ChefCAG

Kansas it's legal Mo. Its' legal in the state but not in the city of Kansas City, Mo. It's really lame..... They want their tax dollars so the can figure out how to missuse it Strange thing is Thats how I met Judy

Yes of course, Nara is opening also!!!

It seems like nothing is going on except in Briarcliff and downtown. Piropos just reopened. Tim Doolittel's place is slated for January and I don't think we will hear anything more about downtown until next year and it won't be much local activity. The price per square foot is unbelievably high. Way out of my league. Ted and Andy’s place Room39 is opening out at Mission Farms at 110th and Mission Rd. Which is the neighborhood I grew up in. My father still lives a few blocks from there. So I am really excited for that to open but I think they are about a year out. We are always looking also for another location for a more casual concept. We have looked at about 10 places but nothing has really stuck. I'm supposed to look at another place this week in the crossroads district. If I hear anything else I will let you know

I don't think Chef Adria or Chef Arzak are cooking.

Now that I think about it......I'm not sure ANY of the staff at Bluestem would even flinch at a request for a chilled bottle of Goose and a straw. Breakfast of champions. ← I think I've had that for breakfast before!!! We put the clause in there so we could cut someone off before they hurt themselves....truth be told I'm not sure if it's even legal that I can do that. I think there is a law aganst "All you can Drink" because if there wasn't I know some of the bars down the street from me would have drink specials where they would just charge people at the door to get in and they could drink all the cheap beer they wanted. I just thought it would be a fun way to sell caviar in the lounge. I think we have only sold a few of them

Wow, I never really wanted to eat there before but now I feel curiously drawn to. ← Since learning you were a flexatian until about a month ago(couldn't tell by some of your post detailing meat dishes you enjoyed at other places) this fake beef dish I was rattling off about isn't on my menu. should be up your alley! Cause it's fake. As in fake vegan I knew there was a reason I never put any merit into any of your weekly post. ← At least its Waygu...You know, not that cheap select stuff from CostCo

(Gold/Smith are partners in Spin, right?) I think they just consulted to get it going but I may be wrong.

Where is Chicagowench on this one? She's got to have something good to say

God help us all. I found their WEBSITE. No bloomin' onion, but they do have Pterodactyl Wings, T-REXadillas, and Lava Me Tenders. The dessert section is aptly titled "The End Is Near." ← HOLY SH*T!

We tried T-Rex two weeks ago on a Monday Night. They didn't say anything about waiting for a pager, but they did say the wait would be two hours. But there didn't seem to be a wait for the gift shop. ← What? Stegosaurus steaks, Archyop-teriyaki breasts, and Brontosaurus burgers? Seriously, what's on the menu? u.e. ← LOL! It takes 8 monthes to get a reso at El Bulli in Spain and our comparison in Kansas is a restaurant called T-Rex. That’s so sad. It really goes to show you people in this country care more about what their kids want than themselves. Too bad Suck my T-Rex!

Oooh, that is a truly evil idea. Perhaps those complaints should be directed specifically at restaurants in the foie-free 49th Ward....heh. Here's hoping that all the Frenchified spots in Evanston - Oceanique, Jacky's Bistro, Jilly's Cafe, etc. - take advantage of this prohibition, much like Rogers Park did for all of the years that Evanston was dry. Payback can be profitable! ← LOL Don't forget Chef Trotter's Just kidding

Awww Mike! You should have at least stopped and said hello! Back door! And yes we have been prepping! We have been packed for the few months. Chef Tatsu has always been known for his sauce execution. I need to get back to his PV location! It’s weird; I used to skateboard in the parking lot of the PV location and never knew it was there when I was a kid He is a prime example that if you serve good food and treat people well, location doesn’t matter.

Scott Tyree is an amazing sommelier. I worked there for two years and never saw the FOH staff ever sweat anything. The only time they ever had issues was with with the kitchen. I have never worked with a service staff that comes even CLOSE to what Tru's service has accomplished. VERY impressive

Looks Great!!! Should be a awsome evening. I undoutably won't be able to go cause i'm sure Dave will!!!

Thanks JWest. Thanks to the late sunset summers (and the window), my pictures turned out okay. Yeah, no kidding - ChefCAG didn't ever make an appearance at my table last night - and it was a First Friday!! Just kidding ChefCAG, I know you got better things to do! ← Menu looks good, we did the same type of prix fixed format at the ritz about 12 years ago in Kansas city it went over pretty well. Pics look great! ← I just realized the online menu is wrong. I'll update it!

Man, I wish I would have known about this place(Hays House)...I just stopped in Council Grove a few weeks ago on a motorcycle trip and we could'nt find anywhere to eat! IMHO That kinda of place is what Kansas food is all about. Just good food.

