October 2022: Soup Issue

P L U S : HOA Battles Get Messy / Haunted Places Around KC / The Third Wave of Masa

11 favorite bowls of KC comfort and where to get them this fall

Soups from Housewife

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OCTOBER 2022

Soups around the city that are sure warm you up this autumn

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64

80

Southern Charm

BOO!

Third-Wave Masa

A home in Blue Hills Estates gets a renovation that honors tradition and trend.

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KANSAS CITY OCTOBER 2022

Eight of our favorite haunted places around Kansas City

Three people who are redefining the modern tortilla in KC

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CALEB CONDIT AND REBECCA NORDEN

48

SOUP SEASON

IMAGINE

Game Day OUTSIDE

Create a game plan for your backyard at

DECKORATORS.COM

In This Issue OCTOBER 2022

S WAY

T H E LO O P

19

TA S T E

35

Spooky Sips

79

36

A Secret Garden House

80

HOA No Way

High Noon Pottery’s limited-edition Halloween mugs

André’s teams up with Q39 for the ultimate KC collab.

Why HOAs have inspired feuds around KC

A new intimate venue opens on Southwest Boulevard.

38

TV Time

40

Mississippi Makeover

22

24

A New Forecast

License Law

Kansas City’s longtime weatherman is preparing to retire.

How a new Missouri law could impact the next general election

E V E RY I S S U E

14

Editor’s Letter

27 Calendar 32 Backbeat 88 Surreal Estate

P L U S : HOA Battles Get Messy / Haunted Places Around KC / The Third Wave of Masa

10.2022

O N TH E C OVE R

T H E SO U P I S S U E | H AU N T I N G S I N KC

11 favorite bowls of KC comfort and where to get them this fall

Soups from Housewife in Grandview photographed by Caleb Condit and Rebecca Norden Soups from Housewife

kansascitymag.com

KANSAS CITY OCTOBER 2022

SPECIAL SECTIONS

70 Ask the Expert

More Masa

The modern tortilla by three KC culinarians

82

Perfect Day

84

Royal Recipes

Dr. Meena Singh is on a new TLC show.

ML Designs revamps home in Blue Hills Estates with southern influences.

12

BBQuiche

85 86

Shanita McAfee-Bryant shares her favorite KC food finds.

Monarch Bar’s new cocktail recipe book

Newsfeed

The latest in KC food news

’Cue Card

LT’s BBQ Sauce might be the city’s next big BBQ export.

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FROM THE EDITOR

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KANSAS CITY OCTOBER 2022

Nina Cherry WRITER

Our jazz writer, Nina Cherry, has a fun story in this month’s issue about nontraditional spots to see ensembles perform around town, including Whole Foods.

Natalie Torres Gallagher WRITER

Natalie Torres Gallagher wrote a large portion of this month’s soup feature, including a memorable ode to the clam chowder at Earl’s Premier.

Zach Bauman

PHOTOGRAPHER

Longtime contributor Zach Bauman brought this month’s Loop section to life with photos of the adorable ducks at the center of a bitter feud in Lee’s Summit.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY JOANNA GORHAM

I

strongly associate the town of Grandview with its DMV. I live in Kansas City, Missouri, a city of a half-million people and one motor vehicle office (see page 24), so Grandview is where I end up any time I need to renew my tags.

It’s not a negative association—my all-time greatest experience at any DMV happened when I showed up in Grandview to get tags for a used Volvo I drove while my old Land Cruiser was in the shop.

Unfortunately, the seller had omitted one letter from my last name on that title.

The clerk at the DMV was someone who enjoyed her job and obviously relished detailing all of the many steps I was going to need to take to fix this situation.

“Can I just use your pen to fix the letter right here?” I asked.

“You can’t just write something on the title. It’s typed! This is a legal document!”

I thought for a second. “OK, just make the title out to the name it says on there.”

And thus Martin Cimar left the DMV with a procedural victory and new license plates, a feat any man is lucky to accomplish once in his lifetime.

This month, I found a second reason to smile about Grandview. That’s the haleem soup featured in this month’s cover package (page 48), which you’ll find at a cute little cafe called Housewife a few doors down from the DMV. I didn’t know which of the twenty-two soups chef-owner Anna Sorge had on rotation when I walked in the door, but I showed up on a lucky day.

“It’s to die for,” said the guy working the counter, who seemingly enjoyed his job almost as much as the state official down the street. “You’ll have to let me know what you think. It’s my favorite one.”

I haven’t had the others, but it’s my favorite, too.

That haleem was inspired by Sorge’s Pakistani neighbors and is a green curry with lamb, warming garam masala spices, barley and lentils. I spooned through the bowl so fast I needed to blow on each bite, and I left feeling satisfied on a level bordering the transcendental.

A great bowl of soup—probably more than any other food—can do that. Especially as the air starts to chill, there’s a certain satisfaction to having a whole meal in a bowl.

With this issue, we tried to tell the stories behind a few of the city’s great soups, including the iconic steak soup the Plaza III was known for, which now lives on through mail order, and two African soups eaten with fufu, a dough-like ball of cassava that became trendy last year thanks to social media.

It’s been a long, hot summer, and I, for one, am very ready for soup season. Here’s hoping Martin Cizmar EDITOR IN CHIEF you are too and that one of these bowls brings MARTIN@KANSASCITYMAG.COM you the same feeling I had down in Grandview.

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1

DMV office serving KCMO, a city of 491,158 people who will now need a photo ID to vote.

PA GE 24

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Different soups made at Housewife, a wonderful cafe in Grandview that’s featured on this month’s cover.

PA GE 4 8

11

Ingredients needed to make the tincture used in the Monarch Bar’s signature drink, the Louisiana Purchase.

PA GE 8 4

M

NUMBERS FROM THIS ISSUE

KANSAS 0 IS DYING HOW FENTANYL IS PUSHING THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC INTO NEW, MORE DANGEROUS TERRITORY AND WHY KANSAS SAW THE NATION’S SECOND-HIGHEST INCREASE IN OVERDOSE DEATHS LAST YEAR

WORDS BY Mary Henn

0 6 2

INSIDE AN EPIDEMIC

The most intense feedback we got for our September issue was on the long-form feature story “Kansas Is Dying,” which took readers inside the local opioid epidemic. Last year, Kansas saw the nation’s secondhighest increase in overdose deaths. The CDC shows that overdose deaths in the state increased by fortythree percent last year alone as the nation logged a record-breaking 107,622 drug overdose deaths.

Associate Editor Mary Henn spent the summer reporting this feature by talking to law enforcement and those affected.

Kansas will continue dying as long as its Republican Party thinks the state’s biggest priorities are preventing women from exercising their own bodily autonomy and banning trans children from using the school bathrooms that match their gender identity. And blocking Medicaid expansion.

—Rob Montague Kansas needs to decriminalize cannabis. How many kids taking pills for stress as in the quote in your post would have avoided the pill situation entirely if they had grandpa’s backyard hash to bake into some cookies?

Close to all of them, I’d wager. —John Lee

“

So weird how you can’t just legislate away a drug epidem-

ic. It’s almost as though users need some form of help, rehabilitation, and access to safer legal drugs where at the very least they actually know what they’re getting rather than... I don’t know, overdosing from laced batches from unreliable sources or the alternative of being thrown in prison and having their lives permanently ruined. I guess supporting the private prison system and the funeral industry is higher on this country’s list of priorities.

—Heath Church Need to vote out political electives so we can secure our borders to help prevent fentanyl & human trafficking.

—Marsha Johnson Waldron All coming through the southern border.

—Tyler Gloe

KANSAS CITY OCTOBER 2022

Jordan Fox gives us a private tour of the new intimate venue Garden House.

SHOUT OUT

Thanks to Monarch Bar for sending us a copy of their new cocktail book hot off the presses and to owner David Manica for making time to appear on our podcast last month.

CORRECTIONS

Our August issue mislabeled the building with a bell tower in downtown Harrisonville, which is the Cass County Courthouse.

CONTACT US

Kansas City

P.O. Box 26823 Overland Park, KS 66225-6823 (913) 469-6700 EMAIL: editor@kansascitymag.com

I always joke and say even when it’s a hundred degrees outside, we still sell onion soup.”

—PHILIP QUILLEC, EXECUTIVE CHEF OF CAFÉ PROVENCE

16

BEHIND THE SCENES

A FOODIE’S

PARADISE

We’ll Show You Around Springfield!

Whether it’s fresh, farm-to-table foods served at locally-owned restaurants or a hand-crafted brew on the Ozarks Coffee Trail, Springfield’s foodie scene is sure to please your palate. We love our city and know the best places to eat, drink and play.

See you in Springfield, Missouri!

Point your smartphone camera at this QR code to find out more about things to do in Springfield.

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KANSAS CITY OCTOBER 2022

L E A D I N G T H E C O N V E R S AT I O N I N K A N S A S C I T Y

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ZACH BAUMAN

OWNED Why Homeowners Associations have inspired bitter fights around KC, including an ongoing battle over a duck pond in Lee’s Summit.

BY M O L LY H I G G I N S

KANSASCITYMAG.COM OCTOBER 2022

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A bitter fight over stormwater management and a duck pond shows what can go wrong with HOA covenants, which an expert calls “some of the strongest documents in our legal system.”

R

in Kansas City for a while and you’re bound to see nasty fights involving Homeowners Associations.

Last year, homeowners in Lido Villas, a condominium community in Mission, had their texts and emails blocked after they complained about damage caused by rain rot. In February, stories popped up about homeowners in Tanglewood Lakes, about sixty miles south of the city, losing gate access because of “arbitrary” rules enforcement, leaving folks unable to return to their homes and effectively houseless. In March, the HOA in Overland Park’s Brookhighland subdivision came under intense scrutiny from community members after a mismanaged Airbnb rental was the site of a deadly shooting.

Most recently, Lee’s Summit subdivision Raintree Lake—previously involved in a lawsuit over the color of a swingset— was the site of a battle over ducks swimming in a stormwater pond built by residents during the pandemic.

While the Raintree Lake incident may seem like an inconsequential suburban scuffle, it reveals a larger issue with the power dynamics and relationship between HOAs and the homeowners they’re supposed to protect.

Lance Loewenstein, a local attorney whose practice centers on HOA fights, says that the rules and covenants that form an HOA are some of the strongest

20

EAD HEADLINES

KANSAS CITY OCTOBER 2022

documents in our legal system because they usually require a supermajority vote to amend and “huge obstacles” to eliminate. Beyond that, those rules often allow the HOA to put a lien on the property and sell it in foreclosure for any amount due.

“Usually, the HOA definitely has the leverage because, ultimately, it can take your house away from you for unpaid fines and assessments,” Loewenstein says. He cautions home buyers to look at the rules and “read with a fine-tooth comb” before buying.

HOAs exist to better neighborhoods either through rules that maintain standards for beauty and upkeep or through amenities like communal spaces and community pools. Mat McKitterick, a board member for another Lee’s Summit HOA covering the Bridlewood neighborhood, says that HOAs can get a bad rap.

“I think that the reality of it is just keeping the neighborhood looking nice, which keeps the house values up—because if you have consistency, it’s good for everybody,” McKitterick says. “It actually will increase the value of the homes.”

The Raintree Lake scuffle shows what can happen when those rules go wrong, though. The situation started in the spring of 2020, when residents Cori Hulsey and Astacia Hauck decided to use their time in quarantine to tackle the flooding problem that the HOA had unsuccessfully tried to fix. Hulsey’s backyard had flooded after heavy rainstorms since she purchased her home in 2005.

“Year after year, we were told, ‘It’s not in the budget,’” Hulsey says, saying the HOA’s budget was instead diverted to holiday parties and bingo nights.

In 2019, residents dug an eight hundred-foot ditch to the lake to divert rainwater back into the lake rather than into their homes. After seeing the improved conditions after the ditch was dug, Hulsey and others proposed an additional beautification plan to the HOA, which would have cost other residents nothing.

“Instead of paying someone to fix the drainage issues properly, the HOA neglected the problem until their own residents were forced to take action,” Hauck says.

After the trench was dug and filled, a small wooden bridge was built to let residents cross. A sitting area with mulch and party lights was built and outfitted with a patio sofa, and a small wooden shed was built to house six ducks Hauck bought to battle the bugs.

The HOA board maintains that they initially granted permission to add rock and structure to reinforce runoff water flow to the lake but that they did not approve other community-led projects to the space—especially the ducks. On July 12, the HOA gave members of the community a sixty-day warning to clear out the space.

“They’re happy to accept our free labor, our donated plants and rocks and improvements we’ve made to the ditch to alleviate flooding,” Hauck says.

Over four hundred residents of Raintree Lake signed a petition to Missouri’s attorney general to assist them in their fight against their HOA and keep their community area and duck house. But in the meantime, they had to remove the duck house.

“It looks ugly and bare in the common ground now,” Hulsey says, and the HOA has done nothing to resolve the flooding situation.

“We still have the ducks,” Hulsey says. “We had to build something new for them under our deck. It’s been a mess.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ZACH BAUMAN

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Imagine the Potential

THE LOOP FUTURE FORECAST

WEATHER REPORT A longtime local weatherman is preparing to retire in December. He’s got a bigger plan for what comes next.

BY O L I V I A AU G U S T I N E

R

something Kansas Citians have been able to count on for the last thirty years is turning to KSHB 41 News and watching chief meteorologist Gary Lezak tell them what to expect. But with Lezak’s retirement quickly approaching, we’re left wondering what’s next for Kansas City’s favorite weatherman Lezak—who was named the best weatherman in town by our readers in August’s Best of KC issue—is regarded for his accuracy in predicting the common seven-day forecast.

He also founded Weather20/20 in 2008, a service that provides forecasts for anywhere in the world up to one hundred days ahead of time. Weather2020 was built on the Lezak Recurring Cycle, which forecasts based on repeating weather patterns.

