by Sharm | Jun 29, 2010 | Articles
Who dreams up ice cream flavors like Strawberry Balsamic, Sweet Corn, Pineapple Cilantro, Salted Pretzel, and Caramelized Banana? It is the one and only Christopher Elbow.
Christopher Elbow who nationally known for his exquisite handmade chocolates, has been a chef in Las Vegas where help celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse open Delmonico Steakhouse at the Venetian. He then moved to Paris (as in the Paris Resort and Casino) to help chef Jean Joho open the Eiffel Tower Restaurant. Finally Christopher returned to Kansas City to accept the pastry chef position at the American Restaurant. It was there that he began perfecting his chocolate-making skills, and is now a Master Artisanal Chocolatier.
Elbow, now owns Christopher Elbow Artisanal Chocolates, and has shops in Kansas City and San Francisco. He has expanded his passion for making high quality chocolates in unusual flavors, by opening up Glacé Artisanal Ice Cream. At Glacé he is taking a culinary approach to making the ice cream and is passionate about using real ingredients. You can truly taste the difference.
What I love about Christopher’s concept on his ice cream is that when available, most of the flavors can be made with local ingredients. With using local and seasonal ingredients, there will always be a new flavor every few days. He is even working with some schools and community gardens to grow different types of produce to use in the ice cream, and to give the children a sense of the farm to table concept.
The day I went, the flavor board had a Rosemary Caramel flavor. What? Rosemary Caramel, are you kidding me? I love rosemary! I love caramel, but wouldn’t you know it, that flavor was out!
Well, it was really not that unfortunate that they did not have the Rosemary Caramel flavor that day because there were so many other flavors I wanted try too. So, I finally narrowed my choices down to the flavors, Peanut Butter and Jelly and Goat Cheese Cherry. Wow! The PB&J had the nostalgia of the classic sandwich with an artisanal creamy twist, and was made with homemade jam. The the Goat Cheese Cherry, was a perfect mix of sweet creaminess and tartness. Unbelievable! But, I was still on a mission to get there when they has some Rosemary Caramel. I called the shop and asked on the facebook page when it would be available, and as gracious as Christopher is he kept me in the loop on when it would be in.
A few days later I got the message that is was made, so I got myself straight to Glacé to get a container and I was not disappointed. First there is a hint of rosemary and then the caramel hits. I am actually eating some right now! It is delicious!
With so many wonderful and unique flavors, and an actual chef in the kitchen making it fresh, I don’t think I can ever go to a chain ice cream shop again.
If you are unsure about some of the flavor combinations I have mentioned, don’t worry. Glacé offers a flavor for everyone, including the old stand by’s like vanilla bean and of course chocolate, three kinds of it as a matter of fact.
With the location being just off the plaza, it is the perfect place to get a treat after a day of shopping or dining. I recommend you take a trip to Glacé to beat the heat and enjoy some cool and creamy artisan ice cream in flavors that will absolutely make you melt. Enjoy!
Glacé
Sunday-Thursday: 12-9:30
Friday-Saturday: 12-10:30
4960 Main St., Kansas City, MO
816-561-1117
And as always if you have a great food find in KC. Email me
In Good Taste,
Sharm
by Sharm | Jun 28, 2010 | Articles
My spin, on Spin! Pizza.
I have been hearing such great things about Spin! Neapolitan Pizza that I just had to try it for myself. Well, what I was hearing was right. If you haven’t been you should take the time to do so. I was in awe of the delicious selections of the handmade pizzas.
I was there with my daughter for lunch. And with such a selection of gourmet goodness, it was a tough decision. After much deliberation, we finally chose the POLLO ARROSTO E CHEVRE (Roast Chicken & Goat Cheese) Pizza. It came with Caramelized Onions, Crimini Mushrooms and we added on the Onion Fig Marmalade. Wow!! Really Good!
The stone oven gives the crust just the right amount of crispiness. The combination of the creamy goat cheese along with onion fig marmalade was the perfect balance of salty and sweet.
Spin! has a great selection of pizzas, sandwiches, salads, soups, flatbreads and spreads. Spin! also offers a great selection of wines. 
At the Olathe, Overland Park and Lee’s Summit locations, you can bring in your favorite bottle of wine. The corkage fee is $1.00 on weekdays and $5.00 on the weekends. What a deal!
Although I had a wonderful lunch with my daughter, I was wishing there were a few more of us so we could try some of the other menu items. The rosemary flatbread with the roasted red pepper and goat cheese spread was just calling my name. I can’t wait to go back and try it.
Even thought it was just the two of us, and we could have finished off the whole pizza we ordered. We decided to pace ourselves and save room for the gelato.
Spin’s gelato is cool and creamy and comes in a variety of flavors. The gelato is served with a homemade Italian cookie. The cookies are made by Dicapo Foods, a local company right here in KC that makes Italian Holiday and Wedding Cookies.
Spin! Offers Spin! Club, a free club that earns you free pizza and more.
