Feijoada

So what has been up in the land of EatingAwesomeness, you ask? Why have I been so distant? Where has the next post been hiding? Well, to be completely honest with you, this series of Polar Vorti (my made-up on-the-spot plural of Vortex, instead of Vortexes, or perhaps Vortecies?) left me totally void of inspiration. But before I tell you all about the muse that I found to break me out of my slump, I will give you a little rundown of what I have been up to (besides consuming copious amounts of craft beer).

Since my last post, KC Restaurant Week (#KCRW2014) has come and gone. I went to The Majestic, Urban Table, Jack Stack, Reserve, and Fogo during Restaurant Week. 

The Majestic was good, but the steaks that were not on the KCRW2014 were SOOOO much better! They had a barrel aged Manhattan, not a Manhattan made with barrel aged whiskey (because that is all of them), this was a cocktail that was made and then barrel aged. But the best thing that I had at Majestic was probably the chocolate mousse that came with a macaron in the glass.

Urban Table had a killer sandwich, as always. 

Jack Stack was part of a tour of KC BBQ that I took an out of town co-worker on. Plus the beans are the best ever! 

I was blessed with the opportunity to be Yelp KC's quest star of a #KCRW2014 tweet-along at Reserve. Reserve was as incredible as always! I had scones and coned beef hash made by an Irishman! It doesn't really get much better than that. 

The real breakthrough, however, came at Fogo. How can a chain Brazilian steakhouse provide a breakthrough, you ask? Well, one of the members of our party had housed a Brazilian exchange student in high school. Between rounds of gluttoning ourselves on rare leg of lamb and the cheesy bread that they bring to your table, she mentions that there is a Brazilian market/restaurant in the River Market that has even better cheesy bread and this market is supposed to occasionally have feijoada Saturdays. She went on to explain what feijoada is and told us about how she had first had it when visiting her exchange student, upon her return to Brazil, out of a home that had been converted to a restaurant (I don't know Portuguese, but now you are speaking my language). As if we weren't sold on this yet, she told us that on this same occasion, she looked down and found a pig snout in her feijoada dish (yes, please)! She then said that she would let us all know the next time Taste of Brazil (the Brazilian market) had feijoada. 

Fast forward to last weekend. Five of us joined up, in the River Market, to try this fabled feijoada. 

The process goes like this: You go into Taste of Brazil, pick out your drink (Brazilian Guarana soda, if you know what is good for you), pay for your drink and your feijoada, they give you a wristband, head next door and run through the line, then grab a table. All the while there are musicians playing music that reminds me of Sirius XM satellite radio's channel Coffee House.

The feijoada line consisted of: rice, feijoada (that you have to be dying to know what it actually is by now), fried pork belly, collard greens, papaya, what I believed to be fried yucca, seasonings and sauces, and bread slices (but not the cheesy bread, you need to order that separately above, if you choose).

The cheesy bread did, in fact, kick the cheesy bread from Fogo in the junk. They even sell packages of the mix that you can take home to enjoy anytime.

The mixture of beans and smoked meats, that is feijoada, was incredible! There were cuts of meat that had bones in them (so watch out and don't chip any teeth), which made it amazing. I even found a couple pieces of blood sausage in my feijoada. Sadly, no snouts though. I loved the feijoada, over rice, with a little bit of pepper sauce (molho de pimenta) on it. The pepper sauce is not really spicy, it just adds flavour, and is slightly reminiscent of buffalo chicken sauce.

The fried pork belly is really good, because, well... it's fried pork belly. The papaya only made me think of how much better the papaya would taste in Rio. The shredded collards were very good, but with my mom's whole side of my family being from The South I had better love some collards.

We ate feijoada until we could no longer move, then we went back for the obligatory dessert: passion fruit mousse. The mousse was so thick, it had to have been made with condensed milk, it was so good!

We will definitely be going back to TOBM for some food and Guarana soda before the next feijoada!