Many were surprised to hear of Lezak’s retirement because he’s only sixty. However, Lezak plans to spend the next year focusing on his business and hopes to see it globally recognized. He says that he’s been considering stepping back for three to four years now, and focusing on Weather/2020 is “something he needs to do right now.”

“I was wondering when I would do it,” Lezak says. “I turned sixty years old this year and I was thinking, you know, maybe by the time I’m sixty-five. But because I have this other thing to share with the world, I thought I better do that because I don’t want to have regrets in my life.”

Although Lezak is moving on from local television, he’ll continue to be a loyal Kansas Citian. After just a few years

22

AIN OR SHINE,

KANSAS CITY OCTOBER 2022

“

When I first came here, I used to keep a diary. I wrote in my diary ‘I hope to be bringing weather excellence in a different way to Kansas City.’

And I think I accomplished that.”

of starting his career here, Lezak says that local sports, famous barbecue and the strong sense of community turned Kansas City into home.

Lezak says that even when he was offered positions elsewhere, he never pursued anything strongly. He has loved being a part of the KC community, and more importantly, the strong relationship he’s created with all of his viewers.

“When I look into the camera, there may be one thousand people out there,” he says. “There may be a million people out there watching. But I feel like I’m connecting with everyone one-onone. And most of the time, when I’m in my normal zone, I would say that that’s what I’m trying to do, so I really feel like I have a relationship with everyone.”

Lezak says that being so deeply rooted in the community could at times make delivering news of severe weather difficult.

“Reality TV at its most intense,” he calls it, saying it isn’t always easy when his job is to tell people they may be in danger.

On top of this, predicting the weather in Kansas City can be more difficult than other cities because of its precise location.

Placed North of the Gulf of Mexico and East of the Rocky Mountains, Lezak says that air clashes above Kansas City can make the weather change drastically from a sunny day to a flash flood in just hours.

Lezak’s last day is December 21, and as the time draws closer, he says he expects more emotions. He plans to keep up with the Kansas City community through social media but feels like he’s accomplished what he sought out when he started on local TV. “When I first came here, I used to keep a diary,” he says. “I wrote in my diary, ‘I hope to be bringing weather excellence in a different way to Kansas City.’ And I think I accomplished that.”

THE LOOP ELECTIONS

COUNTED OUT A new Missouri law ends the presidential primary and gives the state “some of the most restrictive provisions” in American elections.

BY L I Z S C H R O E D E R

I

N J U N E , M I S S O U R I Q U I E T LY O V E R H A U L E D I T S E L E C T I O N S —and it could dramatically impact next month’s general election.

H.B. 1878, signed by Governor Mike Parson and hailed as a win for Republicans, strips the state of a presidential primary, prohibits certain voter registration activities and requires voters to have photo ID, among other things.

The bill went into effect August 28 and is already the subject of two lawsuits by the League of Women Voters of Missouri and Missouri NAACP. Denise Lieberman, director and general counsel of the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, says Missouri now has “some of the most restrictive provisions seen in states around the country” that disproportionately affect voters of color.

The “most forward-facing effect,” according to League of Women Voters of Kansas City President Anne Calvert, is the photo ID requirement. Previous acceptable forms of ID included student IDs, utility bills, or bank statements with a name and address attached.

Photo ID requirements are a “significant burden on people in lower-income communities,” says Luz María Henríquez, head of the Missouri ACLU. An ACLU press release details how H.B. 1878 disenfranchises voters—including one voter with mobility issues who uses her expired non-driver license to vote but now must arrange transportation to renew her license. A mother of three with a misspelled state-issued ID will no longer be able to use her voter registration card. Replacing identification takes time, effort and resources many do not have. Henríquez notes the “discriminatory nature to this restriction.”

Even with proper transportation, there is only one DMV office serving Kansas City proper, with a few others in surrounding suburbs like North Kansas City, Raytown and Independence.

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KANSAS CITY OCTOBER 2022

In the past, “the courts have generally said photo ID restrictions are unconstitutional,” says Greg Woodhams of the League of Women Voters, referencing the 2020 Missouri Supreme Court striking down a similar law.

Election authority is also changing hands from local election administrations run by bipartisan directors to a partisan elected official, the Secretary of State, which concerns many election professionals.

Around the country, similar changes have been used to partisan effect, Woodhams says.

In Texas, auditors singled out voters with “Hispanic last names” and applied voter roll maintenance only to those voters. In Kansas, proposals suggested doing voter maintenance on the “most populous and least populous county,” which would disproportionately affect urban voters, according to Woodhams.

“There’s a lot of components to this law we’re still unpacking and evaluating,” says Henríquez, but the limits to voter registration are of particular concern to voters’ advocacy groups.

“There are limits to voter registration activities we can engage in, and the penalties for not following the rules or goofing up are steep,” Calvert says. Under the new law, being paid to register voters is prohibited, and anyone who assists with more than ten voter registration applications must both register with the state and be a registered voter themselves.

“Registering folks to vote is, at its core, protected under the First Amendment,” Henríquez says. “What this law really does is chill the speech of voter advocacy organizations.”

The new law also lacks clarity. “They don’t talk about registering people,” Woodhams says. “They talk about soliciting voter registration.” Without a definition, voter advocacy organizations could face criminal penalties for offering parking reimbursements or tokens of appreciation, like pizza, to volunteers.

According to many, the vagueness is the point. An ACLU press release highlights how imprecise language is weaponized: The ban on absentee ballot solicitation could be used to “criminalize a volunteer who tells a voter that will be out of town on Election Day that they can vote absentee.”

In Missouri, violating election law could mean losing the right to vote for life. Danielle Lang, senior director of voting rights at Campaign Legal Center, says in a statement, “Our laws should protect and expand the freedom to vote, not punish democracy’s do-gooders and make it more challenging for Missourians to register to vote or vote absentee.”

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN RICE

WHERE YOU WANT TO BE IN OCTOBER

October

07

GO: Friday, October 7, from 5–11 pm.

Saturday, October 8, from 11 am–11 pm.

Crown Center. $10 general admission. kcoktoberfest.com.

HERE’S THE SPIEL

You won’t go thirsty at Kansas City Bier Company’s annual Oktoberfest, which returns to Crown Center on October 7 and 8. Among the offerings are traditional lagers in the style of Munich and Vienna, plus a Hef, an IPL and even a cider. They’re poured by the plastic stein to a crowd of ten thousand-plus people who gather under big white tents. As always, there will be polka aplenty, with a half-dozen oom-pah acts performing during the event.

But beer and brass bands are just the start of a proper observation of Oktoberfest, which in Munich is more like a country fair than an American craft beer fest. This year’s edition of KC’s largest German fest puts extra emphasis on games and brings in its own Glockenspiel. The games include the return of the popular giant tricycle races on an extreme track, plus adding more stumps for Hammerschlagen (a folk game in which you swing a hammer to drive a nail into a stump) and more cornhole boards.

There’s also a tribute to the Rathaus-Glockenspiel, which in Munich is a century-old clock outfitted with life-size figures that move to tell stories from German history on the hour. In KC, the clock will be a group of performers doing short skits and music on the hour, every hour. — MARTIN CIZMAR

KANSASCITYMAG.COM OCTOBER 2022

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01

Violent Femmes with the Kansas City Symphony October 1, 8 pm The Violent Femmes, an eighties acoustic punk rock act best known for ultimate ear-worm “Blister in the Sun,” joins the Kansas City Symphony to present songs from their ten cult-favorite albums.

It’s part of a series that will continue with the orchestra teaming up two other Gen X favorites, Indigo Girls and Rufus Wainwright. October 1.

8 pm. Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center.

Carmen October 2, 2 pm French composer Georges Bizet’s Carmen is at the Kauffman Center. The four-act opera based on a nineteenth-century novella is one of the most popular and frequently performed operas of all time. Passion, bullfighting, a female heroine—what more could you want from an opera set in Seville? If

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KANSAS CITY OCTOBER 2022

you didn’t catch it in September, you don’t want to miss the last weekend of Carmen in October.

October 2. 2 pm. Muriel Kauffman Theatre at the Kauffman Center.

Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives October 6, 7:30 pm Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and musician Marty Stuart has played alongside country-music legends from Cash to Lester Flatt, who discovered him. He continues to record and release music that honors country’s rich legacy while advancing it. When it comes to turning country songs into tangible experiences, Stuart has the Fabulous Superlatives. Made up of guitarist Kenny Vaughan, drummer Harry Stinson and a new member, bassist Chris Scruggs, the Superlatives are an extension of Stuart, a music legend. October 6. 7:30 pm.

Muriel Kauffman Theatre at the Kauffman Center.

Riff Generation October 7, 7 pm The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra has a new ten-piece ensemble with new tunes and daring improvisations. KC’s stylistic contributions to early jazz were defined by riff-based jam sessions and popular songs like “In the Mood” and “Shake, Rattle and Roll.” Now, the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra shines a light on this essential component of jazz and KC’s place in music history. October 7. 7 pm.

Medallion Theater.

Found in Translation October 8 The Nelson is featuring a new exhibition by eight regional, first-generation Asian American artists. The exhibit examines complex topics such as immigration and identity.

“The eight artists in this exhibition use their practices to explore evolving questions about subjects such as place, memory and relationships,” says co-curator Ling-En Lu. “Their choice of materials and

PHOTOGRAPHY PROVIDED BY RESPECTIVE VENUES

W H AT YO U WA N T TO D O T H I S M O N T H

October

T H E B E AT C A L EN DA R

good chance this is a preview of the AFC championship game, and last time it all came down to a coin flip.

October 16. 3:25 pm.

Arrowhead Stadium.

Lizzo

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October 14, 8 pm techniques reflect the process by which they work through those questions.” Found in Translation includes a diverse collection of art forms such as printmaking, photography, ink drawing and ceramics. Opens October 8.

The Nelson-Atkins Museum.

Troostapalooza October 8, 12–6 pm Troostapalooza celebrates the KC community by bringing together local small businesses and creators along the Troost Corridor. The event will feature several vendors, live music and food. Troostapalooza funds the Troost Market Collective, a nonprofit organization that supports diversity and economic opportunity for creative entrepreneurs. October 8. Noon–6 pm. Troost Avenue between 30th and 31st streets.

The Crown Live October 11–16 This one is for fans of the blockbuster series The Crown. An acting duo brings to life Daniel Clarkson’s Netflix parody that reimagines the story of how Elizabeth Windsor became Queen Elizabeth II in eighty minutes of period accents and corgi impressions. Clarkson is the co-creator of the Olivier Award nominee Potted Potter, which parodies all seven of the Harry Potter books in a single show. October 11–16.

7:30 pm. Starlight Theatre.

Singer, songwriter, rapper and TikTok sensation Lizzo is touring with her new album, Special. Lizzo’s fourth studio album was released earlier this year, preceded by the lead single, “About Damn Time,” which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Special has been described as having funk, pop, hip-hop and disco influences. Rapper Latto will open for Lizzo’s full arena tour. October 14. 8 pm. T-Mobile Center.

Death Cab For Cutie October 14, 8 pm Death Cab for Cutie—Ben Gibbard’s painfully earnest early-’00s indie band that once rocked so hard concerts were forevermore banned from the River Market—is coming to KC this month in support of Asphalt Meadows, which debuted last month.

The album features the lead single “Roman Candles” about the existential dread of “living in a nervous city on a dying planet,” the band said of the song in a statement. October 14. 8 pm. The Midland.

Brew at the Zoo October 15, 6:30 pm The Kansas City Zoo’s annual Brew at the Zoo is back this month with an adults-only evening of live music and free sampling from over thirty-five local breweries and wineries.

The event will also feature local food trucks, access to the zoo’s new immersive lantern festival called GloWild and more. Proceeds from the event benefit the Kansas City Zoo’s Conservation Fund for preserving wildlife. October 15. 6:30–11 pm. The Kansas City Zoo.

Kurt Vile October 19, 8 pm Philly lo-fi indie rocker Kurt Vile seems to only be getting more zoned out and mellow as his career progresses.

His new record, Watch My Moves, which came out in April after being recorded amid Covid lockdowns, is soft-themed to slow travel with songs like the piano-driven “Goin on a Plane Today” and the meandering and loopy “Flyin (Like A Fast Train).” October 19. 8 pm.

Liberty Hall in Lawrence.

Ghost Light October 21 & 22 KC Rep’s annual Ghost Light is a show that combines music and ghost stories. The show begins at dusk in the woods of Roanoke Park. The family-friendly event is free and features musicians, writers and storytellers that reflect the cultural riches of the city. October 21 and 22. Roanoke Park in KCMO.

Napoleon Dynamite with Jon Heder, Jon Gries and Efren Ramirez October 22, 8 pm The story behind Napoleon Dynamite is almost as legendary as the cult film itself: Two Brigham Young film students wrote a screenplay about awkward teens and their quirky uncle and cobbled together four hundred grand to film it in rural Idaho. The film became a cultural sensation, with a cult following remaining to this day.

At this screening and talk, you’ll hear more inside details from Jon Heder (Napoleon), Efren Ramirez (Pedro) and Jon Gries (Uncle Rico). October 22. 8 pm.

Yardley Hall at JCCC.

The Four Freshmen October 28, 8 pm

October 16, 3:25 pm

Dark Forest at Powell Gardens

Arguably the biggest regular season game of the year, this matchup of the infamous “13 seconds” playoff game finds quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen dueling it out again. There’s a better-than-

As nightfall sweeps across an eerie Midwest sky, Dark Forest returns to offer a magical and mysterious landscape with captivating music and innovative, creative

Bills vs. Chiefs

technology. Local performance art collective Quixotic is working with Powell Gardens to create one of their signature immersive installations in the woods. October 21–23 and October 27–30.

5–11 pm. Powell Gardens.

October 21–23 & 27–30

The Four Freshmen that originally founded this vocal jazz quartet were part of the class of 1952 at Butler University in Indiana. A half-century and two dozen lineups later, they’ve kept the sound and look while performing hits like “Day By Day” and “Blue World” accompanied by the JCCC Jazz Band, directed

by Ryan Heinlein. October 28. 8 pm. Yardley Hall at JCCC.

