Denis Culinary Tours

Spring blossoms at Jax Fish House: Warmer weather brings new outdoor patio, seasonal dishes and cocktails Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar nods to the spring season with the debut of its new patio, spring cocktails and seasonal happy hour dishes. The 350-square-foot patio is set to open in April in front of the restaurant along Roanoke Parkway and will seat 24 people. Chef de Cuisine Theresea Ota prepares for the upcoming warmer months and the opening of the patio with new spring additions to the happy hour menu including the Shrimp Pancake and House Salmon Charcuterie. Lead Bartender Kenny Cohrs provides his ode to spring with four new handcrafted cocktail creations including Play Ball and Travel Arrangements. Jax’s new spring happy hour items and cocktails will be available starting on Monday, March 28. Mondays at Jax feature happy hour all night, anywhere in the restaurant. Happy hour is also available from 4-6 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and 2:30-6 p.m. Friday-Sunday. Sprin...

LAST FREE SEAFOOD FRIDAY TONIGHT IT'S HERE AGAIN OUR LENTEN SEAFOOD FEAST! EVERY FRIDAY UNTIL EASTER (LAST ONE TONIGHT)   SEAFOOD FEAST For $36.95 receive our Rodizio 12 cuts of meat and our 30+ item Gourmet Bar Plus all these additional Seafood items: Sushi Baked Lemon Dill Salmom Mussel & Clam Scampi Crab cakes Seafood pasta in a Sage cream sauce with Lobster Moqueca de peixe (Brazilian seafood stew in a coconut broth Mussels in Brazilian Viniagrette Crab Salad Bay Shrimp Brazilian Cocktail    ( GOURMET BAR ONLY $24.95) Not valid with other offers, promos, discounts, Groupons, Passport, Media Trade, Online Special Deal or any other discount certificates Em Chamas Brazilian Grill 6101 NW 63rd Terrace  Kansas City, MO 64151  Ph. 816-505-7100 

Chef Spotlight: Zeb Humphrey  Zeb Humphrey of North Italia , admits he is basically pleased with the progress he and his Leawood restaurant have made this last year. Fox Restaurant Concepts, with nearly 60 restaurants to its brand, lured him away from Cleaver & Cork a few months ago, and he’s happy he made the move. “I like that it’s steady, somewhat predictable, and the attention to quality and to the customer experience is extremely high and consistent,” he says.  The intensity of the restaurant’s commitment to their diners is of particular importance to him. Humphrey has a lot of experience packed into his resume. In high school, he worked in a pizza place but never thought about being a chef.  He had friends at JCCC and they encouraged him to enter the culinary program, which he did.  He dropped out, a move he looks back on with a bit of regret.  But, he says, “I immediately began working with great chefs and teams all over town, learned so...

I ventured to 135 th Street recently to Prairiefire and the two plus month old Grimaldi’s Coal Fired Pizza place.  I’d call it upscale pizza (as do the managers) – not just because of the price  which in pretty much in line with non-chain gourmet pizzas – but the environment. It’s brick, spacious, big bar, great large pictures of famous people who’ve eaten at the mothership Grimaldi’s, inventive chandeliers, cloth napkins and highly attentive service.  These were all good things, but not as important as the bottom line, pizza.    And the pizza is really, really good.  Two primary reasons for this (besides the hand-tossed dough).  One, that coal fired oven, which is huge and very, very hot.  The coal is the best quality anthracite and heats that brick oven up to 1200 degrees – leaving the front areas for the pizzas at around 530 degrees.  What this does is somehow create a crust that is thin, somehow crispy, yet still foldable – vita...

Whether you’re a great home chef or not, for many of us there comes the time when we say, “Enough!  I can’t (won’t) (don’t want to) do it this time (anymore) (ever again)!  The “it” refers to making the food for a large, or even small, gathering.  Whether it’s a full scale celebration for 60 or an intimate dinner for four, people today are reaching for different solutions – ones that used to only be called catering. There seems to be some confusion about the various options available, or who does what, when, and how.  As a consumer and potential “party planner,” in the broadest sense of the word, there are some things you need to know about catering. First, we are talking only about events not held in the hotel, restaurant, or site where the food originates.  It may be in your home, a space you have rented, a park, or someplace you’ve talked the owner into accommodating you and 89 of your closest friends. Second, the categories.  There are basicall...

Sweet, Perfect Desserts at Pierpont’s As much as I love desserts and writing about them (hence, this series), I have to tell you I seldom get to try three at once.  That is largely due to the malevolence called sharing. My portly companion and I feel too guilty usually to eat an entire dessert by ourselves.  Also generous friends usually know the sharing-with-me-rule but still, since they share usually, too, that reduces the choices. But the other day at beautiful Pierpont’s in Union Station, I tried three delicious desserts all by myself that you will love. First thing you need to know it that for some of us, it’s hard to bypass the “ Death by Chocolate Cocktails ,” since they definitely qualify as a dessert with a bonus.  I am going there some day with friends just to try the Double Dutch Chocolatini, the Moondance Martini (Jameson’s, Godiva Dark Chocolate, Bailey’s, and Guiness), and the King Alexander.  My friends will have to give me tasting privileges on...