restaurant to eat. I just couldn't place the idea of this earthy Chef, with an interest in ethnic cuisines and flavors, being inside of this art gallery.

When I responded back to her Facebook chat about coming in to eat, she said, "Everyone forgets me here inside the museum." Something about that totally honest statement rang true to me and it pulled at my heart-strings. It is easy to forget those really good restaurants that are tucked away inside of a place you go to for a different reason, other than to just eat.    

Eatie and I made a date and went in for dinner right around my Birthday, in fact I called this my birthday dinner when I was chatting with a friend on the phone a couple of days later. It was a Friday night, and we were seated inside the art-filled main dining room. I wondered if all of the color and movement of the artwork would be distracting or somehow too busy to enjoy our meal. But, in reality, quite the opposite was true. It was the calmest, most still room that I have ever dined in. It wasn't dead air, it was like eating inside of a library or a museum. I found it most soothing after a hugely busy, hectic week to escape into this soundless booth or cocoon. I could talk to Eatie in peace with no competing background noise and no rowdy table mates . . .I swear we could have solved world peace that night with all of the quality communicating that got done.

The people who were dining around us, and we did have many tables, consisted of a very educated, art-loving crowd. Lots of designer glasses, lots of black, lots of good wine being enjoyed while deep and meaningful conversations were going down at the table. I leaned over to Eatie and said: "I feel smarter and more educated just eating the food in this restaurant." It was like they were rubbing off on me, in a good way.

In terms of the food, we had the Soup du Jour, which was a Moroccan Vegetable Stew that was hearty and spicy and full of smoky aromas when it arrived at the table with a plate of rolls and butter.

The server we had that night, played our table just right. Just funny enough to be amusing, and yet, when we needed a serious wine recommendation he had knowledge to spare and really took care of us.

Chef Jennifer also took care of us, sending out extra entrees of short ribs with a beet horseradish cream that was bright pink and perfectly complimented the rich beef flavors.

Eatie ordered the grilled duck with poblano mole and sweet corn polenta for $24. The mole was dark and velvety with a kick of pepper. I ordered the Panko-crusted flake with roasted tomato-fennel relish and French green lentils. For dessert, Chef sent out the Pineapple Cobbler and their flourless chocolate cake. Both desserts, were outstanding and hit the spot after so many delicious entrees.

Chef Jennifer is doing amazing things, with various ethnic flavors and cuisines, inside of the Kemper Museum of Art, I say it's time to support the culinary arts and eat at Cafe Sebastienne.

Chaz inside The Raphael Hotel - I had come to the grand opening of the newly remodeled Chaz Restaurant, which is somewhat unfortunately named after a family member that owns The Raphael Hotel. I only say that because, you have to admit, it is a somewhat dated name. Images of Regal Beagle the bar on Three's Company, always seems to jump in my head when I hear that name. That and the character Larry, from the show, with his tight polyester shirts and his chains and chest hair hanging out (shudder).  But as the PR/Marketing rep for The Raphael, Rick Hughey, explained to me when I put him on the spot and asked him about the name, was that the focus groups they did, actually preferred that name to others because it was international sounding and could be from any culture or country on the planet. That, I could actually see, and understand. 

It also adds up when you see the creative and colorful facelift that the old restaurant has received. With bold punches of red and gold, it's kinda Asian/Moroccan, kinda glamorous Shabby Chic, kinda your Grandma's formal living room all rolled into one. The total impact to the restaurant is visually stunning.

After the grand opening event, I was more than a little surprised when, Rick Hughey, emailed and wanted to know if I would be interested in coming to eat at Chaz. The timing was great, because I was interested in understanding Chef Peter Hahn's food. As a 17 year veteran Executive Chef of the hotel, he has always been held in high esteem in Kansas City. I had also just introduced myself to him at the grand opening event, so I thought this would be a nice way to close the loop with him.

Rick Hughey, graciously offered to join me for dinner, and I gladly took him up on it as a chance to learn more about him and the hotel where Eatie and I had celebrated our honeymoon and our 10 year anniversary a couple of years ago. When I told Rick this story, he laughed and said that I would be shocked to know how many people in Kansas City shared that same story. He said many, many people in Kansas City have honeymooned at one of the most romantic hotels in Kansas City. I laughed and thought there is a story or a marketing stunt in that idea there some where. Perhaps The Raphael should stage a "love in" and invite all the couples that have honeymooned with them in the past back for a night's stay or a special cocktail hour. Something to remind them of that romantic and special night. Heck, I'd go. Why not?

So, we were seated at my favorite booth in the whole restaurant. The one with the round floral ball chandelier seen above. I really thought this table was the cat's meow, until I realized how close it was to the live music playing in the lounge. At times the music was nice ambient noise, but when Rick and I really started talking it suddenly seemed very loud.