KANSASCITYMAG.COM OCTOBER 2022

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MO FAMOUS A new documentary will put Missouri wine in front of a national audience.

BY L I Z S C H R O E D E R

W

H E N YO U T H I N K A B O U T

do you picture Missouri? If not, a new documentary by TasteMAKERS hopes to change your mind.

“I fell in love with Missouri wine early on,” says Cat Neville, the Emmy-winning producer and host of TasteMAKERS who is best-known to KC foodies as the longtime publisher of Feast magazine. “Being so close to wine country is something that I’ve always really loved and seen as an asset.”

The new hour-long documentary, Winemaking in Missouri: A Well-Cultivated History, premiered in Hermann and was screened in St. Louis before its planned national distribution by PBS later this year.

Missouri’s often-underrated landscape is the

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backdrop to the documentary’s exploration of the turbulent history of winemaking.

“The grapes that are native to North America were wild grapes,” Neville says.

“When Europeans settled here, they brought their own vines that didn’t do well.

Our climate is much less forgiving.”

But climate wasn’t the only problem facing early winemaking settlers. Next up, bugs.

“There’s this bug called the phylloxera,” Neville says. “The native grapes evolved in concert with this grape louse, but the European vines didn’t. When they were infested with this bug, they died. The solution—what created these grapes—was crossing these European grape varietals with the hearty wild grapes.”

These hybrid wines are less recognizable than varieties like chardonnay or pinot noir. The adventure-averse wine drinker risks losing out on delicious Missouri wines like chambourcin, a medium-bodied red, or vignoles, a French-American white grape hybrid that accounts for fifteen percent of all grapes grown in Missouri.

Pre-Prohibition, Stone Hill Winery in the middle-Missouri town of Hermann was the second largest winery in the United States. Prohibition deeply impacted this family-run enterprise for years, as Stone Hill’s current owner, Jon Held, describes in the documentary.

“All the equipment, the casks for aging and storing, were destroyed,” Neville says. “It took until the 1950s for America to reawaken to wine generally. And when prohibition ended, there were no grapes. In Missouri, everything had been ripped out. When you plant a vine, [they] are not mature enough to create grapes for years.”

Despite, or perhaps because of, their fraught history, current Missouri vineyards and wineries are forward-thinking, leaning on the historical importance of grape diversity, sustainability and generational strength.

Peter Hofherr of St. James Winery is working to “establish biodynamic farming practices, lessening [their] carbon footprint and reliance on fossil fuels,” Neville says. “Peter [Hoffher] has been clear in saying that where Missouri wine is now is not where it’ll be in a generation.

He’s really been out on the forefront of experimenting with new varietals.”

Sustainability isn’t only about predicting climate changes and reducing carbon footprints; these wineries are kept alive by families, passing down their passion for generations.

Winemaking in Missouri is as much a love letter as it is a documentary. Passion for Missouri’s wine and its caretakers is carefully curated by Neville, a longtime advocate for the food- and winemakers of Missouri, who believes “it’s about time Missouri wine got its due.”

Neville describes winemakers as farmers first. “They are starting in the vineyards; they’re babying the vines and deciding when to harvest.

The documentary’s national footprint and PBS distribution could boost the region’s reputation and bring real appreciation back to local makers where Neville believes it belongs.

“I’m completely in love with Missouri wine,” she says. “Where the wineries are located, it’s just gorgeous. It’s a wonderful way to explore the state and to support makers. When you talk about local, this is local.”

WATCH: Winemaking in Missouri: A Well-Cultivated History will premiere on Kansas City PBS on Monday, November 28 at 7 pm. It will air multiple times in December.

PHOTOGRAPHY PROVIDED BY STONE HILL WINERY

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B AC K B E AT W HOL E MO OD S

Stribling. But Wednesday evenings swing. From 8 to 11 pm, you can catch some jazz, usually a duo with vocalist Emily Dix and pianist Matt Villinger, or a trio led by vocalist Eboni Fondren.

The cocktail lounge, formerly Davey’s Uptown, opened in June and looks and feels quite a bit different than the former dive bar. The shotgun-style venue seats sixty, making it small enough to still feel intimate yet big enough to not feel too crowded. The space was designed to be music-centric, and the acoustics and space make for an ideal listening room, especially for vocalists.

GROCERY STORE GROOVES New and unusual places to see live jazz in KC

BY N I N A C H E R R Y

W H I L E T H E V E N U E S A N D M U S I C may look and sound quite a bit different than they did in the heyday of Kansas City jazz, live jazz has been ubiquitous in KC for a century now. From the more surprising spots (two grocers) to the new ones (two Main Street cocktail bars), check out the fresh and unconventional places to listen to some jazz in the city.

jazz to their calendar this past summer.

Every Wednesday night, this Midtown bistro and cocktail bar’s rooftop patio— which rightfully boasts a great view of the city—becomes a jazz club. Frequently performing at Canary is saxophonist Stephen Martin’s trio. Enjoy a signature cocktail and soak up the great music and views.

Canary 3835 Main St., KCMO. Keely Edgington and Beau Williams, the same couple behind Westport’s Julep, opened Canary in April 2021 and added

Uptown Lounge 3400 Main St., KCMO. Most evenings, the newly opened Uptown Lounge is a piano bar with performances from co-owners Michael Rorah and Alan

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The Pairing 1615 Oak St., KCMO. The neighborhood liquor store and grocer also houses a wine bar toward the back of the store, serving up drinks, quality charcuterie boards and live music. The Pairing has performances on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday evenings from 7 to 9, but the acts vary widely in genre. However, when vibraphonist Mike Dillon—a renowned musician who relocated from New Orleans to KC during the pandemic—isn’t on tour, he frequently performs here with his trio, often joined by Arny Young on drums and Bryan Hicks on bass.

The Pairing’s Instagram, @thepairingkc, has the most up-to-date information on upcoming performances.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ZACH BAUMAN

The Leslie Mclean Trio at Whole Foods

Whole Foods South Plaza 301 E. 51st St., KCMO. Whole Foods stopped booking live music during the pandemic, but they brought back their Friday happy hour music this past year. Although the grocery chain’s South Plaza location might not have the most consistent performance schedule, it sure is a treat when you do catch some jazz on your grocery run. You might just have to take a detour to The Fountain Room, the store’s bar and grill, for optimal listening and happy hour specials, which includes discounts on a wide selection of craft beers and a rotating seafood special on Fridays.

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C U R AT I N G A B E A U T I F U L L I F E

Ashton Bethel started making home decor during the pandemic as a hobby. Now, she has her own business: High Noon Pottery (@highnoonpottery). Typically, Bethel makes each piece with the eighties and nineties in mind—specifically, the funky and colorful aesthetic of the movie theaters and malls of the past. This time of year, however, she does something a little different. Just in time for Halloween, Bethel has created ghost-, jacko’-lantern- and other spooky-themed mugs so you can sip your PSL in fall style. Her Halloween mugs range in price from $35 to $55. Each of her ceramic homewares is completely unique. —MARY HENN

Beetlejuice Mug, $55

PHOTOGRAPHY BY STAFF

Ghost Cup, $35

Ghost Mug, $40

Jack-O’-Lantern Mug, $50

KANSASCITYMAG.COM OCTOBER 2022

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THE SHARED GARDEN A local duo turns a former motorcycle workshop into a modern retreat space.

bought their home on Southwest Boulevard in 2017.

The house had an attached garage with a dirt floor that had previously been used as a motorcycle workshop. After four years of renovation, the Foxes debuted the former garage space as the Garden House (@gardenhouse.kc) this summer. Now, it serves as an intimate event and nightly rental space.

It’s no secret that the pandemic encouraged the downsizing of gatherings and parties. But there has been continued interest in a return to the quiet and private. What started out of necessity has turned into a full-blown revival of intimate venues and unique micro spaces. The revival has been rooted in art, craft, attention to detail and the notion of retreat.

The Foxes aren’t strangers to any of those things. The duo formerly ran a J O R D A N A N D E M I LY F O X

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cactus shop in the space, and Jordan runs a design studio called Foxtrot Studio (@foxtrot.studio), which he calls a “lifestyle shop.” Foxtrot started with handmade leather goods and now offers menswear and home goods.

Garden House, he says, incorporates what he’s learned about hospitality through running the studio and plant shop.

“We drew a lot of inspiration for this project from the Southwest,” Jordan says. Garden House has a modern desert theme and is complete with a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and lounge area that opens into the backyard garden space with a small courtyard and string lights. The entire space is brimming with plants and local goods.

“It’s like a lived-in boutique,” Jordan says. “We have our own products in the space, and you can take them home

with you.” In the lounge area, you can shop for mugs, candles, coffee and other small items that are a part of staying at Garden House.

The Foxes have also made efforts to incorporate local art and craftwork into the retreat space. Garden House features prints from a local graphic designer, dinnerware from a local ceramic artist, and furniture pieces and cabinetry from a local woodworker, among other things.

Garden House was initially intended as a place for nightly stays, photoshoots and private parties. There have been small, intimate weddings in the backyard, where the Foxes have supplied plants and other decorative touches. But the modern venue is flexible. More recently, the space has been envisioned for other intimate events.

“We’re getting inquiries about hosting yoga classes, brunches and dinner parties,” Jordan says. “I’ve even been thinking about cooking classes.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY STAFF

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I N TERV I EW

A FOCUS ON REGROWTH Kansas City’s Dr. Meena Singh takes on TLC with new show ‘Bad Hair Day.’

as having fallen into her lap. The KC native set out to fill a hole for those in need of specialized care that was otherwise hard to come by. Now, she has found her calling in the field of dermatology—changing lives in the treatment of hair loss as a specialist in hair restoration.

“In school, I did a lecture that mentioned less than two percent—at the time—of dermatologists were Black,” Singh says. “When I did my residency, there was a study that came out stating people of color were in need of dermatological care, mainly for hair loss. I figured I better learn how to fix that.”

With the debut of the new TLC show Bad Hair Day, the lives Singh has positively transformed go beyond those in the local community. The show premiered on August 24 and shows the emotional experience of patients with hair-related issues as they seek the help of three hair restoration experts.

We talked to Singh about her experience on the show and return to Kansas City.

D R . M E E N A S I N G H D E S C R I B E S H E R C A R E E R PAT H

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Since its premiere, how has the show been received by the viewers? The show has been received amazingly well.

People have reached out and stated that they are so happy that these kinds of medical conditions are being featured on television. Not only is the show educational, but people have said it also gives them hope that there is something they can do about medical conditions people don’t really talk about.

People are really suffering from hair loss, so I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback.

It is super heartwarming when patients are successfully treated. It has been a very gratifying experience.

What about Kansas City has kept you and your practice here? I grew up in Kansas City—born and raised here. I’m actually a fourth-generation Kansan.

Most of my family lives here. I left after high school to do all my schooling and training, but I came back. I always wanted to live close to family, and my mom is a prominent fixture of the community. A lot of people know my mom; she is an amazing doctor.

I feel like people who have trained at places like Harvard stay out there. They don’t come back to places like Kansas, but we need people to come back home to the community. That was always my plan, and I actually live on the same street as my parents and sister. We are a very close family.

Are there any projects on the horizon for you? Building upon the success of the show, one of my colleagues and I started a hair loss resource. It is called docs4hair.com, and it’s a website that helps you find other doctors that specialize in hair loss. We are currently reorganizing everything, so it is still in the works right now, but basically, it helps find doctors that specialize in hair loss. We’ll have products and educational information there so that it will be a onestop shop for combating hair loss.

PHOTOGRAPHY PROVIDED

BY TAY LO R D R U M M O N D

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MISSISSIPPI BLUE Designer Maureen Lindstrom gives new life to a home in Blue Hills Estates while preserving the traditional elements and Southern charm of its interior.

BY DAW N YA B A R T S C H | P H OTO G R A P H Y BY L AU R I E K I LG O R E

A

S A L I T T L E G I R L , designer Maureen Lindstrom would switch out the pillows and comforter on her bed as often as she could. “I was always redecorating my room,” Lindstrom says. “I always wanted to try something new.”

Even though Lindstrom majored in accounting in college and worked in sales for a bit after school, design has continuously been at the forefront of her life. She has always taken great care of her surroundings, whether that be in an apartment or a house. “I’ve always loved the challenge of decorating each new home I move into,” she says.

It only made sense that Lindstrom would eventually gravitate toward a career in interiors. “It was my real estate agent, actually, who urged me to get into design as a career,” she says.

Lindstrom began her professional career about eight years ago working for other design firms. About three years ago, she went out on her own, founding ML Designs in Overland Park.

“It’s been really rewarding,” Lindstrom says. “Creating spaces our clients love and feel at home in has been amazing.”

Lindstrom prides herself on listening to her clients and designing spaces that work for them.

“My personal style is ‘transitional,’” she says. “I like to mix traditional and modern elements. I like clean with bright pops of color. But I really want my clients to feel at home and to create a space that they truly love.”

It was precisely those pops of color, clean lines and Lindstrom’s mix of old and new that made Brittany Radar know Lindstrom was the designer she wanted to work with.

Brittany and her husband, Michael, were looking to update their home in Blue Hills Estates in South KCMO— especially the kitchen—but they also had key pieces that they cherished and didn’t want to get rid of.

“Brittany is very southern, and I wanted her home to reflect her personality,” Lindstrom says. “She loves big, bold pops of color. I really wanted to embrace her personal style.”

Originally from Mississippi, Brittany says she is always trying to bring as much of her southern heritage into her Kansas City life as possible, and Maureen helped a lot with that.

“Maureen really helped update the home and make everything we had blend together,” Brittany says.

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1 THE POWDER ROOM Like most firstfloor guest bathrooms, the Radar’s powder room near the main entrance is small and was in need of a major overhaul.

