Out & About, Pitch

Food Truck Invasion roars into downtown next Thursday

Jonathan Bender — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 09:37:00 -0500

The Beatles had America. Kansas City food trucks have 12th Street and Walnut.…

Giovanni's Deli goes big in the Northland

Jonathan Bender — Mon, 20 May 2013 09:10:30 -0500

Giovanni's Italian Deli & Pasta (6100 N.E. Antioch Road) is the rare place where you can get a ham sandwich and a pound of ham for when you're hungry three days later. The hoagies are done in the style of a classic Italian tradition.…

D'Bronx corned-beef sandwich is a deli stopgap

Jonathan Bender — Thu, 16 May 2013 08:00:42 -0500

At d'Bronx (3904 Bell), I always walk in intending to get a grinder and I end up hearing myself order a slice of pizza and a chocolate-chip cookie (if they're recently out of the oven) before my brain can catch up with my mouth. But several weeks ago, armed with the mission of compiling a month's worth of sandwiches for this week's cover story, I was determined to walk away with a hoagie in hand.…

Wolfe-es has classic stick-to-your-ribs breakfast

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 15 May 2013 10:00:10 -0500

You can blame brunch, but, at some point, breakfast got complicated. French toast got gussied up, pancakes have been stuffed beyond recognition and the cocktails seem to matter as much as the food.…

Fritz's Smoked Meats' Bette Rogers is a meat avalanche

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 14 May 2013 07:50:00 -0500

For the past month, I've been on the opposite of the Atkins Diet. I have been in pursuit of every carb-laden, meat-stuffed, cheese-filled sandwich within 40 minutes of Kansas City.…

Sporting KC adds beer garden and Grinders dishes at Sporting Park

Jonathan Bender — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 08:40:56 -0500

The competition appears to be no less fierce when it comes to stadium concessions. In an effort to keep up with the T-Bones of the world, Sporting KC is adding a series of new amenities at Sporting Park.…

Laura Christensen's Blue Door Farm fights off a cold spring

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:00:00 -0500

A cold, wet start to growing season means that humans and bunnies alike are waiting a little longer for carrots. Fat City caught up with Laura Christensen, who operates Blue Door Farm in Kansas City, Kansas, as she worked her fields in preparation for the opening of the Brookside Farmers Market and the start of transplant season.…

Taco Republic Truck is set to bring street tacos to the streets

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:07:16 -0500

You may have had walking tacos, but now rolling tacos are cruising around Kansas City. The Taco Republic Truck, the food truck and brand extension from Bread & Butter Concepts (the group behind BRGR, Gram & Dun, Urban Table and the soon-to-open Taco Republic), is now rolling.…

The Fox, Johnson County's only gay bar, closing April 21

Charles Ferruzza — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 10:42:35 -0500

The Fox, one of the oldest gay bars in the Kansas City metro (and the only one in Johnson County), at 7520 Shawnee Mission Parkway, will unplug the pinball machine, cover up the pool tables, and lock the doors for the last time on Sunday, April 21.

The 30-year-old saloon - located in an unassuming Overland Park shopping strip - has been owned for the last six years by Tim Abbott and his partner, Bernardo: "Just refer to me in your story as Bernardo," he says.…

Hallmark's David Jimenez shows his stuff...in Architectural Digest

Charles Ferruzza — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 08:21:00 -0500

It's a big thing for a Kansas City resident's home to be featured in the pages of Architectural Digest, the ne plus ultra of glossy shelter magazines, which tends to focus on big-name subjects: celebrity designers and architects doing magnificent work for their celebrity clients. Or just the celebs, like Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig profiled in "A-Listers Discuss Their Favorite Rooms."

In the 1970s, the magazine did a spread on the home of Shakespeare Festival founder Marilyn Strauss.…

What's coming out of the 20th Street sinkhole?

