Friday, February 22, 2013

JJ's Restaurant Support Fund - One Day Event

The Greater Kansas City Restaurant Association is organizing a "one day only" benefit this Saturday, February 23 to support JJ's Restaurant. Participating restaurants will be donating 10% of all proceeds from the evening to the JJ's Support Fund. The funds collected will be turned over to JJ’s Restaurant owner, Jimmy Frantze, and his management team to help his staff convalesce.

Participating restaurants include:

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Social. Well Done. (Done Well).

Here we are, with both feet in the new millennium, and I am amazed at the number of restaurants (some of my favorites in fact) that still have little or no presence in social media. Even worse, many are doing such a poor job of using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc... that their pleas for attention are likely met with feelings of pity.

This is on my mind today as I look out the window at what is likely to become well over a foot of snow falling furiously from the sky.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Reservation Roulette - Last Minute Valentine's Day Tables

If you've just realized that Valentine's Day is tomorrow and you haven't bothered with dinner reservations there is still hope. You'll just need to cross your fingers and play a little Reservation Roulette through Open Table's on-line restaurant reservation system.

Let's say you're looking for a 7:00 PM seating - right in the reservation sweet spot. Using Open Table you will see that,

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Food Fight! - Local Chefs Square Off for Good Cause

There's a lot to be said about Kansas City. Here are two things that are on my mind right now...
For a metro area its size, Kansas City:
  • ranks among the most charitable cities in the US
  • has an amazingly vibrant and growing food scene 
These factoids are on my mind because they merged serendipitously last night at the Children's Center for the Visually Impaired (CCVI) annual Food Fight. CCVI prepares children with visual impairments to reach their highest potential in the sighted world. Food Fight is a fundraiser that incorporates a number of activities including food tasting stations from some of Kansas City's best restaurants, live and silent auctions, and most notably a cooking competition pitting three local chefs against each other and the clock Iron Chef-style. Chefs prepare three courses that are judged on presentation, taste, and use of a common secret ingredient. While not CCVI's biggest fundraiser it is, in my humble opinion, the most fun.

This years chefs were:

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Go Ahead, Sleep In - Late Breakfast at Beer Kitchen

OK, I personally don't sleep in. Ever. I'm a 5:00 - 5:30 AM guy on typical mornings. 6:00 AM on weekends. But I recognize that many more normal folks like to call bed their home for a few extra hours on Saturday and Sunday.  Brunch was designed for them. I'm happy to tag along - even if it will be my second meal of the day.

So it was this weekend that we set out on Saturday morning (closer to Noon than actually morning) to have a very late breakfast at Beer Kitchen in Westport. Located right on the corner of Westport Road and Pennsylvania Avenue and home to what must be approaching 100 different beers, Beer Kitchen might seem an unlikely spot for brunch. My experiences here to date were limited to downing a couple of beers after eating elsewhere and on one particularly nice summer day making it a middle stop on an impromptu Westport pub crawl with my wife. It turns out this place knows how to cook.

Friday, February 1, 2013

This Month I Learned - January Roundup

Despite my best intentions (and probably for the good of my readers) sometimes I just don't get around to writing about everything I eat or drink. Maybe the photos turned out lousy or I just don't have enough words that want to be shared. Anyway, herewith are some January tidbits I didn't get around to posting for one reason or another: