Ask Charles Ferruzza, Pitch

Yes, the Snak Shack is going to reopen, with a new owner

Charles Ferruzza — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 18:10:17 -0500

Fat City finally has an answer for the readers who have been bombarding me with the same question for the last couple of weeks, including today's e-mail from Chris Whitmore: "What's going on with the Snak Shack in downtown Overland Park? It's been closed for a month now.…

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Chapala Restaurante Mexicano changes its hours: no more dinner

Charles Ferruzza — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 10:11:37 -0500

Fat City received a phone call this week from Ritchie, who was introduced to the Chapala restaurant at 5224 Truman Road after reading last month's review of the restaurant in The Pitch.

"I've eaten at Chapala several times since I first read about it and I love it," he said, "but my wife and I took some friends to the restaurant last Saturday night, and it was closed. Did the restaurant close for good?"

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Where do you take a 16-year-old girl for her birthday?

Charles Ferruzza — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 17:12:27 -0500

Yes, Fat City readers, someone -- Mike in Prairie Village -- sent an e-mail asking me where a large group of adults could take a teenager and two of her friends for a "Sweet Sixteen" dinner gathering -- this Sunday.

I can tell you that if I were desperately looking for the answer to this question, the last person I might ask would be me. I wasn't even around for my own younger sister's "Sweet Sixteen" party (and she's never forgiven me, either), and it's not like I sit around and watch the Disney Channel for creative inspiration ... or anything else.

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We want to know where the boozy fish fry can be found

Charles Ferruzza — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 13:21:49 -0500

After seeing last week's post featuring a list of church fish frys, Fat City reader Ryan in Olathe wrote us with this question:

"I'm from Omaha and there are one or two fish frys that are quite the party. Basically, you wait in line for 2-3 hours, drink beer the whole time and then eat fish (which, by that time, due to a combination of drunkenness and hunger, tastes awesome)."

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We get questions about Slover's, pork brain sandwiches and the Boom-Boom Room

Charles Ferruzza — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 16:36:19 -0600

Seriously, we love trying to answer the questions we get here at Fat City. Over the weekend, we received inquiries about two venues that don't exist anymore and where to find a fried pork brain sandwich.

Fat City reader Jim from New York asked this question: "Do you remember a nightclub called the Boom-Boom Room?…
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Why are the windows boarded up at Thirsty's Cantina?

Charles Ferruzza — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 15:18:51 -0600

A couple of nights ago, I noticed that several large windows facing Walnut Street at Thirsty's Cantina in the River Market were boarded up with plywood. If you didn't know that the restaurant and saloon wasn't closed -- and it isn't -- you might think it was.

A Fat City reader also wanted to know what was behind the boarded-up windows.…
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Drunken Fish, new Power & Light sushi spot, 'very close' to opening

Charles Ferruzza — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 12:41:31 -0600

So just when, several Fat City readers have asked us, is the new Drunken Fish Sushi Restaurant and Lounge opening in the former Bice Bistro space in the Power & Light District?

"It's very close, just a couple of weeks away," says Allison Schiller, spokeswoman for the St. Louis-based restaurant group. (It's too early to really call the company a chain: There are three locations in St. Louis; Kansas City will be the fourth and the first outside the River City.)…
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Ask the critic: Where can Kansas City celebrate a birthday with dessert and booze?

Charles Ferruzza — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 12:39:41 -0600

Fat City reader Linda is celebrating her birthday this weekend and wrote us to ask where she could gather a group of friends together for dessert, coffee and liquor. She was thinking, maybe, of an attractive restaurant lounge with a beautiful bar and a nice assortment of desserts so that her friends could order what they wanted instead of sharing a traditional birthday cake.

I had a few ideas for a selection of different venues that might fit the bill.…
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Who has the best cheesecake in Kansas City?

Charles Ferruzza — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 14:00:14 -0600

One of my co-workers at The Pitch has been wary of cheesecake since childhood: "Someone offered me a piece of cheesecake when I was little and I thought, Why would anyone put cheese into a cake?"

I had the same reaction at probably the same age. But a friend of my father's owned the neighborhood delicatessen, and they both kept cajoling me to try the cheesecake.…
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Come on now, what are the best sushi restaurants in town?

Charles Ferruzza — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 13:04:46 -0600

Fat City reader Reg Robertson of Overland Park wrote to ask this: "What, in your opinion, are the three best sushi restaurants in Kansas City?"

Well, Reg, I like sushi well enough, but I'll confess that I probably lack the true passion for the dish that many of our Fat City readers have for truly glorious sushi. We'll let them weigh in here.

In the meantime, I can list a few places I like to go for a sushi fix.

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The right casserole for a speedy recovery

Charles Ferruzza — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 12:30:17 -0600

Macaroni-and-cheese is the all-time comfort casserole.

I received a call from a Fat City reader last week with a bittersweet request: A friend of hers was going through chemotherapy and a group of friends had agreed to take dinner to the woman's family on different nights. A casserole seemed the obvious choice, since it could be prepared in advance and then baked at the family's convenience.…
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Why some vegetarians believe in 'don't ask, don't tell'

Charles Ferruzza — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 13:00:45 -0600

Refried beans can be the ultimate mystery dish.
Chef and culinary consultant Bonnie Winston can take the tiniest taste of long-simmered beans in a Mexican restaurant and tell you if they've been cooked in lard. "If the beans are really flavorful," she says, "there's probably lard in there."

I have several vegetarian friends in Kansas City who take a "don't ask, don't tell" approach to some seemingly meat-free dishes.…
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If President Obama loves bakso, I want to taste it, too

Charles Ferruzza — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 16:41:05 -0600

Robert Sietsema, reporting last week on slashfood.com, explained how President Obama had the opportunity to taste his favorite soup, bakso, during his recent visit to Indonesia. Bakso, it turns out, is a meatball-laden soup (the meatballs are also called bakso) that can be prepared with beef, chicken, fish or shrimp balls.

It sounds delicious.…
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Can a vegetarian eat pie in Kansas City?

Charles Ferruzza — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 13:00:57 -0500

We're getting into holiday pie season, including the traditional Thanksgiving pies: pumpkin, pecan, sweet potato. Fat City reader Deborah is a vegetarian and says she never really thought of pies as an issue until she noticed, at her local supermarket, that frozen pie crusts might be prepared with lard.

Lard -- rendered or unrendered pig fat -- was once the shortening of choice for the perfect, flaky pie crust.…
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Chef looking for long-lost recipe collection

Charles Ferruzza — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 08:15:27 -0500

The case of the missing recipes

One of the most popular restaurants in the Kansas City metro during the Reagan administration was the Prospect of Westport, a stylish bistro in the heart of what was then Kansas City's only true entertainment district.

This week, veteran local chef Richard McPeake e-mailed me with a request for a long-forgotten recipe collection with roots at the Prospect.

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Baseball caps and shrimp in the Crossroads? Where was this place?

Charles Ferruzza — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 13:00:33 -0500

No, it wasn't Red Lobster's fried shrimp that Mark remembers.
Fat City reader Mark remembers visiting a restaurant in Kansas City in the mid-1980s. This is his description of the place:

"It featured shrimp of some kind.…
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KC restaurant survivors not as old as you'd think

Charles Ferruzza — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 13:00:19 -0500

The Savoy Grill gets the longevity prize.

Having read last week's Cafe review of the Frontier Steakhouse, Fat City reader Jane asks: "How many other restaurants in the metro are still in business now that were serving food back in 1960?"

What a great question -- and not as easy to answer as I first thought. There are other iconic steakhouses in town that you might think are as old as the Frontier Steakhouse, but they aren't.…
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Sunday breakfast: not too early, not a chain

Charles Ferruzza — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:36:17 -0500

Peter works in the restaurant business. That means he works late on most Friday and Saturday nights and likes to sleep late on Sunday mornings.…
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'Why are there no great delis in Kansas City?'

Charles Ferruzza — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:05:59 -0500

Napoleon Bakery makes a nice Reuben panini, but it's no deli

Here's a question I get a lot, usually from people who have moved to Kansas City from one of the coasts: Why isn't there a decent Jewish delicatessen in the metro?

It's a good question. There used to be: In the 1940s, the Kansas City City Directory listed 67 delicatessens operating in the metro, including the Milwaukee Deli, the Chicago Deli, the Cincinnati Deli and the New York Bakery and Delicatessen, which outlasted all of its rivals until it closed, somewhat uncermoniously, last year.…
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KC restaurants once like Disneyland

Charles Ferruzza — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:25:21 -0500

It might have been the beets...
Fat City reader Holly read our post about Kansas City's first Viennese restaurant -- many decades before Grunauer opened in the Crossroads -- and recalls eating at the "theme" restaurants at the top of the Commerce Tower in the 1960s, including a salad at the Salzberg Haus that nearly made her throw up.

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Who is that cowboy at the LongHorn bar?

Charles Ferruzza — Mon, 10 May 2010 14:31:48 -0500

Before Clint Eastwood, there was William S. Hart
Fat City reader Vernon Justice from Kansas City, Kansas, wrote in with an interesting question about a cowboy he'd seen in the bar at the LongHorn Steakhouse in Wyandotte County's Legends complex. Not a real cowboy, but a vintage photograph.…
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Charles on the radio: Al fresco dining

Jonathan Bender — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 15:43:42 -0500

Patio openings confirm that spring has arrived -- although not all outdoor spaces are created equally.

Fat City's Charles Ferruzza and a panel of food critics are set to talk about some of the city's best outdoor-dining spots on The Walt Bodine Show (KCUR, 89.3 FM) from 10 to 11 a.m. tomorrow.…
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Braille menus -- who has them?

Charles Ferruzza — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:30:50 -0500

Governor Stumpy's braille menu was created by a customer.

I recently got a call from a midtown resident named Lawrence Thomas, who told me about a problem that I hadn't thought much about.

Thomas is legally blind and says he can't afford to go out to eat as often as he would like.…
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Restaurant and grocery coupons can't be taxed in Missouri

Charles Ferruzza — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:00:48 -0500

Fat City reader Larry -- a self-proclaimed cheapskate -- wrote to say that he had used a coupon for a reduced-price meal at a local restaurant but had been taxed on the full amount. In other words, he had been taxed on the coupon.…
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Relishing the memory of Mancuso's Gondola Restaurant

Charles Ferruzza — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:17:05 -0600

Kathy -- a Fat City reader in Fort Wayne, Indiana -- wrote us to ask about a restaurant that she remembered from her childhood in Kansas City:

"My parents took us to Maranzino's on Wornall at least once a week in the 1950s ... wonderful memories. And my glands still water 50 years later when I recall a relish they served.…
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