One more bonus that makes Spin! even better is, you don’t have to feel guilty if you over indulged a bit. You can take Spin! for a ride, a bike ride that is. Once a week, there is a meet up at each location for a 12 to 24 mile bike ride. Check out Spin!Rides for the details on times and locations.
Spin has 4 KC metro area locations, Overland Park, Olathe, Lee’s Summit and Kansas City. I was at the Lee’s Summit location and I loved the hip urban feel of the décor. The service was great and the food was delicious.
Take a spin and check out Spin! Neapolitan Pizza. It will make you dizzy with delight!
Visit Spin’s! Website for information on locations, hours and menu items.
And as always, if you have a great food find in KC. Email me
In Good Taste,
Sharm
by Sharm | Jun 14, 2010 | Articles
blanc burgers + bottles is an upscale burger establishment.
blanc’s focus is on gourmet burgers and, of course, all of the fixings to go with them.
If you’ve read my previous post from a few weeks ago on b:2 you know I just love blanc, and I was so excited when learned I had won a free happy hour for me and 9 of my friends from them on facebook. I thought “This is great that I get to share such a wonderful restaurant with all of my friends.” If you have a facebook and do not have them “liked” I suggest you do so. These guys are always doing cool stuff like that. I also mentioned all the yummy things on the menu that I still wanted to try like the Shatto cheese curds and the adult milkshakes.
The happy hour began with a couple of drinks and then we got a plate of sliders with their house made pickles and an assortment of all their fries. The Gouda cheese fries, the truffle fries, the regular fries and the sweet potato fries. All served up with the house made ketchup..jpg)
Well you know I couldn’t stop there because I had not yet fulfilled my blanc mission. I did get to check off the Gouda fries and I must say they are amazing. Imagine their already delicious fries and then add gouda cheese and bacon. Oh yeah!!! But I still needed the Shatto cheese curds and an adult milkshake.
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Well I was not disappointed. The cheese curds were warm and crispy on the outside and gooey melted cheese on the inside, and the shake was the Key Lime Pie flavor, it was sprinkled with real graham cracker crumbs to give it an authentic Key Lime Pie taste. YUM!
What I love about blanc and why I was so excited to share it with my friends is everything there is local and fresh. blanc uses locally supplied beef, bread from the local Farm to Market Bread Company which bakes their buns fresh for them daily. They use Kansas City’s own Foo’s Frozen Custard and milk from Shatto Dairy for their shakes. Even the beer and soda are local with such brands as Boulevard and Soda Vie.
Well I have to give a big THANK YOU to the guys at blanc and say my friends were impressed. blanc…I believe you just acquired a few more customers.
I suggest you gather some friends and check out blanc for yourself. And you don’t have to win a happy hour to enjoy blanc’s offerings. blanc offers a great happy hour at the Plaza location, Monday – Friday 3 p.m. – 6 p.m. With all sorts of yummy deals like:
Boulevad pilsner beer battered Shatto cheese curds with tomatillo chutne…$3.50
Peppadew poppers…flash fried, stuffed with goat cheese mousse….$4.00
Calamari ‘fries’…cornmeal-dusted calamari and lemon aioli..$4.00
Hand cut fries…$2.00
Truffle fries…$2.50
Sweet potato fries…$2.00
Boulevard pale ale onion rings…$2.50
Hand cut fries + smoked gouda fondue…$4.00
They also have a list of drink specials which include:
All Missouri 12oz beers are half price.
This includes:
Boulevard unfiltered wheat, pale ale, single wide ipa, & pilsner….all $2.00
Schlafly dry-hopped & apa, no. 15…. both $2.25
O’fallon smoked porter & 5 day ipa….both $2.25
bud light….$1.50
All large format Missouri beers are $3.00 off.
This includes:
Boulevard double-wide ipa, long strange tripel, sixth glass, & tank 7….$10.00
Schlafly biere de garde & gran cru….$11.00 bourbon barrel stout….$13.00
They also offer 1/2 price premium well drinks….$2.50
This includes: Smirnoff vodka, Beefeater gin, Bacardi rum, Jose Cuervo tequila, Jim Beam bourbon, Dewar’s scotch.
Last but not least wine. 1/2 price wine by the glass.
Kansas laws are a little different concerning happy hours so at the Mission Farms location every Tuesday is Boulevard nights. Enjoy $4 off any Boulevard Smoke Stack series beer and a Boulevard burger, an 8oz burger with Seeyoulater dopplebock onion marmalade, Boulevard pale ale mustard, sautéed mushrooms, smoked Gouda on a Farm to Market/ Boulevard unfiltered wheat bun. This special is also available at the Plaza location on Tuesdays as well. Sounds delicious to me!!
Visit one of blanc’s 2 locations today!
Missouri:
Country Club Plaza
4710 Jefferson Street
Kansas City, MO 64112
816-931-6200
Kansas
Mission Farms
10583 Mission Road
Leawood, KS 66206
913-381-4500
www.blancburgers.com
And as always, if you have a great food find in KC you think I am missing Email me
In Good Taste,
Sharm
by Sharm | Jun 10, 2010 | Articles
Farm to table dining at its finest.
