Denis Culinary Tours

February is the perfect time of year to remind that special someone just how much they are loved and appreciated!  What could be a better gift than a romantic night away at the Chateau Avalon? So celebrate the “Month of Love” by giving the gift of romance! Trust us...she'll love you on Valentine’s Day, and again when you stay with us! Book your stay by January 31 and stay by February 28 to get the best possible prices! $50 off any Adventure Room plus receive a $10 hotel credit OR $60 off any Luxury Room plus receive a $10 hotel credit Hotel Credits can be used for Romantic Packages, Spa Treatments, food & beverages Use discount code "LOVE" when booking online, or call us at 913-596-6000.

One Great Dish #1:  When Easy Just Happens to Be Delicious This is one of Chef Robert Stearns’ recipes from Ophelia’s Restaurant and Inn.  If you’re slightly addicted to chocolate (and if you’re not, I am so sorry for you!), here is something slightly (?) decadent to end a dinner with a flourish.  Or begin one. Flourless Chocolate Cake Ingredients: 4 oz. fine quality bittersweet chocolate 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter 3/4 cup sugar 3 large eggs 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder Directions: Preheat oven to 375°, line baking pan and butter the paper.   Chop chocolate into small pieces. In a double boiler or metal bowl set over sauce pan of barely simmering water, melt chocolate with butter, stirring, until smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar. Add eggs and whisk well. Sift 1/2 cup cocoa powder over chocolate mixture and whisk until well combined. Pour batter into pan and bake for 25 minutes or until top has formed a thin crust. Coo...

Ingredients 2 puff pastry rolls 1.5 pd fresh salmon 4 slices of raw ham or prosciutto 2 fennel 1 shallot 1 lemon 15 cl of white wine 1 egg 100 g butter 10 cl cream 4 pinches of anise salt, pepper Melt the chopped fennel in a little butter with 2 pinches of anise and lemon juice. Salt and pepper, and cook 20 minutes. Add the cream and let reduce. Preheat the oven to 420. Fill the pan with puff pastry, place the slice ham in rosace, half of the salmon, the fennel and the left of the salmon. Cover another with the second puff pastry, cut to the size of the pie. Brush with beaten egg and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 360 and cook for 35 more minutes. Reduce the white wine with chopped shallot. Filter and bring to boil. Remove from the heat and add the butter and pepper.  Enjoy!

You probably don’t think of Independence Square as the dining mecca of the Kansas City metro area.  But one talented guy is doing his best to make you think of taking the short trek to Independence if you’ve not been there before.  Chef Bobby Stearns has been serving up fine cuisine in very contemporary surroundings at Ophelia’s for the last two plus years.   He started really young (junior high!) and worked in several restaurants in every possible capacity, from washing dishes to serving to frying.   The works, in other words.   That includes corporate owned restaurants, a country club, local places from KT’s Fried Chicken to head chef of Taste in Overland Park.   He says a good chef needs all that experience in all those different places – they are where he learned attention to detail, cooking clean as he goes, and meticulous organization.   He also went to Broadmoor Technical Center in high school where he studied in their culinary progr...

Twelve Days of Fondue Deals Monday, December 1 Ugly Holiday Sweater Night- Show us your most awful Holiday sweater!  Everyone wearing a Holiday sweater tonight will receive a card good for a free chocolate fondue on your next visit! Tuesday, December 2 Free split of champagne with the purchase of 2 four-course combinations. Wednesday, December 3 Sing your favorite holiday song and receive a prize! Thursday, December 4 St. Jude double bonus… Donate $10 and receive two St. Jude $20 Donate and Dine Cards Friday, December 5 Double bonus day!  Receive 2 $30 bonus certificates with the purchase of $100 in gift cards. Saturday, December 6 50% off any bottle of wine with the purchase of any 2 four-course dinners Sunday, December 7 We will be offering our Family Feast special all day – cheese fondue, entrée and chocolate fondue for $25 per person. Monday, Decemb...

In grade school, I was a voracious reader and I loved books where fancy people ate “hors de vors” before dinner.  It was years before my mom told me, laughing, that I meant hors d'œuvre and this was simply  “orderve.”  Thankfully, I’ve become a bit smarter the older I’ve gotten and the more I’ve eaten.  Still not sure I like someone laughing over my pronunciation, however. Realistically in Kansas City, it’s probably not terribly necessary to know what poutine is (fat hand-cut fries, cheese curds, with hot gravy poured on top) or how to pronounce it (peu-tin, kinda like the Russian president) since we don’t live in Quebec.  (However, I just must add I can think of three or four restaurants and a food truck that do serve a mean poutine.  But then, I’ve never been to Quebec.) Back to my point, have you ever felt intimidated, shy, or just plain reluctant to ask what something is in a restaurant?  Or worse, have you pretended you know, only to ha...

My friend is calling me all the time, when he is in town, for this recipe. Now the French people changed the recipe. We started to add "lardon" (bacon) and cream. Sacrilege! But where in Italy did you eat it like that? Tell me that I complain and that is jail time guaranteed!  We insult generations of Roman mammas doing that . We have to stop immediately . And you're going to read what follows , because I 'll give you the one and only recipe for Pasta alla Carbonara . You love Carbonara ? Me too. Ingredients: 1) 1 egg per person - so 2 people = 2 eggs 2) You throw away the bacon and you take only the pancetta ( or Arrotolata affumicata ) 3) Parmigiano Reggiano , as much as it makes you happy 4) Salt, pepper and olive oil And be careful, listen - THAT IS ALL! You put the pasta in large volume of water because they need to swirl in the water, they want to dance.  You love to go on a packed dance floor where you can not even move? No ? Well, pasta are the ...