Fervere and Ibis Bakeries join forces, Little Freshie sets a closing date, and the Urban Grown tour heats up

Let the healing begin: June 25 marks the return of Cheese Slipper Saturdays to Fervere (1701 Summit). The summer mainstay, which has in the past drawn scores of sweaty people to wait in line at the bakery, has been MIA so far this season. That’s because Fevere has dealt with a couple of recent setbacks: two flue fires in its stone oven and the loss of its two most senior bakers. The staff has been making bread at sister bakery Ibis (12817 West 87th Street, Lenexa), selling it as usual from Fevere’s Westside storefront as repairs commenced.

Chris and Kate Matsch of Ibis Bakery purchased Fervere last year, following the retirement of original owner and operator Fred Spompinato, and the two stores have until now operated independently. But the Matsches announced last Wednesday, via Ibis’ online newsletter, that the bakeries have combined efforts and are editing the two menus into one.

Chris Matsch told me last week that he didn’t know whether the menu change would be temporary or permanent. He added that he planned to resume regular baking operations at Fervere as soon as the oven is repaired and an experienced staff is in place. 

That’s not all that’s in store for Ibis and Fervere. The Pitch reported last year that Matsch had planned to open a related business location at 1624 Grand in the fall. That didn’t happen, but Matsch told me that the plan is still in the works, with a very tentative spring 2017 opening and a new wrinkle: He wants to set up a grain mill.

“We’re in the grain belt, and there’s no mill in Kansas City,” Matsch said. The Grand storefront is, he went on, “under construction now, and we’ll have a flour mill there and be able to source grains locally.”

The business will operate in partnership with Messenger Coffee Company, which will have a roasting space on the second floor. (Matsch has family and business ties to Messenger.) The ground level café will sell coffee and baked goods. The Matsches and Messenger have not yet settled on a name for the operation.

“We’ll probably mill for other bakeries,” Chris Matsch said. “We hope that the new facility will lead to more collaborations, too.”

Baking bread and roasting coffee mean at least one sure thing: This is going to be the best-smelling building in the metro.

In sadder Westside news, Little Freshie owner Lindsay Laricks has decided to close her very cute, well-loved store (811 West 17th Street) July 1. Laricks explains that she is ready to move on to new projects, and that she and the space’s landlord are looking for a new tenant to open a coffee shop under a new name in the space. So set an alert on your phone: You have until the end of June to get your fill of spicy-ginger-fizz snow cones.

Out south, Garza’s Goodies, the neighborhood candy store at 8011 Wornall Road, closed June 12. The shop’s ownership announced via Facebook that the decision was due to financial pressure.

The annual Urban Grown Farms Tour takes place Saturday and Sunday, giving urban agriculture and gardening enthusiasts an opportunity to see how local farmers use the land. For $8 a person or $20 a family (family being relative; organizers will accept a carload of friends), ticketholders get to explore the land and meet the farmers at 31 distinctive spots from North Kansas City to points south.

Participants include the Gibbs Road training farm, a city-owned demonstration center that produces 25,000 pounds of organic produce annually, and Nile Valley Aquaponics, at 29th Street and Wabash, the city’s first self-sustaining commercial aquaponics farm. Nile Valley uses three trenches, containing 75,000 gallons of water, to support fish farming, with vegetables grown in tiers above. Visitors can also visit and meet the farmers at the Juniper Gardens Training Farm, home to the New Roots for Refugees program, as well as a number of educational, community and charity farms and gardens. See urbangrowntour.com for more information and to buy tickets.

Also this week:

Thursday 6.23
Port Fonda in Westport (4141 Pennsylvania) is celebrating its fourth anniversary all weekend, with specials each day through Sunday, as well as DJs, a vintage market and more. Details at portfonda.com.

Saturday 6.25 and Sunday 6.26,
The 26th Annual Blues & BBQ festival takes place Saturday and Sunday afternoon this weekend at the Sherwood Center’s offices at 8030 Ward Parkway Plaza. It’s a partnership between B.B.’s Lawnside BBQ owner Lindsay Shannon and the Sherwood Center, which provides programs for youth and adults with autism-spectrum disorder. The festival, of course, centers on barbecue, with music by 10 hand-picked blues bands. Ten bucks gets you in for a day, or you can do both days for $15. See sherwoodcenter.org/bbq for more information.

Sunday 6.26
The annual chef’s classic dinner benefiting Harvesters takes place tonight at the American Restaurant (200 East 25th Street). Chefs Michael Corvino and Nick Wesemann serve a six-course meal, with wine pairings. Since its inception in 1997, the event has raised nearly $1 million for Harvesters. Tickets are $250 a person. More information and tickets are available at harvesters.org. 

Also tonight is the Missouri Barn Dinner, with chef Martin Woods (PB&J Restaurant Group), at Powell Gardens (1609 Northwest U.S. Highway 50, Kingsville). The multi-course dinner makes use of produce grown in Powell Gardens’ Heartland Harvest Garden, which the facility bills as “the nation’s largest edible landscape.” The harvest garden artfully features dozens of crops, fruit trees and plants grown for food in Kansas and Missouri. Tickets cost $100 ($80 for Powell Gardens members); buy in advance at powellgardens.org.

Wednesday 6.29
The Aptly named Spectacle is a charity dinner tonight at the Boys Grow Farm in south Kansas City (9301 East 147th Street). The open-fire grilling event features what seems like all of KC’s most notable culinary names, including Howard Hanna (the Rieger), Ted Habiger (Room 39), Michael Corvino (the American), Jen Maloney and Janet Ross (Café Sebastienne), Broadway Butcher Shop and more. Expect drinks from Ça Va, Bluestem and Gram & Dun, and desserts by Elizabeth Paradise (Story) and Abbey-Jo Eans (Happy Gillis and Columbus Park Ramen Shop). The dinner benefits the Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired, and tickets are $125 per person. Go to ccvi.org/spectacle.

Also tonight, downtown French restaurant Charisse (1006 Walnut) hosts a Bordeaux wine dinner. Sous chef Joshua Hayes is preparing dishes to be paired with wines chosen by Marian Fuica, of wine importer Terra Firma USA. The dinner is $80 without tax or tip. Call 816-474-0000 for reservations.