It was the perfect space to make a statement, Lindstrom says, and nothing makes a statement like blue and white leopard-print wallpaper.

Lindstrom showed Radar several wallpaper samples and Radar went straight for the leopard print. “Brittany’s very decisive,” Lindstrom says. “She’s a lot of fun to work with.”

Lindstrom had a custom vanity made, adding much-needed storage space, and finished it with oversized brass hardware to make the built-in vanity feel more like a piece of furniture.

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3

2 THE KITCHEN Lindstrom and her design team completely gutted the original kitchen and slightly expanded the space by removing an awkward closet, raising portions of the ceiling and enlarging the passageways between the kitchen area and living room.

Lindstrom also chose a light white palette for the walls and kitchen cabinets, making the space airy. It’s the perfect backdrop for many bright and bold textiles, such as the blue zebra print bar stools used at the eat-in kitchen island and colorful dishes and family heirlooms displayed throughout.

Sitting on the floating shelves added on either side of the custommade range hood are a copper kettle that belonged to Brittany’s grandmother and several pieces from the Royal Crown Derby China company’s “Brittany” pattern. “My grandmother started giving me pieces of the Brittany pattern when I was a young girl,” Brittany says.

“It’s a southern thing.”

The wood base of the kitchen island is stained a pale blond, mimicking the tone of the floors and adding a bit of depth to the kitchen’s white palette while still keeping it neutral. White quartz was used for the countertops, and textured white subway tiles were used for the backsplash. Brass hardware and light fixtures throughout the space add warmth.

3 THE BAR The Radars enjoy entertaining, and Lindstrom redesigned much of the kitchen with that in mind. A long bar with built-in refrigerator drawers and a sink was created in a space that was once an awkward closet. Glass door cabinets were used above the counters so the Radars could display their glassware and other mementos. Along with the bar’s brass hardware, white marble tiles placed in a herringbone pattern were used for the backsplash to create a “little glamor,” Lindstrom says.

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4 4

4 BUILT-IN DESK Despite many new kitchen designs moving away from the built-in desk, Brittany says keeping it was a must.

“Brittany called her kitchen desk her ‘command center,’” says Lindstrom, who used the opportunity to bring a little more of Brittany’s southern style into the home.

Many of the homes in Brittany’s native Mississippi have exposed brick floors and walls, and Lindstrom used the same brick chosen for the entryway for the backsplash of the built-in desk.

5 TH E LIVING R OOM Lindstrom created drama in the living room by painting the walls white, allowing the various colors and patterns of blue and white upholstered furniture to stand out. Lindstrom added the “pops” of color that appeal to the Radars through luxurious pillows, art and personal mementos.

A mix of high and low pieces, such as a bamboo side table Brittany picked up on a whim from Tuesday Morning to custom-made pillows from decorator haven Nell Hills in the Northland, were used to create a space that looks clean and new yet also cultivated over time.

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6 6 DINING ROOM In keeping with much of the home’s blue and white theme, Lindstrom used a deep navy blue grasscloth wallpaper, making for a dramatic space. The dining area is off the main living room and is visible from many areas of the first floor.

Lindstrom used a rich wallpaper to create a separate space but added a natural, navy-trimmed jute rug and similar art pieces to make it blend with the rest of the downstairs rooms.

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NATALIE TORRES GALLAGHER MARY HENN

PHOTOGRAPHY ZACH BAUMAN CALEB CONDIT REBECCA NORDEN

It’s soup season.

BEET BO

RSCHT

Here are 11 BOWLS of comfort around KC, including the revival of an iconic steak soup and life-changing clam chowder.

Soup for All The soups at Housewife in Grandview have developed a cult following.

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KANSAS CITY / OCTOBER 2022

I

T’S AN ICONIC BIT OF TELEVISION ,

known even to those who have never seen an episode of Seinfeld: A new soup stand opens up and, despite the owner’s grumpiness—he is known to patrons as the “Soup Nazi”—there is always a line of devotees obediently following the shop’s stringent etiquette.

In Grandview, regulars at daytime cafe Housewife (801 Main St., Suite 104, Grandview) affectionately refer to Anna Sorge with the same nickname. This has a good deal more to do with Sorge’s culinary talent than it does with her person: As she bounces between the small kitchen and the bakery counter at her restaurant, Sorge is ceaselessly cheerful, a smile permanently pressed beneath twinkling eyes. (This is not a woman who would shout “No soup for you!” at a customer who dared ask for a side of bread.)

When Housewife opened earlier this year, it quickly gained a reputation for its flavorful stews: a rich Philly cheesesteak concoction with beef so tender you’re afraid you might hurt it, pork pozole that sells out even on ninety-degree summer days. She grabs inspiration from around the globe—any excuse, she says, to work with bold spices and try new flavors. She’s made twenty-two different soups since opening, rotating two through each day.

“My neighbors are from Pakistan and one Sunday, I smelled something amazing coming from their kitchen,” Sorge says. It turned out to be haleem, an emerald-green stew made with beef, barley, lentils and yogurt and seasoned liberally with cumin and garam masala. For her version, Sorge gives lamb and beef tenderloin a mint-coriander rub and braises them overnight.

“Soup is such a humble dish, and for a lot of restaurants that I’ve worked in, it’s mostly an afterthought, a way to use leftovers,” Sorge says.

“But when done right and intentionally, when you do something from scratch on purpose, you end up with so much flavor.”

—NATALIE TORRES GALLAGHER

Skill and Bones Bōru changed its broth recipe during the pandemic, and the result is a better, bonier broth.

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T BŌRU (500 W. 75th St., KCMO), they’ve got bones. You might not want to know what bones, says Po Wang, the restaurant’s culinary director, since superbly rich broths are a byproduct of “feet and stuff.”

“That’s what creates the richness and the mouthfeel of the broth—the collagen,” Wang says. “Unlike a lot of places, we actually start with bones. I use whole chickens, plus vegetables, plus all the pork bones, all the aromatics, plus sake, and it goes for eighteen to twenty hours.”

All those bones go in one big pot—it’s large enough to hold two adult men and is kept in the kitchen at Summit Grill next door because Borū is too small—and boils for nearly a day. It’s a variation on their pre-Covid recipe, where the meat broths were separate. Now, they have a “master” meat broth with both pork and chicken and a vegetarian broth.

“We combined everything to make it easier, and we found it tasted way better,” he says. “It’s richer.”

Indeed, a bowl of spicy miso, which gets even more umami from ground pork stewed in bean curd, kombu, miso and shiitake mushrooms, is the richest and best bowl of ramen I’ve had in KC. The kombu is the secret ingredient, even beyond the bones.

“It’s kelp, so that’s super umami,” Wang says. “The depth of it is awesome.”

—MARTIN CIZMAR

KANSAS CITY / OCTOBER 2022

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ILLUSTRATION BY MAKALAH HARDY

How to

Hot Pot

AS THE NAME IMPLIES, hot pots are hot. How hot? My server can’t tell the exact temperature of the rich broth tossing dried chiles around at a rolling boil on the induction burner in front of me, but she points to a recent battle scar on her chin.

“I bent over and got too close,” she says. “So, yes, they are very hot.”

This is the first rule of hot pot: Respect the hotness of the pot. Here are more to get you started at Lotus Hot Pot & Grill (6591 N. Oak Trafficway, Gladstone).

1.

The pot is hot. Do not touch the pot on the table.

Things that emerge from the rolling boil are also very hot. Do not put them directly into your mouth.

2.

Choose your add-ins not so carefully. The Lotus menu includes more than a hundred options, all to be cooked in the pot at your table. They’re divided by type with mushrooms, meatballs and tofu getting their own sections. You will for sure want noodles, meat and vegetables, all of which will cook at their own pace. Part of the fun is experimenting with different combinations.

3.

The house-special clear noodles are delicious and cook in about four minutes, meaning they’re a little more forgiving than vermicelli or pho noodles, which cook in a minute or two. Another easy option is the egg noodles, which don’t even need to be cooked— you just drop them in your bowl and douse with broth.

4.

Mushrooms are a must for adding extra umami to the bowl. Enoki mushrooms are tasty and will cook in just a minute while the wood ear can rest in the pot for the entire cook.

5.

When it comes to meat, Lotus offers everything from Spam to pig heart. A great choice for hot pot newcomers is the ribeye, which is shaved as thin as prosciutto and served in a tall pink pile. The ribeye cooks in just six or seven seconds, and it’s best to just hold onto it with your chopsticks so it’s not pulled under by the riptide of boiling broth. Meatballs come frozen and you can leave them in the pot for a half-hour without them breaking down.

6.

The vegetables range from napa cabbage and okra to konjac and lotus root. Baby bok choy is always highly recommended—it cooks down in about five minutes and goes beautifully with the house-special spicy broth.

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Steak ‘n’ Make Plaza III’s iconic steak soup returns via mail order.

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HEN PLAZA III closed after fifty years, Eric Gonsher thought the local steakhouse staple was “too good to let go.” Gonsher, whose only affiliation with the old location was being a frequent lunch guest, got together with a team to purchase all of Plaza III’s intellectual property, including the brand and a massive trove of recipes. They hired a former chef, Linzie Davis, to prepare those dishes for a relaunched brand, which sells the steakhouse’s menu by mail order.

“We had a hundred pages of recipes, but being able to execute them the way they were executed in the restaurant was extremely important to us,” Gonsher says.

Among those recipes, none was more important than the steak soup.

“Out of all of the Plaza III menu items, the steak soup was by far the most popular and the most sought-after,” Gonsher says. “The steak soup has always been the hallmark of the Plaza III.” Steak soup is so quintessentially KC that it’s hard to imagine it emerging anywhere else. When publications like Midwest Living have published recipes for it, they’ve called it “Kansas City Steak Soup.” But none are the exact Plaza III recipe, Gonsher says.

“If you Google steak soup, there are a lot of copycat recipes online, so we’re not disclosing the exact recipe, but it’s not a huge secret either,” he says. “It’s really hearty vegetables—celery, carrots, all that stuff—and then a pretty hearty broth and big chunks of steak. The steak is really what makes it. We only use high-quality steaks for all the menu items, including the steak soup.”

The reborn Plaza III has shipped food to twenty-five different states via bestofplazaiii.com, which was a surprise to Gonsher: “We thought it was going to be mostly Kansas City, but we were wrong.”

—MARTIN CIZMAR

Cake Day The longer the rich cake sits at the bottom of Spicy One’s Lontong Sayur, the better it tastes.

THE TURKEY LEGS at Spicy One (6551 W., 119th St., Overland Park) are popular. When I pop in at the tail end of a lunch rush, the woman taking my order at the counter assumes that’s what I’m after. And while I appreciate the broadened availability of this coveted hunk of meat outside of RenFest, I am after something even rarer: lontong sayur, a dish popular in Indonesia but scarce outside of its home country.

Unless you’re familiar with this soup, it may be difficult to anticipate what the amalgamation of ingredients will result in. In the sayur, a silky coconut broth flavored with a slightly sour chili paste called sambal, you’ll find find hearty long beans, thick cuts of fried tofu, kerupuk (thin, pastel-colored crackers with a puffcorn texture) and lontong—a dense, steamed rice cake that absorbs more flavor the longer it sits in your bowl.

In Indonesia, lontong sayur is enjoyed for breakfast, lunch or dinner. A bowl of it from Spicy One could easily carry you through a day of meals, too.

—NATALIE TORRES GALLAGHER

Know Your Onion A few Midwestern touches have made Café Provence’s French onion soup a staple.

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HERE’S A REASON

the concept of “soup weather” exists— most people agree a steaming bowl is just a little better on a damp and chilly day. Don’t tell the people ordering the French onion soup at Café Provence (3936 W., 69th Terrace, Prairie Village) on the hottest day of the year. While seated on the patio.

“I always joke and say even when it’s a hundred degrees outside, we still sell onion soup,” says Philip Quillec, executive chef at the homey French bistro.

Onion soup has been on the menu since Café Provence opened twenty years ago. In France, onion soup was traditionally a simple

blue-collar workers' meal. In Prairie Village, they use beef broth and caramelized yellow onions cooked with bacon. “It’s something that is a little bit of an Americanized touch to a French onion soup—we put bacon in everything here,” Quillec says.

That soup is topped with Provence’s French baguette and a Midwest-thick layer of Emmentaler cheese with just a bit of Gruyère.

“We put a lot of cheese on there, and you kind of need it to get that caramelization on top,” Quillec says. “If you don't put enough on there, when you go to broil it to get that crispy top, it will sink into the soup. Also, people love cheese.”

—MARTIN CIZMAR

Melting Pot Wah Gwan brings traditional West African comfort food to KC with its Nigerian soups.

T

ANYECH YARBROUGH opened Wah Gwan (6228 Troost Ave., KCMO) just before the pandemic hit. The Brooklyn-raised Yarbrough was born in Jamaica and has always loved cooking and entertaining. But when she opened her restaurant on Troost, she wanted to expand the menu beyond traditional Jamaican food staples and offer Nigerian dishes, too.

Yarbrough’s partner is Nigerian and helped inspire the restaurant’s unique fusion of flavors and influences.

Part of that Nigerian influence includes egusi, which Yarbrough says is an “introduction to our soups.” Egusi, which is similar to gumbo, is made with melon seeds, African spices, and chicken or goat. “Now, egusi has become very popular,” Yarbrough says.

“Before, people who weren’t familiar with Nigerian dishes would stick to our Jamaican dishes, but once they tried Nigerian food, they liked it.”

After egusi, Wah Gwan added bitter leaf and okra soup to its Nigerian soup list. The okra soup is made with spinach, African spices and goat. The cooked okra and spinach are tender and subtle while the spice blend and goat carry the flavor of the dish.

All three soups are typically served with fufu, a dough-like ball of cassava.

Wah Gwan’s soups gained local popularity by happy accident after fufu became a trend on TikTok last year.

“I had people calling and ordering just fufu,” she says. “I would ask which soup they wanted with it because fufu by itself is very bland. That’s when I first started recommending our soups.”

