Commit Me, Please

The Blue Moose Bar & Grill (see review) is one of a new breed of local restaurants that simply don't take reservations. "We have a limited number of tables," says manager Chris Throckmorton, "and we get a lot of walk-in business from the neighborhood. It's first-come, first-served, and no one seems to mind." Even when the wait for a table is more than an hour, Throckmorton says, "we don't get many fits over that. A lot of people say, 'We'll just come back another time, when you're not so busy.' Being too busy is a good problem to have."

But letting customers walk away and spend their money elsewhere? Somehow, Prairie Village just doesn't seem sophisticated enough to take that luxury for granted -- an impression especially valid after watching the Unicorn Theatre's production of playwright Becky Mode's Fully Committed. That play chronicles a New York actor's verbal abuse during his day job taking reservations for the newest and hottest Manhattan restaurant. Members of the local restaurant community are flocking to see the show. Restaurateur Tom Macaluso organized a group of friends connected with the Independent Restaurant Association -- including Café Sebastienne chef Jennifer Maloney, Honeymom's owners Susan and Miguel Sanchez and Zinowner Alex Pryor -- to see a recent performance.

"It was hilarious," Macaluso says. "Jason Chanos does a fabulous job."

Also in the audience that night: Charlene Welling, the reservations manager at Lidia's, who says that, unlike in the play, no one has offered to bribe her with a packet of cash. But, she says, "I'm certainly open to the idea."

It isn't a bribe, but the Unicorn Theatre is getting greenbacks from members of the Kansas City Independent Restaurant Association during the show's run, which ends July 14. The comedy's playbill includes an insert that audience members can take to participating restaurants, which will then donate 20 percent of the meal tab, excluding taxes, to the Unicorn.

It's unlikely that any reservation taker for the hottest Kansas City restaurant has to suffer the trials and tribulations of the put-upon Fully Committed character, but among the local nabobs who like to be the first to try new restaurants, there's already a hilarious story circulating about one very hip and happening restaurant. A friend of mine, a successful businessman and a gourmand, tells me that he called Johnson County's newest restaurant not long after it opened to make a reservation.

"A young girl answered the phone by saying, 'Hello?' and I asked her if I had reached a restaurant," he says. "She put her hand loosely over the phone, and I heard her turn to a coworker and say, 'What's the name of this restaurant again?' Then she came back on the line with me and said, 'Oh yes, this is 40 Sardines, may I help you?' Believe it or not, I still went ahead and made a reservation."