On the Web, Pitch

Oklahoma Joe's ribs named the best in the country by The Daily Meal

Jonathan Bender — Fri, 24 May 2013 09:09:00 -0500

Oklahoma Joe's ribs apparently stick with you. The Daily Meal has just named the pork ribs from OK Joe's the best in the country.…

Zagat tabs Oklahoma Joe's, Arthur Bryant's to represent Kansas & Missouri

Jonathan Bender — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 08:21:00 -0500

For those among us who organize our trips around our dining schedules, Zagat has created a new kind of GPS: the gustatory profile of states. As part of its "50 Plates of America," the dining guide has singled out one food and one restaurant that prepares that dish to represent each state.…

The American named one of the Top 100 Restaurants in the U.S.

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 08:30:44 -0500

Opinionated About Dining is serious about finding the top restaurant in America. The blog and book series started by Steve Plotnicki has produced an annual listing of the top 100 restaurants in the United States since 2008.…

KC is left off the list of America's 50 Best Donuts

Jonathan Bender — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 09:45:34 -0500

If anybody knows hot fat, it's Kansas City. But when it came time for Jane and Michael Stern (the authors of Roadfood) to compile their list of America's 50 Best Donuts for Saveur, Kansas City didn't make the cut.…

Fritz's Railroad one of the five most unique culinary experiences in America

Jonathan Bender — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 07:57:00 -0600

Next stop, America, is Fritz's Railroad. Maxim cranked out a list of the five most unique culinary experiences in the United States, and sitting at No. 5 is the Kansas City, Kansas, diner that delivers your food in a train car.…

A snapper really is a snapper in Kansas City

Jonathan Bender — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 08:41:04 -0600

You may not always eat snapper, but when you do, you probably prefer that it's actually snapper. There's good news out of the recent rash of articles concerning the mislabeling of seafood.…

Cafe Provence's service tops Zagat list for Kansas City

Jonathan Bender — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 08:26:00 -0600

If you ever needed convincing about the quality of life in the Kansas City area, consider the following fact. Cafe Provence, which Zagat deemed the best service in Kansas City (bear in mind, it's in Prairie Village), is also the cheapest on a list of the restaurants with the finest service in 25 cities.…

God wants you to tip, even at Applebee's

Charles Ferruzza — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:53:00 -0600

I didn't want to believe this story when I first read it in The Consumerist. A restaurant server says he got stiffed by a church pastor, who wrote on the receipt: "I give God 10 percent.…

KC bakers compete on Bake Magazine's Cake Show: Kansas City

Jonathan Bender — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 08:45:45 -0600

Consider it an audition for your wedding or next party, but Bake Magazine's Web-based Cake Show (the Search for America's Best Cake Decorator) has just posted the first part of the episode it filmed in Kansas City. The baking show is a challenge in three parts: cupcake decorating, quarter sheet cake decorating and tiered cake creations.…

Sizzler continues to tease Kansas City

Jonathan Bender — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 09:00:00 -0600

Lobster tails and a salad bar - it's as luxurious as a refrigerator with a built-in ice machine. But for now, it's still a dream for Kansas City.…

Bacon Explosion featured on The Bacon Show

Jonathan Bender — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 16:46:00 -0600

The road for all bacon lovers apparently ends at the Bacon Explosion. In the latest episode of the Web series, The Bacon Show, former Top Chef contestant Kevin Gillespie takes his pork odyssey to Kansas City to sample the creation unleashed on the world by Burnt Finger BBQ, a local competition barbecue team.…

Sweet Siam, Remedy, Cafe Gratitude make Urbanspoon's list of most popular new restaurants

Jonathan Bender — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 08:53:13 -0600

If you need another sign that we're eating well on both sides of the state line, Urbanspoon's list of America's Most Popular New Restaurants in 2012 should do nicely. Sweet Siam in Lenexa, Remedy Food + Drink and Cafe Gratitude are included in the collection of 50 restaurants.…

Beer Kitchen, the Rieger named to Kunda Eats' list of Best New Restaurants in America

Jonathan Bender — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 09:00:00 -0600

You know you're good when you've been open awhile and you still make a list of the best new restaurants in the country. Kunda Eats has put together its 2012 list of the Best New Restaurants in America, and two Kansas City joints, Beer Kitchen No. 1 and the Rieger Hotel Grill & Exchange, are among the picks.…

