A little bit of Leavenworth is coming to Parkville.
Humankind was meant to drink beer in the sunshine. Find your calling at the 10th annual Parkville Microbrew Festival on Saturday. The event starts at 11 a.m., and beer sampling goes from 1 to 5 p.m.
Several dozen craft breweries will be on hand, among them Kirkwood Station Brewing Co., High Noon Saloon and Brewery, and the Springfield Brewing Co. Tickets cost $25 in advance or $30 the day of the festival (though tickets usually sell out ahead of time).
Keep an eye out for elote (roasted corn). It's delicious.
It's street-festival season, and one of the best block parties is Saturday. The ninth-annual Troost Festival is from noon to 10 p.m. Saturday. The party at the intersection of 31st Street and Troost is a mix of performances, live music and plenty of food. Snack on falafel from the Jerusalem Cafe or grab a slice of pizza from Judge's Pizza Truck.
Posted
by Justin Kendall
on Wed, Apr 17, 2013 at 12:00 AM
Notice something different? We've combined The Pitch's longstanding blogs (Plog, Fat City and Wayward Blog) into one stream of news, entertainment, food and events: The Fast Pitch. (You can still follow the individual news streams by clicking the designated categories.) And we've changed our Twitter handle: @TheFastPitch. So we'll meet you over there.
Author and activist Saru Jayaraman signed copies of her controversial book, Behind the Kitchen Door last week during her appearance at the Central Library.
I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard, during the years I was a server, a customer gripe: "If your employer would pay you a decent wage, I wouldn't have to leave a tip."
My response: "But they don't, Blanche. And they're not going to as long as they can get customers to subsidize our salaries and the National Restaurant Association to aggressively fight a rise in the tipped minimum wage."
That shut them up pretty quickly.
Saru Jayaraman, author of Behind the Kitchen Door and co-founder of the Restaurant Opportunities Center United, a national restaurant workers organization, has heard all the same arguments for not paying restaurant worker a living wage - and then some.
If you've ever envisioned yourself as a sandwich artist, then Which Wich may be the place for you. The sandwich chain, which is opening a location at 556 Westport Road (the former Einstein Bros. and Fuji Japanese Steakhouse space), lets customers design their lunch by marking ingredients on a paper bag with a red Sharpie. (Stores also hang customers' bag drawings on the wall.)
There are 50 kinds of "wiches," including a signature sub, the Wicked, that has five meats (turkey, ham, roast beef, pepperoni and bacon) and three cheeses. Which Wich has also turned the lettuce wrap into a sandwich with its lettucewich - a wrap made with iceberg lettuce. The subs (on bread) come in three sizes, regular (7 inches), large (10.5 inches) and super (14 inches).
Pack up your camping gear, it's burrito hunting season. Freebirds World Burrito is opening its Overland Park location at 7552 West 119th Street on Thursday, April 18. And the same deal applies as the other area location - the first 25 people in line for the Rosana Square restaurant get free burritos for a year. The new Freebirds opens at 10:30 a.m. and is offering $3 margaritas all day.
Missouri graduates should really consider living close to Waldo. Pickleman's Gourmet Cafe will be opening in May at 7442 Wornall in the former Jackson Hewitt space (on the corner of 75th and Wornall across the street from Walgreens). Pickleman's joins fellow Columbia mainstay, Quinton's Bar & Deli, which is located next door at 7438 Wornall.
This is the fourth area location for Pickleman's, which serves soups, salads, sandwiches and pizza. Three sandwich shops opened last year at 5050 Oak, 7224 W. 135th St. in Overland Park, and 818 Massachusetts in Lawrence.
You should always get someone beer for their 17th anniversary.
Barley's Brewhaus (16649 Midland Drive, Shawnee) is celebrating its 17th anniversary this entire week, which means you have plenty of chances to enjoy the party. Tuesday is all about stouts, with 10 bombers priced at $10 each. On Wednesday, IPAs cost $3 and Double IPAs are $4. There are $3 pints on Thursday, a New Belgium Firkin on Friday, and $2.50 cans on Saturday. All week, there's also a $2.50 mystery bottled beer, if you dare.
The area's first dedicated soccer bar is set to open.
Futbol Club Eatery & Tap (12030 Blue Valley Parkway, Overland Park) kicks off its inaugural season tomorrow. The bar and grill that celebrates all things soccer opens at 11 a.m.
Futbol Club is the official bar of FC Kansas City, the new professional women's team based here, and will be one of the few places where fans can watch Champions League and English Premier League games at 7:30 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. As a special for the Sporting KC game on Wednesday (6:30 p.m. against the New York Red Bulls), Futbol Club will have $1.95 pints.
Get out your calender. I'll wait. Got it? Good. Look at the weekends you've got available and your current cheese budget. Now, double your cheese budget and clear your weekends. Green Dirt Farm has posted its schedule for cheese tastings and cheese appreciation events, and there's a lot of good eating to be had.
Things kick off later this month with a Farmstead Cheese & Amigoni Urban Winery event on Saturday, April 27, and Sunday, April 28. While talking about pasture-raised animals, you'll be led through a sampling of grass-fed cheeses from across America that have been paired with wines from the Kansas City winery.
Kansas House ignores Brownback, Senate, goes home early for long weekend
Soundgarden's sludgy sound, last night at the Midland (review)
Parisi's Pete Licata is a World Barista Championship semifinalist
Oklahoma Joe's ribs named the best in the country by The Daily Meal
Don't mess with the Army, feds remind two local businesspeople
Story celebrates with a pig roast and other weekend possibilities
Royals fan sprints on the field, steals rosin bag
KCPD will breathalyze patrons at Tanner's tonight