Reserve at the Ambassador Hotel

Sunny Black & Brown Bread

Farm to Market Bread is turning 20 years old (Think back 20 years ago, if you will. Think back to where the farm to table movement was, no where. Visionaries) and they are celebrating by re-releasing an old favorite, the Sunny Black & Brown Bread. The SB&B is a hearty loaf that is made with sunflower seeds, black beans, and brown rice (hence the name). Before I tried it, if you had told me that those ingredients would make such a delicious bread, I would have called you a liar (but this is FTM we are talking about here). The SB&B has not been produced in 8 years, to celebrate it's return Reserve at the Ambassador Hotel (a restaurant partner of FTM) is putting together a special menu of items featuring this limited release bread.

Ambassador Hotel
(Sprint Center in background)

The Ambassador Hotel is a locally owned hotel that is close enough to the Sprint Center that I could granny toss a basketball from one to the other. This would be a great place to stay for any suburbanite with kids that wants to leave their kids with Grandma & Grandpa, watch their favorite local college basketball team at Sprint Center, take their spouse for a nice dinner and drinks afterwards, and spend the night downtown. This is your type of place.

Reserve is a locally sourced (well, as much as reasonably possible anyways) eatery that serves upscale menu items at reasonable prices. They also find themselves trying to shake the stigma of "hotel restaurant". Although, they do have a couple other like minded hotel restuarants helping them to squash the idea that a hotel cannot have a killer restaurant: Providence New American Kitchen and The Savoy Grill (which has been touted by many, including the legendary Anthony Bourdain), this is still a tall order. That being said, the only thing that it is going to take for The Reserve to break out is putting people in the seats (once you try Chef Shaun Brady's creations, you will be a believer).

King chair
(Reserve Dining Room)

Before I get into the cuisine, I would like to say a quick word or two about Chef Shaun. He is an Irishman that comes to Kansas City by way of Chicago. Writing this blog, I have had the opportunity to meet some pretty awesome people, and Chef Shaun is right up there with Chef Aaron Sanchez and the mad scientists that are the KC food truck scene. He is a lover of authentic street food and told me an amazing story about the time that he told a Tuk-Tuk driver in Thailand that "I want to eat where you eat", the Tuk-Tuk driver then took Chef Shaun to his mother's house for a real Thai meal featuring meal worms and fried cockroaches. This even topped my Guadalajara story, that I used to think was cool, until I heard this one.

Now, for the SB&B menu (some of you shout "FINALLY!!", others got impatient and stopped reading long ago):

SB&B Crouton Salad

SB&B Crouton Salad: SB&B bread tossed in basil pesto before being baked into croutons, spinach, heirloom & cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, white truffle oil, reduced balsamic. Incredible starter.

Ultimate Grilled Cheese w/ Tomato Bisque Soup

Ultimate Grilled Cheese: Grilled SB&B bread, white cheddar, swiss, and brie inside, topped with melted yellow cheddar. When I saw this plate come out, a smile came over my face that I had no control over. I knew exactly what was forming that yellow crust on top of the bread, this sandwich is like cheese Christmas.

Smoked Salmon BLT

Smoked Salmon BLT: Open-faced BLT (on SB&B) with a sizable piece of smoked salmon and caper berries. For anyone who has never had a caper berry (like myself), you are in for a treat, they are like a traditional caper crossed with a pepper. These are a favorite of Chef Shaun and an excellent touch to an already awesome sandwich. The bacon was extra crispy, my mother would have approved. You may even notice some roasted, peeled red peppers in the salad; It's this attention to detail that you will find across the board at The Reserve.

Sunny Side Up Brunch Sandwich

Last, but certainly not least; the Sunny Side Up Brunch Sandwich: SB&B bread, bacon mayo, heirloom tomatoes, crispy pork belly, sunny side up eggs, arugula salad w/ more roasted, peeled peppers. The crispy pork belly was like a bunch of thick bacon steaks and the eggs were perfectly cooked (perfectly cooked eggs should never be overlooked). This sandwich is some kind of wonderful, I was not going to let a single morsel of this sandwich by left behind. 

Once the SB&B is out of production and these special menu items are gone, I will be back to Reserve to try other menu items made with local ingredients. One that I am particularly pumped to try: Bread Pudding made with FTM Challah bread, Roasterie Coffee, and Bailey's Irish Cream. If I weren't as stuffed as the Man v. Food guy after eating all of this food (yes, I ate every single bite on every plate, it was that good!), I would have ordered a bread pudding to-go.