National Donut Day

Happy National Donut Day, all! Lamar's will be giving away one free glazed to each customer to celebrate. However, I will be celebrating the occasion at an awesome local donut shop downtown, Joe's Downtown Donuts.

Joe's is a fairly new addition to Downtown KC. They are located adjacent to Grand Slam Liquors and offer up an entire line of handmade donuts, from old family recipes. You name it, they have it (and probably a super-sized version of it).

At Joe's, you will not find crazy hipster-esque donuts made with beer and other things that nouveaux donuts are made with. You will however find amazingly fresh donuts, at honest working-man prices. Glazed, cake, German chocolate, old-fashion, long johns (filled w various fillings or unfilled), bear claws, cinnamon rolls the size of your face, twists the size of your forearm, are just a few of the items that you will find in the case below. With rotating options that vary with the midwestern weather and even chocolate glazed donuts (Yes, you heard that right, chocolate glazed. Not glazed that has been iced with chocolate, but chocolate glazed.) you will find something to please anyone in your office at Joe's (if you are the kind of person that is nice and takes donuts to coworkers, or favorite food bloggers).

If you cannot make it to Joe's on this lovely National Donut Day, here are some other places around town that offer freshly made donuts: Providence New American Kitchen (see the desert menu), Q39 (see dessert menu), Fluffy Fresh, and Donut King.

Side note: I have yet to have the Tank 7 donuts at Ale House, partially because I have a hard time believing that something like that could be better than the sum of it's parts (my requirement for things made with beer). Let me know if I am missing out though.

This donut is for you!

P.S. Tweet me your donut pictures today for a RT.

James Beard Award Winners in the Southland (Pt. 2)

On a recent trip, I saw this ad for Birmingham, AL in the in-flight magazine. It states that you can choose from BBQ joints OR James Beard Award winners. Luckily for Kansas Citians, we can enjoy James Beard Award winning chefs taking on BBQ and the like! Similar to Colby Garrelts' Rye, Debbie Gold parlayed her James Beard Award into bringing you midwestern favorites, cooked by burning wood. Where Colby cooks most of his menu with smoke, Debbie puts hers straight on the wood fire grill.

After adding her name to the list of James Beard Award winners at The American Restaurant, Debbie opened a burger joint (there are plenty of other awesome menu items there too, but I think this post will explain why I zeroed in on the burgers in the next paragraph) that brings blue collar fare (at a blue collar price too) to the white collar crowd in Leawood. 

It has been well documented that I am a huge How I Met Your Mother fan (more the early seasons, but I would be lying if I told you that I had not seen every single episode multiple times, or if I told you that I wasn't watching it as I type this). In HIMYM, "The Best Burger in NYC" was at a restaurant with a green door and "Burger" sign above that green door (pictured to the right). The crew spent an entire episode looking for this restaurant. That is exactly what I thought of when I heard about the Red Door Grill (now called Red Door Woodfire Kitchen & Bar, but who is counting?). Albeit, the door is red and not green, but you get where I am going with this.

Any-who, Red Door has a dining room (for those that prefer that environment) and a bar area (for those that want to watch sports and/or keep an eye on any injury updates that may have fantasy implications). I prefer the bar area for lunch, for obvious reasons (my fantasy football league isn't going to win itself), but both have the same great menu. The feel is modern, yet cozy.

As mentioned above: the burgers stuck out to me because they are made with McGonigle’s custom blend of beef brisket, short rib and chuck tenderloin, and I LOVE MCGONIGLE'S! I have personally had the Porkey's Revenge and The Remedy, both are amazing! If you are in the mood for something smokey, go with The Remedy. The aged cheddar, smoked bacon, and egg that top off that wood fire grilled burger will overcome your taste buds with smoky goodness. If you are thinking something more outside the box, go with Porkey's Revenge. The bacon jam, roasted tomato, and melted brie cheese do some kind of a tango between that fire grilled patty and brioche bun that leave you wanting more. Normally, I am not a big brie guy, but the melted brie on this burger will make you question everything you thought you knew about brie ("It's dank Brie!", sorry for yet another inside joke, but not sorry enough to not type it. You guys should really take a trip into my thoughts after visiting RDK&B, it's a pretty funny place). Your wait person will ask you if cooking your burger Medium is okay. The answer is YES! You may even tell them to err on the side of less medium (but not med-rare, we are not trying to get anyone shut down here) because that wood fire could severely dry out/char the wonderful McGonigle's meat blend if it is cooked any more than medium, and no one wants that.

