Ramen! Oysters! Donuts! So shouts the cover of the May 2016 issue of Bon Appetit I unearthed while cleaning my office recently, urging us to “Devour America’s Best Food Cities.” How strange it all seems now. The cities are certainly still there, but the restaurants? Who knows. Survival is iffy at best in the restaurant… Continue Reading
Freelance Food & Drinks Writer
Blithe Spirits — Your Guide to Everyday Pleasures
Zooming in on the home bar
When it comes to drinking, the real action has always been at the bar. Cocktail destinations mixing 16-ingredient showstoppers, hotel lounges, restaurants, sports bars or corner joints where everybody knows your name—it’s never mattered much so long as it was a bar. A place to gather, share, meet, commiserate, mourn, cheer and celebrate. Until now.… Continue Reading
Toast St. Patrick with Irish Gin
St. Patrick’s Day unleashes all manner of drinks on thirsty celebrants. Some are fantastic, like the Irish whiskies I just wrote about for the Kansas City Star. Some are, well, less so. Green beer and tepid Irish coffee come to mind. But one is entirely surprising—Irish gin. At least, I was surprised when I spotted… Continue Reading
Winter’s Strawberry Antidote
It’s mid-January. The wind chill is below zero, the roads treacherous and the schools closed. It’s definitely not strawberry weather, but strawberries are what I found when rummaging through the freezer this morning. With package in hand, I realized there was only one thing to do: turn them into a shrub. There really wasn’t any… Continue Reading
New Beginnings
I love new beginnings, and 2018 will be full of them. New writing projects, new recipes and ingredients to tinker with, new books to read, new ducklings and calves on the farm and, in this case, a new blog. It’s at first glance an extension of Blithe Spirits, my long-running cocktails and spirits column in… Continue Reading
Pope Pumps it Up at CCVI Food Fight
Chefs are a competitive lot, but it was all friendly competition at last week’s CCVI Food Fight 4. Three of the city’s best gathered on stage at The Guild, cooking to beat the clock, impress a panel of judges and benefit the Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired. Alex Pope of Local Pig topped the… Continue Reading
Conatser tops PoPFest Bartending Competition—again
In the weeks leading up to the Paris of the Plains Bartending Competition, much was made of the fact that Chris Conatser of Justus Drugstore placed every time he entered what was formerly known as the Greater Kansas City Bartending Competition. And last night he kept the streak alive, taking first place with his Manhattan (in)Verse.… Continue Reading
PoPFest Bartending Competition goes big
There’s nothing like strolling into your favorite bar, takin’ a seat and watching a great bartender go to work. Unless you go to the Paris of the Plains Bartending Competition on Sunday night, where you can see a dozen of the country’s best mix it up on Sunday night as they vie for the $1,750… Continue Reading
A Dale DeGroff Top 10
What’s the big deal with this Dale DeGroff guy? Someone asked me that awhile back, and I hardly knew where to start. So, here are 10 reasons why you should care that DeGroff’s at the Paris of the Plains Cocktail Festival. 10. He’s the king. Really, when a guy knows so much about cocktails,… Continue Reading
Paris of the Plains pops in Kansas City
In 2007, Ryan Maybee and Doug Frost started a little thing called the Greater Kansas City Bartending Competition. Well, little in comparison to what that event’s grown into—the Paris of the Plains Cocktail Festival. The week-long event’s already underway, and I wrote about it in today’s Kansas City Star (KC’s cocktail culture births Paris of… Continue Reading