Friday, February 3, 2012

Where do you want to eat? Check out this list

Posted by Jonathan Bender on Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 10:14 AM

Ideally every kitchen in KC would look like this.
  • Stewarding Department
  • Ideally, every kitchen in KC would look like this.
Most of the kitchens in Kansas City aren't open, unless you're carrying a health inspector's badge. But this is the time of year when Kansas Citians can actually get a peek behind the swinging door, courtesy of the health department's annual Grade A Food Excellence Awards.

"This award is designed to recognize those facilities that take the initiative to go above and beyond health code requirements to excel in sanitation and food safety," says Naser Jouhari, the city's code enforcement manager who oversees the program.

Food-service establishments (from restaurants to gas-station convenience stores) must have fewer than a set number of critical violations (from zero to three) and noncritical violations (from three to nine) within a calendar year to make the list. So the 2012 list is compiled based on the results of 2011 health inspections.

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Are there any television shows that Kansas City should pay to film here?

Posted by Jonathan Bender on Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 9:33 AM

Should KC pony up for food TV?
  • Mint.com
  • Should KC pony up for food TV?
Popular television shows are becoming like stadiums: If a city wants a shiny, new one in town they might have to think about forking over some serious cash. In a piece about the next potential location for food mega-series Top Chef (hint: It's a coffee-drinking, umbrella-toting metropolis), Eater suggests that the show could come with a hefty price tag for its host city: $200,000 to $300,000.

While that figure may seem astronomical, the San Antonio Express-News reported last October that the city of San Antonio contributed $200,000, on top of $400,000 from the state of Texas, to help snag the ninth season of the show (Top Chef: Texas is currently airing on Bravo).

While Top Chef would undoubtedly help raise the profile of Kansas City, the cost of bringing the show here is likely to make anyone hit the pause button. Are there any food-television shows that KC should pay to film here?

Kiss & Tail and other weekend possibilities

Posted by Jonathan Bender on Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 8:30 AM

Break out of your Valentines Day rut.
  • Point Defiance Zoo
  • Break out of your Valentine's Day rut.
If you think it’s time you had the-birds-and-the-bees talk, there might not be a better place than Kiss & Tail: A Special Valentine’s Presentation at the Kansas City Zoo. The 21-and-older event, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, features Ron Magill of the Miami Metrozoo. His talk, “Sex and the Animals,” covers the interesting world of animal courtship and mating. The cost is $25 for Friends of the Zoo members and $35 for nonmembers, and includes appetizers (petite grilled goat-cheese sandwiches with tomato-basil soup shooters and cupcakes from Cake-A-Boo) and two drink tickets.

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Thursday, February 2, 2012

Go ahead and make some mead — with Dingo

Posted by Charles Ferruzza on Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 3:24 PM

Last year, National Public Radio aired a story about the renewed interest in mead — the honey wine believed to be the first alcoholic beverage in history and "the preferred drink of Beowulf, Geoffrey Chaucer and the Vikings." Most of us associate the drink with Renaissance festivals, the Society for Creative Anachronism and college-era debauches. (The first and last time I ever tasted mead was as a college student; it wasn't my worst hangover, but it was most assuredly in my top 10).

On Saturday, February 4, a local painter and African drum maker, Mark "Dingo" Koch, will be teaching a class in how to make the honey wine. Offered through Communiversity, "Introduction to Mead Making" will be presented from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in the kitchen of Kansas City Academy at 7933 Main. Koch (pronounced "Cook") says he's still accepting participants, who can contact him at dingomankc@yahoo.com before Saturday. The class fee is $24, and each participant is required to bring 3 pounds of honey to the class.

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A trio of lesser-known BBQ joints (Slideshow)

Posted by Jonathan Bender on Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 10:19 AM

A plate of brisket at Biemers BBQ.
If you're smoking with hickory, they will come and they will be hungry. In this week's Pitch, Fat City's Charles Ferruzza reviewed three barbecue joints that have been under the radar: Brobecks, Biemer's BBQ and the Rub. This is part of the joy of living in Kansas City, as Ferruzza writes, "There's always someplace off the beaten path, waiting to be discovered, like some secret clubhouse that can be found only by following the aroma of burning hickory." Click here or on the brisket plate above for the photos by Brooke Vandever.

