However, this trend is changing.  Upscale dining is getting better all the time in Kansas City and one of the women making it happen is Chef Debbie Gold from The American Restuarant in Kansas City, MO.  Through its thirty-five years of operation, the American has become a culinary tradition in Kansas City, being the personal vision of the Hall family (of Hallmark cards…).  However, more than its backers, the restaurant is a destination because it brings a subtle mix of timeless classical decor and unpretentious contemporary American cuisine.

Walking into The American is an experience.  It sits four stories up, right next to the legendary Crown Center.  As you enter the restaurant, you move through a short entryway that opens up so that you can see the entire dining area.  Done in light wood accents, the most remarkable feature of the restaurant is the two story floor-to-ceiling windows that show a gorgeously scenic expanse of downtown Kansas City.  There’s just something very open about the space like the dining area flows out into the city itself.

Then there’s the food.  Chef Gold’s cuisine is refined.  It’s elegant without being the type of cuisine you need to speak a foreign language or understand the subtleties of molecular gastronomy to understand.  Plates are stylishly organized with an eye towards color and presentation.  Chef Gold has taken to heart the idea that diners eat with their eyes first and then with their mouths.  Indeed, I felt no small amount of guilt taking the first bite of both the roasted lamb belly (that’s meat, not stomach) and the La Belle duck breast simply because I knew I was ruining a piece of art.

Any such guilt was drowned out by the sheer pleasure of taking that bite, however.  Chef Gold’s food was nothing short of a masterpiece.  The lamb belly, served on top of what I think were peas and a tomato relish, was by far and away the best piece of lamb I have ever tasted.  It was simply roasted, lightly spiced, and let the lamb speak for itself.  The peas were a little crunchy, but the relish more than made up for it.

The La Belle duck breast was also very good.  It was served on a bed of sunchokes with broad beans and was one of the most tender duck breasts I’ve had.  Sometimes duck gets chewy or tough and my duck breast was neither.  The broad beans were earthy and savory and the Grand Marnier jus was the perfect accent to the duck.

Also, if all I wanted was a drink, I could have stayed in the bar above the dining area and had a cocktail with Willie, the bartender of thirty-five years.  If, while drinking my cocktail, I got hungry, I could have sampled something from the bar menu, which should by the time of this writing, include marrow bones served with some amazingly subtle mustard croutons.

The American Restaurant is a great place to get a first rate meal in Kansas City.  It’s service has been nominated for a James Beard award and it’s the only Mobil four star restaurant in the area.  More than that, the restaurant is run by good people who, whether they know it or not, are putting Kansas City on the fine dining map.

Chef Heidi VanPelt-Belle, who has served raw and vegan cuisine to celebrities in her home in Los Angeles, CA, is now a Kansas City native and is establishing underground raw vegan cuisine like she used to make in LA.  To share her food with the city, she is hosting an eleven course raw cuisine tour of the world.  This exciting living food event will feature dishes from Japan, Thailand, Scotland, and the Carribbean, meaning there is something for anyone who is interested in adding healthy, delicious cuisine to their diet.  Dishes range from fruit sushi, paella fresco, tacos fresco con verde, and a rainbow cookie supreme.  The smoothies being served with the meals were introduced last Sunday at a Smoothie Soiree and include delicious superfoods like goji berries, acai, and maca.

Not only will the evening feature great food, there will also be live music, visual projections, and a soothing, rhythmic atmosphere perfect for enjoying delicious food.  Live artists will be there to commemorate the event with their artwork.  Also, there will be an art auction to excite the art community.

Chef VanPelt-Belle has worked in the culinary world for the past 15 years.  She is a certified nutrionist who helps counsel people on their nutritonal needs, she is a culinary instructor in the Kansas City area, and she is a reknowed food product developer responsible for several vegan products you can find in stores.

Those interested in attending can RSVP online only at WWW.MEETUP.COM/SOLFUD/  Participants should know that living food is made from raw, plant-based ingredients, but does include raw tree nuts.

