%{}% Most of us know vermouth as that key ingredient in our martinis, Manhattans and other craft cocktails. But in Europe, the fortified wine — which originated in Italy in the 18th century — has long held a slightly more noble position: as an aperitif, to be consumed on its own. This is the spirit that Affäre hopes to resurrect…
%{}% When Kolika Elle Kirk was in grade school, a teacher was forever warning her, she says, “not to be so bossy.” The teacher’s words offended Kirk’s father, who was raising the future pastry chef as a single parent. “He got up right in her face,” says Kirk, who will tell you that she’s a bit on the Type A side….
%{}% A big part of a city manager’s longevity in Kansas City hinges on the support of the business community. Former City Manager Wayne Cauthen’s standing among civic and business elites began to wane, and that had more to do with his firing in 2009 than former Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser’s misgivings about Cauthen’s work. Troy Schulte, on the…
%{}% THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17 Tallgrass tasting, at Mike’s Wine & Spirits (21 W. 63rd St.), 4–6 p.m. Christmas Cranberry Blonde release tapping, at Rock & Run Brewery (110 E. Kansas, Liberty), plus, two-for-one growler fills. Great Divide Hibernation Ale, St. Bernardus Christmas Ale and Breckenridge Christmas Ale, at Waldo Pizza (7433 Broadway). Ravager IPA tapping and Star Wars: The Force…
%{}% It’s not New Year’s Eve without a party, and it’s not a party without live music. If you’re trying to fill your dance card on the last night of 2015, we’ve got some excellent options for you. Wet Ones, Phantom Head Blind Tiger, 3945 Main, 816-599-2908 Blind Tiger is not exactly a champagne bottle-popping sort of bar, but don’t…
%{}% Twitter handle: @iconArtworksKC Hometown: Born and raised in Kansas City — home of the world champion Kansas City Royals! Current neighborhood: Leawood What do I do: ICON Artworks is a family-owned and -operated art studio featuring the works of my uncle, acclaimed sculptor Robin Richerson. Our mission is to immortalize treasured icons in cast bronze, a timeless, classic medium….
%{}% %{}% Because New Year’s Day falls on a Friday this year, restaurants that might have been closed for the holiday will be open to capture business at the start of a potentially busy weekend. Even a few restaurants that have always closed January 1 — such as Garozzo’s — plan to be open. The Pitch has assembled a list…
%{}% %{}% New Year’s Eve is a night of high expectations, higher costs — those prix fixe meals can be pricey — and, often, highest drinking. But the last night of 2015 is like no other and deserves special treatment. Here’s a rundown of restaurants around the metro offering food and drink specials for December 31. Affäre 1911 Main, 816-298-6182…
%{}% %{}% Late on a Thursday night at Ça Va, as trumpeter Hermon Merhari and pianist Ryan Lee fill the small bar with lively jazz versions of Christmas tunes, I corner Jim Coley. The wine director for Gomer’s in midtown is also a partner at this Westport Champagne bar, and it takes relatively little — that is, approximately one splash…
%{}% %{}% What happens when an artist traces a chosen symbol, subject or idea to its limits? What happens when the artist brings us with him over that journey’s full trajectory? I wondered these things after looking at what may be the last of Robert Bingaman’s stunning nighttime swimming pools. His exhibition at Studios Inc., titled Until It’s All You…
%{}% %{}% A bucket filled with ice-cold oysters sits on the bar at Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar. While Shaun Mitchell, one of the restaurant’s shuckers, sets up his space, I tentatively pick up a bulbous, unattractive oyster with a rocklike texture. Despite having just been flown in that morning, this oyster and its siblings have the feel of…
%{}% %{}% The Phantastics, Carswell & Hope Free State Brewing Co. wants you in the holiday spirit. To purge any Scrooge-like inclinations, the Lawrence brewery has enlisted funk group the Phantastics and folk-pop quartet Carswell & Hope to play an annual holiday bash at the Granada. If you haven’t seen the Phantastics, prepare yourself: The mega group is fronted by…