The burgers are not the only amazing thing on the menu at RDK&B: The fries are outstanding, IMO they are probably right behind the BBQ Bohemoeth that is right across the parking lot, this is definitely a "fries first" place. The polenta is also pretty incredible; it is the creamy/soupy variety (like grits), not the fried/baked variety (like corn bread), but is full of smokey, creamy goodness. The one issue with the polenta is not about the taste at all, it is with the listing of it on the menu. It is listed as a table side, but since it is the creamy variety instead of the bite sized baked/fried pieces (that you may have seen elsewhere), it can be a bit awkward if ordered to split between a table of dudes (opposed to the "pound of fries"). 

Last, but not least, is my muse: The doughnut dessert dish (sadly, I did not catch her name). These yeasty doughnut morsels, rolled in sugar, and served with Chirstopher Elbow's Sweet Cream ice cream (from Glace) are perfect in every way. The outside is a tad crispy, the inside is a tad dough-y, and something about this combination is perfect for the fall!

Everything on this menu looks delicious, I am just sad that I cannot eat it all at once! I will definitely be back to try more, say "hi" if you see me there!

Not Just Meat and Potatoes!

Providence New American Kitchen is the new contemporary American restaurant that resides inside the President Hilton, in the space that the old Drum Room dining room used to occupy. The old Drum Room has been separated into what is now Providence New American Kitchen and the new Drum Room bar. The Drum Room bar has been transformed into a modern mixology bar that doubles as an amazing place to watch a game, with 4 big TVs encircling the bar area.

President Hotel

New Drum Room Lounge

Old Drum Room Dining Room (Photo stolen from Hilton.com)

Providence New American Kitchen

The President Hilton is owned by Ron Jury, a native Nebraskan, who felt that his hotel needed an American restaurant that serves dishes made with locally sourced ingredients. I know what you are thinking right now, "I see salmon, scallops, and shrimp on the menu. How is all of that locally sourced?", as I thought as well. Everything that can be locally sourced, is (even the wood that you see adorning the new dining room). Everything that cannot be locally sourced is single sourced to a local farmer/purveyor near the area that the product is indigenous to. This is also the reason that the restaurant does not open until 11am daily: Chef Eric is at the markets, personally selecting ingredients.

Providence takes its name from the Secret Service's code name for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, not from the city in Rhode Island. The dining area is enriched with vintage Americana pieces, such as the tattered flag on the wall and the filament light bulbs in the vintage light fixtures. The menu is also full of classic American favorites, but is not just your grandfather's steak and potatoes. Steak and potatoes are on the menu, but there is also so much more!

Vintage Light Fixture

My wife and I were taken care of by a tag-team duo of Sirish and Jeff. They were both extremely knowledgeable of the menu (both able to explain everything on the menu), helpful, and pleasant. We could not have asked for a better experience! We sampled the lion's share of Providence's menu items, and there were no weak links. Below I have included a photo of each item that we tried, followed by a brief description. I will try to do each dish its due justice. Do keep in mind that we requested sampling sizes of each dish and that the actual dish sizes may be much larger than pictured.

The Vino:

Immortal Zinfandel

The Immortal Zinfandel is an amazing mate for any of the red meat dishes at Providence. The full bodiness of this wine pairs wonderfully with the complex flavours of the dishes that we sampled. You also cannot go wrong with the Pedroncelli Cabernet Sauvignon, especially if you like a more oaky flavoured vino. Also of note: The Parducci Pinot Noir has been so immensely popular that they have already sold out of it (a week and a half after opening).

The Starters:

Buffalo Carpaccio

The Buffalo Carpaccio: extremely thinly sliced buffalo, arugula salad, pieces of shaved hard cheese, and some aioli dressing plated with crustini to eat it all with. The buffalo was so thinly sliced that Jeff told me it was a secret how it was even sliced.

