Still Not Just Meat and Potatoes!

My love for Providence New American Kitchen has made me do something very rare, unprecedented in fact. Outside of my food truck family, I have never written twice about the same place. That is all about to change, and you have a revised menu (and new lead bartender) at PNAK to thank for it. If you want to know more about PNAK, click on the link above, this post is going to get straight into the food and drink.

The new food (at least what we tried of it):

For starters, the P&P Tots and Clam Chowder Dumplings are both great!

Porcini & Pecorino Tots

The P&P Tots are not your run of the mill tots that Napoleon Dynamite would stick in his pocket. They are porcini crusted and crunchy on the outside, soft and creamy (from the pecorino cheese) on the inside. The tots are garnished with pumpkin ketchup (which isn't as pumpkin-y or as ketchup-y as you might expect, but nicely compliments the delicate fried starch nuggets) and laid atop pumpernickel crumble (which I could honestly eat by itself, and did after the tots were gone).

Clam Chowder Dumplings

The CC Dumplings are exactly what they sound like: creamy chowder in a crunchy fried shell, topped with crispy bacon and served on a vinegar slaw (with chunks of clam in it). It is not often that I talk about garnishes, but both of these starters have garnishes that I would eat by themselves. How do they get liquid soup in that crunchy shell, you ask? I imagine that they freeze the chowder, bread it, then fry it (which melts the chowder and crisps the shell, all at once).

Kobe Burger

You can find the Kobe Burger on the lunch and dinner menus, probably because it is hard to think of a time of day when Kobe beef, Beemster cheese, pickled mustard seed, pickled onions, and shallot jam is not out of this world good!

Beer Braised Short Rib

A Boulevard beer braised short rib that is so tender that you can shred it with a spoon, served on top of house-made cavatelli pasta, smoked mushrooms, roasted cherry tomatoes, a jam made with more Boulevard beer, and topped with sprouts. You can really tell the difference that the house-made cavatelli pasta makes in this incredibly savory dish!

Spiced Doughnuts

These spiced doughnuts have replaced the ricotta doughnuts that I wrote about in my last post about PNAK and are just as amazing as they sound. These doughnuts taste like fall incarnated (or whatever the word would be for fall to take object form, but not necessarily human form). These doughnuts kick the highly coveted apple cider doughnuts (from Louisburg Cider Mill) in the crotch, hard. Add on to that the pumpkin glaze and pepita caramel brittle that come with the donuts and you have everything that you could hope for, from fall, on a plate.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

I can honestly not say enough about this dessert! This is probably the best dessert (and best ice cream) that I have ever had in my life (even better than the S'More's Flavors dessert from PNAK that I got put into the Ink Summer Dining Guide)! The hot date cake, covered in campfire whiskey glaze, and paired with Boulevard 6th Glass ice cream is unlike anything that you have ever tasted in your life; sweet, but not overly rich. This dessert is beyond words, do not plan to eat anything else for a few hours after this for risk of it tasting like hot feet comparatively. 

The Cocktails: 

Not only is PNAK shaking things up on the food menu, but also the cocktail menu. Some of the new cocktails that have been added are The Quiet Man, Bootlegger's Punch, and TIPple de Jalisco. We gave The Quiet Man and Bootlegger's Punch a try. 

Bootlegger's Punch (left) & The Quiet Man (right)

The Quiet Man is a whiskey cocktail, featuring Jameson, that is named after the 1952 John Wayne film about an American Boxer who retires to Ireland (so awesome, on so many levels). This cocktail runnith over with fall flavours: spiced apple cider, cinnamon & cardamom syrup, topped with ginger ale, and garnished with a piece of house-made candied ginger. Bootlegger's Punch is an equally awesome citrus-y rum cocktail: Goslings' Rum, Cherry Heering Liquer, Falernum, Fresh Lemon, and Orange Bitters.

Finally, the TIPple de Jalisco, that I did not get a chance to try, but supports a cause that is close to my heart. We all know that I love Mexico! The "TIP" in "TIPple" stands for Tequila Interchange Project, a non-profit that supports the preservation of regional tequila (aka the anti-Cuervo). This cocktail contains: Tequila Ocho "Plata", Mexican Coca Cola syrup (real sugar, not HFCS), and Regan's Orange Bitters.

