Denis Culinary Tours

There are a lot of exciting things going on at Grimaldi ’s in March! They have just updated their wine list with 13 new wines , carefully selected to be a part of what is already an extensive wine list. On the sweeter side, two new seasonal cheesecakes are being offered through the month of March. The Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake is a creamy vanilla cheesecake sprinkled with chunks of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups & topped with whipped cream. You can also go with the Caramel Coconut Cheesecake , a caramel cheesecake topped with caramel glaze and toasted coconut on top of an Oreo cookie crust and finished with a chocolate drizzle and whipped cream. Complete cheesecake heaven!  Also, don’t forget about the Stoking Social Hour . This deal is too good to pass up! It’s every week day, Monday – Friday, from 3:30PM - 6PM where you can enjoy $2 off draft beers, $2 off glasses of wine (house wines excluded), and $2 off Bruschetta Trio and Antipasto platters. The popul...

We sat there, waiting. And waiting. Talking a bit but clearly just waiting. Our server must have passed by us five times and never stopped. It was soooo annoying. Finally, I stood up and walked towards him, caught his eye, and used the universal sign language to get the check. And so, finally, he brought it.” My friend was talking about dining in Paris, where she ran into this phenomenon several times. “What is it with them?” she asked. “Ahh,” say I, “I do happen to know about this. That is the custom there. They think Americans are hugely rude, not to mention crass, with our delivering the check with the dessert or at the end of the meal with a ‘No rush’ comment. They believe in a leisurely meal over an appropriate amount of time. They’re not really being rude or neglecting you. It’s their custom.” Ok, so French. But every country, every part of the world, has its own customs and traditions that you may not know, and may not glean, from the guide books. Those customs may not be...

I’m not a big gambler, to put it mildly.  But the other night I was invited to the new restaurant, The Lucky Taco , at the Argosy Casino.  So I went and ate – too much!   It’s a quite large dining space (holds nearly 150 people) fun music was playing, and there were tables for crowds (think after work) and regular seating as well.  It was bright, festive, and most importantly: VERY good.  One thing I learned was that their chef de cuisine, Juan Zavala, was on the team that created the all new recipes.  Zavala was originally from Guanajuato, Mexico, and has been at the Argosy since 2004 after receiving his degree in culinary arts from Le Cordon Bleu in Mexico City.  It shows. I do think there’s a serious problem there: they offer you all of these chips and then you can go to their very big salsa bar and create your own mixtures of salsas (from mango habanero to chile de arbol and a great pineapple one were three of my favorites) an...

Oyster eaters could win $1,000 at the 3rd annual Jax Fish House oyster eating competition on March 25 Jax declares March as Oyster Month and will offer oyster specials, charitable support, contests, giveaways and more KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Feb. 27, 2017) – Jax Fish House& Oyster Bar has declared March as Oyster Month and plans to celebrate the mollusk all month long. Oyster month kicks off on March 1 and will feature oyster giveaways, oyster specials, drink specials and Jax’s third annual oyster eating competition on March 25. For every Emersum Oyster sold throughout the month, 10 cents will be donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Oyster Month festivities will include: Oyster Eating Contest Jax’s third annual oyster eating competition will take place on Saturday, March 25 at 3 p.m. Teams of four will attempt to slurp the most oysters in a two-minute battle. The team that slurps the most oysters in the given time will win $1,000 cash. The entry fee for the...

Jax Fish House and Cinder Block Brewery collaboration Oyster Stout taps for second consecutive year on Feb. 28 for Mardi Gras celebration Celebration will also feature 3 special dishes from Chef de Cuisine Theresia Ota with custom drink pairings from Restless Spirits Distilling KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Feb. 20, 2017) – Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar is teaming up with Cinder Block Brewery for the second consecutive year to bring the duo’s collaboration Emersum Oyster Stout back to Kansas City just in time for Mardi Gras celebrations. The stout is brewed with six dozen of Jax’s proprietary and wholly sustainable Emersum Oysters, which add a natural minerality and create a rich texture to the beer. The Emersum Oyster Stout will tap on Mardi Gras, Feb. 28 at Jax and will pour exclusively through the month of March, Jax’s proclaimed Oyster Month, or until the keg runs dry. In addition to the tapping of the oyster stout, Jax Fish House Chef de Cuisine Theresia Ota will offer thre...

One Great Dish - Marinara Sauce So, which I’m sure you recall, a month or so ago I wrote about a very cool chef, Erik Camacho at Pinstripes . Erik has worked at several different places in his career and is a creative guy.   Of course, I asked him about the basics, sauces, which form the underlying taste profile of so many dishes. So what, you’re saying, is all that creative about marinara sauce? Ahh, my friends, so much. He does point out that it’s the right ingredients – and your taste buds – that matter. The basics make something great, so great you might not even recognize the value because it’s sorta at the bottom of the recipe’s elements. Anyway, I got him to share his marinara sauce, and frankly, it’s just delish. Granted, I ate his version, not mine – but I think I could make this. He did say, “Of course, like any recipe, you can make this your own. If you like more garlic, add another teaspoon. If you like it a little chunkier, don't blend the vegetable...