%{}% The Phoenix has been home to a Tuesday-night jazz jam for 18 years. Much of that time, the iconic organist Everette DeVan has led the sessions. Guitarist Matt Hopper — a DeVan protégé who has just released his first CD, First Love — now hosts. Hopper’s crisp sound can dig deep into the blues or glide through a contemporary…
%{}% %{}% No one has heard much from beloved mid-aughts act the Republic Tigers — aside from a few intermittent surprise shows — since 2011’s No Land’s Man. But the band’s frontman, Kenn Jankowski, hasn’t been idle (and he says the Republic Tigers are still very much an active group). New Year’s Eve at RecordBar, Jankowski debuts his new band,…
%{}% %{}% Late addendum to the list “Things That Make You Nostalgic for Leaning Against Buildings and Smoking Cloves”: Emma Carter’s Junk, a hip, homegrown play stretching its legs at the Living Room. Carter’s script, plucked from the theater’s playwriting class and subsequent Writer’s Den series, follows two 20-something Seattle roommates seeking salve for old wounds. Junk-artist Gabe (Ben Auxier,…
%{}% %{}% While Christmas productions saturate area theaters this month, the Unicorn is staging a refreshing seasonal alternative — an anti-Christmas festivity, if you will, that’s both funny and heartfelt. I’m not sure what it is about Barbra Streisand that inspires holiday-season shows, but this is the second consecutive December that the Unicorn has put a play on its Jerome…
%{}% %{}% Every year seems to bring more doomsday articles lamenting the decline of the reader, charting the last gasps of publishing, predicting the death of the book. I don’t believe those articles. I work in a library, where readers still flock, publishers still have plenty of books to place, and the book is alive and well. It’s a heartening…
%{}% %{}% Bill Dietrich, the president and CEO of the Downtown Council of Kansas City, showed up at City Hall October 14 to voice his support for a proposed new Crossroads Arts District headquarters for architecture firm BNIM. The company’s eco-friendly building design, he said, was “transformational.” He called on members of Kansas City’s Planning, Zoning & Economic Development Committee…
%{}% Yes, there will be foil-wrapped baked potatoes. Chef Wes Gartner and his business partner, Jill Myers — co-owners of Voltaire, the bar and restaurant at 1617 Genessee, in the West Bottoms — have learned over the past couple of weeks that people care about baked potatoes. They’ve learned this because earlier this month, they signed a lease on the former…
%{}% The opening of a proposed restaurant-vape venue, 816 Vapor Room, in the Uptown Shoppes (across the street from the Uptown Theater), has been delayed. Why? The new article XVII added to Chapter 34, Code of Ordinances — passed by the City Council on November 19 — effectively regulates vapor products in much the same way that Kansas City regulates…
%{}% For blue-collar workers in Kansas City in the 1950s and ‘60s, a job at the Bendix plant was a plum gig. It was simple, it was stable, and it was safe — or so employees believed. That plant, which was also known as AlliedSignal and Honeywell — the companies that operated it under contract with the U.S. Department of…
%{}% Kansas City indie-pop quartet Captiva has been quietly impressing audiences in the area for a couple of years now, and the band finally has a digital release to show for its efforts. Captiva’s self-titled EP, recorded at Temple Sound with Tim Gutschenritter and producer Jeremy Wilson, is out today, and The Pitch debuts it here. Captiva’s four songs lilt…
%{}% The University of Missouri football team’s decision to go on strike last month if UM System president Tim Wolfe didn’t resign went down as one of the most important sports stories of the year. Here’s a situation where university athletes, whose exploits in competition make other people very rich, were threatening to withhold their participation unless certain demands are…
%{}% Tallgrass Brewing Co. is in the midst of major changes. Earlier this year, the largest brewery in the state of Kansas moved into its next phase, with a $7.5 million, 60,000-square-foot production facility as well as the opening of the Tallgrass Tap House in downtown Manhattan. But with growth comes hard decisions. So there’s good news — and, unfortunately,…