Menufy introduces restaurants to their future

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 08:00:00 -0500

In 1995, the idea that Sandra Bullock didn’t have to pick up a phone to get a large pizza with anchovies, garlic and extra cheese seemed revolutionary. Nearly two decades after The Net, Ashishh Desai and the team at Menufy are proving that Hollywood’s early vision of the Web was onto something: Ordering restaurant food online doesn’t have to be hard.…

Blue Ribbon Hunter eats its way through the KC Bacon Festival

Jonathan Bender — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 09:36:00 -0500

Blue Ribbon Hunter, Yahoo's travel food competition show, attended this year's Kansas City Bacon Festival, the annual benefit for the Rehabilitation Institute of Kansas City. They interviewed meat lovers and chefs alike to find out why our city enjoys pork belly as much as we do.…

Tannin makes Open Table's 'Top 100 Notable Wine Lists'

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 08:29:38 -0500

Open Table, the online restaurant reservation system, has begun mining its diner review database to create rankings, and in the newly released 2012 'Top 100 Notable Wine Lists,' there's a name familiar to Kansas City oenophiles: Tannin Wine Bar and Kitchen. General Manager Barry Tunnell runs the wine program — his style and taste in wine have been evident to regulars since the restaurant at 1526 Walnut was JP Wine Bar.…

Chappell's makes The Daily Meal's list of 'America's Best Sports Bars'

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 09:27:27 -0500

Kansas City is nationally known for tailgating, so it makes sense that America would wake up to the idea that we're comfortable drinking and eating fried food indoors as well. The Daily Meal has named Chappell's Restaurant & Sports Museum to its list of 'America's Best Sports Bars.'…

Longboards, Grinders and Waldo Pizza make Urbanspoon's list of 'America's 100 Most Popular Cheap Eats'

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 10:00:00 -0500

Great cheap eats are like high school secrets: You know word is going to get out, but you just hope you can keep it to yourself awhile before the whole world knows.

Consider the world informed about Longboards in Gladstone, Grinders and Waldo Pizza.…

Jasper's named to Travel + Leisure's 30 Best Italian Restaurants in the U.S.

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 08:56:00 -0500

You just need to make a good shrimp Livornese to keep them coming in. For close to 60 years, that's been the plan at Jasper's Restaurant, and the shrimp, among other dishes, is why Travel + Leisure has named the Kansas City eatery to its list of the 30 Best Italian Restaurants in the U.S.

In the piece, Jasper's also earns the title of the 'Best Midwestern Italian steakhouse,' which, like baseball statistics, is a delightfully specific category.…

Five strategies for dealing with the upcoming alcoholic cupcake craze

Jonathan Bender — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 11:01:00 -0500

If London is experiencing a hangover, it's not from missing the Olympics. The Daily Mail reports on a trend that is without question going to be heading over the pond: alcoholic cupcakes.…

Jasper's named top Italian restaurant in KC by Zagat

Jonathan Bender — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 09:04:33 -0500

Kansas City has a few absolutes for out-of-towners. You're going to sample wood-smoked meat.…

Rye named to Eater's list of 33 most anticipated restaurants

Jonathan Bender — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 10:22:24 -0500

It's not just folks in Leawood that are thinking about Rye, the new restaurant venture from Megan and Colby Garrelts. The duo behind Bluestem are revamping the former Lakeside Tavern space at 10551 Mission in Mission Farms for a fall opening, and Eater has named the restaurant in the works to its list of the '33 Most Anticipated Restaurant Openings of Fall 2012.'

The list itself checks in on planned eateries in cities where Eater has a presence, but the biggest takeaway is that Kansas City chefs are continuing to generate buzz outside of the city.…

KC didn't make the cut for USA Today's Best Steakhouse in the U.S.

Jonathan Bender — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 09:12:01 -0500

Once known for stockyards and cattle, Kansas City is apparently no longer considered among the great steak cities in the country. USA Today, the paper with vast sports coverage and an unrivaled ability to appear outside your hotel-room door, has named The USA's Best Steakhouse.…

Oklahoma Joe's is among the nominees for Men's Health's Manliest BBQ Restaurants

Jonathan Bender — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 08:47:00 -0500

Man make fire. Another man kill beast.…

State Food Debate: Kansas for fried chicken, Missouri for KC barbecue?

Jonathan Bender — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 08:17:48 -0500

Kansas has never declared an official state food, and Missouri has only an official state fruit and dessert (the Norton grape and the ice-cream cone), so Yum Sugar has decided to fill in the gaps with its '50 Iconic American Foods from A to Z.' The foodie site has declared fried chicken the state food of Kansas and Kansas City barbecue as the representative for all of Missouri.…