We have to stop making our food choices hard

Posted by Jonathan Bender on Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 9:30 AM

Screen_shot_2012-02-02_at_8.33.34_AM.png
At some point, it may take a degree in accounting just to sit down to your family dinner. Rather than look closer at the food we're eating, we are a nation of bean counters. That's how we end up with a device that attaches to a vending machine in order to display the nutritional information of what's inside. Allow me to save you the effort of pushing the touch screen — if it's chip- or cookie-based, it's not that great for you.

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How often do you think about the pig that became your pork?

Posted by Jonathan Bender on Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 8:30 AM

The pig is clearly the backup singer to bacon.
  • The pig is clearly the backup singer to bacon.
We're a nation that has been passionately obsessed with bacon the past several years, but the pig that became that bacon? He's not getting quite the same love.

It was national news yesterday when the Humane Society of the United States released video of alleged abuses at Oklahoma farms run by two of the country's largest pork producers: Prestage Farms and Seaboard Foods (which is based out of Merriam, Kansas). The Humane Society staged operations wherein the video was shot covertly by employees near the end of 2011. Seaboard President Terry Holton released a statement on Seaboard's website that disputed any allegations of abuse and noted the company's commitment to the "proper and humane treatment of animals."

The pigs, not the bacon, are in the news right now, but the news cycle will move on at some point. But while we're here — how often do you think about the pig that became your pork?

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

The Dubliner will open in the former Raglan Road space

Posted by Jonathan Bender on Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 11:36 AM

The old Raglan Road space will have a new look this March.
  • The old Raglan Road space will have a new look this March.
KC Hopps is hoping that an Irish-themed restaurant proves luckier the second time around in the Power & Light District. The Kansas City Business Journal reports that the local restaurant group, which owns O'Dowd's Little Dublin and the 75 Street Brewery, plans to operate and manage the Dubliner in the former Raglan Road space at 170 E. 14th St.

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Big game celebrations abound around town

A guide to where to watch the Super Bowl.

Posted by Jonathan Bender on Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 10:15 AM

This is a weekend for wing eating.
  • Flickr: DavidSpinks
  • This is a weekend for wing eating.
Another Super Bowl will pass without the Kansas City Chiefs as a participant; however, that shouldn't stop you from enjoying the game this Sunday. Fat City has compiled a list of options for where you can watch the Big Game and eat (or drink) enough to forget the drama of the past season at One Arrowhead Drive.

The Brooksider (6330 Brookside Plaza) is sponsoring its third annual Super Bowl Food Challenge that, frankly, you're not going to defeat. For a $30 entry, you've got 10 minutes to down 6 pounds of a spicy breakfast burrito and 1 pound of home-style potatoes. You have to bring your own antacid. Everybody gets a T-shirt for participating, with first and second places taking home cash prizes.

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  • A guide to where to watch the Super Bowl.

Would you ever bring your own container for leftovers?

Posted by Jonathan Bender on Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 9:30 AM

Ever think about sharing your Tupperware with a restaurant?
  • Mahalo
  • Ever think about sharing your Tupperware with a restaurant?
Life with multiple small children more often than not leaves me with the same approach to eating as a hyena — if it's not moving and I'm the only one around, it's fair game.

As a result, I've eaten the remains of a non-relative's pasta, more pizza than I care to admit and an unhealthy amount of fudge (not to sound ungrateful, but people make odd choices when it comes to bringing over food) in the past few weeks. I've also had the opportunity to study the effectiveness of various takeout containers. Cardboard surprisingly can be a better option than Styrofoam, but both are dwarfed by a speedy transition into Tupperware. With my constant pyramid scheme of freshness in place, I've lately been considering eliminating the middleman — Chinese takeout boxes and plastic to-go pints.

Would you ever bring your own containers for leftovers or takeout to a restaurant?

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