—MARY HENN

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Clambering for Chowder The new Earl’s Premier makes a showstopping clam chowder.

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UMMER WAS ALREADY sweltering hot when Earl’s Premier (651 E. 59th St., KCMO) opened in Brookside in early May, but that didn’t stop guests from ordering bowls of the restaurant’s New England-style clam chowder to tables inside and outside. On my first visit, as I watched condensation dribble down the sides of the frozen gin and tonic machine behind the bar and I worried about the sweaty imprint my body would invariably leave on the wooden bench lining the slender dining room, I could think of nothing more punishing than a serving of steamy cream and clam juice.

The guy at the small marble table next to me had no such qualms. After a single mouthful of his lunch, he released a rhapsodic exclamation that caused the swiveling of heads positioned farther away than my own. “Chef! Chef!” he called, and chef and co-owner Todd Schulte glanced through the kitchen window from his position on the line.

“This is incredible, chef. This is insane!” Schulte smiled and spared a thumbs-up. There was further gushing approval as this delighted patron hailed every server for a conversation about the merits of Earl’s clam chowder until, finally, the man turned to me, his spoon scraping the bowl. “Have you had the clam chowder?” he asked without waiting for an answer. “You’re crazy not to. It’ll change your life. You have to try it.”

I assured this stranger I would absolutely order a bowl, omitting the part where I have never cared much for clam chowder—I’ve always found it both too heavy and strangely watery, usually lacking any evidence of actual clams—and he vacated his seat before I had to follow through.

But later, on a steamy July afternoon when I needed a mood booster, I recalled the joy Earl’s clam chowder had conjured. I perched on a barstool, and when my order arrived—a hefty, butter-hued bowl studded with meaty clams peeking over the still surface and a fistful of fat, crispy lardon pieces—I understood what the fuss had been about.

—NATALIE TORRES GALLAGHER

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Birria Me Cancun Fiesta Fresh brings trendy birria ramen to KC.

BIRRIA HAS BEEN A STAPLE

in Jalisco for thousands of years, but it took dunkable tacos from trendy spots in Tijuana and Los Angeles to make the spiced stew Instagram-famous.

The best and most unique part of birria tacos is the consommé—the cup of rich and fatty broth served on the side for dipping between bites.

In 2015, Antonio de Livier, a celebrity chef in Mexico City, decided to cut out the middle man by introducing birria ramen. The trend soon spread, including to KC’s Cancun Fiesta Fresh (4019 Pennsylvania Ave., KCMO). At this casual spot on the edge of Westport, the consommé becomes the broth, bathing noodles and chunks of tender beef. Add a little cilantro and a squeeze of lime and you have a simple, spicy and very rich bowl of birria, with no need to dip and dribble.

—MARTIN CIZMAR

Take-home Treasures Some butcher shops specialize in sausages as a way of using their trimmings. Broadway Butcher makes soup.

THERE’S A SUBSET of regulars at Broadway Butcher Shop (3828 Broadway Blvd., KCMO) who come to the Midtown shop not for cuts of grass-fed beef or fresh scallops, not even for paper-thin slices of Italian finocchiona to accompany the Lambrusco they purchased at the wine shop next door. This population beelines instead for the slender freezer holding frosty quarts of soup because they know that’s where all the premium steak trimmings end up.

“Our soups are entirely a byproduct of being a butcher shop,” says owner Nate Feldmiller. “It’s a good avenue to use up end pieces of meat, tails of fish, sausage bits that can’t

go into the casing. We find uses for the scraps from our premium products, and that in turn helps us keep the price down on those larger cuts—and it gives us some really unique ingredients to work with.”

Case in point: Broadway Butcher’s Hawaiian ribeye soup with chunks of Midwestern beef, pineapple, mango and green peppers in a snappy sweet-and-sour beef broth. Popular offerings include a bracing pozole with slow-roasted pork, spicy cioppino, smoked haddock and potato soup, and even a smattering of vegetarian and vegan options (Broadway stocks local farm vegetables in its grocery section). And you can usually count on a supply of chili.

All soups are sold frozen by the quart ($12–$20), and instructions for reheating are printed on the label.

—NATALIE TORRES GALLAGHER

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PB & Fufu Fannie’s famous peanut butter soup is the ultimate cold-weather dish.

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T WAS FANNIE GIBSON of Fannie’s West African Cuisine in Hyde Park who convinced Tanyech Yarbrough (see page 59) to open her own restaurant in Kansas City. After years of missing her native cuisine, Gibson—who grew up in Liberia during the ’80s—decided to open her own restaurant.

In addition to offering egusi, cassava leaf and okra soup like Wah Gwan, Fannie’s (4105 Troost Ave., KCMO) also serves other traditional African soups like peanut butter soup. Often known as groundnut soup, peanut butter soup is rich and nutty, made with fresh tomato, onions, bell peppers, habanero and African spices.

Fannie’s peanut butter soup can be ordered with goat, beef, chicken, shrimp or fish.

The peanut butter soup is typically served with rice or, you guessed it, fufu. There are three different kinds of fufu: cassava, yam and plantain fufu. While the fufu at Wah Gwan is made with cassava, Fannie’s fufu is often made with plantain. Both are wonderfully sticky and full and are similar to mashed potatoes. It’s meant to be dipped in soup and eaten by hand.

—MARY HENN

We didn’t Pho-get!

Last year, we did an exhaustive search for KC’s best pho, trying nine different versions of Vietnam’s national dish and being reminded that there is no consensus on what the perfect pho should taste like since Northern Vietnamese pho is nothing like Southern Vietnamese pho, which is what most restaurants in the area serve. The answer to what makes a good pho varies as much as the answer to what makes a good cheeseburger.

If you want to revisit our pho journey (the landscape has not changed much) you can scan the QR code here to get to that story. Spoiler alert: Pho Lan (315 Cherry St., KCMO) and the Columbus Park Vietnam Cafe (522 Campbell St., KCMO) are both very good.

Favorite Haunts The stories behind 8 spots around KC that are said to be haunted

Words by Taylor Drummond, Isabella Ferrentino, Lauren Fox and Kim Horgan

VA I L E V I C T O R I A N M A N S I O N

OCTOBER · 2022 PG. 65

B U I L D I N G S A R O U N D T H E M A I N B E LV O I R W I N E R Y T H AT R E M A I N I N D I S R E P A I R TA K E N B Y K I M H O R G A N

Belvoir Winery and Inn/Odd Fellows Home 1325 Odd Fellows Road, Liberty The Odd Fellows compound in Liberty has a long-running reputation for being haunted. This chapter of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows goes back to the early twentieth century and was built to provide care for its members, widows and orphans on what was then a two hundred and forty-acre farm in Liberty.

The property today consists of the old orphanage, which is now home to Belvoir Winery & Inn. The other buildings— the old folks home, hospital and nursing home/morgue—are abandoned and in various states of decay. There is also a cemetery located on the northern end of the property where the remains of nearly six hundred people are buried. A small room in the winery building houses “George,” the skeleton of an Odd Fellows member who died in the 1880s and donated his body to science; he was later returned to the IOOF to be used in initiation rituals.

Stories are told about the orphanage building as a space filled with the spirits of children who wander the halls singing

nursery rhymes. In other buildings, visitors have reported hearing a piano playing on its own. Employees say they’ve heard footsteps, seen doors open and close and lights turn on and off, and heard kids running through the halls.

The property has been investigated by a TV crew for the Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures. One member reported being grabbed on the arm by a spirit while exploring the old buildings. A paranormal investigator claimed he saw shadow figures during one of his many investigations of the grounds.

Travel Channel's Kindred Spirits also explored the property and reported making contact with the spirit of a past hospital resident who took his own life, as well as with child spirits.

The abandoned buildings are not open to the public, but Belvoir Winery offers paranormal investigations at night led by members of the Paranormal Research Investigators.

(They are sold out for the year, but information about future sessions can be found on their website at belvoirwinery.com).

-Kim Horgan

top hat and tails,” Williams says. “By the time they got there with their keys, they couldn’t find any trace of this person.

Turns out, Donegan always wore a top hat and tails.” The Folly Theater will be celebrating its one hundred and twentieth anniversary this year, and perhaps Donegan will stop in to commemorate the special occasion. -Taylor Drummond

Eldridge Hotel 701 Massachusetts St., Lawrence

PG. 67

S A L L I E H O U S E B Y K AY C E E S L O U G H

In the suburbs of Atchison sits a seemingly quiet white brick home framed in blue. From the outside, it is clear how time has worn it down–chipped brick and ivy run up its sides. This is known as Sallie House, and the history of the house tells us a rather head-turning story. Once owned by a local doctor in the early-1900s, Sallie’s mother brought her in for what would be diagnosed as appendicitis. Unfortunately, six-year-old Sallie died from anesthesia complications during the surgery to remove her appendix. The legend goes that Sallie never truly left the home and continues to haunt visitors to this day. Sallie is known to scratch and push certain men who come into the home because of her dislike of men. Mary Jane Sowers, a member of the Atchison Area Chamber of Commerce, has experienced Sallie firsthand. “I’ve heard her pitter-patter,” Sowers says. “When she is around you, she’ll just brush by your side and you’ll feel a cold sensation.” Others have noticed that toys are played with and the sound of feet can be heard running across the upstairs hallway. For those interested in visiting Sallie, tours can be booked on the Visit Atchison website, visitatchison.com. -Taylor Drummond

2022

Considered one of the most historically rich buildings in Kansas City, the Folly Theater has experienced it all since it opened in 1900. Hundreds of performances have graced the stage, and the theater has three decades worth of stories to tell. The story of Joe Donegan, the manager of the theater from 1900 to 1922, is one few people know. Donegan is rumored to still be taking up residence in Folly Theater to this day. The director of development at Folly Theater, Brian Williams, recalls a recent sighting when a police officer looked into the window of the Folly while it was closed and claimed to see a man at the bar. “He saw what appeared to be a gentleman with a white

200 S. 10th St., Atchison

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300 W. 12th St., KCMO

Sallie House

OCTOBER

Folly Theater

In downtown Lawrence, there’s one hotel guest who refuses to check out.

The ghost of Colonel Shalor Eldridge supposedly roams the quarters of the Eldridge Hotel. Col. Eldridge was a longtime owner of the hotel who rebuilt it twice following two burnings in 1856 and 1863. He is known for many activities, including turning TVs on and off, shaking guests’ bags, and opening windows. His favorite floor is the fifth floor—and his favorite room is 506.

There, in the wall behind the bed, rests one of the hotel’s original cornerstones.

Some people believe it functions as a portal to the supernatural world.

Guests and employees report the most supernatural activity in the basement and on the fifth floor. The elevator in the hotel often ascends to the fifth floor of its own accord. And once, a room on the fifth floor was deadbolted from the inside yet there was no guest or employee in the room at the time. Catherine Iliya Palasz, the director of sales and catering for the hotel, says the door had to be taken off its hinges in order to be opened.

Though Col. Eldridge is the most renowned spector in the building, some guests and workers say they’ve had experiences with other ghosts. Iliya Palasz, for example, said she was recently testing a portable PA system and microphone in one of the hotel’s main reception rooms. When she finished her sound check, she turned the microphone off, but then a female voice came out of the PA system and simply said, “Stop.” The Eldridge Hotel does not shy away from its supernatural associations. They collect their guests’

and employees’ stories and currently have eighteen supernatural occurrences written down. On the concierge desk at the Eldridge, there is a framed photo of the lobby taken in the 1980s. In the background of the photo, the elevator is open, and a ghostly apparition in the shape of a man is viewable. -Lauren Fox

The Alexander Majors House 8201 State Line Road, KCMO Built in 1856 by Alexander Majors—one of the co-founders of the Pony Express and the owner of a successful shipping company—this house in South KCMO is rumored to be haunted today. The house was set to be demolished at one point, but Majors’ great-granddaughter Louisa Johnston saved it by purchasing it in 1930, preserving her great-grandfather’s legacy while living in it herself. Johnston’s goal was to fully restore the house, maintain a garden on the property and turn it into a museum. She died of natural causes in the house in 1979, and people believe her spirit remains.

Sarah Bader-King, the curator of both the Alexander Majors House and the John Wornall House, says she’s never had a supernatural experience there, but she’s open to one. “I’m agnostic when it comes to ghosts,” she says. “I would believe in them if I saw one, but I haven’t personally had any experiences over there. The Majors house does—in comparison to

the John Wornall, which feels warm and homey—feel empty and lonely.”

People have seen Johnston spend her time on the porch and have smelled roses and lilacs in the house as a reminder of her garden. Today, there are self-guided tours Thursday through Sunday from 1 to 4 pm, and events are typically scheduled around Halloween.

Find them at wornallmajors.org.

-Isabella Ferrentino

Epperson House 5200 Cherry St., KCMO on the UMKC campus Does anyone need a forty-eight-room Tudor-Gothic-style house? Mr. and Mrs. Epperson thought so in 1919 when they began the construction of their grand home located on what is today the UMKC campus. Mr. Epperson wanted to show off his wealth from his insurance company with a grand ballroom, massage room, hair salon, basement pool and an organ instrument. The child-free couple patronized art and music, especially the Kansas City Conservatory of Music. Mr. Epperson passed away in

the house in 1927, and Mrs. Epperson passed away in 1939 from cancer.

In 1942, the house was given to the university. The university stationed army and navy troops, who first reported seeing a ghostly female figure. After the war, the house became the university’s first residence hall, then the school of education and lastly the UMKC Conservatory of Music in the 1970s. During this period, people reported seeing the female figure, hearing organ music from the basement and detecting the splashing of water under the floor after the pool was boarded up. The house has been empty since 2010, but sounds of footsteps still echo throughout, and lights mysteriously turn on and off in unreachable parts of the house. Legends of the Epperson House continue to carry on from generations of UMKC students, campus custodians and police.

Chris Wolff does a yearly walking tour of the campus, as well as walking tours in October of haunted places on campus.