Jonathan Bender — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 10:46:00 -0600

Do you ever get that sinkhole feeling? The Kansas City Star reports that a large sinkhole - several feet in diameter and several feet deep - opened last night on 20th Street, just east of Oak.…

Friends of JJ's Benefit tonight at the Uptown

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 08:11:08 -0600

Tickets are still available for the Friends of JJ's Benefit tonight at the Uptown Theater. The music, food and entertainment extravaganza has been organized to help the employees of the former JJ's - destroyed in an explosion February 19 - and honor the memory of Megan Cramer.…

Three stars of Modern Family get stuck in elevator at Crown Center hotel

Ben Palosaari — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 14:16:00 -0600

Modern Family star Eric Stonestreet has never hidden his affection for his hometown of Kansas City. So when he got his co-stars Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Julie Bowen to appear at a fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Kansas City's Kids Night Out, he surely wanted to show them the best the city has to offer.…

Grumpy Cat meme becomes snow art, mocks Kansas City's latest snowstorm (photo)

Justin Kendall — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 09:09:00 -0600

Of all the snow creations made from the latest round of snowpocalygeddon, Dustin Schirer's won our icy hearts. Probably because Schirer's Grumpy Cat, based on the meme, speaks to how we feel about losing power, digging out, and trudging through this mess of snow and ice.…

West 18th Street Fashion Show's 2013 theme: 'Gilded Summer'

Scott Wilson — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 09:26:55 -0600

If it's raining when the West 18th Street Fashion Show announces its theme and calls for entries, that means no precipitation during the actual event. Right?…

Invicta FC4 rumbled into Memorial Hall Saturday (Slideshow)

Jonathan Bender — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 12:02:00 -0600

Last Saturday night, Invicta FC4 - Kansas City's homegrown women's MMA promotion - went down at Memorial Hall. The 13 matches with fighters from all over the world (Japan, Austria, Scotland, Des Moines) were shown streaming live online.…

Apocalpyse Protection Services now on Craigslist

Jonathan Bender — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 08:07:00 -0600

If you're worried about lunch and the world's end, one man wants to help you solve that problem. For a sheer $500, Sammy Orangkhadivi will not only provide protection from zombies but also unleash his "awesome cooking skills."…

The squeak of a swing and whistle of a train on a fall KC Soundwalk

Jonathan Bender — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 09:09:28 -0600

Some mornings you just want a bit of distraction, a moment to stop thinking about a piece of bad news that sits on your spirit like an elephant on a badly splintered fence. This is one of those mornings.…

Louis Curtiss: architect and man of mystery

Charles Ferruzza — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 13:00:00 -0600

The three-story building at 3240 Main has been the subject of a mystery for years: Was it designed by Kansas City architect Louis Curtiss (1865-1924), whom some have called the Frank Lloyd Wright of Kansas City? The building, completed in 1914, looks like a Curtiss design - compare the structure with the 1908 building that he designed as his studio and apartment, at 1118 McGee.…

Union Station's Ghost Adventures episode is night-vision gold

Jonathan Bender — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 09:25:00 -0600

Ghostbusters II may have had the ghost train. But Kansas City has its very own ghost train station, at least according to the intrepid crew of Ghost Adventures.…

Alamo Drafthouse CEO Tim League sits closer than you do

Scott Wilson — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 18:05:00 -0600

Tim League, founder of the Alamo Drafthouse, was in town yesterday to cut the ribbon and reopen the chain's KC outpost. Alamo Drafthouse Mainstreet invited various local dignitaries and media types to the 9 a.m. event, which included a short tour of the improved theater space.…

The Broadway Extension is back up and running Wednesday

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 09:33:00 -0500

Drivers will breathe a little easier Wednesday morning when the Broadway Extension reopens at 5 a.m. The extension, which carries 35,000 vehicles daily, has been shuttered since July 14.…

Amend-O-Matic and Move to Amend set up shop in KC today

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 10:25:16 -0500

If Rube Goldberg were interested in campaign finance reform, he might have built the Amend-O-Matic. In an effort to call attention to corporate political influence derived from campaign contributions, the Move to Amend Coalition, with support from Ben & Jerry's co-founder Ben Cohen, is touring the country in a truck nicknamed the "stamp mobile."…

Frank White to talk Royals and his new book at the Plaza Library tonight

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 09:08:18 -0500

He won't be taking you out to mini golf or for a big bowl of ice cream, but Frank White is finally ready to talk about the divorce. The Royals' great will sit down for a conversation with Bill Althaus of the Independence Examiner, his co-author of a new book, One Man's Dream: My Town, My Team, My Time, at the Plaza Branch of the Kansas City Public Library tonight.…

Kansas City Zombie Walk for Hunger is Saturday

Jonathan Bender — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 10:35:27 -0500

Like our fascination with the undead, the zombie craze just won't die. The Kansas City Zombie Walk for Hunger is Saturday, and hundreds of people are expected to be lurching and moaning their way through the Plaza.…