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!

Classic Rock Coffee Bar

Normally, I am not a coffeehouse guy. I don't often drink foo-foo coffee. I like my coffee like I like my women, strong and black (just kidding, I don't care if they are strong). I think that for the most part foo-foo coffee drinks are well overpriced. I have a hard time paying what coffeehouses charges for their "coffee" (and also strongly dislike the behemoth corporate "man" that is Starbucks). However, yesterday was the perfect storm of warm weather, a flashy sign and a catchy sounding coffee drink. 

I have been rooting for something to succeed in the space that used to house The River Market Brewery since it closed down. I have wanted to try the Opera House Coffee and Food Emporium since it opened in that space. Yesterday the flashy sign for the Classic Rock Coffee Bar, that is inside the Emporium, caught my eye. I was impressed (as a protein powder fiend) that they offered not only smoothies, but coffee drinks, with protein powder in them. I also thought to myself that an iced coffee sounded kind of good. 

Scrolling through the iced coffee list, I saw a coffee drink named the "Dirty White Boy", I thought "That is me!". It was a spin on a white chocolate mocha. The coffee drink was delicious. It was rich, not bitter at all (like that large coffee chain's iced coffee), and refreshing. The barista's were very busy behind the counter, but did not rush me. 

The Classic Rock Coffee House does the classic rock vibe perfectly. Guitars and flames on the menu, hints of classic rock flare around the bar, and the cherry on top (guitar stirrers, shown pictured). I will definitely be going back and taking my wife for her favorite type of coffee (foo-foo), next time we are at the City Market and I have $4 in my pocket.

Minsky's Pizza

Minsky's Pizza is pretty much the gold standard that all other local pizza joints are measured by. Minsky's has 14 local locations, I have been to 4 or 5 of them, but the River Market location is my favorite. Its very close to my house, there are two levels and tons of TVs to watch all of the games that are on, and its also where my wife and I went on our second date.

One of the best things about Minsky's is that if you get on their mailing list, they send you a little birthday postcard for a free calzone within 2 weeks of your birthday. It had been quite some time since I had been to Minsky's and I thought that it would be the perfect time to return, nothing will get me to a restaurant like free food.

For my free 3 "topping" calzone (I use the term topping loosely, as they are really more like fillings than toppings), I chose pepperoni, salami, and Italian sausage. The calzone was stuffed full, the cured meats were great and very flavorful, it was overflowing with mozzarella (as you can see from the split section view to the right), and the crust on the pinched side of the calzone was reminiscent of a soft pretzel. The calzone was all around amazing, probably the most awesome calzone I have ever had. The calzones are also available with wheat crust, which I am a huge sucker for, but I did not notice this until after I had already ordered.

Since the great calzone experience I had, I have also had Minsky's pepperoni and combo pizzas. The pepperoni is good, but the combo is incredible. I love the slightly thicker than normal hand tossed (but not deep dish) crust, zesty sauce, and high piles of mozzarella that go perfectly with the black olives and an almost roasted tasting bell pepper of the combo pizza.

All in all, Minsky's is a great KC establishment. The Zona Rosa location is a great place to catch a Husker game that is on either PPV or the B1G Network, so my friend Dan tells me. The Prairie Village location is a great place to grab lunch, it is rarely packed and service is very fast. But River Market will always have my heart!