Some of the new cocktails were formulated by the famous Brock Schulte (Drum Room Bar Manager). Some were created by the new lead bartender, who was brought over when Hickok's closed (sad face, I loved that place), Travis. After you have a couple cocktails with dinner, at PNAK, walk up the stairs to the Drum Room for a nightcap. If the Drum Room is not that busy, do the following: ask Travis about the time he got kicked out of the Robert Mondavi Vineyard in Napa (it is such an amazing story!), show him the below photo, tell him that you heard that it was the best New York themed cocktail out there, and ask him very nicely to make it for you.

Happy 1st Anniversary to PNAK, the new Drum Room, Rick Brook, Chef Eric Carter, Brock Schulte, Travis (who I am a jerk and forgot his last name), and crew! Cheers!

Chicken Wings & BLTs

Just like most of you, I have a rotation of a few restaurants that I frequent more often than others. These are the restaurants that I go to just because its Tuesday; not necessarily to try a new menu, meet a new chef, or anything like that. Every once in a while I will realize that I have not blogged about one of these places simply because its almost like second nature to go there, it is so good, yet so familiar at the same time. This post is about one of those places.

The Peanut is one of those places that seems like almost everyone knows about it (which probably subliminally contributes to the fact I have not blogged about it until now). Radio show hosts, KC Star columnists, and even ESPN beat reporters talk about The Peanut's wings. This post is not for the 90% of you that regularly read my blog, you are the type of people that have already been to The Peanut (probably more times than you can count). This post is for the 10% that have not partaken in the gloriously unsophisticated, yet culinarily accomplished, dive bar that is The Peanut. 

One of these 10 percenters (as we will call them today) was my mother, who just so happens to LOVE bacon. She loves hard, crispy, crunchy bacon. If it is a limp soggy piece of bacon, don't even bother, she is not having any of that. 

My mother travels all the time, and is often subject to hotel breakfasts, so she stays at Embassy Suites as often as possible (because they always have crispy bacon). So this is where we stayed on the night before catching our flight back from our recent trip to Puerto Rico (as it was right by the airport). Don't get me wrong, I love Embassy Suites just as much as the next guy (I stay at Hilton brand hotels whenever I can), but this bacon was beyond crispy. This bacon was so over-done, it was like it had just come out of the crematory. I was ready to hold a remembrance service for this bacon right there at the breakfast table.

When we got back, I knew I had to take her somewhere and get her some good, crispy, not burnt bacon. So for her birthday, I took her to The Peanut. This is a far cry from the party we threw her last year at Tasso's (that you can go back and read about, if you have not), but she said that she could only handle a party like that "once every 60 years", so we obliged and kept this one low key.

We ordered her the best BLT in KC, the double version. The crispy, peppery, Kansas raised bacon on perfectly toasted whole wheat bread. Top that off with fresh lettuce, tomato, and mayo does indeed yield the best BLT in KC.

Not only does The Peanut have the best BLT in KC, but they also have the best wings in KC. However, all good things take time, The Peanut's wings are no exception. The menu warns of the minimum wait that accompanies the wings, but don't let that scare you off (the wait is well worth it). The tenderness of the wings leads me to believe that the time that it takes to get the wings is used by the cook to slaughter the gigantic pterodactyl-sized chickens, soak the wings in buttermilk, then flash fry them to get the outside crispy but not dry out the inside. Cover them in spicy buffalo sauce and dip them  in bleu cheese and you have an addiction that is rivaled only by hardcore street drugs.

My wife and I usually split a dozen wings, which would be enough food to stuff a normal human stomach. However, once I have eaten about 6 or 7 of those bad boys, that is when the addiction sets in. I cannot ever stop there, I usually order another half dozen for myself.

If you need something to wash down those wings (or that BLT), The Peanut has plenty of beers on tap, or in the bottle. They have all of your standard domestics, year-round & seasonal Boulevard beers, and year-round & seasonal New Belgium beers, just to name a few. Sam Mellinger will tell you how well Tank 7 goes with the wings. My wings pairing recommendation varies by the season, but its hard to beat a New Belgium Dig in the spring.

