Cheese Whiz

One of Kansas City's beloved culinary characters is George Detsios, the vivacious and bubbly Hungarian dumpling who is still known as "former owner of George's Cheese and Sausage Shop," even though there hasn't been a business by that name for nearly a decade. Every few months, someone phones into KCUR 89.3's Walt Bodine Show to ask the panel of restaurant critics, "Whatever happened to George of George's Cheese and Sausage Shop?" It's as if he had vanished into celebrity obscurity like, say, "Baby Jane" Hudson.

But if 74-year-old Detsios no longer sells 100-pound wheels of cheese and salami (as he did for nine years at Crown Center and for 17 years after that in a storefront at 4546 Main), he is still waving his paprika shaker in a couple of local kitchens. Detsios is the featured celebrity chef the second Wednesday of every month at Outa Bounds Sports Bar & Grill (3601 Broadway), where he serves at least one of his signature Hungarian dishes: goulash or chicken paprikash.

Detsios was born in Cyprus, but his mother, Elizabeth, was Hungarian. She taught George to cook, and when he moved his business to Main Street, she came to Kansas City herself in 1982 to help her son serve stuffed peppers and goulash over rice. The business in the '80s was brisk enough that Detsios could hire a few students from the Kansas City Art Institute to work in his shop. That's where he first met the local artist (and recent restaurateur) Stretch, who was teaching at the school.

"Stretch and his students heard that I was having trouble getting my mother, who had broken her hip, in and out of the house in her wheelchair," Detsios says. "So one day while I was at work, they came over and built ramps into the house and the garage. They did it as a gift, and I've never forgotten it. I owe Stretch."

That's why Detsios also cooks Hungarian dishes every Monday night at Grinders (417 East 18th Street), the hipster hangout and pizza joint that Stretch owns.

Detsios also will give away some of his Hungarian culinary secrets on March 13 when he teaches a cooking class for Communiversity at the Westport Roanoke Community Center. (Call 816-235-1448 for details on the class.) He'll show off his skills in preparing chicken Hungarian, cucumber salad and a dessert called palachinta. "It's like a crepe," Detsios says. "But if you want to taste it, you have to come to my class."

Once a showman, always a showman.