ENTER bd's 25th Anniversary Family Fun Giveaway! bd's Mongolian Grill  19750 E. Valley View Parkway Independence, MO 64057 Ph. 816-795-5430 bd's Mongolian Grill  11836 W. 95th Street Overland Park, KS 66214 Ph. 913-438-4363

SUSHI ROLLING CLASSES Want a Private Sushi Rolling Class? 1.  Require 5 guests minimum and up to 12 in a class. 2.  $25 per person - includes one of our top Chefs from Japan, either Fumi or Koji, the class, the ingredients for the roll, you keep and eat the roll and a souvenir.   3.  You can purpose drinks, food during the class, etc.  We will provide you a table for the class and one for dining.  4.  We only do these classes on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. any time To have this Chef come to a private home - we charge $500 minimum; for 2 hours.  The $25 per person still applies along with anything else a la carte you might want.  The class details would be the same; He would bring the "class" with him basically.      Nara Japanese Restaurant 1617 Main Street  Kansas City, MO 64108  Ph. 816-221-6272  Website

It’s All About the Pit While the term Pit Master is one everyone in the barbecue biz may be familiar with, the rest of us probably have heard but really don’t understand it.  “Think of it as being the executive chef in a high-end restaurant,” smiled Tim Keegan, Executive Pit Master extraordinaire at Fiorella’s Jack Stack Barbecue .  “Most Pit Masters have at least five years’ experience in an open pit, that’s a wood fire.  They control everything – the meat choices, the cuts, the fire and meat temperatures, the rubs, the sauces, everything.” Jack Stack, with five restaurants, has five Pit Masters and the “youngest” has about nine years’ experience.  They get up VERY early and are usually at work by four or five in the morning, put in a 12 hour day typically and then go home to dream about barbecue.  They each have two assistants who are “in training” for the Pit Master job. Jack Stack began life as the Smokestack in 1955 and Tim was ...

One Great Chef:  Erik Camacho The title of this blog should be “Defying Expectations.”  I went for lunch with my publisher the other day and we went to Pinstripes in Prairiefire.  I am not going to talk that much about our lunch, though we got four different items including a very unusual version of carrot cake sitting in a pool of caramel that was tantalizing and acorn squash with burrata that was a true unique treat, but we also met their executive chef.  There are eight Pinstripes, mostly in the Midwest, and their head chefs’ titles are Bistro Chef.  Whatever.  They’ve clearly found a gem in Erik. Chef Erik’s background is a little bit unusual.  He was in the army for 11 years, working on tanks.  When he came home to California, he really didn’t know what he wanted to do.  But he’d been cooking for his large family for years and thought, “Well, I love to cook, why not culinary school?”  So that’s what he did.  He w...

I’ve heard of a bialy but never had one – until today. My impression was that it was some kind of bagel-y thing (it’s not, really), but beyond that, I knew nothing.  I am apparently not alone in my ignorance.  Bialys are not exactly prolific in the Midwest.  New York, Miami, Chicago, areas with a large Jewish or Polish population, more so.  Just like people from the east coast bemoan our big, fat, sometimes tasteless bagels, most have learned to live with the absence of a bialy. Until now. There’s a newish place on 39 th street where you can get both a great bagel and a bialy.  It’s called Meshuggah Bagels and they live up to their tag line: “Bringing New York to Kansas City, one bagel at a time.”  What that means is a bagel with a chewy crust but not one that tears your teeth out.  It should include a just slightly firm interior – but not doughy or too soft but still forgiving. These are kosher bagels and there are several kinds – ...

Brunch hating has already trended, peaked, and doubled back in the so-called eating capitals of the United States. But in Kansas City, by golly, we like brunch – and there are many good reasons for our love bites (and handles).  It sometimes seems to overwhelm breakfast, but both are significant dining choices here. Raggmunk from Krokstrom Klubb and Market But while breakfast may be more about sustenance and business meetings, brunch is about eating and drinking. It’s also about spending time catching up with your friends and family, relaxing, and yes, maybe lazing through an entire day based on just one meal.  Whether you call it brunch or blunch like The Westside Local does, what’s not to like? We clearly don’t have to talk about its popularity, but let’s do talk about how this “institution” came to be. Why the Word “Brunch?” All the food historians say its chronicle is a bit hazy after they deconstruct the word (breakfast + lunch, as you no doubt know) as a ...