If you were wondering how my mom liked her BLT; she finished it and even had room for half of a wing.

And if you are one of the 10 percenters that have yet to try The Peanut, there is one in almost every area of town: Downtown, Main Street (South of the Plaza), Lee's Summit, and JoCo. My personal Peanut is the Downtown version, but Main Street is the original.

First Time for Everything

As it is said, there is a first time for everything. My first of the week: my first live TV appearance. 

I was asked to go on Fox 4 to talk about some of my favorite local brands and restaurants for St. Patrick's Day. I was given three and a half minutes to talk about as many different products/places as I could. I do want to apologize to any great KC brands/restaurants that had St. Patrick's Day items that I did not have a chance to discuss.

Admittedly, live TV can be a bit intimidating. There are [who knows how many people] watching and if you screw up, they all see it and are going to discount everything that you say. I tried to give good information, not be too corny, and still keep it all under three and a half minutes. I did feel a bit like Ricky Bobby in his first interview though, I did not know what to do with my hands.

I am no Anthony Bourdain, but you can judge for yourself how you think I did (link pasted below). Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Lets get my views up so that maybe they will have me back on again. Perhaps for Cinco de Mayo?

http://fox4kc.com/2013/03/09/irish-coffee/

Bar Louie

Let it be known, before I go any further: Bar Louie is a chain and I do indeed feel a little bit dirty writing about a chain bar, but Bar Louie is awesome and here is why.

I first heard about Bar Louie when I was on a job site in Ohio (Bar Louie is based in Cleveland). Everyone always talked about going and getting a hotel in Perrysburg (closest Bar Louie to where I was) just to go to Bar Louie for a night. I thought that either these people were crazy or this is one awesome bar.

Fast forward two years later, a Bar Louie opens in KC. I knew I had to go try it, even though it was an evil corporate restaurant chain. I checked out their twitter account (that since the grand opening has been essentially abandoned) and they said that they had dollar apps and dollar martinis during opening weekend. We went with a group of about 8 people, late at night, and each got our first app and first martini for $1 each. We had nearly half of the apps on the menu: traditional and boneless wings, spinach and artichoke dip, pot-stickers, and chicken nachos. Each and every one of the apps we had were delicious. As for the martinis, my wife got the cosmo, which was great and very strong. My inner ghetto child came out when I saw a martini called the "hypotizer", which was a martini made with hypnotic, also dangerous. We had a great night and after the waitress let us know about $1 burger night every Tuesday, we knew we would be back!

When we did get the opportunity to go back on $1 burger night, we hit the tail end of happy hour, so we were able to get 1/2 price draws to wash down the burgers we were about to indulge in. The rolling overhead doors were up and it was super nice outside. When you go for dollar burger night, you get the burger itself for a dollar, then you pick and choose your different add-ons and toppings for a small up-charge each. I personally got 2 burgers each with lettuce and guacamole, for $1.50 each. The bun was good, not a wonder bread bun, but more of a roll. The burger beat the crap out of a McDonald's dollar menu burger, not what you would expect from a $1 burger. The burger was a fat burger, grilled on the flat top, had the slight amount of crisp on the outside (from the flat top) but still juicy on the inside. The guacamole was fresh, not like the wholly guacamole crap that you get from the supermarket, they make it fresh in house daily. Great $1 burgers. The fries were irresistible too.

Bar Louie is a chain, but still has multiple local micro brew draws on its impressive wall of taps (which does earn them some street cred). They have my favorite beer (Boulevard Tank 7) and Boulevard's Boss Tom's Bock (just to name a couple), to go along with other great beers like Stella, Landshark and Dos XX.

Third Bar Louie experience: Rock the Tot. A tater tot eating contest. I have only competed in a couple eating contests in my day, but it had been many years since I had won the pizza eating contest at Lazer 105.9 on the Merrill in the Morning show #humblebrag. I ate a lot of tater tots in 6 minutes (1lb 12oz), I was edged out by the guy who got second (1lb 14oz), but we were both hustled by the ringer Randy Santel (4lb 6oz). Randy not only won a giant trophy, the cash prize, and a year's worth of free loaded tots (although, in all fairness, 4lb 6oz is probably already a years worth of tots), but he also placed in the top 5 nationally. For placing in the top 5 nationally, he won a trip to Cleveland to compete in the nationals. Pretty sweet for an eating contest with no entry fee.