The Farmhouse Restaurant is located by the River Market Area and tastes like it should be located at the farm (hence the name farmhouse).
The Farmhouse concept is “farm to table” which literally means most everything comes straight from the local farms and right to your table. This is becoming one of my favorite dining concepts.
The Farmhouse uses fresh seasonal local produce, meats and cheeses from local farms around the Kansas City area. There is a board that hangs in the restaurant that lists all the local farms they use and what products they get from them. Everything is prepared in a gourmet fashion and with it being seasonal there is always something different. The restaurant even has a garden in the yard there. I tell you it cannot get any fresher than that.
We were meeting some friends there for lunch and for starters we had the most delightful cheese tray with local cheeses from Green Dirt Farms and house made crackers. I had a luscious pear martini that paired nicely with it. I also got a wonderful French onion soup. I always like trying something new and saw chickpea fritters on the menu. I love hummus and chickpeas in soups and stews so I thought it would be a fun to try. I am glad I did, they were really good. My husband chose the BLT and it had this big thick slice of local bacon served up with all the fresh fixings on homemade bread farm French bread.
I got the chance to visit with the chef of the Farmhouse, Michael Foust. He is a magnificently talented chef and has been professionally cooking for over 20 years. He was getting ready to head to the local fish market to hand select the fish for that evening. He is very particular that everything served in the restaurant is fresh and full of flavor. Michael is one of the best chefs in Kansas City and has been featured in local “Iron Chef” type competitions at The Healthy Food Good Wine event and the Taste of KC.
So I mentioned earlier we were meeting some friends there for lunch. It happened to be my friend Shannon Hood, she writes for frothy girlZ. It is a fun website that features movies reviews and all sorts of pop culture information. Make sure and check it out.
I suggest scheduling a date and go to dinner and a movie with your significant other. You can get reviews on all the lastest movies at frothy girlZ so you can pick the perfect movie for you and have a wonderful meal at The Farmhouse.
The Farmhouse
300 Delaware St
Kansas City, MO 64105
816-569-6032
www.eatatthefarmhouse.com
HOURS :
Lunch:
Monday-Friday : 11am to 2pm
Brunch:
Saturday : 9am to 2pm
Dinner: Wednesday & Thursday : 5pm to 10pm
Friday & Saturday : 5pm to 11pm
Happy Hour:
Wednesday – Friday: 4pm – 6pm
Have a great time! And as always if you have a great food find in KC you think I am missing Email me
In Good Taste,
Sharm
by Sharm | Jun 2, 2010 | Articles
The Panty Dropper Margarita
A dangerously smooth concoction at Margarita’s Kansas City not to be missed!
I had a sample of this luscious libation at the Taste of KC and it was love at first sip. I thought, “Wow! I have got to spread the word on this” because if you have not had one you are definitely missing out! Finds like this are exactly why I write this blog.
So a few days later, I made my way down to the Southwest Boulevard location to get the scoop. Jason Chadwick, the Chief Operations Officer was gracious enough to give me the details. Thank you Jason!
This award winning margarita starts with blueberries, which those of you who know me, know I love a blueberry. I don’t know how many summers now I have spent out at the berry patch picking my own. I even tried growing some blueberry bushes, but that didn’t work out so well.
The blueberries are macerated and then infused with El Mayor Tequila. Blueberries and tequila, tell me…how can you go wrong? That mixture then sits for a week and half. What is left is this deliciously flavored Tequila (which I had the pleasure of tasting).
Once the Tequila is infused to perfection it is time to create the Margarita. It begins by muddling fresh or frozen (thawed) blueberries and a slice of lime in a glass, then add in the blueberry infused tequila, some Grand Marnier, add a splash of sweet and sour and presto you have “The Panty Dropper Margarita”. Once you taste it, you will know how it got its name.
Of course Margarita’s doesn’t have just great margaritas. The food is amazing too. My husband is a chips and salsa connoisseur and thinks theirs are some of the best in town.
The owners are Tanya Abarca and Jason Quirarte. Margarita’s was opened 25 years ago by their fathers who were great friends and loved golf. To try and earn money for some golf clubs they decided to sell burritos. Needless to say the burritos were so good they made enough for the clubs and were encouraged to sell them all the time and so Margarita’s was born.
Margarita’s has been so successful that in addition to their original location on Southwest Boulevard, they have opened locations in Lenexa and Gladstone. Margarita’s has a new spawn in the works they want to franchise called Margarita’s Xpress. This concept is going to have the same quality and delicious food they are known for packaged in a fast and affordable setting. Margarita’s Xpress is set to open mid July in Liberty.
With 3 locations around the metro, it should be easy to find one near you. Stop in and try out the Panty Dropper Margarita for yourself and see what happens.
Check out Margarita’s website for more information.
And as always, if you have a great food find in KC you think I am missing Email me
In Good Taste,
Sharm
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