“At the top of the house there’s a tower, and the room up there has been boarded up because they didn’t want students up on the roof,” he says. “Well, sometimes the light in that tower turns on. It’s just sitting there, waiting there for someone to come up with a great out-of-the-box idea to rejuvenate it and give it a new purpose.” -Isabella Ferrentino

Vaile Victorian Mansion 1500 N. Liberty St., Independence The Vaile Victorian Mansion in Independence was once a dream home before things took a sad turn for the couple that built it. Mr. and Mrs. Vaile had the thirty-one-room home built entirely from brick in 1881. The cost of the mansion at the time is equivalent to $7 million today. The child-free couple only lived in the mansion for eighteen months before Mrs. Vaile overdosed on Laudanum, an opioid. Her husband remained widowed and unmarried for eleven years until he died in 1894. By 1910, their home was a nursing home, and the third floor was a mental hospital. The nursing home lasted for seventy years.

The last owner gave the mansion to the city of Independence, which has

owned it since then. Sandra Dougherty, a tour guide with Vaile, has never seen any paranormal activity herself, but others have told her they’ve seen a woman in a long dress, a man with a beard walking in a room and a woman’s voice saying “Oh, please don’t come in here yet.”

Dougherty has joked with tour groups that she’s been here almost thirty years without seeing any ghosts, saying, “I guess Mrs. Vaile doesn’t like me,” which prompted one person to correct the record.

“This woman leaned over and patted my shoulder, telling me, ‘Oh no, Mrs. Vaile likes you very much,’” Dougherty says. “If it is haunted, they leave me alone.”

The mansion is open from April 1 to October 31, Thursdays to Saturdays from 10 am to 4 pm and Sundays from 1 to 4 pm. Then, the home is decorated for Christmas and reopened for tours, which you can find more information on at vailemansion.org. -Isabella Ferrentino

2022

The Elms is one of Missouri’s most haunted hotels. Its long history began in the late 1800s with the discovery of healing mineral waters. Visitors to the area recognized the water’s potential and developed the land, forming the town of Excelsior Springs. The legend

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401 Regent St., Excelsior Springs

OCTOBER

The Elms Hotel & Spa

of the springs spread, and people came from across the country to experience the miracle water for themselves. In 1888, The Elms Hotel was built but later burned down—not once but twice. In September of 1912, the current building opened and was a very popular spot with the well-to-do set.

The Elms has hosted several famous guests throughout the years, including politicians, sports stars and members of prominent crime families.

President Harry Truman and Al Capone were guests. Many high-profile guests stayed, and it's said that some of those guests didn’t want to leave. And maybe they haven’t.

One of the most haunted areas in the hotel is believed to be the third floor, where staff and guests have reported seeing a maid wearing a 1920s-style uniform. Visitors have reported seeing things like odd indentations on freshly made beds, a man in white and mysterious shadows. Some claim that the pool area (once a hiding place for liquor for illicit cocktail parties) is visited by the spirit of a gambler involved with illegal activities during Prohibition.

The hotel was featured on an episode of SyFy’s Ghost Hunters in July 2013. They investigated the lap pool area, where employees reported splashing water and waves in the empty pool. The ghost hunters team concluded that the hotel spirits are not hostile, so if friendly ghosts are more your style, this is your place.

The Elms Hotel and Spa offers a paranormal tour nightly at 9 pm.

Sign-up is available at the hotel’s front desk. -Kim Horgan TOP: Vaile Victorian Mansion LEFT: The Elms Hotel & Spa FAR LEFT: Epperson House Provided

by Missouri Valley Special Collections

PG. 69

& QA

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Expert A S K

TH E

When considering any task, it’s important to do your homework.

These professionals offer their expertise on an array of popular subjects in order to help you decide what’s right for you.

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Ask the Expert

SPEC S PI EACLI A LA ADDVV EERRT ITS II SN GI NS GE C TSI OENC T I O N

Tim Herre, DDS ABOUT

and stressed, wreaking havoc on our personal and professional lives. The good news is we have the ability to permanently change the size and volume of ones airway for 24/7 improved breathing with the use of a biological dental appliance. No more managing with just a nighttime appliance or CPAP. My goal is to help you BREATHE,

Dr. Tim Herre is a graduate of Saint Thomas Aquinas and UMKC dental school. He is a third generation dentist in Johnson County and is passionate about Kansas City. He practices holistic and biological dentistry with an emphasis on treating TMJ disorders, childhood growth and development and airway/ sleep concerns for all ages.

His wellness philosophy aims at treating the root cause of disease, which enables you be the best version of yourself.

SLEEP, THRIVE!

Q: Should I be concerned if my child snores, mouth breathes, grinds their teeth, has ADHD or wets the bed?

A: YES! The above symptoms, plus crowded teeth, enlarged tonsils, tongue tie and inability to nurse, are all signs there is a problem. In our modern society, there is an epidemic among children due to poor growth and development of their jaws and face. If not addressed early in life, the airway becomes constricted and may predispose your child to needing teeth removed for orthodontic purposes, sleep apnea, TMJ and other health issues. We screen and evaluate all childrens’ growth, airway and tonsils with a 3D scan of their jaws. The ideal age for this is three to six years old to harness the child’s true growth potential. My goal is to catch any potential airway issue at an early stage so your child can grow and develop to their full potential.

Holistic Dentistry Q: Is there a solution to my chronic TMJ pain?

I can’t deal with this!

A: Jaw pain, worn teeth, receding gums, headaches, earaches and clenching or grinding your teeth are all common TMJ symptoms.

These are all signs that the chewing system is breaking down and not functioning properly. By focusing on the root cause of the symptoms, the chewing system is able to be conservatively rejuvenated back to a state of optimal health and well-being. This type of dentistry isn’t focused on managing the disease with

a typical night guard but asking why and what is causing the breakdown and providing a permanent fix. The good news is there is hope for those suffering from long-term chronic pain.

Q: I don’t sleep well: I snore, I never feel rested when I wake up, and I’m tired of wearing a CPAP. What is going on?

A: Up to seventy million Americans are affected by chronic sleep disorders. It’s well known that sleep apnea can cause systemic disease such as high blood pressure, fatigue, weight gain and diabetes. Now we know that grinding one’s teeth and snoring can be directly linked to the size of one’s face, jaw and airway. When our jaws don’t grow properly, our airway from inside the nose to behind the tongue become a choke point to our breathing. As a result, we aren’t able to breathe properly, we get inadequate restorative sleep, and our health suffers. This can make us more irritable, anxious

Herre Holistic Dental KC 11201 Nall Ave., Suite 120, Leawood, KS | 913.491.4466 | holisticdentalkc.com

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Ask the Expert

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Cristyn Watkins, MD ABOUT

Dr. Cristyn Watkins is the visionary of aNu Aesthetics™ and Optimal Wellness. She has earned an outstanding reputation in the community for being an innovative physician since 2006. She is a double board-certified family medicine and functional medicine physician, certified master injector, and national trainer in Regenerative Medicine. Dr. Watkins personally trains, supervises and practices alongside her highly skilled medical staff, consisting of board-certified physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, medical assistants, licensed aestheticians and laser specialists.

Optimal Wellness Q: Why did aNu incorporate wellness medicine into their program?

A: Dr. Watkins practiced traditional family medicine for more than 10 years and was determined to find an alternative to pharmaceuticals when faced with limited answers for her own chronic health issues. She sought information beyond traditional medicine, leading her to learn more about functional medicine and focusing on

chronic diseases that are obscure and difficult to treat. She now blends traditional and alternative options to develop a comprehensive plan that is personalized to each patient.

Q: What is functional and wellness medicine?

A: Functional medicine considers the entire body, the mental and physical condition of the patient, nutrition, exercise and stress levels, along with all of the potential imbalances that may exist, and are caused by inflammation, bacteria, viruses, toxins, emotions, digestion, anxiety, poor diet, among others.

dose nutritional IV’s such as vitamin C and glutathione are available and deliver powerful antioxidants for detoxification and other benefits.

Ozone therapy offers a unique and integrative treatment that increases the amount of oxygen in the body.

Ozone can help reduce pain/ inflammation and help treat viruses, bacteria, and yeast, especially those hard-totreat, resistant pathogens that can be found in chronic conditions such as Lyme, EBV, chronic fatigue syndrome, MS, fibromyalgia and autoimmune disease.

Infrared saunas are also available at two of their locations for assistance with detoxification.

Another advanced therapy, offered only by aNu, is a newly created treatment called REIKIN(TM), combining the principles of Reiki, first practiced in Japan, and IV Ketamine. It combines energy healing and guidance by a REIKI Master to manage pain, trauma, mental health conditions, stress and other medical problems holistically and compassionately, targeting both the physiologic and spiritual aspect.

Q: What other advanced services are offered?

Q: How can I get more information or schedule an appointment?

A: • aNu offers bio-identical hormones and medical weight loss, but Dr. Watkins has a passion for and excels at treating more difficult cases---offering advanced medical treatments that aren’t routinely offered through most practices. For instance, high

A: Visit them online at anuaesthetics.com/ wellness/ or call to book a complimentary consultation.

aNu Aesthetics™ and Optimal Wellness North Location 10090 NW Prairie View Road Kansas City, MO 64153 Phone: 816.670.4406 | River Market 547 Grand Blvd Kansas City, MO 64106 Phone: 816.339.5053 | Leawood 11401 Nall Ave, Suite 218 Leawood, KS 66211 Phone: 913.298.6230 | anuaesthetics.com

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All of us.

For all of you.

We’re here to focus health care where it belongs: on you.

You deserve the kind of care that goes beyond a chart or a prescription. It’s the kind of care that covers everything you need to live your healthiest life, including support from a whole team of doctors, nurses, and specialists to keep you feeling good. And it’s care that gives you all the benefits of a nationally recognized health care company—including the latest science and technology—with a hometown, personal touch.

Count on all of us to care for all of you, in all the ways you need.

optumKC.com

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Georgia Cirese, RN, CANS, CLT ABOUT

which treatments may provide the best results.

The team of providers and medical aestheticians at Georgous Aesthetic Bar offer a complimentary session to complete a full assessment of your individual situation. Upon completion of the consultation, a recommended treatment plan is created and it may include topical products, chemical peels, and laser treatments. The treatment regimen is determined based on the cause of your hyperpigmentation, your skin type, and your skin goals.

Georgous Aesthetic Bar opened in October, 2019 by Registered Nurse, Certified Aesthetics Nurse Specialist (CANS) and master injector, Georgia Cirese. Georgia has been in the aesthetics industry for more than 20 years and is recognized as a top aesthetics trainer, national speaker and key opinion leader. She has even been nicknamed to be one of the original or “OG Injectors” in the aesthetics field.

Q: Who performs the laser treatment and chemical peel procedures?

Hyperpigmentation & Sun Damage

A: All of the aestheticians at Georgous Aesthetic Bar are experienced medical aestheticians and certified laser technicians. They perform the chemical peel and laser treatments, with follow-up throughout the duration of the treatments to aid in a more consistent and overall improved outcome.

Q: What are the dark spots or “age spots” on the face/body?

A: The dark spots are called hyperpigmentation and they occur when an area of the skin produces excess melanin, thus creating the darker toned areas.

Q: What causes hyperpigmentation?

A: Hyperpigmentation occurs for a variety of reasons such as sun exposure, pregnancy (melasma), or from post-

inflammation (ie: acne scarring). Due to the complexity of this issue, it is important to consult a medical provider about your skin and to avoid treating the dark spots with over-the-counter products or remedies.

Q: How do you remove the dark spots?

A: There are a few approaches to treating and lightening the dark spots or sun damage. Initially, a consultation is recommend to provide an overall analysis of your skin and determine

Georgous Aesthetic Bar 4505 Madison Ave. Kansas City, MO 64111 | 816.946.8484 | georgouskc.com

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KANSAS CITY OCTOBER 2022

Q: When should you start treatments?

A: Fall and winter are the perfect times for laser treatments, since there is generally much less direct sun exposure to the skin during that time.

Someone is accidentally injured every second Schedule online at GetInQuickERKC.com.

In case of a life-threatening emergency, call 911

Four Johnson County Locations

That’s why our ER experts stand ready 24/7 to care for you.

Unexpected moments happen. When they do, you can trust that AdventHealth’s ER experts are ready to safely care for you at four locations throughout Johnson County. And, we’ve made it easy to schedule a non-life-threatening emergency room visit online so you can wait in the comfort of home and arrive at a time convenient for you.

Ask the Expert

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Katie Dunn Fitzgerald ABOUT US

Mariner Wealth Advisors, a privately held national advisory firm founded in 2006, offers clients wealth management services designed to help them navigate their financial future. Our teams, including tax, estate planning and trust services, investment management and insurance, are under one roof, which provides clients with a coordinated, personalized experience. Our advisors are focused on partnering with clients for whatever life brings their way and are committed to always putting their interests first.

As a senior wealth consultant, Katie Dunn Fitzgerald helps business owners and senior-level executives formulate and implement financial plans, while actively volunteering in the Kansas City community.

Katie’s current community involvement includes serving the following organizations: the University of Kansas Health System, Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, the Foundation board for Johnson County Community College, the United Way of Greater Kansas City Tocqueville Society, BOTAR, multiple women’s causes and her children’s grade school.

events and play an active role in many organizations.

My family also realizes the importance of my community involvement and provides endless support. I’m most grateful for the legacy of service I believe I am leaving for my children, as they already seek opportunities to serve others.

Wealth Advice Q: What is the most rewarding part of your career?

A: As a senior wealth consultant, I help clients achieve their goals by matching them with the right resources to meet their needs, whether those are within or outside of Mariner Wealth Advisors. I have the opportunity to get to know clients and gain an understanding of their goals and challenges. The most rewarding part of my career is helping clients develop personalized plans and making sure they have the resources in place to help them achieve their long-term objectives.