After listening to the specials for the night, I was intrigued by an ingredient on a fish dish that he referred to as "celeriac". I thought to myself, perhaps the server mispronounced it. Then I thought I might have mis-heard it. Finally, I just had to ask the manager who had stopped by the table to chat what "celeriac" was. He confessed he was not sure either and gladly went back to Chef Peter to ask exactly what it was. He returned to our table with this piece of produce. Celery Root. Celeriac is another name for Celery Root. I had no idea.

In the other hand, the GM carried a bowl of freshly sauteed celery root for us to try it, along with a bowl of raw celeriac for comparison. How lovely? What a great foodie touch, I thought, crunching on the tasteless raw celery root, and then marveling at how the sauteed root really had the flavor and texture of hash brown potatoes. This apparently comes from the natural sugars in Celeriac, that come to the surface and caramelize. WOW! I had no idea you could saute celery root.

I ordered the fish special and enjoyed it and a piece of duck breast and oat cakes from Rick's plate. We were sharing the food and stories about our past lives. He was a most enjoyable dinner companion.

Chef Peter did come out to our table and we briefly chatted about our meal and his tenure at The Raphael. I asked him if he had everything exactly where he wanted it in the kitchen by now, and he said for the most part, but he would still like more room. Every Chef would enjoy a little more room in their kitchen and a window or two to look out of .  .  .people don't usually realize the hovel holes that most professional kitchens tend to be. There is no office with a view when you cook for a living. You sit in front of a tiny slit of an expo window and have a small view of the restaurant that you give your blood sweat and tears to every day.

I like Chef Peter and I like Rick Hughey very much. I wish them luck with this historic hotel restaurant and will think about my night there as being one to remember.

The All American Meal

The last month has been a whirlwind of good food and interesting invitations to dine at various restaurants around town. It is a rare and wonderful thing when a Chef thinks enough of you and what you are doing to invite you come in and dine. I always feel so honored and flattered, but mostly I am excited, because I know that the Chef is going to take good care of me. They are going to put out the food they are most proud of, or something they believe deserves to be highlighted in some way.

Sometimes, I get invited in the hopes of a mention on the blog or in Tastebud Magazine, sometimes it is because they want my opinion on a dish or a new menu, and sometimes it is to prove me wrong on something I have assumed about their food or their restaurant. Don't get me wrong, if I am invited to dine to "right a wrong", it is done light-heartedly, in a sort of  "check yo' self, before you wreck yo' self" sort of way. Trust me, I appreciate it. If I need to be schooled, then school me.

Sometimes I pay for my meal, sometimes they pay for my meal, or at least some part of it. I never assume that anything will be comped when I agree to accept an invitation to dine, but of course it is lovely when it happens.

Are they buying a mention in my blog, by picking up part of the tab? I don't view it that way. If I go and there is nothing about the meal worth mentioning, then I do not mention it or them. I write this blog to please myself, to put thoughts I have in printed word so that I can ponder them, learn from them and hopefully spread what I have learned to you. 

I usually never turn down an invitation from a Chef, because there may be a story that needs to be told. Whether I have dined there before. . .if you keep asking questions, you will learn something you didn't know before. Either about the restaurant business or about cooking in general. It's my homework and my boot camp, to go and dine out as often as I do. Some weeks, I am really full. Some weeks, I wish I was full. It's feast or famine. Welcome to the world of restaurants.

The most intriguing and surprising invitation came from The American restaurant after reading my post called The American Anew. Napkins across laps? Good, then let's dig in to my most recent meal there.

The American Restaurant - Um, yea, so when Chef Debbie Gold, Executive Chef at The American, calls you on your cell phone and says she read your blog post about The American, and would like to invite you to come and dine at the restaurant so you can taste her food . . .you tend to take that call. I know I sure did. 

The truth is, I have met Chef Debbie Gold before, but not in a way she would remember me. I had also met General Manager and Wine Director for The American, Jamie Jamison, at a couple of different functions I attended last year at The American. I always found him to be gracious and entertaining as well.

So, of course, I accepted the invitation to dine on the rainy Thursday night at The American. I arrived and met my husband, Eatie, at the bar located on the top level tier of the restaurant just as he was ordering a cocktail from the near famous veteran bartender Willie Grandison, who was absolutely proper . . .almost regal in his presentation of Eatie's drink. That man is history. He could sit you down over a stiff drink and tell you some stories, now. I guarantee it. He has seen some stuff, and heard some stuff at this bar over the years. 

