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Kansas City Craft Beer Week Dinner with Stephen Beaumont

by Sharm | Jun 1, 2015 | Articles

Craft Beer week dinner with Stephen Beaumont

Celebrate Kansas City Craft Beer Week by attending the Craft Beer Week Dinner at the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium with special guest Stephen Beaumont on June 14!

Stephen Beaumont is a James Beard Award winning author and one of the world’s most authoritative voices on beer. He wrote The World Atlas of Beer and The Pocket Beer Guide among co-authoring many others. This will be his first time to host a beer dinner in Kansas City.

This 5-course dinner will include 5 beers paired with an incredible meal chosen by Chef Matt Arnold from The Webster House. There will also be a pre-dinner tasting with Stephen beforehand.

Order tickets by calling (816) 221-1900 or purchase at Flying Saucer. There are different options for tickets. There is a pre-tasting with Stephen Beaumont that is $20 and tickets for the dinner are $55 for UFO members/$65 for non-members. If you want both, it is $65 for UFO members/$75 for non-members.

Beer Dinner with Stephen Beaumont at the Flying Saucer

Sunday, June 14, 2015 at 6:00 pm
Flying Saucer
101 East 13th St
Kansas City, MO 64106

Local Sweets, Treats and more for Valentine’s Day

by Sharm | Feb 6, 2012 | Kansas City, Local Products, Local Restaurants, What You're Missing KC!

With Valentine ’s Day just around the corner, I have compiled a list of a few goodies you can find around town to make you day a sweet as can be.

I would say he first thing that to come to mind when most people think about Valentine’s Day s is chocolate. Kansas City has quite a few choices when it comes to that cocoa confection starting with the ever-popular Christopher Elbow.

Food and Wine magazine gave the #1 ranking of their top 10 Chocolates to Christopher Elbow for the No. 6 Dark. It features 61% dark chocolate blended with popping candy to create a unique, irresistible chocolate bar. I had the chance to tour his shop a while back and had no idea the detail that went into making these exquisite chocolates! Now I know why they taste so good. Some take 2, 3 or even more days to make.

You can read more about the tour here.

Elbows chocolates are of course available at his shop on McGee Street but some other locations around the metro include the Roasterie Café, Brookside Market, Foo’s Frozen Custard, Halls Department Store, Dean and Deluca and Cosentino’s Market. Elbow’s Chocolates are also available nationwide including his store in San Francisco. Here is a link to find all the locations his chocolates are available.

Christopher Elbow Chocolates
1819 McGee Street
Kansas City, MO 64108
ph. 816-842-1300
fax 816-842-1301
Tues – Sat 10a.m. – 6p.m.

Next is Amore Chocolate Pizza Company. Christopher and Annette Cook run this local shop. Annette is a former theater buff and would make these “break a leg” chocolate pizzas as gifts. As popularity of them grew, Annette found herself taking orders for them and Amore Chocolate Pizza Company was born.

Located in Leawood in the Town Center shopping center, Amore Chocolate Pizza Company is also a dessert café and bakery offering a variety of chocolates, desserts, coffees and more. Certain nights feature live music and a fondue bar.

Patric Chocolates have a variety of bars available to purchase including a bar he collaborated with Kansas City’s own Christopher Elbow. His bars are available at the Better Cheddar in Kansas City, various stores throughout St. Louis and online. Visit Patric Chocolates.com for more information.

If it is cakes or cookies you are looking for Kansas City has that covered too. Jude’s Rum Cakes are the creation of Chef and Caterer Craig Adcock who owns Belly Up BBQ. Named after his mother-in-law, Jude’s Rum Cakes are made with only the best quality ingredients. Whole eggs, real butter, Barbancourt Rum from Haiti, a local Rum from Tennessee and locally grown pecans from Missouri Northern Pecan Growers. Once the cakes are made, they are soaked in the rum for 24 hours in order for it to saturate through the cake. The result is a rich, moist, and fragrant cake.

Jude’s Rum Cakes come in three sizes. The large 4-pound version ($50) yields 16 large slices and the smaller size 2-pound ($30) will yield 8 slices. They also bake and sell mini muffin-size and two-bite teaser rum cakes. ($12 – $15)
Order online or arrangements can be made for pick up and by calling 913.526.6708.

If Cheesecakes are your passion check out Cowtown Cheesecakes. Owner Chef Terry Mille has created a variety of flavors and uses local and seasonal ingredients when available. Some flavors include: Strawberry Shortcake, Pineapple Upside Down Cake, Key Lime, Lemon, Lemon Blueberry, Strawberry, Pumpkin, Fudge Swirl, Devils Food Cake, White Chocolate Raspberry and Kansas Cream.

Visit CowTown Cheesecake’s website or contact Chef Terry at chefterry@cowtowncheesecake.com for more information on pricing and ordering. You can also find CowTown Cheesecake company on Facebook.

For cookies and other treats such as handmade marshmallows,cake pops and more check out Everyday Organic Cookery. Owner Jamie Milks believes that eating healthy, organic food is something you can do everyday and that is why every thing she makes uses local and organic ingredients. Jamie is a genius when it comes to creating these treats and has spent hours testing and perfecting the recipes. Her cookie dough flavors include: chocolate chip, salted caramel, honey lemon ginger and more. All items are gluten free and are absolutely delicious.

Just for Valentines Day, Farm to Market Bread Company has created a Chocolate Cherry Bread. This Kansas City tradition is available for a limited time only, Feb. 8 through Valentine’s Day. This bread is made with semi-sweet chocolate, Michigan-grown red tart dried cherries and 100 percent cocoa. Like all Farm to Market artisan breads, Chocolate Cherry is made with all-natural ingredients. This year, the recipe is being crafted into 14-ounce round loaves that make perfect gifts or treats for the office.

Farm to Market Chocolate Cherry Bread retails at $5.99 per loaf and will be offered in select Kansas City-area stores from Feb. 8-14 including Cosentino’s Price Chopper’s, Marsh’s Sun Fresh, Westport, HyVee (77th &State Line Rd) Hen House (87th and Lackman), Corinth Hen House, Camelot Hen House, Prairie Village Hen House, Deer Creek Hen House (135th and Metcalf) and Fairway Hen House. Lawrence residents can find Chocolate Cherry Bread at Community Mercantile.

If you are a wine lover, Somerset Ridge Winery will quench your thirst. Somerset Ridge wines are served in some great local restaurants around KC including Bonefish Grill, Taste, Gaslight Grill, Blue Bird Bistro and Jasper’s just to name a few. They are also available at several retail locations around the city. Visit their website for more information on locations. www.somersetridge.com/retail.html

Enjoy Valentines Day with your sweetie with one of these sweets! For a list of more local products savory and sweet check out the local products page.

In Good Taste,

Sharm

Boulevard Brewing Company celebrates 21st Anniversary

by Sharm | Nov 17, 2010 | Articles, Food & Drink, Kansas City, Local Products, What You're Missing KC!

If you have had a Boulevard beer in the past 21 years, stop by your favorite drinking establishment on November 17th at 10pm, and raise a glass of Boulevard to toast their 21st Anniversary.

On November 17, 1989, the first keg of Boulevard beer was sold to Ponak’s Mexican Kitchen just a few blocks from the brewery. Since then boulevard has added numerous beers to their line and is shipped nationwide.

Boulevard beers are currently available throughout Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, and Texas, with partial distribution in Illinois, Indiana, Alabama, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.

The 21st Anniversary Fresh Hop Pale Ale is similar to the brewery’s signature pale ale, but kicked up a notch to celebrate its coming of age.

Boulevard is passionate about beer and has many unique opportunities for those who are passionate as well.

In addition to making exceptional beers, Boulevard offers public and private brewery tours, event space rental, beer-pairing dinners and a BrewMasters Luncheon, which is a collaboration between the brewery and a local restaurant.

I have had the wonderful opportunity to attend both a private brewery tour and a Brewmasters Luncheon.

The tours really give an in depth look at the beer making process as well as lots of fun facts on how some of the beers got their names and of course tasting, tasting, tasting! Did I mention tasting, because you will not go away thirsty!

The Brewmasters Luncheon is held in the beautiful event space on the third floor. The view from this space is one of the best in the city.

The Luncheon I attended featured Webster House and had wonderful dishes prepared by their chef Charles d’Ablaing.

The first pairing was Amber Ale and a Chilean Sea Bass. The second was a seared duck breast and the Long Strange Triple and the last was a Bully Porter paired with an elk tenderloin.

If you have not had the chance to go to a Brewmasters Luncheon, put it on your list. It is a really neat to experience meet Boulevards Brewmaster Steven Pauwels and learn about all the different beers as he explains them in relations to dish, and then of course tasting the way the flavors work together is the added bonus!

Happy Anniversary Boulevard!

For more information on brewery tours, Brewmasters Luncheons and other opportunities Boulevard offers visit the Boulevard website.

And as always if you have a great food find in KC you think I am missing, email me.

In Good Taste,
Sharm

SaveSave

Beer Kitchen

by Sharm | Nov 16, 2010 | Articles

I was most disappointed when I heard that One80 Lounge in Westport had closed, it was one of my favorite places in KC. I loved the sleek and urban vibe and the sophisticated menu offerings were amazing!

What once housed the sleek and sophisticate One80 Lounge is now called Beer Kitchen.

Owned by the same group as McCoy’s, The Foundry and the late One80. I was sure it was worth trying and added Beer Kitchen to my list. I could not have been happier when my friend Shannon from FrothyGirlz, (which is an awesome site about pop culture and movie reviews) called me to go to go lunch there. She knows the owner James and we had the chance to visit with him.

So the big question for James, why the switch? He said that his partner and him have a such passion for beer and really wanted to focus on bringing in unique beers and while serving up gourmet bar food.

I am here it to tell you , even though I am sad to lose One80, Beer Kitchen did not disappoint! The food is phenomenal and the menu is just as impressive, but in a very different way.

With a variety of burgers ranging from the Barvo burger which has crispy prosciutto, the Braut burger, a house-made bratwurst patty with beer-braised kraut and of course a classic with lettuce, tomato and pickles makes the menu approachable.

The comfort food offerings include oven-fried chicken, fish and chips, shepherd’s pie and a create your mac and cheese with mix-ins like prosciutto, caramelized onions, maytag blue cheese and more. I also cannot forget to mention there is breakfast available anytime.

For my lunch I chose the “build your own lunch box” which includes a choice of sandwich or flatbread and then add a salad, soup, or a bucket of fries or chips.

The sandwich I chose was the short rib sandwich. It had smoked Gouda, caramelized onion, oven-dried tomato, arugula and horseradish aioli all grilled up on sourdough bread. This sandwich is unbelievable. The flavors are so good and I love the texture of grilled sourdough bread. The salad I chose was the baby arugula salad it had beets, walnuts, shaved fennel, sun-dried cranberries and was topped with a goat cheese croquette. I am a sucker for a salad like that. I love the combination of the salty goat cheese and the sweet cranberries together. Shannon opted for the grilled four cheese sandwich and the butter lettuce salad. We also shared an order of the truffle fries. Everything was exceptional!

Beer Kitchen’s burgers and sandwiches are made from a custom blend of brisket, short rib and chuck tenderloin from the locally owned McGoingles Market. The breads and buns are freshly baked and from the locally owned Farm to Market Bread Company. Beer kitchen also house makes their bread and butter pickles and three kinds of ketchup. I loved the chipotle it was the perfect blend of spicy and sweet.

With a name like Beer Kitchen, I am sure you are wondering about the beer. Beer Kitchen offers a variety of beers and beer cocktails. All though I did not partake at this particular luncheon, the summer beer, which is a scrimshaw pilsner with citrus vodka and rosemary infused lemonade, would be right up my alley. They also offer a variety of martini’s, specialty cocktails, and wine. The beer menu changes constantly so there is always something new to try. You can check the website for a complete listing of beers for that day.

After this meal, I have decided I will miss One80 that much! I was so impressed I checked back with James to see if we could come in and “show” you what you are missing, by shooting some video. He was very gracious and took the time to talk a bit about Beer Kitchen and let me sample a few dishes. Check out this link to get to see what you are missing. Warning…it will make you hungry!

I am really looking forward to visiting Beer Kitchen again. I hope you do the same! I promise you will not be sorry.

For more information visit the Beer Kitchen Website.

Beer Kitchen
435 Westport Road
Kansas City, MO
(816) 389-4180

And as always, if you have a great food find in KC you think I am missing, email me.

In Good Taste,
Sharm

Cupcake Ala Mode ~ Kansas City

by Sharm | Apr 8, 2010 | Articles, Decedent Desserts, Food & Drink, Local Restaurants, What You're Missing KC!

Cupcake A La Mode

What a cute and yummy store!
We stumbled upon this while out at the Park Place shopping center in Leawood. I couldn’t resist getting my great niece Kennedy her first cupcake even though she is only 11 months old. It was just so girly and pink and perfectly sweet! Just like her!

Since the writing of this post the Leawood store has closed but the Country Club Plaza location is open.

When you first walk in to Cupcake A La Mode it has the feel of a classy and chic boutique and then when you see the case of those heavenly cupcakes you know you are in for a treat.

With over 15 flavors to choose from we had a bit of a dilemma on our hands. But after much deliberation we chose a variety: the French Vanilla OOH LAH LAH, the Peanut Butter Kiss and the Pink Lemonade. They also have gourmet coffee creations so a Vanilla Latte was added to go along.