*MWA does not provide all services listed in this piece. Some services are provided by affiliates and are subject to additional fees. Additional fees may also apply for tax planning and preparation services.

This article is limited to the dissemination of general information pertaining to Mariner Wealth Advisors’ investment advisory services and general economic market conditions. The views expressed are for commentary purposes only and do not take into account any individual personal, financial, or tax considerations. As such, the information contained herein is not intended to be personal legal, investment or tax advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any security or engage in a particular investment strategy. Nothing herein should be relied upon as such, and there is no guarantee that any claims made will come to pass. Any opinions and forecasts contained herein are based on information and sources of information deemed to be reliable, but Mariner Wealth Advisors does not warrant the accuracy of the information that this opinion and forecast is based upon. You should note that the materials are provided “as is” without any express or implied warranties. Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice and are not intended as investment advice or to predict future performance. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Consult your financial professional before making any investment decision.

Mariner Wealth Advisors (“MWA”), is an SEC registered investment adviser with its principal place of business in the State of Kansas. Registration of an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. MWA is in compliance with the current notice filing requirements imposed upon registered investment advisers by those states in which MWA maintains clients. MWA may only transact business in those states in which it is notice filed or qualifies for an exemption or exclusion from notice filing requirements. Any subsequent, direct communication by MWA with a prospective client shall be conducted by a representative that is either registered or qualifies for an exemption or exclusion from registration in the state where the prospective client resides. For additional information about MWA, including fees and services, please contact MWA or refer to the Investment Adviser Public Disclosure website (www.adviserinfo.sec.gov). Please read the disclosure statement carefully before you invest or send money.

Q: How do you balance the demands of your career and family while still finding time to be active in the community?

A: I grew up in a family that believes in giving back to the community, and it’s important to me that my husband and I make serving the community a priority for our family as well. I’m fortunate that my career provides flexibility to allow me to attend

Mariner Wealth Advisors 5700 W 112th St., Suite 200, Overland Park, KS 913.647.9700 | marinerwealthadvisors.com

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SPEC S PI EACLI A LA ADDVV EERRT ITS II SN GI NS GE C TSI OENC T I O N

Senior Care Authority where we can help with situations such as skilled nursing placement, family mediation, community education, and a plethora of other topics that affect our region’s seniors.

Q: What types of factors differentiate one senior community from another?

A: We research each community in depth to understand the level of care they can provide for our clients. Every place is different, so before we set up any tours with our clients, we ensure that the community can fit the individual’s unique needs. We accompany them on the tours and help them weigh their options to make an informed decision. Once they move in, we follow up to make sure it’s a good fit. All of this is at no charge to the private-pay independent, assisted living and memory care clients.

ABOUT US

We help guide seniors and their families to excellent outcomes. Don previously worked 10+ years as a food and beverage director in a senior community and developed a heart for working with this age group.

His father suffered from Alzheimer’s, and Don had to juggle his father’s needs with his full time career, so he knows the struggle what families face. Elaine is a pharmacist and has a decade of experience in long term care.

Senior Care Q: Why did you choose Senior Care Authority as your next career path?

A: The challenges Don faced with caring for a sick and aging parent made him wish for someone to help guide him through the complexities of the senior care world. Our goal is to know the systems inside and out, which can help families make informed decisions. Don is a Certified Senior Advisor and keeps current with continuing education to help people navigate the often confusing options out there.

Certified Senior Advisor (CSA)

TM

Q: Explain your services?

A: We meet the person wherever they are in their journey and help devise the best next steps. We offer placement assistance for independent living, assisted living, and memory care at no charge to our clients. We also specialize in elder care consulting

Senior Care Authority 22052 W 66th St., Suite 179, Shawnee, Kansas | 913.488.8609 | seniorcare-kansascity.com

KANSASCITYMAG.COM OCTOBER 2022

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Leave the game day grilling to the pros and order Q2Go for your next tailgate

MIDTOWN 1000 W 39th St, Kansas City, MO 816-255-3753 SOUTH 11051 Antioch Rd, Overland Park, KS 913-951-4500

Q39KC.com

Order Now!

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CALEB CONDIT AND REBECCA NORDEN

E AT I N G A N D D R I N K I N G W E L L I N K A N S A S C I T Y

BRISKED EGGS

André’s has been making quiche since 1955, and not originally by choice.

“The concept that my grandparents came over here from Switzerland with was exclusively pastries and chocolates—1955 Kansas City was not ready for a shop that just did that,” says owner René Bollier.

“They didn’t really understand what my grandfather was doing, what made it special, why it was so much more expensive.”

And so they added quiche. At André’s Confiserie Suisse (4929 W. 119th St., Overland Park, and 5018 Main St., KCMO), they’ve had quiche lorraine on the menu for close to seventy years.

This month, they’re branching out in collaboration with Q39, making a limited-edition quiche loosely modeled after the Pitmaster sandwich.

“Brisket is what I think of when I think of Q39,” Bollier says. “It’s

some of the best brisket I’ve ever had, so I was really pushing to incorporate brisket into the quiche.”

The final recipe uses that brisket plus three other key ingredients from the Pitmaster: classic barbecue sauce, provolone and onions. They also added a few Calabrian peppers to the caramelized onions to add just a touch of mild heat. They put a bit of sauce and brisket on top of the quiche, which caramelizes in the oven much like the city’s famed burnt ends.

“We’re always looking to do something outside the box,” says Q39’s executive chef Philip Thompson. “We don’t just want to be that quintessential barbecue joint, so we’re always looking to do something unique.”

A whole André’s Q39 BBQ Quiche is $35 and is available starting on October 1. Both locations will also have it available by the slice on October 1. —MARTIN CIZMA R

KANSASCITYMAG.COM OCTOBER 2022

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TA S T E R E V I E W

Tacos Valentina

NIX IT The third wave of masa has arrived in Kansas City. Here are three people redefining the modern tortilla.

BY N ATA L I E TO R R E S G A L L AG H E R P H OTO G R A P H Y BY Z AC H B AU M A N

Y

OU CAN NEVER TELL THE SECRETS A TORTILLA HOLDS.

I am not referring to what this deceptively plain wrapper carries between its folds: the al pastor licked with heat and pineapple or some impossibly tender cochinita pibil. I mean the hundred thousand mysteries packed and pressed and flattened into the unleavened bread: the ancient process of transforming kernels to masa, the gods and goddesses of maíz revered by the Aztecs, the perseverance of cornstalks that stretch ardently toward a blistering sun. It is so humble, this tortilla, but so profound.

Within the last several years, a new breed of culinarians has emerged, and with them a resurrected idea of what a corn tortilla really is—and what it can be. Meet Kansas City’s third-wave masa evangelists.

Tacos Valentina Tacos Valentina sets up three tables under a tent in a parking lot. They don’t have much in the way of equipment—just a portable flat-top grill, two crockpots and a small tortilla press. The menu is small, usually offering no more than five items, and it changes with every pop-up. One week at the Brookside Farmers Market,

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the feature is a rich mole amarillo con pollo (yellow mole with chicken). On a Thursday at Casual Animal Brewing Co., the fragrant barbacoa is going fast. The recurring vegan option—confit potatoes with strips of firekissed nopal and hot salsa macha—might be the best choice you could make.

Each taco is a little gift, painstakingly assembled and finished with a flourish of cilantro. But the hand-pressed tortillas are the backbone of Tacos Valentina’s business.

“We really make masa as the base of our product,” says Roger Avila, one of Tacos Valentina’s three co-founders and partners.

(The others are chefs Kendra Valentine and Pablo Muñoz.) “We want to show people another side of Mexican food.”

In 2017, Avila and Valentine moved from Dallas to Kansas City (where they met Muñoz). The plan was always to move on after a couple years, to continue ascending in the industry—until the pandemic hit.

Suddenly, there was no time like the present to start their own business.

At the first Tacos Valentina pop-up in August 2021, the three partners made fresh tortillas with masa harina. The end product was good, but Valentine wanted something special, and that meant taking the operation a step further. They found a company called Masienda, which sources single-origin heirloom corn varieties grown by independent farmers in Mexico. They purchased a molino (mill). And then they dug deep into nixtamal.

Nixtamal is the word the Aztecs used for corn they had soaked in water and wood ash.

This process would loosen the hull from the kernel, making the corn easier to grind and convert into masa. Today, nixtamal is commonly made by fermenting corn in an alkaline solution of lime and water. And while Mexican megaproducer Maseca’s masa harina is made from nixtamalized corn, the difference is that after it completes fermentation, the masa is dehydrated and pulverized into a fine, dry powder.

“With masa harina, you still have a natural tortilla product,” Avila says, “but the only thing that’s lacking is when you dehydrate the nixtamal, some of the nutrition and flavor from the corn gets lost, and that affects the flavor of the tortilla.”

To make their masa, Tacos Valentina mills the nixtamalized heirloom corn they’ve purchased from Masienda. (Masienda coined the phrase “third wave of masa” to indicate the surging interest in single-origin products and regenerative farming.)

Tamaleon

The process is quick—just thirteen hours before the masa is ready. Then the team gets to work on the menu.

“We taste the masa, and from there, we decide what it would work best with,” Avila says. “Once we had access to different varieties of corn from different areas in Mexico, it opened up a lot of doors.”

On each menu, Tacos Valentina specifies which corn variety was used and where it came from, and repeat customers learn to look out for the masa they prefer best: The red cónico from EDMX produces an earthy, sweet masa that works well with spices while the bolita velatove from Oaxaca is dense and nutty (Tacos Valentina uses that masa for tetelas, a Oaxacan street food similar to empanadas).

“There is a difference in look and taste from one masa to another, and you can tell right away,” Avila says. “It’s a little like the coffee world when people prefer Brazilian or Ethiopian espresso.

We’re helping them with maíz.”

Yoli “There is no recipe for tortillas,” Marissa Gencarelli says. “There are ratios. It’s a process.”

Marissa is the co-founder and co-owner of Kansas City’s Yoli Tortilleria, which specializes in stoneground, non-GMO corn tortillas and Sonoran-style flour tortillas. Since launching in 2017, Yoli has grown exponentially, processing up to eight hundred pounds of corn a day. In 2020, Marissa and her husband, Mark, opened a cafe and retail shop in the

Westside neighborhood. Today, Yoli is a nationally recognized name in the tortilla game.

When Marissa was first forming the business plan, corn varieties and sourcing were carefully considered.

“We made a list of values, and one of them was sustainability,” Marissa says. “Do we know the farmer? Are we paying a fair price? Are shipping and gas emissions worth the import?”

The Yoli product needed to match its values, she says, and for the business to scale, imported Mexican maíz wasn’t feasible. Nor could Marissa find a way to rent rural Missouri crops and grow proprietary corn.

Eventually, she found a fourth-generation farm family in Illinois that grows non-GMO and organic varieties, and today the bulk of Yoli’s corn supply comes from the Midwest.

(Mexican heirloom varieties are occasionally brought in and used for limited-edition products.)

“Each corn that we work with has a different purpose,” Marissa explains.

With more than seventy-two corn varieties commercially available, she keeps her options open. “Quesabirria was just in vogue, and those tacos need white and yellow corn, but maybe tomorrow the new trend will be something else.”

This past spring, Yoli acquired the KCK-based Art’s Mexican Food Products, a tortilleria and wholesale food company founded in 1961. Art’s is known primarily for their tissue-thin white corn tortilla—the same that many local Mexican restaurants use in their complimentary chip basket.

When the owner of Art’s approached Marissa with an offer to sell the company, she saw an opportunity. She says that Art’s operations and products will not change.

Tamaleon In addition to its signature featherweight tortillas, Art’s sells fresh nixtamalized masa. This is what Crystal Nieves had been using for the tamales in her food

truck, Tamaleon, since she started the business in 2020. (Before that, Nieves spent eleven years at Nara.)

“Art’s has a long history in Kansas City, and my mother has been getting masa from them since I can remember,” Nieves says. Her mother was known for her tamales, and this was the inspiration for Nieves’ business.

“It’s straight ground corn dough, not powder with water. We take that masa and add our own ingredients to make it taste to our liking.”

Nieves’ tamales are wonderful, soft and steamy, but the most popular items at Tamaleon are the tacos—particularly the birria. Nieves relies on Art’s for her tortillas, too, but prefers their thick, six-inch corn tortilla.

It’s hard to argue with Nieves when it comes to her birria. Beef is stewed for six hours in a heady broth of chiles— puya, guajillo, ancho—and tomato, and when the meat is trembling in the pot, Nieves calls it done. She spoons out the built-up red film and uses that to grease her tortillas—this is how she crisps up the exterior. The end product is bulging with fiery beef and gooey cheese. It’s less than five dollars, and it is nothing short of glorious.

“I’ve seen restaurants use double tortillas, and I feel like that’s too much,” she says. “You want a tortilla that’s going to give you a good bite but still hold up with the cheese and the broth.

Art’s tortillas are perfect.”

KANSASCITYMAG.COM OCTOBER 2022

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TA S T E PER FECT DAY

For Shanita McAfee-Bryant, gumbo isn’t just food—it’s philosophy.

BY TAY LO R D R U M M O N D

From creating new recipes within her family’s kitchen to winning Cutthroat Kitchen, a popular Food Network game show, McAfee-Bryant looks to use her talents to help those within her community through food advocacy and to bridge the divide in Kansas City with gumbo.

During the pandemic, McAfee-Bryant had the opportunity to do the boot camp held by the James Beard Foundation.

“We made lasting friendships, good relationships and some of us got to talking about gumbo and how some of the things that we make are euphemisms for community work or what we were doing in advocacy,” she says.

McAfee-Bryant is now hosting the city’s first Gumbo Festival on October 9 in collaboration with the Troost Market Collective, which is putting on the fifth annual Troostapalooza celebration of local art, culture, music and food on October 8.

“When you look at this collaboration, a gumbo on Vine looks very different from a gumbo in the Northeast or a gumbo on the Westside,” she says.

