Denis Culinary Tours

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 rest...

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 u...

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.  

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 ...

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 Gol...

Fast Service, Quality Food, & Living Wages CAN co-exist! Strip's will feature Chicken Strips, Pork Burgers, & Donuts There’s a new restaurant concept emerging in Olathe, bringing together previously opposing concepts: made-from-scratch recipes, the blazing speed and convenience of  “fast food”, and employees making living wages. Mix all that together and top it with a business culture of social responsibility and community involvement and it seems the old saying “you can’t please everyone” may become a thing of the past. Strip's is scheduled to open in August 2016, at 1110 East Santa Fe in Olathe, Kansas, breathing new life into a former Wendy's building. “The Wendy’s building is perfect for this concept because it already has 4 exhaust hoods and a large kitchen to allow for the extensive amount of prep work that will need to be done. Our pork burger will be custom-ground for us by Fritz’s Meats and they will also create our bacon. Our chicken strips will ...

Adventures in Leawood and South OP  Now you may think using the words adventure and Leawood and South Overland Park in the same sentence are incongruous. Not so. A couple of weeks ago I had an evening that combined two fab experiences. One was eating of course. Along with a Kansas City Restaurant Guide crew, I ate first at Sullivan’s Steak House, who treated us to a divine dinner. There appeared like magic from our excellent server: crispy calamari done just right, tender prime rib (on the menu weekends), broiled salmon that still managed to taste just caught, corn casserole, some veggies, and a dark, rich, decadent chocolate cake (can I get in more adjectives here?) in a strawberry puree full of flavor. Yum. Repeat that. I was sorry I was full – I could have done it all over again.  What I didn’t remember about Sullivan’s is that, with about 18 of them from Anchorage to Baton Rouge, they are a member of the excellent Del Frisco’s group but their executive chef...