By CHARLES FERRUZZA
Martin and Wendy Rudderforth’s Pangea Café & Market at 900 W. 39th Street has been open for nearly three years, but the husband-and-wife restaurateurs only began serving dinner last month. The reasons, says Martin (pronounced Mar-teen, he’s from Argentina) is that their regular customers started pestering them to start serving an evening meal. The same diners who were happy to order at the counter during the lunch hours wanted a less-casual experience at night.
After 5 p.m., Pangea Café & Market reverts to a full-service restaurant, with printed menus (the lunch menu is still written in chalk on a big blackboard) and friendly servers. The success of the dinners has made Martin Rudderforth wonder why they didn’t follow up on the idea sooner.
“When we first opened,” he says, “we were on a tight budget and we thought of our concept as strictly fast-casual. But the response to dinners has been very positive.”
Many of the dishes on the Pangea dinner menu are the same as those on the lunch repertoire, including the Pad Thai noodles, the gnocchi pomodoro with shrimp and the beef and Guinness pie. “But the dinner portions are bigger,” Wendy says.
Two new entrée choices are a Cuban-style marinated pork tenderloin (sided with potato croquettes, black beans and papaya mojo) and Beef Matambre, an Argentinian speciality of beef tenderloin stuffed with mushrooms, spinach and roasted red bell peppers.
The dinner hours are 5 to 9 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays. “It’s early, because we get an early dinner crowd,” Wendy says.
Bonus: the Rudderforths also sell wine and beer for those early diners who still want something more potent than iced tea with their Moroccan basteeya rolls.
Showing 1-2 of 2
Waah. It was my favorite KC restaurant. Sadly, it closed on December 18. Wendy always put a great spin on what might otherwise have been humdrum. She got me to like beets, brussels sprouts and other foods I once used to loathe. Pangea will be greatly missed!
like
dislike