S H A N I TA M CAF EE- BRYANT KNOW S T HE RE C IPE FO R S UCCESS.

Where did your inspiration come from to make a Gumbo-inspired event? I was reading Marc Morial— now president of the National Urban League and former mayor of New Orleans—who wrote a book during the pandemic called The Gumbo Coalition.

He was talking about how the same philosophy to make gumbo can be applied to leadership or community development, meaning there are thousands of different recipes for gumbo and it has a rich history that comes from struggle.

How does gumbo relate back to a community like Kansas City? If you apply that same ideology to what we are trying to do with Gumbo Fest, it’s really to revitalize an economically disadvantaged area. It takes more than just one thing: It’s not just the businesses, it’s not just the developers, it’s not just the politicians, it’s not just the city funding, and it’s not just the tourism. You need all those components to create a thriving neighborhood. They all have to work together, and no one thing is better than the other. Same with Gumbo. You don’t want it to just be turkey stock or ham stock. You need all of the components.

How did this collaboration with the Troost Market Collective come about? I knew that they had Troostapalooza, and I wanted to make sure that one, we weren’t on top of what they were doing, and two, once we found out that it was going to be the same weekend, I was like, “We have to work together on these because I don’t want to create an East Side divide”—because they were doing something on Troost and I was coming from Vine. I’m going to be at Troostapalooa on Saturday and they’ll be at the Gumbo Fest on Sunday to support each other.

FAVO R I T E S P OT S Rise and Shine “Those at Urban Cafe are creative and consistent. The best pancakes in town!”

Coffee, Please “I love what TJ at Kinship Café is doing in KCK. His coffee is creative and delicious, not to mention the coffee shop is a vibe.”

Lunch Box “I have one thing to say about The Russell: shrimp tacos. They know how much I stan for those tacos and chocolate chip cookies.”

Evening Vibes “Chef Pam and her team at Waldo Thai never disappoint. The brisket curry is next-level. It is so spicy for my weak taste buds, but I cannot get enough.”

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY NATALEA BONJOUR

‘ALL OF THE COMPONENTS’

“But they are still a gumbo. They are still just as important. This is the idea.”

The family-friendly Gumbo Festival will be in the Jazz District. Teams will compete against each other at the event, which will also feature live music and vendors.

We talked to McAfee-Bryant about gumbo as a food and a philosophy, plus got her picks for a perfect day of eating and drinking in KC.

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TA S T E DR I N K

Sippin’ on gin and lactofermented fig syrup

BY M A R T I N C I Z M A R

cookbooks either focused on utilitarian recipes or begged for admiration with gorgeous photos of meals you might attempt on a long weekend. The easy availability of internet recipes has led to the near-extinction of the classic how-to book, with today’s cookbooks getting prettier and sometimes growing into mini-memoirs.

Bartending books have likewise evolved, with titles like The Cocktail Codex, The Drunken Botanist and Tiki: Modern Tropical Cocktails. They’re getting prettier, too, rather than going deep into the historical roots of drinks and obsessively categorizing them as earlier books in the genre did.

The Monarch Book of Cocktails is something else entirely—a unique and detail-driven book for a unique and detail-driven cocktail bar, which redefined luxury nightlife in KC when it opened on the Plaza five years ago. The drinks might be described as “aspirational” for most bartenders, but beautiful photos and clear instructions make it possible to recreate world-class mixology at home if you’re willing to spend the time and money.

U N T I L R E C E N T LY,

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KANSAS CITY OCTOBER 2022

The book opens with a description of the bar’s spaces— no accident since owner David Manica is an architect whose firm designs stadiums around the world, including the palatial new Raiders stadium in Vegas and the new Golden State Warriors arena in San Francisco. Digital renderings of the original designs and finished spaces look like a mirror’s reflection. The text accompanying the images gets into detail about design choices and materials used.

The drink recipes that follow are detailed and clear, but even the simplest will require a little effort and a few trips to the store for a home bartender.

The Carriage Club (Tito’s, red wine, lemon juice and a syrup made from fresh berries and mascarpone) and the Kansas City Ice Water (Broker’s gin, Tito’s, Dolin blanc, fino sherry and tonic water) are probably the most approachable.

Monarch’s signature drink, the Louisiana Purchase, is more complicated, requiring you to make an infusion of two exotic liqueurs and orange peel and also a tincture with eleven ingredients including burdock root, wormwood and angelica.

The final mixed drink is then freeze-distilled for two hours before serving. (At the bar, the glass is chilled with liquid nitrogen, but you can omit this step at home.)

Several other drinks require making tinctures from tropical nuts, salt-curing egg yolks or making your own kombucha or tepache.

For bartenders in other markets, there surely are ideas here begging to be borrowed. For most people in Kansas City, the book is a reminder of how lucky we are to have Monarch in town and pouring these drinks for what now strikes me as a very reasonable fifteen dollars.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY A ARON LEIMKUEHLER

BUTTERFLY BOOK

TA S T E B I T E S

King G

Incahoots

NEWSFEED

WHAT’S NEW IN KANSAS CITY FOOD & DRINK

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ZACH BAUMAN, CALEB CONDIT AND REBECCA NORDEN

Alley Oop

A new bar coming to the Crossroads in early October will have just thirty-six seats and is aiming to be a spot where people in the neighborhood watch football on Sundays.

Jim’s Alley Bar (500 E. 18th St., Suite 102) comes from the team behind nearby King G, but it’s aiming for an “old-school feel” that pays homage to owner Eric Flanagan’s late grandfather, Jim, who passed away in 2016.

“He was an important man in my life—a WWII vet, blue-collar worker that was a rock in our family,” Flanagan says. “He was a man of few words and family always came first. He was someone I looked up to.”

The food menu at Jim’s Alley Bar is highlighted by an Italian beef sandwich made with flat iron steak that’s slow-cooked for half a day and served with the classic option of au jus, giardiniera, sweet peppers and provolone.

There will also be a sausage, onion and peppers sandwich made with a Scimeca’s link and served on a hoagie roll. The famous King G Taylor ham sandwich, which was pulled from the menu there because the processed New Jersey pork product made too much smoke on the grill, makes its triumphant return to Jim’s.

“My family is from New Jersey,” Flanagan said in a press release. “I wanted to put a New Jersey staple on the menu. We threw the Taylor ham on the King G menu as kind of an aside, but it ended up being very popular. We had to stop cooking it because we didn’t have proper ventilation. With Jim’s, we now have a hood system to cook that item and many more.”

Cocktails are simple—a Cuba Libre with housemade cola, an Italian Greyhound with housemade grapefruit soda—and the beer selection is described as “time-honored,” meaning classic macros.

The D in Detroit

The Detroit Pizza Craze isn’t over just yet, as a new Texas-based chain is bringing its square pies to a lot near the Regency Park mall on Metcalf Avenue in Overland Park. Via 313 opened as a food truck in Austin a decade ago, having been started by two brothers from Michigan. It’s going to share space with the questionably named The Crack Shack, a Southern California chain serving fried chicken sandwiches.

Wild and Quirky

Downtown Shawnee is fast becoming one of Johnson County’s top nightlife destinations. Now, it’s getting a new bar with a fresh concept that’s unlike any other in KC. Wild Child will be a “bright, quirky” bar with wine, cider and cocktails with little or no alcohol. Wild Child comes from Jay Sanders, the owner of the excellent cocktail spot Drastic Measures, which has an unsigned door on Nieman Road next door to Wild Child at 11022 Johnson Drive in Shawnee, an area we’ve previously dubbed “the South Beach of Johnson County.” Wild Child will open sometime next year, and Sanders says it will be “the perfect addition” to the area because “it won’t be like any of the other businesses on the block.” Also new on the strip, the former Hartman Hardware will soon open as Friction Brewery next door.

“I believe Wild Child is the perfect accent to turn downtown Shawnee into a destination nightlife district in Johnson County and Kansas City,” Sanders says.

Closings

Some sad news about the closing of three notable spots: Incahoots of Parkville, Pig & Finch of Leawood and Caribe Blue in KCK. Incahoots was a super-cute coffee and doughnut shop that opened in June 2021 in a former rail station with two 1920s Pullman train cars providing seating.

It will become a branch of Rochester Brewing and Roasting, the brewery and coffee shop in West Crossroads.

Pig & Finch had been open for a decade and was well-known for its fried chicken. The casual Park Place eatery was owned by the Iowabased company that also owns 801 Chophouse in Park Place. Caribe Blue in KCK was one of the area’s best Caribbean restaurants and was known for whole fried snapper, empanadillas and plantains. Caribe Blue’s social media pages have been taken down, and a sign posted on the door said it’s closed.

Caribe Blue

KANSASCITYMAG.COM OCTOBER 2022

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EXPANDED APPEAL Pitmaster LT’s sauce aims to become KC’s next hit barbecue sauce with a new Walmart distribution deal.

BY M A R T I N C I Z M A R

P

I T M A S T E R LT ’ S B B Q S A U C E has roots in a local pit, but unless you’re a hardcore ’cuehead or you happened to live off 87th Street in Lenexa, you probably don’t remember LT’s Finest BBQ, which closed in 1999.

“He had great food,” Brian Tooks says of his dad Luther Tooks’ spot, “it was just a classic case of picking a bad location.”

The location wasn’t right, Luther says, but neither was the workload. “I had to get out of the restaurant business because I was retired and I was not accustomed to working that hard,” Luther says. “If I was younger, I could have hung in there, but after thirty years in a business office environment, the work was just too hard.”

After closing LT’s, Luther went back to retirement—until Brian’s wife, Sherin Tooks, told him he should look at selling his sauce. That sauce is now scattered around grocery stores around Kansas City, including Whole Foods, Hy-Vee and Price Chopper. They also got into Dillons, the Kroger division that covers most of Kansas.

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And it could grow from there.

Pitmaster LT’s was recently selected to roll out at a hundred Walmarts after being given a ‘golden ticket’ at the megaretailer’s annual Open Call in Bentonville, Arkansas. Think of the open call like Shark Tank: Budding entrepreneurs get a half-hour to pitch their products to Walmart and/ or Sam’s Club buyers as part of the company’s efforts to rebuild American manufacturing. The businesses selected are put on the fast track to financial stability, says Brian, who has seen the program play out in his other job as a trademark and patent attorney.

Pitmaster LT’s sauce will hit Walmart shelves in March, at the start of the next barbecue season.

What makes the sauce stand out from the thousands of competitors on the market? Brian and Luther say their tomato-based sauce has “a very high-quality taste” and have marketed it, in part, on “what’s not in it.”

“We’ve very conspicuously said on the label that it’s an all-natural sauce, and we call out the junk ingredients that are not contained in the product— high-fructose corn syrup, preservatives, nuts, dairy, gluten,” Brain says. “We like to think it’s a very distinctly Kansas City-style sauce.”

It’s also designed to be “all-purpose.” I bought a bottle of LT’s sauce and found it hard to describe by picking out flavors—as it’s designed to be. The idea is to make barbecue sauce that tastes like barbecue sauce.

“I developed a sauce that doesn’t have any dominating ingredient,” Luther says. “Unlike a mustard-based barbecue sauce, unlike a vinegar-based barbecue sauce, unlike a thick tomato sauce made with lots of hickory—ours has all of those things in it but no one ingredient dominates the taste. So that expands the appeal.”

“I don’t think you would ever tire of it,” Brian says. “I think it pairs with everything on any day.

So in that sense, it has the potential to gain national appeal because it’s not a niche barbecue sauce.”

If there is a niche audience that the sauce does especially appeal to, it’s the pickiest and most forceful one of all: children.

“We learned over the years, from being in the restaurant business, that kids were our number one fans,” Luthur says. “Kids seemed to really like it.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY STAFF

TA S T E ’CU E C A R D

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SURREAL ESTATE

GROWING ON THE VINE A striking building in the Jazz District has been gutted and refurbished to become a cultural destination.

F

O R F O RT Y YE A RS , the low-slung but striking Vine Street stone buildings on the periphery of Kansas City’s historic Jazz District have sat vacant, boarded up, surrounded by a chain-link fence and splattered with graffiti. They stood as a constant reminder of what was once a bustling neighborhood.

Five years ago, a trio of like-minded local businessmen decided to take a chance and renovate the abandoned buildings, creating what they envision as a “cultural destination.” The project has become an integral part of the historic district’s planned renaissance.

“We see this as expanding the cultural corridor of South Vine Street,” says Tim Duggan,

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who along with his wife co-owns Phronesis, an urban planning and design firm, and is also one of the three community investors that took to this space. “We feel very strongly about renovating these old buildings and finding uses for them.”

The structures that make up the 2000 Vine Street location were completed in 1878 and for the next hundred years housed Kansas City’s water and street departments.

By 1978, the city had outgrown the location and shuttered the structures. The buildings sat vacant until 2017, when Duggan and his business partners stepped in.

Duggan, along with Shomari Benton, an attorney, and Jason Parson, owner of a public relations firm, banded together to buy the unique industrial buildings made of local stone and constructed with an undulating wave-like roof line. With collapsed roofs and portions of rotting floors, the city had listed the structures as “dangerous” and had deemed them unsafe to occupy. From floor to ceiling,

almost everything needed to be replaced or repaired, Duggan says.

The group’s aim has been to create a mixed-use location, and so far they are succeeding. The buildings already house their respective businesses, an art gallery, event space and soon-to-be micro-brewery.

The south building is fully leased, Duggan added.

With the renovations nearing completion, they are now starting to look at the nearly two-acre open space that abuts the back of the buildings. “We’re thinking about creating an outdoor space for events, a farmers market, maybe a community urban farming garden,” says Duggan, who noted that the long-abandoned Kansas City Workhouse castle across the street is slated to become a boutique hotel.

“We just hosted our first First Friday event with the art gallery here and we feel strongly that this place will become a destination spot,” Duggan says. “We’re breathing life back into it.” —DAWNYA BARTSCH

PHOTOGRAPHY PROVIDED BY TIM DUGGAN

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