Chef Langlade bills Aixois as “simple” bistro or brasserie style eatery.  While he does present a plate that is neither fussy or overly complex, diners at Aixois should not confuse simple with plain or unappetizing.  The food at Aixois is amazing, and contrary to the popular myth that French food has to be heavy, it is very light.  It’s the type of meal that just makes you feel good.

The menu at Aixois is pure French bistro as well.  Start with the cold appetizer tray complete with cheese, salami, pate, and olives.  Even if you think you don’t like pate, Aixois will change your mind.  Some pates are overly bitter, but what I had at Aixois was creamy, mild, and almost sweet.  I barely realized what I was eating until most of it was gone.

After the appetizer course, there are several excellent choices for a main course.  In addition to nightly specials, which include cassoulet (a French meat/bean dish) and couscous (inspire by Chef Langlade’s family), there are several excellent dishes to choose from including duck and a succulent ruby trout.  To end the meal (if you possibly have any room left), Aixois makes all of their desserts from scratch on the premise.

To go along with your meal, Aixois keeps a well stocked wine bar.  You can order by the glass or by the bottle.  I had an amazing pinot blanc suggested by my watier which had a great citrus taste to go with the lemon in the ruby trout’s sauce.

Now, for those days when you’re just looking for a quiet place to relax instead of a full meal, Aixois is great for that, too.  Located near a beautiful jogging path lined with trees and shrubs, there’s no better place in Kasnas City to grab a cup of coffee from the barrista inside Aixois and sit at one of their outdoor tables.  There’s plenty of sun and if you get hungry, there’s always one of those homemade pastries…

Aixois is open for breakfast, lunch or dinner whenever you’re in the mood for great French food.  You can check them out at Aixois.com or just stop by and ask for Chef.

I had a lot of hope for this place.  Having been to Oklahoma several times before, I have never, ever been able to find fault with their Mexican food.  So when I saw the sign saying the place had been in business since 1975 and when I walked into to find the restaurant was two stories, I figured I had found Mexican mecca.

Sadly, this was not to be the case.

It wasn’t that Ricardo’s was bad per se, it was just that none of it felt made from scratch.  The Mexican rice was, I believe, Old El Paso.  The tamales were the same ones my dad ate out of a can when I was a kid.  The chips were obviously store bought.  And none of it was particularly inspiring.  How could it be?  It was all covered in cheap yellow cheese product.

I ordered the Ricardo’s Grande (see left), a feast including a chalupa (a tostada), a beef tamale, a chicken or beef enchilada, a beef taco and a chili rellano.  The chalupa was pretty good, the enchilada was very forgettable (I think I got the chicken), the beef taco was greasy, and the chili rellano had the flavor fried out of it.  The worst part was the canned beef tamale was probably the best thing I ate.

I know I am being harsh, but I kept expecting Gordon Ramsey to walk through the doors, enter the kitchen, see that everything was coming from a can and saying “You have got to be [bleep]ing kidding me.  Are you taking a piss?”

All in all, if you are not from Tulsa, I cannot recommend Ricardo’s.  It’s just not a place I would want to go if I am shelling out money for a vacation meal.  However, if you are in Tulsa, you should check it out.  I got all that food and a ton of chips and salsa for $11.50.  To me, Ricardo’s fills the same niche as Patrikio’s, it’s a place you go when you don’t want gourmet, you want someone to carry you out after you gorge yourself on cheap Mexican food.

However, this plain, Greek-sounding exterior hides something entirely different.  Something that must be experienced to truly understand.  For when you step into Patrikio’s, you are catapulted back to the 1950s and into an Italian restaurant fit for the Godfather…the glass candle holders, the dark, smoky bar, the overly large coat area.

To add to the unique ambiance of Patrikio’s, as you are escorted to your seat by the same hostess who has been the seater ever since I started eating there, you pass by an All-You-Can-Eat Mexican buffet filled with enchiladas (cheese, pork, chicken, or ground beef), refried beans, Spanish rice, taco toppings, and hard corn shells.  The taco sauce, which comes in mild and slightly less mild, sits in two silver containers in the back.  Tortilla chips are self-serve.

Further adding to the charm that is Patrikio’s is the fact I am positive that the food, especially the Spanish rice and refried beans, are the same Old El Paso brand that you find in the yellow cans at your grocery store.  To go one better, the taco meat and the enchiladas are laden with grease.

Even stranger perhaps is that every time I go, there are usually only 3-5 tables with customers (though on two occasions the place was at least half full.)  At night, there are no cars to be seen.

Still, despite everything, you probably noticed that I used the phrase “ever since I started eating there” and “every time I go.”  Despite everything that makes Patrikio’s notable, we go once a month, maybe once every six week, pile our plates high full of food, chow down and then repeat at least twice more.  We only go when we’re hungry because there’s just something about the place that requires overeating.

And when we leave, we groan because our stomachs are full and our hands greasy.  We wonder why we thought it would be a good idea to go and decide we should never go again.

And then in six weeks we come back, hungry for greasy Mexican food at the place with the Greek name.  We get sat by the hostess, who smiles in a way that ensures we won’t say much more than what we want to drink, and then we attack the buffet with gusto.

So, what are you waiting for?  Go…eat at Patrikio’s!  Why?

Because it’s Patrikio’s.  Because it’s different.  Because it’s there.

1. Tortilla chips
2. Tempura in sushi
3. Buffalo chicken strips from Cheddar’s

Tortilla chips and tempura were included for obvious reasons, but many people have probably not heard of Cheddar’s, a restaurant chain in the South, and that’s a shame.

Hands down, the Buffalo chicken strips at Cheddar’s are the best in the world.  They were so good that I both purposefully excluded them from my dietary restrictions and made my wife drive three hours to the nearest Cheddar’s on more than one Saturday so I could chow down on them.  To this day, I still savor the memory of the perfectly fried tender, moist chicken, and the tangy/spicy Buffalo sauce (which is pretty good on other things, like say vegetarian fajitas, French fries or rolls, but that’s another post).

Eating at Cheddar’s is a memory I share with my coworkers every time we drive from Kansas City, MO to Tulsa, OK.  Spotting the Cheddar’s sign peaking out from the trees near Joplin off I-44 has become a bit of a game.  I hold solemn my duty to inform anyone new on the trip just how good those chicken strips were.

Despite the fact that it’s a ringing encouragement to eat meat, I had always hoped that one day we could go to Cheddar’s on one of these business trips.  Still, somehow every time I thought we were going to get to eat there, fate intervened to keep it from happening.

All that changed the last time we went to Tulsa for business.  I can actually thank a snow storm that blew in and forced us to stay an extra night for giving us the opportunity.  I will admit I was a bit nervous as we drove to the restaurant and it only had a little to do with crazy drivers on the snow.  Honestly, a lot can happen to a chain in two years and I figured that the Buffalo sauce I knew and loved so much could have changed dramatically.

Fortunately, Cheddar’s didn’t fail me.  The sauce was still amazing and my coworkers admitted that they were some of the best chicken strips in the world.  Of course, I pressed them to name any better and got no response, but that’s a different post, too.

The moral of this story is that sometimes the big chain restaurants do get it right and if you ever find yourself in the South, find a Cheddar’s, and order some Buffalo chicken strips or just some Buffalo sauce.  You might find that you go out of your way to have it again and again.

Okay, so I am still working on the punch line, but despite that, this type of thing happens to me a lot because I live in Kansas City.  When you live in Kansas City, you have a lot of choices when it comes to steakhouses.  However, I don’t eat meat, so I have very special criteria when it comes to choosing my steak joint: the quality of their non-meat dishes.  (In case you’re wondering, the portabellas at Ruth Chris take the prize for the best veg fare at a steakhouse, but they are a little on the pricey side.)

So for my everyday vegetarian-dining-at-a-place-that-specializes-in-meat can only be found in Kansas City at the Hereford House, a Kansas City tradition for delectable steaks.  Their amazing non-meat dish is two triangles of perfectly deep fried polenta with a corn meal crust in a slightly salty marinara with black olives, artichoke hearts, and blanched asparagus.  It’s not healthy vegetarian cuisine by any stretch of the imagination, but it is amazing.

