The Antler Room is about to open on Hospital Hill, plus the week’s restaurant events
Since March, Leslie and Nick Goellner have gone over every detail of their soon-to-open new restaurant, the Antler Room. And it shows — their buildout of the space at 2506 Holmes Road (formerly Chips and Dips Mediterranean Café) is subtle and sophisticated, with custom woodwork in each room that highlights the custom tables (built by Leslie’s father, John), midcentury-inspired bentwood chairs and bar stools, and tasteful copper highlights throughout the space. The Goellners themselves planed and sanded much of the cedar now adorning the walls and on the base of the concrete-topped bar, having found a cache of cedar planks in the building’s basement.
The restaurant is divided between its two floors, with the ground level home to the regular dining room, bar and open kitchen, and private dining rooms upstairs that can accommodate up to 40 guests. The prep kitchen is also upstairs. When I dropped by last week, Nick Goellner was working there with sous chefs Nick Chiaro and Andrew Heimburger, joking together as they tested pasta recipes. A variety of handmade noodles and shaped pastas were arranged on a baking tray.
A handful of fresh pasta dishes will feature on Antler Room’s menu, which the Goellners say will change daily, depending on ingredients available and what the chefs want to do. Chef-owner Nick Goellner, a veteran of San Francisco’s lauded Boulevard restaurant, traces some of his pasta inspiration to a brief time staging at another San Francisco staple, Flour + Water.
“They have a big room above the restaurant that was dedicated to making fresh pasta,” he says. “I never saw a restaurant that really focused on one thing so much.”
While hesitant to give away every Antler Room menu secret, Nick Goellner says his food will have a Mediterranean backbone that emphasizes bold flavors — anchovies with garlic and chili flakes, for example. And the portions, he says, will be relatively light: sized more European than Midwestern U.S.A,
“A lot of our dishes are not going to have massive pieces of protein on them, because I think it gives you palate fatigue halfway through the dish,” Nick Goellner says. “The idea is that people can come in here and try a few things.”
In addition to pasta, Goellner is interested in using a wide range of produce and wild game as well as other less-typical proteins, such as local goat. (Much of the halal goat meat you can find in local stores, he explains, is actually from New Zealand and doesn’t taste as good as the local stuff.)
Leslie Goellner estimates that the restaurant will open the first or second week of October.
Thursday, September 29
Earthy and robust (and often unfairly maligned), beets are a fall staple. They’re also very versatile — as you can find out for yourself at tonight’s Celebration of Beets at Krokstrom Klubb & Market (3601 Broadway Road). Krokstrom’s five-course, beet-themed meal is partly a collaboration with Crane Brewing Company, which has recently released its tasty Beet Weiss. The dinner is $75, before tax or gratuity. Make a reservation by calling 816-599-7531.
Friday, September 30
Perhaps the most appropriate place to celebrate Oktoberfest is on the patio at Grünauer (101 West 22nd Street). The festival, in its seventh year at the restaurant, begins today and runs through Saturday night. Tickets are $12 each and include one token, good for one food or drink item (with additional tokens available for purchase via Eventbrite or on site). Grünauer is planning a special menu for the patio, while the restaurant’s regular menu will be available indoors. See Eventbrite for advance tickets.
Saturday, October 1
A block party tonight celebrates the first birthday of the Homesteader Café (100 East Seventh Street). On the street, the café is offering biscuits and gravy and bloody Marys and mimosas, starting at 10 a.m., with live music to accompany all that burger and brat grilling (which starts at noon). Homesteader is also offering a little something different inside, including a birthday cocktail and a free mini cupcake. No tickets or reservations are necessary.
Be the first to see what the Rieger (1924 Main) can do for brunch during its one-time (for now) weekend nooner. The three-course “Rieger Whiskey Brunch” starts with a chilled platter for the table to share, with options including smoked salmon with crème fraiche, arugula salad with grapefruit and mint, avocado toast on pumpernickel, and a salumi-and-cheese plate. Choose from baked French toast, a fried oyster Benedict, a blood-sausage biscuits-and-gravy plate or a French omelet for the second course. Rieger-themed chocolates from André’s, a cinnamon roll with orange zest, or an apple-and pear-Danish round out the dessert course. Naturally, Rieger whiskey cocktails will be available. Make your reservations through opentable.com.
Weston’s annual Applefest takes place throughout the weekend, downtown on Main Street. Sure, there is a parade on Saturday morning, and there are plenty of kid-friendly activities, but for those purely interested in the food, the Applefest food court has you covered: cider, apple butter, dumplings, pie and cookies. Once you’ve had your fill of wholesomeness, head downstairs at O’Malley’s pub for a proper drink.
Like goats and/or beer? Venture out to the Borgman Dairy Farm (777 Northwest 131 Highway, Holden, Missouri) for the night you’ve been waiting for. Visitors will first learn about the farm while sampling goat cheese with vegetables, crackers and fruit, while sampling Strange Days Brewing Company Beer. After a tour of the farm, guests will sit down to a dinner that includes a fall-inspired salad (with goat-cheese dressing), a goat-meat chili and goat-cheese cornbread. Tickets are available via Eventbrite ($25 for KC Food Circle members, $50 for non-members). See kcfoodcircle.org for more information.