All in all, Bar Louie has such a good atmosphere, good food, and smoking deals, that I am able to excuse the fact that it is a chain.

100 Twitter Followers Celebration

To celebrate this wonderful weather, summer solstice, and having 100 Twitter followers, I thought that I would go pick up some of Boulevard's Smokestack Series new limited release Love Child #2 for my wife and I. When I went to go buy the Love Child #2, I knew nothing about it, but have not tried a Smokestack Series beer that I haven't liked (in fact, Tank 7 is my favorite beer). After picking up the beer (for a bit more $ than I would have preferred, but...), I read the label. The label tells of a fruity beer that has medium levels of sourness. I didn't really know what to think, because I have never had a sour been before, but I was pleasantly surprised.

We sat out on the deck and enjoyed this beer that was dark in colour, but did not taste dark. If I would have closed my eyes I would have sworn that I was drinking a glass of fruity white wine. It was not what I expected at all from a bier (German spelling, just to keep you on your toes), but was very refreshing on a warm summer's night. It was not extremely sour, but was prevailing characteristics. When you sip it, you get hints of cherry, you can definitely taste the oak (from the barrels that it is aged in). There is no real floral or hoppy taste/aroma. Again, the closest thing I can equate the taste to is a white wine, but then again I am not a bier connoisseur.

Boulevard is always pushing the envelope with their limited release biers (see Chocolate Ale). This is another solid selection from Boulevard. I raise a glass of Love Child #2 to Boulevard Brewery, summer weather (notice the condensation on the glass), and my first 100 Twitter followers.

Tamale Wizard

After having the BBQ tamale and strawberry pecan tamale from Indios Carbonsitos, I was hungry for more unique tamales. When I first heard of Tamale Wizard and saw the menu, I thought it would be a must stop on my tour of authentic Mexican joints. Man, was I surprised when I walked in the door and saw a bunch of Gringos behind the counter! I thought I had just been dooped, but after talking to the guys, they are just a bunch of Gringos that share my extreme affinity toward Mexican food (but are much better at making it than I am).

A little background on the culinary genious that is Tamale Wizard. The propriator's son told us that he (the son) learned how to make tamales by cooking with his ex-girlfriend's family. His dad owned a food cart and began letting him sell his interesting takes on this Mexican classic. They got started as a food cart, then a food truck, now a restaurant. The rest, as they say, is history.

What you see to your right is as follows:

Mallory's plate (top of photo): black beans, green chile and cheese tamale (topped with jalapeno lime salsa), smoked pork tamale (topped with mango banana salsa).

John's plate (bottom of photo): black beans, smoked pork tamale (topped with mellow habanero salsa), sweet potato and black bean tamale (no salsa), and green chile and cheese tamale (topped with jalapeno lime salsa).

All of the food was amazing! I was a bit hesitant to try the sweet potato and black bean tamale, even though I pretty much love everything that is made with sweet potatoes blindly, I just didn't know how it would work as a tamale. I was pleasantly surprised with it, as we both agree that it was far and away the best tamale that we tried. The mellow habanero salsa was very good, it had the flavor of the habanero, but is very mellow, as the name states. The best salsa was the mango banana. I am just a sucker for that sweet flavor on the spicy tamale, I guess that is what growing up around KC BBQ has done to me.

We walked in late on a Friday night and they were sold out of almost everything. Most people would have been offended by this, but I take that as a sign that they have good food. I would much rather have food from a restaurant that is nearly sold out over a restaurant that has not sold a thing.

One big takeaway that I got from our visit to Tamale Wizard (aside from noting that they had a full collection of Mexican drinks and Boulevard beers) was that they have multiple vegetarian menu items. I am not a vegatarian, nor do I care if a place has vegatarian options ("why then would you notice that?" you ask?). I noticed that the black beans, sweet potato and black bean tamale, and green chile and cheese tamales were all vegetarian selections because that means that they were able to make these delicious tamales while making them slightly more healthy by omiting the lard that you get in a lot of tamales.