Kansas City Food Blog

​Is it still a craft beer if it's made and sold for a warehouse club?

That's been the debate since Costco introduced a line of Kirkland (its in-store brand) handcrafted beers in 2008. The mixed case of four six-packs (Pale Ale, German Lager, Hefeweizen, Amber Ale) for $18.99 has returned to area stores.

While Costco hasn't said which brewers are contract-brewing the beer, it's widely thought that Gordon Biersch (it's a California brewery in addition to the brewpub you may know from the Power & Light) is producing the six-packs for the West Coast, while the East Coast and Midwest are receiving bottles from the Matt Brewing Company (makers of Saranac) in Utica, New York. The Costco packaging says the beer is produced by the New Yorker Brewing Co. based out of Utica, and the Matt Brewing Company is the only brewer in Utica -- hence the prevailing wisdom that the Saranac brewer is also contract-brewing the Kirkland line. 

​If your screen had a bit more glare this morning and your productivity was down for no good reason, you might want to think about some cures for your hangover.

"Hangovers are sort of like opinions. Every drinker ends up having one at some point, and nearly everyone feels the need to share its story," wrote Jason Wilson -- the spirits writer for The Washington Post.

Sadly, Wilson's litany of options is similar in scope and actual effectiveness to hiccups solutions -- most are not successful and require you to act in a foolish manner. But when John Henry is pounding twin railroad spikes behind your eyes and that cold, alcoholic sweat is leaking from your pores, you'll try anything.

​I get the feeling that at a restaurant convention, someone last year stood up and suggested that folks in Kansas City consume a lot more burgers than the rest of the country.

Smashburger, a fast-casual burger joint based out of Denver, will be the latest burger chain to enter the Kansas City market, with two stores slated to open in the spring.

The Star reports that the restaurant in Overland Park will be splitting a space with Starbucks in the Fountains Shopping Center (6555 W. 119th Street), where Starbucks is downsizing and giving up the west corner. And the Lawrence Journal-World has footage of the Lawrence location, which will be in the Bauer Farm development at the northeast corner of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive. 

Are ketchup packets a thing of the past?

​The act of eating fries just got a bit more complicated, or easier, depending on how you feel about ketchup packets.

At the tail end of last week, H.J. Heinz Co. unveiled a "Dip and Squeeze" packet/cup hybrid that allows for squeezing from one end and dipping from the other. It looks like the progeny of a McDonald's sauce container and a traditional ketchup packet.

It's been in the works for at least two years. The new packets will be rolled out nationwide this fall -- they're already in test markets in the Midwest (anybody seen any in Wichita?) and the Southeast. Heinz is not abandoning its traditional packaging, just testing alternatives. The market is too big for radical change -- the company sells 11 million cases of ketchup packets a year. 

​If you were surprised that Charles Ferruzza found Denny's pancakes to be the grand slam winner in his battle of the dishes last Thursday, now you can test them yourself -- for free.

Denny's is bringing back its free grand slam breakfast promotion -- the one that sparked such massive lines after last year's Super Bowl -- on Tuesday, February 9, between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. The original Grand Slam is two eggs, two pancakes, two sausage links and two strips of bacon, and typically sells for $5.99.

There are enough Denny's in the area that you could have second breakfast -- not that we'd encourage you to do that. But if you must, there are Denny's in Overland Park (10480 Metcalf), Kansas City (3832 Blue Ridge, 1600 Broadway, 6887 E. Front Road), North Kansas City (2117 Taney Street), Merriam (9001 West 63rd), Raytown (8810 E. 350th Highway), Lenexa (9471 Lenexa Drive), and Independence (3939 South Noland).

[Image via Flickr: House of Sims]

If you thought you were safe from the Jack in the Box mascot, think again. The taquito/burger chain is coming back to Kansas City, Kansas. [The Kansas City Star]

The story of how Parisi Bros. is finding success at area Costco and Sam Club's stores with its organic line of coffee. [Kansas City Business Journal]

Welcome to your nightmare or heaven! May I present ... the meat cupcake. [New Times Food Blog]

An investigation of cocktail foamer -- an alternative to using egg whites in drinks. [The Kitchn]

The twilight of The Corner Restaurant

Did I shed a tear when a friend called to tell me that The Corner Restaurant had finally closed its doors for good after a remarkable 30-year run in Westport? In a word, no. But I do confess that I felt a twinge of nostalgia for what the place had once been in its heyday. But that was back in the 1980s, when people would stand outside for as long as an hour to get a table in what had been the hippest morning gathering spot during those wild and crazy Reagan years.

The food was pretty good, back then, when the original owner Stephen Friedman was still running the operation; Friedman, who passed away in the 1990s, was a charming and vivacious restaurant owner and set the tone for those early, vibrant years. 

The Corner Restaurant would have turned 30 years old this month: Friedman opened the restaurant on a cold February day in 1980. While doing research on the building for a review of The Corner Restaurant back in 2001, I learned that Friedman's restaurant wasn't the first restaurant of that name in this space. In the years after World War II, the Meltis family ran a soda fountain and snack shop in this building called The Corner Grill. In the 1970s it was one of the city's first vegetarian venues: The Golden Temple Conscious Cookery.

Since the last incarnation of The Corner had gotten so dowdy and dull, it's hard to imagine that in the early 1980s, this same location was one of the most popular places to eat in midtown.

 

​You need plans. Fat City has a recycle bin full of listings. In this post, all our problems are solved.

It's Super Bowl weekend. But before you get to the big game on Sunday, this is a huge weekend for charity events in Kansas City.

The Horizon Academy puts on its annual fundraiser -- The Bayou Bash (seems appropriate with New Orleans in the Super Bowl) --- on the stage at Starlight Theater on Saturday. The Mardi Gras-themed event includes dinner, dancing and drinks for $100.

Also on Saturday, the Medical Missions Foundation hosts its Art for the Children Gala and Auction at the Westin Crown Center. A ticket is $150 and the event begins with a cocktail hour at 6:30 p.m.

And there's an adults-only fundraiser at the Kansas City Zoo on Saturday night from 7 to 9:30. "Kiss and Tail" is a presentation on the strange and interesting mating habits of animals at the zoo. The event -- which includes two drinks -- is $35 per person for Friends of the Zoo and $45 for non-members (add $5 if you buy your tickets at the door). 

​You might want to get flowers next weekend, but for now it's more important that you get your hands on a dozen chicken wings. Winter and football make wing eaters of us all. So stock up on wet-naps and tuck your napkin into your collar -- it's time to chew on the top five chicken wings in Kansas City. 

5. Willie's. Bar Food? Check. Beer on tap? Check. Signature hot sauce? Check. Willie's is a wing's place at heart. If you're craving wings downtown -- this is where you go late night. 

​Fat City caught up with Christopher Elbow to find out about a small-batch release of chocolate bon bons for Valentine's Day. For  the effort, he teamed up with Patric Chocolate out of Columbia, Missouri.

"I have used Patric chocolate before to make some small batches of bon bons. Last year was the first year that Alan [McClure] from Patric and I decided to do something on a little bigger scale and we sold out of the chocolates very quickly," Elbow writes in an e-mail.

Patric Chocolate is a micro-batch maker of dark chocolate, and this year's bon bon is a chocolate ganache. It's made from 70 percent chocolate as well as cream and butter -- meaning you might be full after one small square.