The meal that followed was 5 courses of Chef's choice at my request, with a couple of excellent wine suggestions from Jamie. The food that came out of Chef Debbie Gold's kitchen was much different than the food I had enjoyed a year ago for my birthday, when I had celebrated with Chef Celina Tio at The American. This is not to pit one Chef against the other, but to say the differences in their cooking and plating styles and their culinary points of view were much clearer to me now seeing each of them at the helm of this culinary icon in our city. 

Chef Debbie Gold is writing the next chapter of her culinary story in Kansas City right now at The American. Her food is the same, yet completely different from her 40 Sardine days. She has a refined, yet unfussy, way of putting together her dishes. They are serious plates with a mature and educated view of timely, seasonal ingredients that blended together in a sophisticated, yet uncomplicated way. Artful plates, beautiful to look at, with simple ingredients that were meant to be together, yet they were not the usual suspects. Eating her food, to me, was a surprise with each bite. That is what I found most amazing. That, as a fan of her work, she was still able to surprise me with how interesting, or delicious or creative or humble the flavors of the dishes were. This, from one of the best Chefs in KC. I wondered, "who am I to be surprised?"  As a fan of Chef Debbie's, I was pleasantly surprised.

Clearly, she is changing the stuffy image at The American, not to a more casual one, but to a more up-to-date culinary one. I thought, eating her food and seeing her dishes, that she was really producing dishes that were "of the moment" in what's happening in food today. Seasonal, local ingredients, edible art, making things in house - goat butter for the table, then using the whey left over in a sauce on the fish. Wha . . .? Really. Oh, yes and they are now making their own sausage and dry curing it in the basement of The American. (But more on that in a minute . . .)

Finally, pastry Chef Nick Wesemann, who we missed that night, but enjoy his work, gave us a dessert worth talking about in "Beer n' Pretzels" - Oatmeal stout sabayon, spiced porter cake, Guinness profiterole and pretzel ice cream. All I can say is "bottoms up" . . .when it came to the table it was lovely, and carefully crafted. Once we dug into it, the flavors began exploding in our mouths . . .the Guinness profiterole was like biting into a sweetened, beer soaked, cream puff. The flavor of beer shooting into our mouths was inventive, fun and playful. The pretzel ice cream was salty and creamy and delicious. It's nice to see artful desserts with a sense of humor in this town. Bravo! No cheesecake, no key lime pie, no molten chocolate brownie exploding tower of power . . .beer and pretzels.

Let's face it, being the Executive Chef at The American . . .well, being a chef working for The American period, is an honor. It means you are working in the most lauded and highest ranked restaurant in the city. A restaurant that has won more awards over the years than any other restaurant in town to it's credit. The Halls have given every Chef that comes through their doors to cook at The American the opportunity of a lifetime. As another Chef said to me, "the folks at The American work in the greatest culinary playground in this city." 

The American may be the Hall's Family gift to Kansas City, but it is expecting a return on its investment in that they want to have the best, most interesting, most heralded food in the city. The Chefs at The American are expected to have the best equipment and be allowed to experiment with the latest techniques. I want them to have this freedom because if The American restaurant is going to be the iconic symbol of high culinary cuisine in KC to the rest of the country, they need to be serving and creating some of the best food in this city. I think they are.

You can enjoy 3 courses for $65 at The American on up to 9 Courses for $111 per person. Go back to The American to see what you think of Chef Debbie and her band of creative young Chefs . . .see if their food doesn't change your mind, like it changed mine, about the kind of food coming out of that kitchen.

Of course, I might be a little bias. Chef Alex Pope, my first Chef at Test Kitchen, who works at The American under Chef Debbie, came to my table to say "Hi" and dropped off this house-made dry cured sausage that he is making in "the basement" of The American for me to try. It is not often that Foodie is given a Chefs sausage to taste, especially in front of her husband (sorry bad joke), but it was the perfect goodbye gift and a symbol of the culinary playground and the exploration in food that is happening at The American.

Get Dirty

After a night of "end-of-the-world" blizzard warnings and reports of potentially 6" of snow, it was curious to wake on Saturday to really . . . nothing. No snow, rain or sleet. Seemed like a cruel joke Mother Nature was playing on Kansas City. As my family and I got ready to start our day . . . Eatie, Tastie and I decided to brave the non-weather event to attend the KCFoodCircle.org's 11th Annual, 2009 Eat Local Expo at the Shawnee Civic Center. And just as we pulled into the packed parking lot of the Shawnee Civic Center, it started to rain, sleet and mean business.

The auditorium was packed with local farmers and interested attendee's walking around moving from booth to booth to learn more about the local farmers and what was available in our area. Clearly some farmer's had been unable to make the trip due to weather concerns, so there were a few empty tables, but the event really was impressive and the vibe in the room was healthy and groovy.

My husband, Eatie, and I had to stop and remember our trip to this same show last year. We were newbies to CSA's, otherwise known as Community Supported Agriculture, as we were unsure how the process worked. We didn't know what to expect or how to really shop for a CSA. We knew some of the right questions to ask. We had read the Omnivores Dilemma. But it was still a bit intimidating and, honestly, a pretty foreign concept to a couple who had grown up thinking food came only from the grocery store. My goal this year, after my first year of using both a veggie CSA (Moon on the Meadow in Lawrence, KS) and a meat/eggs CSA (Parker Farms) was to find someone there that was new to the process, and help them in the best way I knew how.

Our first stop was to talk to our friends, The Parker's, at their Parker Farms booth. They supply us with our grass fed beef, lamb and pork as well as whole chickens and eggs, we went ahead and re-upped for next year with a deposit check of $100. An easy choice. We also spoke to them about the opportunity to get custom cuts of meats, another side benefit of using a CSA by the way. Get a leg of lamb when you want one, or t-bone steaks for a party when you need them. It's a great side perk of knowing your farmer.

Then there is the convenience of picking up veggies once a week during the growing season and meat/eggs every other week year round cannot be over-emphasized.  Really, it beats the 14 aisles at the grocery store, any day of the week. Not to mention we don't really have to think about what's in season . . .it's what they are bringing us to eat every week. The only thing we got from the grocery store during the growing season was fruit, dairy and paper goods. Oh, alright and my gourmet food magazines and my Cosmo also make it into the basket . . .but we did not see the inside of a grocery store for most the summer and we loved it. When we had to head back into our local Hen House during the winters months, we shop their local growers . . .but like a spouse that strayed and found greener pastures, we yearn for the fresh produce our farmers provided to us over the summer before we were forced indoors to shop.

As we strolled through the rest of the booths we found many familiar friends. We stopped and talked at length with Tony Glamcevski from Green Dirt Farms about their lamb and their fantastic fresh sheep's milk cheeses. I became aware of Green Dirt Farms a couple of years ago when many of the Chef in town began using their local sheep's milk cheeses on their menus. Every single Chef I spoke to had nothing but words of high praise for the quality and flavor of the cheese that Green Dirt Farms produces. Tony was explaining how their cheeses tend to take on slightly different flavors and dimensions based on the time of year and what the sheep are eating. Fascinating. I had an opportunity to taste the Woolly Rind Green Dirt Farm cheese at the private dinner in Lone Jack, MO that Chef Jonathan Justus put on last Fall, but had not taken the time to go up and visit the farm to buy some more. Chef Jonathan had raved about the cheese and how mild & milky it was. Tony told me that Green Dirt Farms plans to start farm tours, cheese making classes, farm table dinners (which we talked about the possibility of doing for Test Kitchen members this year) and cheese appreciation events this year. You can check their website for more details.Tony is also rumored to be opening a restaurant in Kansas City in the next year. I have heard he is looking at a space in the Crossroads. Tony tells me they are still working on feasibility studies, so stayed tuned for more interesting information on that front.

When Tony said they were selling cheese at the event, Eatie and I bought one of each . . .the Woolly Rind which has the flavors of fresh milk, grass, mushroom and lanolin and the Dirt Lover cheese which has a beautiful line of vegetable ash surrounding the edges. I found it to be much saltier and more flavorful than the Woolly Rind. I immediately pronounced it my favorite. They do a few other cheeses and they do a handful of fresh cheeses that have different flavors like Nettle, Lovage which tastes of herbs, Firecracker which is spicy hot and Confetti which has a little of everything in it.

We also bought Sandhill Farm jar of honey and homemade mustard from this Rutledge, MO commune. At another booth we purchased a loaf of Flax Seed bread from Bread of Life located in Stewartsville, MO. There were bags of lettuces and greens, BBQ sauce, handmade soaps, starter tomato plants and much more. The farmers manned their tables and were really interested in talking and answering all of our questions.

Of course, the farmers were friendly, and maybe a little shy. You could tell they were really wanting to learn how to sell not only their products, but themselves. A strange new business model for most of these farmers. That's when I realized, that our level of anxious understanding at last year's Eat Local Expo, was only matched by these quiet farmers having to learn how to be comfortable putting themselves out there to be questioned. We were both grappling with this strange new world of culinary commerce.

The KCFoodCircle.org is going to have a second Eat Local Expo event on April 4, 2009 up in Independence, MO. So you still have time to come check out what eating local is all about. We ended up in Independence last year and discovered Mug's-Up Root Beer Drive-In along the way for lunch.

It's time to get a little dirt on your hands, and get to know those with a little dirt on theirs. Eat well.