Subject: Culinary Arts

• Hello Debbie, Goodbye Tommy

  June 11, 2008

• Hello Debbie, Goodbye Tommy

  June 11, 2008

• Culinary School Diary: Week One

  August 26, 2008

• So Anthony Bourdain Walks into a Bar...

  September 17, 2008

• Top ten things culinary school tought me

  Having just finished up a four-month culinary course, I thought I'd share some of the best kernels of knowledge I've acquired before I forget them myself. What follows is ten different concepts, tricks or just plain sense that culinary school has taught me so far:Number Ten: Mis en place. For chefs, this means having an organized kitchen after five hours of non-stop action. For lay people this means finally doing that major cleaning and overhaul of your kitchen's utensils, spices and food so tha

  December 3, 2008

• Seats still open for David Felton's lecture at Broadmoor Bistro

  Tonight at the Broadmoor Bistro, which is inside Broadmoor Technical Center, chef David Felton is preparing a special five-course formal meal with the help of the center's high school students.I've written before of the highly advanced meals put out by the students every Wednesday night, but Felton has designed a menu even beyond that, with dishes like day boat scallops with caramelized white chocolate cauliflower and unami oyster, not to mention caviar and truffles.Felton was a nationally recog

  January 13, 2009

• Give a little, get a little

  I knew that local restaurants were going to face tough times when a friend of mine, a woman who hates to cook, bragged that she had stayed home and cooked meals for her family five nights in a row last week. It was all terribly cozy and everything, but after five nights of my friend's culinary creations, her husband was begging to go to a restaurant. And when my friend Truman, who only goes into his kitchen because he uses his oven as an overflow closet, told me he had purchased a box of Hambu

  January 13, 2009

• Best Unsung Chef

  October 18, 2001

• Change in Tune

  October 25, 2001

• Here's to You, Mr. Robinson

  March 7, 2002

• Mystery Box

  June 6, 2002

• Name that cooking technique

  I usually despise online quizzes because (a) they seem to last for hours and (b) there's often no point to them. This quiz from Mental Floss is different. It's about cooking techniques. It's only 10 questions and covers techniques from the simple to the moderately advanced.Unfortunately, it doesn't provide a guide on how to rank yourself. So I've invented one.

  January 26, 2009

• Best Aphrodisiac

  October 17, 2002

• Best Chef

  October 9, 2003

• Michael Smith, Bluestem chefs honored by James Beard Foundation

  Restaurant Michael Smith owners Nancy and chef Michael Smith Chef Michael Smith, who co-owns both his namesake Crossroads restaurant and the newly opened Extra Virgin with his wife, Nancy, was honored this morning by the New York-based James Beard Foundation as a semifinalist in the "Outstanding Chef" category for the 2009 James Beard Awards. The list of semifinalists released today also includes Colby Garrelts, of Bluestem Restaurant, in the "Best Chef: Midwest" category. The final nomin

  February 13, 2009

• In With

  January 1, 2004

• Best New Restaurant

  October 7, 2004

• Best Chef

  October 7, 2004

• God save the queen's chef

  Gordon Ramsey may be the best-known of the current British celebrity chefs, but Darren McGrady, the former Buckingham Palace chef and author of Eating Royally has an exceptionally elegant resume. McGrady, who now lives in Dallas, was personal chef to the late Princess Diana until her death; prior to that, he was senior chef in the kitchens of Buckingham Palace where, his official biography notes, "he traveled around the world with the Queen and the royal family." His cookbook -- a compilati

  March 6, 2009

• For Kansas City restaurants, it was a tumultuous year

  January 1, 2009

• Mortarboard of Fare

  September 4, 2008

• His work at the Power & Light District finished, Chef Marshall Roth heads to Independence

  July 3, 2008

• Kansas City for Chefs Classic

  June 26, 2008

• From Kansas City's Kitchen

  May 15, 2008

• To hell with celebrity chefs!

  FlickrL Rakka Ever since Julia Child began cooking in front of TV cameras in 1962, the American public has developed a hearty appetite -- almost insatiable, in fact -- for celebrity chefs. Graham Kerr, the Frugal Gourmet, Lidia Bastianich, Rachael Ray...over the last four decades, TV chefs have become a cottage industry. But in this excellent piece , "TV Cooking Versus Real Cooking," by New York Times food blogger Mark Bitten proves that in the world of TV cooks, sometimes there's less tha

  April 15, 2009

• On the Move

  Two new restaurants have San Francisco connections.