God D*** I miss those dogs

I'm really not a big fan of any type of rating system, when the star did the review I refused to let them take a picture I asked not to have a review same with the Pitch. When food & wine called I sent them on their way. When the Zagat called I told them to go away also. I made Ingrams sign a contract before she dinned she couldn't review me. I had Kansas City Mag pull out everything about me in their Mag. some airline called a few months back, same response. Spaces mag I sent them on their way also. I'm just a cook cooking food, It is what it is. I think ratings are a joke to begain with. Everyone has two things and one of them is an opion well I'll leave the other item out because I'm in a good mood today. ← That's funny, Food & Wine never called me until it was done. Hmmm... come to think of it neither did Zagat. Same with KC mag and all the airline magazines. Why are these people calling you? Seems strange the want you to know their comming.

Damn you people get up early!

Just because it's an independent restaurant doesn't make the food taste better. If Kansas City has a hard time supporting mobile rated restaurants and wine spectator awarded restaurants how would raising the bar on the little guys do any good? The bulk of the dinners that support those level of cuisine are tourist. I'm sure all the tourist that come to KC for the races and BBQ will have no problem supportting a mobile rated restaurant (even though arthur bryant's bbq has a mobile 1 star rating)or another other type of rating like that. If I remember right a few years back Applebee's was highly rated by the Zagat in KC. Arkansas has alot of money but the food scene has progress backwards about ten years. Money doesn't really figure in here. ← Your restaurant may be an exception, I wouldn't know. But in general, if a restaurant feels they are the best then they know they dont need to do anything else to keep there customers. If another restaurant comes in and steals the spotlight, all of a sudden you have competition. When theres more better restaurants in the area, everyone starts to produce a better experience. With better restaurants, then there comes more pressure on proveyors. All of a sudden you have better product which makes restaurants even better. With better proveyors, better restaurants, better food, and happier customers. With all that, more better chefs come in making the competition even higher. More cooks and students are being more educated and become even better chefs. By raising the bar, it allows room for restaurants to expand in different aspects of their business. But I really think that people need to be exposed to a lot more restaurants and that reverts back to my earlier discussion about publications doing a better job letting people know whats out there. Everyone knows about the corporate restaurants, they have a lot of money to advertise there locations. It doesn't take a group of egulleters to realize that you can get a lot better than paying $70 at the cheesecake factory like a soredux 7 course dinner for $38. The people that are eating at the high dollar restaurants are usually wealthy. Not saying all of them are. In general people go to places they think are suppose to be good. Obviously we all know that you can get a better meal some place else than the Capitol Grill. So much money gets pumped into these kinds of places, only because of name and glamour. It's hard to miss a glowing flashing sign in front of a huge establishment in the middle of the plaza. Theres only a few independent restaurants that are able to keep up in the plaza area. The rest have to rely soley on word of mouth, with better publications people will be exposed to other restaurants. Im not here to start an argument, knowing from your past posts we both have similiar views on corporate vs. independent. Im not a big fan of the Zagat, with ratings of Tatsu's(KS) and Daniel(NY) being extremely close to each other makes no sense. ← Couldn't have said it better myself!

My biggest complaint about the Star is the rating system in general. Every other print rating system I know of uses a single tier rating system. (JWest I think you almost touched on this) Where else do you get a rating about 1. Food 2. Service and 3. Ambience? Shouldn’t a review be about the entire experience? There was a review last week that I think was 2 food, 3.5 décor and 3 for service. Shouldn’t she have given 2.5 or 3 stars and leave it at that? Then I think you can balance out what a 2 or three star restaurant really is. Chicago for instance, Tru, Trotters, Alinea and Avenues are obvious 4 star restaurants. Then there is Blackbird, MK, Naha, or LeLan that are 3 star. I think it would set a standard for what dining really is. You want an excellent expensive experience you go 4 star. You want good, not extremely expensive, you 3 star etc… It just drives me crazy how the star kinda leaves you confused. Who the hell says to themselves hmmmm……. I think I want really crapy food and great décor……

That’s why I think its sooooo important to be flexible. You have to, have to, have to, be customer focused. I think that’s one of the reasons we have such strong regulars. You have to be willing to give the customer what the chains won’t. We do that with food, service, creativity and genuine personality. We try to make people think that our place is KC’s restaurant. We even have a family who are so difficult to deal with that the have been banned from most local restaurants. I will do anything to keep them coming here. The father even calls me out of the blue and asks me to cook him special dishes! I always do it. I consider it a challenge to try to make everyone happy. AND BELIVE ME IT’S HARD!!!! I hate the chains. So I say f*** em. Just beat them at their own game

So, you're not that "some other city" mentioned in the passage above? =R= ← LOL! I know Ronnie I just could'nt resist!!!!

I read the article and I thought it was just . . . meh. The praise given is muted and very conditional -- and the criticisms are nitpicky and falsely-premised in some cases. Honestly, after reading the following paragraph, which appears very early in the piece, it was actually difficult for me to read further: =R= ← How do you think we feel!!!

How have I never heard of this? I grew up on Leavenworth road! Anyway, I've got the weekend off, so I'll be there looking for you guys (hopefully you'll want a "professional" opinion on the quality of your bbq ) see you there. Edit to add: this post is Dave not Colby, we all know he's from JOCO anyway.