I still remember the first time I had this dish.  I was meeting my mother by the airport.  This really limited our choice of restaurants since we had to pick a place that she liked and that she could find driving.  (For those who have not flown into Kansas City, the airport is sort of out in the middle of a field.)  Oh, and she had to have a coupon for it.

That being the case, we ended up at the Hereford House by the airport, me grumbling the entire time about being veg, yet having to eat at a steakhouse.  I figured I would be dining on side dishes and rolls until my wife pointed out that they have polenta.  I tend to be a pretty big fan of polenta, so I had to order it.  Quite simply, it is the best polenta meal I had ever had.

In fact, my wife and I love it so much that we will go to the steakhouse just to order their vegetarian entrée.  None of the wait staff have given us crazy looks…yet.

Oh, and it should be mentioned that while I was munching on polenta and mopping up the red sauce with some of the Hereford House’s amazing rolls, my mother was happily eating her eight ounce filet, twice baked potatoes, thick and rich steak soup.  Everything she had looked and smelled amazing.

Anyway, the moral of this story is that if you need a great steak, come to Kansas City.  But, if you need a really great meal of Italian polenta, come to Kansas City and go to the Hereford house.  And don’t take no for answer.  They say they don’t serve it on Saturdays, but it’s always there.  I swear it’s so good, you’ll never miss the meat.

All in all, there really is nothing wrong with chain restaurants, per se, but I think most people agree that they lack something.  Call it heart, call it oomph, but true excellence rarely emerges from the corporate restaurant where consistency is king.

Make no mistake about it, consistency is the most often stated reason why chain restaurants prosper.  People go to a Chili’s or a Chipotle or a Cheesecake Factory because, while the food is good, they know what to expect.  It is human nature to find something comfortable in the familiar.

Still, I am not so sure restaurant chains are all that consistent.  During my travels, I have found little consistency in menu selection, service, or quality of food from one place to the next, especially not across geographical regions.  For instance, the best meal I ever had at an IHOP (which I ate on a business trip to Chicago…don’t ask), the machaca breakfast burrito, is not available in Kansas City where I live.  The service was just as poor as in KC, though.

Qdboa, a staple of many of my trips to St. Louis, went out of business in Kansas City because the service was so bad.  In addition, their restaurant in downtown Indianapolis is very hit or miss.

Still, the lack of consistency was never highlighted more than when I ate at the El Maguey in Columbia, Missouri.  For those not hip on Missouri Mexican chains, El Maguey stretches the state and serves really affordable, good Mexican food.  My wife and I eat at their location in Blue Springs, MO often, but we got to eat at the location in Columbia right after.

I have never had cause to complain about the food at the Blue Springs El Maguey, but for some reason, the food at the Columbia El Maguey was astronomically better.  There was no comparison.  It was so much better that had I first eaten in Columbia and then gone to Blue Springs, I would have been sorely disappointed.

Which leads me back full circle to the argument against chain restaurants.  I have discussed three chains: two national and one local that have wild variances in their ability to execute a good meal.  It would appear that I am just as likely to get good or bad food in a chain as I am in a non-chain; however, I am far less likely to get the chef’s absolute best in a standard corporate restaurant.  There is a whole risk/reward thing that to my mind seems to point strongly towards going to a local, non-corporate joint.

Again, I think chain dining has its place.  There are days when a Chipotle burrito, not a locally owned place’s burrito, just sounds good.  I still love Qdoba.  Yet, after really thinking about it, I need to ferret out the locally owned place more often.  Yes, sometimes it will not be as good as the chain down the street, but more often than not, I should going to find something amazing.

Photo from Qdoba.com.

Perhaps the nicest part of Spin! is that it has a wait staff.  A lot of new places around Kansas City appear to be saving on labor costs by letting guests get their own drinks, forks, and napkins.  Not that the exercise is bad so much as sometimes it is nice to sit down with a dinner date and let someone else worry about doing the work.