  Food type:American

  June 7, 2007

• Dream of Genie

  The old Aladdin hotel promises to make diners' wishes come true.

  April 26, 2007

• Cole Case

  No matter how many restaurants fill the old Café Allegro space, we always miss Steve Cole.

  August 10, 2006

• Cheese Whiz

  The cheese and sausage may have disappeared, but George and his paprika shaker haven't.

  February 23, 2006

• City, Slicker

  At City Tavern, it's possible to dine like a modern Diamond Jim Brady.

  September 22, 2005

• Original Zin

  At Zin, executive chef Jeffrey Scott creates his own works of art.

  August 11, 2005

• On the Sauce

  Like all women who truly understand pleasure, Lidia's holds up well.

  September 2, 2004

• The Mystery Cafe

  Readers have a hard time finding Thomas Fox Averill’s 39th Street restaurant even after he tells them where it is.

  July 12, 2001

• Julie & Julia trailer finally here

  Well, that didn't take long. Shortly after Sony Pictures released the poster and the Web site for Julie & Julia, the trailer is now online:Meryl Streep's impression will either carry or tank this movie. The trailer makes it seem like she's nailed Child's voice, but if it's really just 90 minutes of Streep saying cliches like "Bonjour! Bonjour!" then the voice is going to get old quick.

  May 1, 2009

• James Beard Awards Dinner tonight

  Although it won't be televised like the Oscars or the Grammys, the cooking equivalent takes place tonight at the Lincoln Center in New York City where the James Beard Awards are announced. The only chef from Kansas City to make the finals is Colby Garrelts from Bluestem, who's nominated for the "Best Chef Midwest" category. He's been nominated three years in a row, now. Last time I talked to Garrelts, he said he wasn't worried, because he and Megan, his wife and pastry chef, "know the drill."&nb

  May 4, 2009

• Chefs salaries revealed

  There is a saying in the restaurant industry: You can't make a living but you can make a killing. That pretty much sums up the boom-or-bust attitude. Even so, for most restaurant workers things can be a little bit more even. The industry magazine Star Chefs has released its 2008 report on how much one can expect to make working in a kitchen."Chefs might be the new pop culture superstars, but this doesn't exactly translate to more money for the average culinary professional," the article note

  May 4, 2009

• Taste KC

  May 14, 2009

• Danica Pollard wows at the James Beard Awards

  Amidst all the excitement of the James Beard Awards last week, I somehow overlooked that Kansas City was represented by more than just Colby Garrelts and Debbie Gold. Lidia's pastry chef Danica Pollard was also there, serving a toasted almond rose bonet with strawberry and rhubarb sauce and candied rose petals. Her dish was one of the highlights of the night. This person called the dish, "gorgeous to look at and taste." The blog Not Fine Dining said it was one of only two crave-worthy option

  May 12, 2009

• 10 things celebrity chefs won't tell you

  While fame seemed to come accidentally to Julia Child and Jeff Smith, today's celebrity chefs court it relentlessly which is why I distrust most of them. The magazine Smart Money does too, and has put together a list of things these star "chefs" don't want you to know.Many of these personalities are not in fact chefs. Rachael Ray makes no bones about this but neither is Nigella Lawson, Paula Deen or Dave Lieberman.Instead, many personalities are chosen based on their sex-appeal. This isn't a sur

  May 14, 2009

• Function Junction is cooking up big plans

  Last winter, I was a guest on a radio show with Mary Merola, the founder of the Function Junction store in Kansas City -- she's the lady on the right in the photo -- and a terrific sport. I teased her, unmercifully, on the air about whether it was considered good manners to bring a cheese ball (the appetizer, not a weird date -- although I have brought both) as a "hostess gift" to a holiday party. I could tell by Mary's expression that one would never dare bring a cheese ball -- dairy or hu

  May 22, 2009

• Zest nabs chef Linda Duerr! She's back in the kitchen

  The last time I spoke with talented chef Linda Duerr, she had just been laid off from J.J.'s Restaurant on the Country Club Plaza (yes, the beloved bistro across the street from the unfinished and seemingly doomed Moshe Safdie building called The West Edge). Duerr, who moved to Kansas City to head the kitchen at Lidia's, had been the executive chef at Frondizi's, the other Jimmy Frantze restaurant, before Frantze closed it down and moved Duerr over to J.J.'s. Ironically, Cafe Trio will soon

