Thursday, October 24, 2013

Start Your Sunday With Brunch at Story

Sometimes you find restaurants (even the obvious ones) the strangest ways. Last Saturday I had the pleasure of running the half-Marathon portion of the Waddell & Reed Kansas City Marathon and unexpectedly found myself in a pace group with my friends Andy and Laurie. We were cold (temperature at start was 34ยบ F) but working hard, burning calories and talk eventually gravitated toward food in general and KC restaurants in particular. We compared favorites (too many to list), bemoaned the dogs (not going there) and tried to come up with a recommendation that one of us hadn't tried. Eventually Andy asked, "Have you tried brunch at Story?" I had not.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Six Reasons to Toast Duvel's Purchase of Boulevard Brewing Company

It's been less than one week since the big announcement that Boulevard Brewing Company was being sold to Belgian brewer Duvel Moortgat (the first part is pronounced DOO-Vell, in conversation I suggest just dropping that second bit). Much of the on-line reaction that immediately followed the news was decidedly negative with Facebook and Twitter flaring up with cries of "Sellout!", "You can't do this!", and varying versions of, "I'll never drink Boulevard again!". No one should be surprised by the knee-jerk reactions and the ensuing hyperbole. After all it's like your best friend walks into the room and announces, "Guess what? I'm getting married!" and you're all like, "Wut? I didn't even know you were dating!" But you know what? I think everything is going to be A-OK. I'm an optimist at heart anyway but having given the whole thing a lot of thought here are the reasons that I think everyone in Kansas City should embrace John McDonald's decision to sell his beloved brewery: