Tavern

I was super upset a couple of years ago when our beloved Village Jose Pepper's was replaced by Tavern in the Village.  It really put a damper on my Cheese Crisp Salad habit.

And in those couple of years, we've never actually made it to Tavern.  We've tried a couple of times but were met with a long wait.  It's a pretty popular place.  We finally made the trip for this month's Supper Club excursion.

Our meal started with the Brie plate.  It was amazing.  I can't believe cheese can make me so happy, but it does.  So happy.

Brie.

The menu isn't huge, but has lots of different options from soups, salads, and sandwiches, plus interesting entree choices.  Drew went with the Cuban Sandwich.  He ordered it without pickles, which is just ludicrous.  The guy has no respect for tradition.

86 the pickles.

I ordered a grilled veggie salad.  When it came out, I thought it looked pretty sad.  I guess I just expect a lot from a $13 salad.  But it was amazing.  I don't know what kind of voodoo magic they did on those veggies, but it was one of the best salads I've ever had.

Doesn't look like much.  Tastes great.

I also really enjoyed their wine selection.  The atmosphere was great too.  I think Tavern would be a fun place for happy hour or just to meet for drinks.  It's a bit pricey, but the food was definitely delicious.

Keeping it classy.

This was a bit of a cheat on the whole supper club premise of trying new restaurants.  My dad was in town a couple of weeks before and wanted to go somewhere for dinner where he could get a glass of wine* so I took him to Tavern.  I liked it so much I made Drew come back with me.  When there with my dad, we ordered dessert.  If you go for no other reason, go for the brownie tower with peanut butter caramel sauce.  OMG.

OMG.

 

 

Tavern recently opened a second location in Mission Farms.  So if you don't want to make the trek to the village (what is wrong with you???) you could hit them up a bit further south.  We probably won't be regulars at Tavern like we are at BRGR, but it's nice to have another option in the village.

 

*He gave up beer for Lent.  We're good Catholics.

Remedy

When making the decision to go vegetarian, there are some truths that you must automatically accept.  The first one is that you will never ever order a steak at a restaurant again. 

Until now.

This month we took Supper Club to Waldo for a little dinner and drink at Remedy.  I've been wanting to try out this restaurant since it opened mid-last-year.  They've got an amazing drink menu and are known for interesting veg options.  Both things that I love!

When we arrived, the place was bustling.  That's always a good sign.  We were told there would be a bit of a wait so we saddled up to the bar to scour the drink menu.  I didn't order it, but was psyched to see a Tinto de Waldo. 

Tinto means wine. 

Waldo means awesome.

I ordered a Milk Stout.  I've been seeing this stuff all over and had to try it!

Non-vegan beer.

We were actually seated very quickly.  My seat was... kind of... a couch.  Comfy.  Kinda weird.  We I ordered an appetizer of eggplant fries.

Amazing!!!

The menu is pretty unique.  Drew of course ordered a burger and regular fries.  Let's not get crazy here.

Burger.

He wasn't super impressed.  But to be fair, I don't think they're known for their burger.  I think he should have gone with the Bone Marrow or Pork Belly. 

I, on the other hand was ridiculously thrilled to see a Cauliflower Steak on the menu.  I got to order steak!  Steak for the vegetarian!!!

Cauliflower Steak.

The steak was amaze-balls.  So good.  It was served on top of squash, apples, and hazelnuts.  Yummy.  So yummy, that Drew kept stealing bites from my plate.  He really liked it too!

Cauliflower Steak: the ultimate people pleaser.

All in all, I really loved the restaurant.  Remedy is a little bit unique, but in a very relaxed atmosphere.  My only regret was skipping dessert.  I can't wait to go back to explore the crap out of their drink menu and maybe give the S'mores a try. 

The Thai Place

Is it still January???  This has been the longest month ever.  But before we can close out the month, we must visit a new (to us) Kansas City restaurant. We opted for some spicy Thai food at The Thai Place.

Drew & I love Thai food.  And I've always heard great things about this little place tucked away on 87th Street.  I wasn't expecting it to be quite so nice!  When we walked in I immediately felt under-dressed.  The tiny dining room was full of folks rocking their best.  And here we were in our jeans. 

We were seated in a huge side room that seemed more casual.  It was full of families and couples.  We started in on reading the ENORMOUS menu.  Seriously, it was overwhelming.

When it came down to it, Drew ordered the Pad Thai... his usual.

Drew talk Thai.

Pad Thai... with shrimp?

I seriously could not make a decision and went with the waitress's recommendation of Red Curry.



Curry in a hurry.

Love Thai.

Oh so spicy.

To be honest, I don't think I've ever ordered a real curry before.  I didn't realize it would be so soup-ish.  I wasn't really sure how to eat it.



Is this what I do?

The curry was spicier than I'd anticipated and I was chugging water after every bite.  I also expected it to be a bit heavier on the veggies.  The flavor was great, but I would have killed for a bit more broccoli.

Drew clearly enjoyed his.

Happy Thai Plate.

And, just for good measure we I decided to order dessert.  Fried bananas topped with coconut ice cream.  Hello!

Very Nice.

The dessert was maybe my favorite part!  Very very yummy.

I'm gonna eat you up!

The meal was good.  The atmosphere was great.  The service was fine.  We had a really good time.  However, as we were leaving, we discussed our opinions.  Drew said he really liked it.  When I asked if it was better than LuLu's he didn't even hesitate with his "no".  It really didn't compare.

 

 

We really enjoyed our evening!  If we get a Thai craving and aren't hyped to drive downtown we will probably return to The Thai Place. 

A Majestic Evening

I'm so out of the habit of blogging that I didn't take any pictures at supper club this month... 

Also, I forgot to do supper club for like 3 months.  My bad.

This means I'm going to have to rely on words to describe the evening.  And that's a big job.  Because it was quite an evening.  I'll do my best.

Drew's birthday was Friday.  He's been wanting to go to The Majestic for months now.  So we made a reservation and invited some friends.  Because supper club without friends is just supper.

We showed up right on time for our 7:30 reservation.  We were told it would be about 10 minutes until our table was ready.  So we sat down at the bar and ordered some fun drinks.  The bartender was great*.  He wouldn't let me order my first choice because he was sure it wasn't for me.  He recommended something that came out pretty & pink* but didn't taste too sweet and frilly.  I loved it.  He even got Drew to try a new beer*... which he totally loved. 

Bartender = 10

A few minutes later we were escorted downstairs to our table.  We were set up right in front of the stage** where a hilarious trio of jazz players* were performing.  The room was small and the music was loud.  It was a fun atmosphere to enjoy our dinner.

Ambiance = 10

Our waiter was friendly and apologized right away for the fact that we were sitting directly under a speaker** and that he would basically have to shout** in order to communicate with us. 

Service = 9

That didn't stop DeAnna from asking for a vegetarian recommendation.  The Majestic is big on steak.  Which we knew.  So it was no surprise that the vegetarian options were slim.  This did not dampen our spirits.  We had fantastic drinks and the boys were quite pleased with their delicious-o steaks.
 
Food = 10 {Drew} 7 {Jamie}

We ate happily, enjoyed the somewhat unconventional jazz performance, and chatted loudly to be heard over the music.  As we received our checks, we all agreed that this was just a fantastic experience...

... and right as the boys were signing our bills, a man who we assumed was the manager came over to our table.  We assumed (wrongly) that he was checking on our experience and making sure we'd had a magnificent time.  He was not.

He informed us that he had received some complaints about our noise level, that people were trying to listen to the jazz, and asked that we keep it down.  No really.  That's what he said.

We were all seriously dumbfounded.  Like, we thought he was joking.  We were signing our checks and obviously getting ready to leave.  Not to mention the music was loud.  I'm still seriously confused about the whole situation.

Really Rude & Ill-Timed Waiter = 0

I was seriously sad because that guy put such a bad taste in my mouth and really ruined the whole experience for me.  We were just saying how much we loved the whole experience.  And then that happened.  Boo. 

We left the restaurant.  But we didn't let that ruin our night.  We headed to Manifesto for a nightcap. 

Manifesto is supposed to be a speak-easy type place below the Rieger Hotel.  I had texted for a reservation but they told me just to show up.  We walked around like idiots trying to find the place... feeling like maybe we aren't cool enough for such a thing.  When we finally found it, we realized we definitely aren't cool enough as there was a crazy wait for a table. 

I don't like waiting for booze, so we hopped across the street to Affare.  It was here that we saw the greatest mustache of all time*.  And we took the only pictures of the night. 

Happy Birthday!

Welcome to Supper Club!

Okay, so I'm going to pretend the whole stinky-waiter/manager butthole thing didn't happen and try to give an objective restaurant review. 

The Majestic was really a great experience (minus you-know-what).  If you are looking for a nice dinner out and are thinking of going somewhere like Capital Grill or Plaza III or some place like that for a nice steak dinner, think of The Majestic instead.  The bartender alone is worth it!  Just please remember to keep your voices down. 


*No photo
**Important to the story later, so remember this information

Supper Club Goes to El Salvador

Have you been to Downtown OP lately?  The place is bumpin'. 

Okay, maybe "bumpin" is a bit of an exaggeration.  But there's seriously some good stuff going on. 

The farmers' market is obviously my favorite, along with Penzey's, Harper's, and Maloney's.  I love spices and sewing and booze. 

But lately a bunch of new restaurants have been opening up in the area; The Peanut, a new Ethiopian restaurant, and a lovely little pie store called The Upper Crust.

I was totally intrigued when I saw that there was a new restaurant in the area serving El Salvadorian food.  What the heck do the eat in El Salvaldor? 

Supper Club decided to find out.

El Salvadoreno.

The restaurant was much more casual than I was expecting.  It was small and very family oriented and comfy.  We started out with a drink order.  Drew had Dos Equis and I had a Horchata.

Bebidas.

Horchata is a drink made with milk, cinnamon, and oats.  Weird, right?  I only know this because Alton Brown told me about it on Good Eats.  So I had to do Alton proud and order one... even though it was non-alcoholic.  It was tasty!

The food was good too.  The menu wasn't huge, but they had several veggie options.  Drew ordered a sampler plate.  I think this is the way to go if you are trying a new cuisine.  When in doubt, try it out!

Sampling it all.

Muy happy.

I ordered a bean & cheese papusa (left) which is kind of like a quesadilla with a really tasty thick tortilla.  I also ordered a veggie pastel (right).  It kind of reminded me of an egg roll, Latin style.  And on the side was their famous coleslaw.

El Salvadorian Comida.

I thought the food was good.  I really wanted a sauce, especially for the pastel.  Maybe they had one and I just didn't ask.  It was a bit heavy, and obviously the pastel is fried.  But it tasted good!

El Salvadorano also serves breakfast, which I'd love to try.  I feel like my meal would have been complete with a little eggs and ketchup.  Is that weird?  We will definitely try it out next time we are down for the farmers' market.

So, El Salvadoreno is definitely Supper Club Approved!  Try it out if you are in the area and looking for something a bit different and new.  Then call me and we can meet at The Peanut and discuss over a cold cerveza. :)

Supper Club; Italian Style

Whoa whoa whoa!  Didn't I just do the July Supper Club post?!? 

You know it.  We crammed two supper club excursions into one month.  I'm kind of trying to cram an entire year of socializing (and blogging) into the month of July.  Because summer ends this week people!  And then it's back to crazy-Jamie with no life and nothing to blog about. 

Back to Supper Club.  For our second outing of the month we headed to Accurso's Italian Restaurant located at 50th & Main, right off the Plaza. 

We ♥ Supper Club!

We were joined by some Supper Club first-timers; Brooke & Brad.  It seems like our schedules never really match up and it's hard to schedule a dinner together... but I actually think that Brad was just scared to come to Supper Club because he thought I'd make him eat octopus.

Brad & Brooke... and no octopus.

Although there was a seafood pasta special that night which included octopus, I did not even encourage anyone to try it.  I'm not a pusher!  Well, except when it comes to alcohol I guess.  But if you come to Supper Club, you can order whatever you want!  I swear!

Even though there were lots of vegetarian options, I opted for my standard Italian restaurant choice: Eggplant Parmesan.

Eggplant Parm.

In case you've never heard, eggplant parm is like the least healthy thing you can order at an Italian restaurant because it's fried and smothered in cheese.  And it's delicious.  Accurso's eggplant parm was right up there with the best eggplant parm I've ever had.  It was lightly fried and crispy, not soggy.  The pasta was on the side, which I liked, because I wasn't interested in that. 

Drew ordered his standard of Chicken Parmesan.  And he said he liked it.  It's hard to get more description from him.

Yes, it is good.

Brad & Brooke both enjoyed their pasta as well, although Brad was a little bit dissappointed because he thought his was going to be spicy.  And it wasn't.  But there wasn't any octopus in their either.  So that was nice.

Brad stumped the bartender when he ordered a Moscow Mule.  But they figured it out and brought him an acceptable drink.  It was served in the wrong glass, but we aren't picky when it comes to booze.

Mule: Looks refreshing!

One of the best parts of Accurso's is that it is right next door to Glace, my most favorite ice cream spot in all of Kansas City.  We skipped dessert at Accurso's and opted for ice cream instead.  Delish!

I think we all agreed that the Accurso's experience was good.  The food was good, the atmosphere was good, the service was good.  They had a lovely patio with live music, but it was far too hot to think about that.  I don't know that it was the best restaurant ever, but I would definitely recommend it!  We had a lot of fun!

What's your favorite spot for Italian in KC?

You probably won't see anymore two-fers for Supper Club, but I'm determined to continue our year of trying new restaurants, even after the school-year consumes me.  We're already tossing around restaurant ideas for August, so give us a shout if you want to join us!  I promise I won't make you eat octopus!

Supper Club Goes Outside

July's been pretty hot, did ya' know?  Seems like that's all people have been talking about... but for real... it's hot out there.  The 100+ degree weather did not stop our supper club from taking to the streets this month.  We hit up the Crossroads for First Friday and some food truck fun.

Kansas City's food truck "culture" has been blowing up lately and part of that is thanks to The Truck Stop.  The Truck Stop is a parking lot located at 21st & Wyandott where the food trucks can convene when not out on the streets.  It's a great place to find lots of selection in roadie-eats. 

This way to good eats!

Britt & Scott joined us on our excursion out.  I've only been to First Fridays a handful of times, but it's always lots of fun.  There's tons to see and do.  And you really don't have to spend a ton.  Some stuff is even free.

How nice!

Food Truck Mecca.

When we arrived at the Truck Stop, we made our rounds to check out what was available.  They pretty much had it all; Mexican, BBQ, Sandwiches, Greek food, ice cream, hot dogs, and beer!  Some of the drivers even gave out samples.

BBQ Sampling.

Britt & I ended up at Crave KC which offered lots of gourmet sounding tacos. 

Mmmm... beer & tacos!

Showing off our goods.

The menu at Crave didn't feature anything vegetarian, but they were more than happy to sub out the pork in one of their specialty tacos for black beans.  Que Bueno!

Yummy Yummy Tacos.

Drew chose a Grilled Chicken Wrap from a truck called Deco Street Eats.

Nom Nom Nom.

Deco had lots of fun options, including mac & cheese.  I can't imagine they sold many mac & cheeses on that hot night, but maybe!

Street Eats.

After finishing our dinner, we joined a huge line for dessert; Sno-Balls!

Yummy!

We shared a Dreamsicle; orange slush topped with condensed milk.  Oh my goodness.  So yum!

Very good.

After that we walked around, checked out some art galleries, and did some people-watching.

Body Bags?

We found even more food trucks parked on a nearby street.  The Truck Stop was jam-packed with trucks, and I'm not sure how you get a spot.  But there is lots of over-flow with more varieties of trucks out there!

More trucks... in case you're still hungry.

The Pitch asked us for a pic and had us fill out photo release forms saying we might end up in the magazine!  After he took our picture though, I saw him photographing a gal in jean-shorts, a bikini top, and a blue mohawk.  I bet she beats us out... she seems more their style.  But at least I was able to have him snap a pic with my camera before he found people more interesting.

The crew!

It was early in the night, so the dance party hadn't really started, but there were a few guys break-dancing in the street.  We hung out and watched.

Dancer and mohawk girl.

More street-dancing.

The street wasn't technically closed, so occasionally someone would try to drive through.  Everyone was really polite and moved.  And one of the dancers would even break-dance the car through the crowd.  Just like your own personal escort.

Break-dancing escort.

Okay, before I end this post, I must show my age and talk about all the hipsters.  I get it, you're young, you're weird (do your parents know where you are?!?), but what is up with all the tights and shorts???  I mean, it's over 100 degrees out and every other girl I saw was wearing colorful tights.  Save those suckers for Fall!  It's one thing to suffer for fashion's sake, but that is just dangerous.  And I am old.

Anyways...

If you are looking for something fun to do this Friday, head downtown for First Fridays!  And GO to the Truck Stop!!!  You will find lots of delicious selections all in one spot.  The food is so good, you'll forget that you're sweating straight through your tights!