  May 21, 2009

• JCCC's Kelly Conwell wins best student chef in the country

  Conwell in the foreground, cooking in front of fellow Johnson County Community College studentsThis past February, Johnson County Community College student Kelly Conwell was ecstatic to go to Illinois and be able to compete against her Midwestern peers for the American Culinary Federation's central region student chef of the year. At the time, she told Fat City she was "completely happy just to even get to regionals." She went on to win, with a complex menu that earned her a trip to the ACF's na

  July 17, 2009

• Love and assault with a frying pan

  You might not think that novels involving food could get better than Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, but a lot has been written since you were six. Each month, the Kansas City Library assembles a list of recommendations tied to holidays or the birthdays of famous authors. To celebrate Culinary Arts Month, Kansas City librarian Angela Kille has put together a "Fiction for Foodies" summer reading list.

  July 20, 2009

• Chef Cole Mowry: Cooking, Cancer ... Mr. Mom?

  ​It sounds like a bad culinary pun, but it's true: Chef Cole Mowry has a lot on his plate these days. In the next few weeks, he'll turn 50, become a father, move to Virginia, maybe open a coffee house, definitely be changing diapers and making his own organic baby food. A year ago, he was just wondering if he would ever find another restaurant job -- but he was also enjoying a vacation with his new wife, Caralyn. Meanwhile, he'd been having some unusual stomach cramping. Then, last Octob

  August 3, 2009

• Sitting down with The Oak Room's Chef Kyle Baker

  ​A new young chef at The Oak Room in the InterContinental Hotel is hoping to make a lasting impression on both residents of Kansas City and travelers staying on the Plaza. "I just want us to be known for putting out consistently good food," says Kyle Baker -- the chef de cuisine at the Oak Room. Baker, 27, attended the culinary arts program at Johnson County Community College before graduating from the Scottsdale Culinary Arts Institute in Arizona. Before taking up his position at the InterCon

  August 10, 2009

• Breakfast Buffet: Monday, August 24

  ​No, I'm not drinking java this morning as I temporarily fill in for new Dad Jonathan Bender: I'm sipping California-based Republic of Tea's answer to coffee -- or any morning beverage loaded with caffeine -- the herbal tea is called Get Charged, a proprietary blend of organic rooibos, hibiscus, gotu kola, stevia and ginseng -- and other herbs. The bright orange container boasts that drinkers (it's marketed at athletic types) can "get invigorated without feeling tweaked." The blueberry fl

  August 24, 2009

• Chefs take centerstage

  ​We might not have Miley Cyrus, but Kansas City is going to get a Guy Fieri show. The nickname-labeling, punky-haired host of the Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives plays the Midland Theater on December 7. The Guy Fieri Roadshow with Australian flair bartender Hayden Wood (despite what you're thinking this is not The Thunder From Down Under) is described as "food, rock n' roll, and everything they won't let me do on TV."  As to what that entails, you'll have to pay Ticketmaster

  October 5, 2009

• The Book of Ruth: It's heavy, man

  Ruth Reichl says her book will be the legacy of Gourmet Magazine. If you were driving through the Country Club Plaza last night about 10 p.m. or so, you might have seen the contingent of Foodie types -- Making of a Foodie blogger Jenny Vegera, or the slight lawyer who calls himself The Ulterior Epicure -- trudging back to their cars lugging a big ol' green hardback book. The tome was newly published Gourmet Today, the five-pound (at least) Houghton Mifflin Harcourt hardback wi

  October 8, 2009

• Night of the Day of the Dead

  The night of the living on the Day of the Dead at Club 15-Twenty​This is the first year that Kansas City has hosted the national convention for the Mexican Restaurant Association, a three-year-old non-profit organization whose mission is "to integrate all Mexican restaurants while promoting the vast diversity of Mexican gastronomy and culture." Kicking off the three-day conference was an opening night party last night at Club 15-Twenty, celebrating El Dia de los Muertos (The Day of the

  November 3, 2009

• Attn Colby Garrelts: Here's your new name for the amuse bouche

  ​When local chefs have questions, Fat City has answers. Chef Colby Garrelts of Bluestem posted the following to his Twitter account yesterday: I hate the term / word / name amuse bouche.....It's a passe and I'm not french :D Any suggestions for a new name? I know, tough one!The amuse bouche is the small bite of food a chef might send to your table shortly after you sit down, as a welcome and a sign of the meal to follow. The morsel or spoonful tends to be an interesting combination of sea

  November 12, 2009