Dungeness Crab Cake

Dungeness Crab Cake: Probably 90% crab and 10% cake. There were just enough bread crumbs in the cake to keep it from crumbling into pieces and to give it a little colour, not any more. The lump Dungeness Crab meat with just a dab of the Sriracha Mayonnaise was incredible! Possibly the best crab cake you will find outside of the Northeast.

Loaded Potato Pierogi

Loaded Potato Pierogi: American twist on this Polish classic. What's better than a crispy pierogi with that creamy potato center? Only a crispy pierogi with a creamy potato center that has been loaded with cheese, bacon, chives, and sour cream. This thing was gigantic too!

Grilled Shrimp Bruschetta

Grilled Shrimp Bruschetta: Wonderful bruschetta that is topped with fresh (never frozen) shrimp, roasted pepper salad, and tomato vinaigrette. I love bruschetta anyways, but you put grilled shrimp that tastes as fresh as the second it came out of the water on top of it, and you have a masterpiece. The shrimp tasted just as fresh as the shrimp that we get on the coast.

BBQ Glazed Pork Belly

BBQ Glazed Pork Belly: This was my favorite of the starters that we tried. Borderline bite sized pieces of pork belly (I say that because chomping the whole skewer will yield a very full mouth, something I found out the hard way), covered in a maple chili glaze and Japanese Seven-Spice, on a skewer with a piece of tart Granny Smith apple to balance out the spice. Perfecto!

The Salads:

Blue Note (left) and House Salad (right)

The Blue Note salad was incredible! I would have never thought that mixing blueberries and bleu cheese would yield such an awesome combination, but it does! The House Salad did not punch me in the mouth like I had hoped and expected when we were told that it is served with a Tank 7 vinaigrette, but is a solid option when you want something with a lighter taste.

The Entrees:

Pan Seared Rainbow Trout

Pan Seared Rainbow Trout: A very light piece of fish served with a thin piece of lobster sausage and baby potatoes. Great for anyone trying to add some Omega-3 to the diet, yet doesn't like a strong fish taste. The house made lobster sausage was probably my favorite part of this dish.

Smoked Chicken Ravioli

Smoked Chicken Ravioli: Sort of like a ravioli deconstructed. Delicious tender smoked chicken thigh and baby spinach served with a ravioli that is lightly filled with a ricotta filling.

Apple Wood Smoked Meatloaf

Apple Wood Smoked Meatloaf: My favorite entree! Meatloaf made with veal, pork, and beef (yes I know veal is a form of beef, but lets not split hairs here), slow smoked and then grilled. The sides that come with this entree are equally awesome: sour cream golden russet potatoes on top of wild mushroom gravy, grilled mushrooms, grilled seasonal veggie cubes (carrots, butternut squash, etc), crisp green beans, and lightly pickled onions (vinegary yet still crisp).

The Desserts:

Nothing goes with dessert like coffee

Ricotta Doughnuts

Ricotta Doughnuts: I never thought that doughnuts and key lime would go well together, but they do, deliciously. These doughnuts are fantastic: sweet doughnuts, tangy key lime dipping sauce, and a wonderfully light white chocolate mousse accompanying it all.

Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake: The Carrot Cake is great. Served with orange sherbet and topped with candied roman carrots.

S’mores Flavors

S’mores Flavors: This is essentially a deconstructed S'more: graham cracker crumbles, graham cracker ice cream (yes you read that right, graham cracker ice cream), molten brownie (I couldn't think of a better descriptor for this brownie myself, it is indeed molten), and marshmallow fluff that has been hit with a torch. This has to be one of the best desserts I have ever had in my life! This dessert alone would be worth the drive for a South Kansas Citian! Just incredible! Words cannot describe it!

Hotel President at Night

Everything at Providence New American Kitchen was awesome! We will definitely be back for some of our favorites, as well as to try other dishes (such as the Bully Porter Braised Short Ribs). As we were walking home, discussing our favorite dishes (that we had just gorged ourselves with), and stopping for a couple photo ops, we were reminded that we live in a pretty sweet city!

Buenas Noches