What's going on in September!

What's going on in September! 

Harvest Dinner at JCCC

This local foods dinner supports sustainability scholarships will showcase products from our campus farm.

Friday, September 2, 2016

Regnier Center - Capitol Federal Conference Center on the JCCC Campus (map)
6 p.m. – Reception
7 p.m. – Dinner and Program
Free Concert following - Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art Lawn
Purchase Tickets

Menu

2016 menu is inspired by historical recipes, ingredients and traditional preparations from the Kansas City region. Menu will be dependent upon the harvest and updated as they are confirmed.
Three courses will be prepared by Chef Aaron Prater, JCCC Hospitality Management Program.

1st Course - Mixed Green Salad with Campus Farm vegetables and local grain crisps
Main Course - Smoked Bison Tamale with local Sorghum BBQ sauce
Dessert - Mixed Berry Cobbler from JCCC's Open Petal Farm
Dietary Restrictions - email sustainability@jccc.edu with any dietary restrictions or requests.

Dr. Andrea Broomfield, JCCC English Professor and author of "Kansas City: A Food Biography," will make brief comments about the courses and Kansas City culinary history." Read more about Kansas City Food History.
$55 per person
$440 per table (seats 8)
$25/ticket, $200/table will benefit a scholarship fund for JCCC students pursuing sustainability agriculture.
Email Sustainability for more information.

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September 2-4
Kansas City Irish Fest
Crown Center Square and Musical Theater Heritage (Crown Center Shops,
Level 3). Commemorate Kansas City's proud Celtic heritage with three days
of music, dancing and exhibits. The festival will feature more than two
dozen locally and nationally known bands, playing traditional music and
Celtic rock. Irish comics perform at Musical Theater Heritage. Festival
hours: 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., Friday; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday and Sunday.
Call 816-561-7555 or visit KCIrishFest.com for ticket information.

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Evita is coming to Kansas City!

One of the theater's most famous and enduring plays is the musical story of Evita! It's a legendary tale of romance, politics, womanhood, the struggle for life and fame.

All this is captured by writer Tim Rice and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber in the story of Evita that's being performed by one of America's leading theatrical groups, The Kansas City Repertory Theater. The show dates are September 9th to October 2nd. Performances are nightly, Tuesday through Saturday, with two performances on Sundays.

We're delighted to let you know that Piropos Restaurant located in Briarcliff Village will also be at each performance offering for sale our famous Argentine empanadas before the show and during intermission. There'll be a typical Buenos Aires food cart just in front of the main Spencer Theatre entrance where Piropos will have a selection of Argentina's favorite "finger food". We hope you'll join us for great entertainment and music, a magnificent theater environment on the beautiful UMKC campus and a Taste of Argentina.

For ticket and performance information click here or call 816-235-2700

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Jax Fish House and Oyster Bar will add 13 new items and two cocktails to its happy hour menu on Labor Day, Sept. 5.

2016 Festival of the Lost Township + Brewtopia Tickets

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September 10-11
Kansas City Chalk & Walk Festival
Crown Center Square. Artists start with empty squares of pavement and by
the end of the weekend, these squares will be transformed into magnificent
pieces of artwork. Open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on
Sunday. No admission fee. Visit KCChalkAndWalk.org for more
information. 816-274-8444.

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Tour the Farmer’s Market with an Expert

Chinese, Please 

Last week I was fortunate to go on a tour of the Chinatown Food Market on the north side of the City Market. What made it wonderful was that the tour guide was Teresa Ng, co-founder with husband/chef Richard, of six Bo Lings restaurants. We learned lots about foods I would never buy (a skills issue I fear) but certainly enjoy tasting. We tasted moon cakes, a special celebratory treat and a small round fruit, about the size of a large grape, that you peeled and popped into your mouth called a longan fruit. But the best part was still to come. Les Dames d’Escoffier Kansas City arranged for the tour and meal. 

 But Chef/owner Richard Ng made our meal fabulous. Up at the crack of dawn, he scoured the market for the best, fresh ingredients. The edamame were in bunches on the stem – I’ve only ever seen the ones previously frozen. There is a “tastable” difference. A vegetable soup filled with veggies and mushrooms sang a savory song to us. The tiny round eggplants and the okra each with their special sauces, the garlic spinach – ah, just the start. The steamed flounder, the shrimp with crispy noodles (almost like ramen to me), a new recipe they’re working on for the restaurant with braised pork, kabocha (a sister squash) chunks, leeks, and other veggies, which we all said they should start serving, and more – it just kept coming. I hated that I could only eat such small portions – of course of everything – because I just ran out of stomach room. 

 The City Market’s Bo Lings is casual and entertaining. You can sit outside in their covered patio and watch overloaded suburbanites trek by on the weekends. Getting there now is easier as the streetcar can dump you off right in front of the restaurant. No parking issues. 

Even if you’re not a part of a special group like we were, the Ngs and their staff will treat you in a friendly, courteous manner and your food will be great – as befitting a local “chain” that’s been around since the 80s. 

Just this blogger’s opinion but If you’ve eaten at any of the other Bo Lings (Plaza, Corinth, Zona Rosa, and two in Overland Park), you really should try this one, too! Please.

