moosnsqrl

Did you want sprinkles with that hearing aid, ma'am?

KC Media Digest for week of February 9-15, 2006 In the Kansas City Star Food Section Anne Brockhoff offers ways to woo your valentine. Jill Wendholt Silva says smart eaters choose black beans. In The Star's Preview Magazine Lauren Chapin visits local Chinese empire Bo Ling's in its newest Zona Rosa location. For those who have been waiting to try Circe; Monday nights might be your low-risk opportunity. And in another interesting twist, Crown Center veteran Milano is mixing things up with some new specials. In The Pitch Charles Ferruzza introduces us to yet another 39th Street option, Friends Sushi & Bento Place. ...and, as only he could (or would) do, compares Nichols Lunch to Keith Richards (and I'm pretty sure his deadline was well before the Super Bowl half-time appearance) in this week's installment of my big fat mouth. Lawrence (KS) Journal World A KU grad turns his long history with pizza into, well, a long history of pizza, in the new book Everybody Loves Pizza. <><><><><> Media Digest Notes... Updates from some area media outlets, which do not 'go to press' before we do, will be edited into each week's post as they become available. Please do not reply on this thread. For discussion of any stories which are linked here, please feel free to start a new thread or contact the forum host or digester who will be happy to do it for you. <><><><><>

Anyone been to Thai Place? I hear its really good. ← I think it's tied for best Thai in KC (with Thai Paradise, f/k/a Willy's on Grand @ 17th-ish). I still have to travel to truly satisfy my Thai cravings. [not KC but as an aside, Joe, one of my favorites is on Pearl Street in Boulder, though. Not that far from you.]

You are SO not allowed to vote. Don't you know you're supposed to have several aliases (ali-ae? alii? what the heck is the pluaral of alias?) so you can vote for yourself in stealth mode?

I just noticed this Applebee's earnings report and thought it seemed like a good reason to bump this. I would be encouraged that earnings are down, but I suspect it's probably not because fewer people are flocking to their stores.

I would've thought they would use provenance or something, as with art. No? Maybe that implies a trail of ownership vs ruins of origin?

A schlepper. ← Wait...did I see the word "carry" or "transport" in there? No. Sorry. No schlepping going on here. I'm afraid I can make a case for this being a separate activity. Whether or not TJ's or the foragers at the little shack on Shattuck deserve to crow about it is another question. And although I generally come-down firmly on the side of fairly strict grammar, why is it that we're all troubled by turning a noun into a verb when we've been adding -er to verbs to make nouns since the beginning of time?

Guess I had that coming, eh Catbert?

A buyer. ← Aha! I made no mention of purchasing anything.

So, if a person's full-time job to locate quality/rare/hard-to-find ingredients, (whether from a cave or not) and ensure there is a steady supply of them to keep a restaurant going, what do you call that person?

Megan, that is SO five minutes ago....it's Human Capital Management (HCM) now. Where have you been?

Glad to hear they're still on their game. There's just something I love about that room and the people - that certain j'ne sais quois - that keeps me coming back. Looking forward to the full 4-1-1 when your schedule permits.

And . . . There it is! My eGulley laugh for the day. That is priceless. I shall probably steal it with no taint of shame in my heart. ← fifi beat me to it. Here's a hearty "Goose Cavorts" to all! :snicker: :chortle: ← Brilliant! I, too will look forward to shamelessly appropriating this. And I will look forward to the day when it comes full circle and people all around the world are doing this without knowing why.

OK, first of all, let's not resort to name-calling. It isn't dignified. Hey, I used the pasta of Dan Swinney/Cody Hogan (Lidia's) for my comparison. But point well-taken, UE, there are many talented chefs working in the area and we would do well to remember it. We're fortunate to have an unprecedented number of options these days.

In the interest of fairness I want to reiterate: Ten of us paid for food and wine for 11 people. So there's that. We tipped generously, being a large party, nearly all of whom worked in the trenches at some point in our lives. And then there was the wine. I'm guessing Katie's family exercises more restraint than our group. We are all sailors. So, yes, you could certainly escape there for under $200/couple (if your name doesn't begin with Z or m). I just felt that the "value proposition" was lacking. So let's take the wine, tip, and largesse out of the equation. In our market, if a steak is upwards of $40, it should be special. If pasta is over $20, it should be special. You will never hear me say that a restaurant is 'too expensive" in a general sense. I don't want to eat bargain-basement food, believe me. But I do appreciate good value and I didn't feel they presented one.