Spin! also really delivers in atmosphere.  The interior of the restaurants are attractive, with real stone tiles, the tables have stone veneers and the chairs are made from real wood.  The cutlery and dishes are also a step above a lot of other hybrid restaurants.  For instance, none of them proudly display the names of beer or soda companies.

Still, all of that is just the icing on the cake because what brings customers back to Spin! time and time again is the food.  On their regular menu, Spin! features rosemary flatbread which is fantastic by itself or accompanied by up to three different dips.  They also offer up to fifteen different types of pizza divided into red (tomato sauce) and white (olive oil glaze.)  These pizzas range from the funghi (a mixture of portabello and crimini mushrooms) to the Melanzane (eggplant) to Cipolla e Chevre (Caramelized onions and goat cheese).  Those feeling creative can also make their own creation.

Diners not looking for a pizza can try one of seven delicious salads (8 color or greek salad anyone?), home made soup, or one of four paninis including the decadent four cheese panini.  Those looking to add a few adult beverages to their meal can select a vintage from Spin!’s pizza-friendly wine collection or pay a small corkage to bring their own.

Once the night is over and eaters are stuffed full of pizza, flatbread, salad, and wine, it is gelato (Italian ice cream) time.  Spin! has a selection of ten different flavors ranging from double malt to chocolate chip.

It may be the wine selection or it might the gelato or then again, it could be the ambiance, but there is something upscale about Spin!  It is no fine dining experience, nor would it claim to be, but there is something a bit more elegant to it than some of the hybrid restaurants that have been cropping up over town.  This gives Spin! a dining experience all its own, which is a good thing.  Almost as good as the food itself.

I think it is the realization this is just not Christmas that makes me start thinking less about cooking and more about going out to eat.  Maybe it is the fact the sun sets before 5:00 or we are out Christmas shopping or there is some Christmas event we have to run too, but still around this time, I just want to be out.

All of which explains how I ended up parked at the bar at my local Mi Ranchito munching free chips and salsa and waiting to bring home carryout.  Not that I need a reason to eat at Mi Ranchito, which is pretty much becoming the standard for great Mexican food in Kansas City.  Still, there was something about the day that just screamed that standing over a stove would be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

But ah the power of food!  I am not sure if it was the veggie burrito (pictured above with rice and beans), the chips and salsa or the bite of my wife’s cheeseless chimi that did it, but after sitting down to a good meal, I felt a lot better.  Ready to face the world again.  Right after I slept off my food coma.

There is just something about the menu at Mi Ranchito that sets it apart from other Mexican places in Kansas City, which is saying something.  Kansas has a fairly good sized Latino population and it shows in the number of really good Mexican places all around town.  Still, our family (and many others given the fact they have opened 3 new locations in the last year) keep going back to Mi Ranchito.

More than likely that “something” has a lot to do with quality and consistency.  The food there is not flashy or terribly daring, but it is good.  Every time we go, the salsa is fresh and full of flavor, the margaritas are cold (not that Kansas lets us have takeout margaritas), and the burritos and chimichangas are stuffed far more than any tortillas has the right to be, which is why we order them so often.

Then again had we decided to order the border nachos (chips swimming in cheese sauce and refried beans, topped with lettuce, sour cream, tomatoes, and guacamole), the vegetarian fajitas (not your ordinary fajita dish…this one has mushrooms, zucchini, corn, tomatoes, onions, and peppers and can come with a side of champagne cheese sauce for those so inclined…) we would have been just as happy and just as full.

So, there is no way that what I had to eat tonight was healthy.  Too much fried, too many carbs, too much delicious…  Still, with the much needed Christmas break still several agonizing weeks away, my spirits got a big lift from a good meal.

If you are in Kansas City and are in need of a lift, check out http://miranchitokc.com.  The place is so good I take out of town visitors so they can taste authentic Tex Mex.  Any of their locations serve the same great quality food in a friendly atmosphere any time of the year.