#Chinese #Food #Restaurant #KC #KansasCity

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Buy your KC Beer Fest Tickets!

Flying Saucer presents the 8th annual KC Beer Fest!
Enjoy more than 200 quality hand-crafted beers procured from local breweries and others around the world, rare keg tappings, games, live music and gourmet food booths from 3-6pm!

GA tickets: are $35 and include a 2016 souvenir tasting glass and access into the festival with unlimited samples.

VIP tickets: are $60 and include access into the festival an hour earlier beginning at 2pm, an exclusive VIP hospitality area with a gourmet food booth from 2-4pm and private restrooms, a 2016 souvenir tasting glass and t-shirt, and access into the festival with unlimited samples.

A portion of the proceeds from KC Beer Fest benefit genKC’s work in Early Childhood Education in Kansas City.

 

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Chef Spotlight – Martin Heuser

So born in Austria as the 9^th generation of chefs in a family restaurant, beginning at 16 where he served an apprenticeship away from home, earning a master’s degree, emigrating to Vancouver in 1994 where he worked in a French restaurant, working his way up to exec chef in Quebec, moving to the Sheraton in Vancouver, then serving as the Westin’s Executive Chef who moved him to K.C.

That’s a long, incomplete sentence.  But lucky us.  In Kansas City, he decided to stop, stay and open his own restaurant:  Affäre.

I’m talking about chef/co-owner (with wife Katrin) Martin Heuser. 

I spoke with him recently and learned some interesting stuff about him, his life, and his new German flair restaurant.  It’s not traditional German at all – their website does say it correctly, “local fresh cuisine with a German twist.” There are a few famous dishes tweaked, like jägerschnitzel or his fabulous home-made brats, but the menu is extensive, and creative, deliciousness.  Once I had a seven or so course meal there in which there was bison in every course.  Amazing.

We talked about transitioning from employee to owner and he said there was much less to worry about as a hotel chef.  “Now I have more issues, including accounting and training.  It’s more challenging.  And also more interesting.”  Open since 2012, his menu, approach, and presentation has changed quite a bit from when they opened, as he began with more of a “tapas” approach. 

He’s thrilled about the streetcar line completion, after months (years?) of tribulation, for there is definitely more traffic.  As his restaurant is on Main, right on the line, he endured months of no parking, construction blocking his entrance, and much confusion.  Now that’s cleared up, business has rebounded, and he is serving a terrific brunch menu on Saturdays and Sundays.  “People seem to be more willing to brunch here, rather than lunch here,” he laughs, noting that he is no longer open for lunch.

Chef Heuser has always been about local, hunting, and using every part of the animal.  He makes his own sausage; his meats are always fresh. He buys bison near Manhattan at Big D Bison Ranch. He barbequed over a thousand lobsters in six weeks this last year.  His white asparagus special is Kansas City famous in May.  In September, look for his wagyu beef (from Nebraska and Australia) party.  He’s going to do barbeque.  In August, it’s oysters.  In October, it’s venison or game meat.  Whatever it is, it’s always inventive.  And I can say honestly, it’s delicious.    

Bison tenderloin, morel crust, sweet corn emulsion 

I’ve had lunches here, dinners, a great happy hour, but never had brunch.  That’s next.  I am hoping to have it on their very secluded, greeny patio which so few know about. It’s a little, quiet enclave back there. And I love the fact there’s two parking lots just north of the restaurant which, if I don’t take the streetcar, still keep it simple.

Citizen/chef Heuser is a definite addition to Kansas City.  If you haven’t been here yet, go now.  If you have, go again.  I may see you there.

Affare

1911 Main street 
Kansas City, MO 64108 
Ph. 816-298-6182 

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James Beard Foundation’s Taste America 2016 Kansas City Dinner

An Extravagant Experience for a Cause

Extravagance in taste I mean.  That would be the James Beard Foundation’s Taste America 2016 Kansas City Dinner.  I have been fortunate enough to attend a couple of these dinners, and believe me, they are remarkable evenings that even we mortals can attend.  But you should probably be a foodie, much maligned term though it is . . . or just someone who enjoys delicious meals expertly prepared by a stunning selection of chefs.

The event is Friday, September 30 and I’m telling you about it now cuz it’s always sold out.  It’s at Providence Restaurant in the Hilton President Hotel downtown and the line-up is spectacular.  Joining host chef Alejandro Diaz are James Beard winners Gavin Kaysen from Spoon and Stable in Minneapolis, Colby Garrelts from Bluestem, and nominee Nick Wesemann of The American fame.  And this year there is a tasting reception where you’ll taste specialties from Michael Corvino, Debbie Gold, Howard Hanna, Renee Kelly and Joe West.  Talk about an all-star event!

The reception and four course dinner’s proceeds partially go the scholarship fund of the James Beard Foundation which makes the evening even more remarkable. Local culinary students are invited to apply; the rest of us can should eat and drink and admire.  For more information and to purchase tickets, go to http://www.jbftasteamerica.org/event/kansas-city.  You’ll be thrilled you did.

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