A gang of 11 friends descended upon Piropos one Friday night last month. I generally think it’s a mistake to attempt anything approching “fine dining” with more than 4 people but, in the interest of being sociable, I went along. I had been wanting to try this restaurant for years and I just never think to go there so I figured this was the time. The restaurant’s aspect is lovely, sitting high atop the bucolic little downtown of Parkville. My first comment was that it was inconsiderate of our friend to be born in January when it’s much too cold to dine al fresco. They have a lovely multi-level patio which takes advantage of the location and have enhanced it with some nice fire pits and statuary. We will definitely find an excuse to have a cocktail there in the spring, summer or fall. The entryway and bar area are quite lovely as well, and the furnishings give the feeling of being in someone’s well-appointed living room, rather than a commercial interest. We enjoyed a relaxed drink, presented the birthday boy with his gift and card and visited while awaiting our reservation time. Logistically, things pretty much went downhill after that. In less than a minute all of my worst fears about dining en masse were validated. We were shown to a huge booth with four chairs along the outside and the other seven settings were around the banquette. As there was no break in the table, this meant a lot of scooting and sliding for several of us, and no hope of escape without uprooting 3 or 4 others. To be fair, that's what you get for going with a large (and odd-numbered) group I suppose. I just can't think why any space would be designed like that; apparently intended for large groups yet ill-conceived. The table was positively laden with glassware and place settings before we sat down, with little white space visible. Once the bread and accompaniments began to arrive the situation was hopeless. We were packed-in and the table was so crowded, passing anything or pouring wine was more than a little dicey. I kept thinking I would really like to take a sip of water, if only I could reach my glass and navigate it to my lips without spilling or breaking anything. We all managed to order after some time and the sommelier came, bearing what was apparently the only copy of the wine list. Since there were a lot of palates to satisfy and a variety of foods to match, we began asking for his advice. Among the many curious tips he offered was one of the most bizarre things I’ve heard in a long time. We tried to order a Paul Hobbs malbec and, while he stopped short of refusing to serve it, he did everything but snort derisively at the selection (which, I note, is on HIS wine list). He suggested a couple of others and when he stopped to take a breath I asked “Why not the Paul Hobbs?” The reply was ‘well, I guess there’s nothing really wrong with it, but it’s made by an American so it’s not really Argentinian’. Hmmm. This brings us to the next oddity. All of our salads and/or apps arrived except for the two soups du jour – lobster bisque. When we asked if they had perhaps overlooked it (we were a large group and trying to be a polite, understanding large group) we were told that they had run out of the soup and were in the process of making more. It’s 7:30 on a Friday night and you’ve run out of the featured soup? And the kitchen is in the process of tossing together lobster bisque? Uh, is it too late to change my order? Salads were unremarkable and in no case worthy of their $8 price tag. The empanadas were good. The ‘a la minute’ bisque wasn’t bad, considering, but I wouldn’t order it (or wait for it) again. As they had already fired our entrees before discovering the soup shortage, they began arriving immediately on the heels of the soup, exacerbating the aforementioned lack of space on the table. Steaks were the predominant fare in our party. There were a variety of cuts ordered; they use “certified Black Angus” beef and prices range from $32-$35. I couldn’t avoid comparing them to the $38 wagyu flatiron at bluestem. This is a pretty carnivorous group, so it was surprising that everyone still had some steak on their plate at the end of the meal yet no one asked to have it wrapped to take home. The two who ordered roast pork were very pleased and raved about it. There were two pastas ($22) that were unremarkable, using dried pasta with an odd combination of what can only be described as toppings (they were not in any way incorporated) and the sauce appeared to be nothing more than butter. Lots and lots of butter, with little garlic or herb to enhance it. This I unavoidably compared with Lidia's, where you can enjoy three fresh, house-made pastas daily for about half the price. I really do want to return when the weather is nice and enjoy the patio. And, in all fairness, I knew going in that the size of our group was not conducive to an optimal dining experience. My overall impression is simply that this is not a good dining value. We ended up splitting the check 10 ways (picking up the guest of honor’s check) so it was a $200/couple evening, for only two courses and wine, and there are many, many places in town where I would rather dine – alone or with an army - at that price point.

Yogi Berra was born on The Hill, as well. He refers to it frequently in his books. And I have to add that "nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded."

Good question. I haven't been there in so long, your post made me curious what (if anything) is going on there. I was encouraged that there appear to be some local spots but obviously can't speak to the quality of any of them. If he finds a place that's worth writing home about, I hope you'll report back; that being the home of the state fair, I'm sure it would be helpful for people throughout the Show Me state to know (a person can only eat so many corn dogs, after all ).

I forgot about those...I can't believe it from an evironmental perspective, never mind the convenience factor. They may have a slight edge over us.

I live in one state and work in another, and every holiday season the gendarmes are shown on the local news, lurking in liquor store parking lots trying to catch people buying liquor and transporting it across the state line. I suppose there are some people who spend the time and energy plotting what is cheaper on what side (the tax laws are labyrinthine - different on "hard liquor" versus beer of some % alcohol content...it goes on and on) but for the most part I think people buy what they need when they're near somewhere that has it. I swear, if I am EVER stopped for such a thing, especially considering that both states don't mind collecting income tax from me, I am probably going to end up incarcerated for my reaction! Then there's the wine shipping situation. And the "blue laws." And on the Kansas side the restos can let you bring wine and charge corkage - or not - at their whim, but on the Misery side they can be shut-down for doing so. Second only to Indiana's two time zones (which I think they finally did away with?) we may have the corner on the "stupid" market.

I'm really digging into the depths of memory here but I'm fairly certain reference was made to this in the novel "My Side of the Mountain" which I read when I was probably 8 or so. It's about a boy who runs away from NYC and lives off of the land for a year. The author describes vividly how he hunted and gathered and steps he took to neutralize acrid flavors, etc, to make foods more palatable. Naturally the movie version was disappointing in its lack of such detail. Some things haven't changed all that much.

I'm just finally getting around to listening to this and it's great! Steve, you're a natural - sounds like you've been doing this your whole life (broadcasting, I mean, not discussing sandwiches, which we all know you've been doing your whole life ). I look forward to future broadcasts and to having the Starwich guys online with us in a couple of weeks. Bravo, indeed!

The old adage about there being 'no such thing as bad publicity' has really been tested post-Katrina, hasn't it?

Hmmm, I've never known them to have pasta on the menu. They're gearing-up for Mon-Wed dinner service soon, so maybe they'll start offering it. Or maybe they just figured the Beard workers needed to carbo-load.

Eggszactly