Gabrielle Hamilton hauls her Blood, Bones and Butter to Jasper’s

• Melissa Hom
• Gabrielle Hamilton is elevating our discourse on food.

In January, local conversation about food devolved into hurling parsnips at one another on Facebook over whether KC is fit for vegetarians. So it’s a relief that February begins with an appearance by Gabrielle Hamilton. The New York chef owns the restaurant Prune and has an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Michigan. That combination means that her powerful 2011 memoir, Blood, Bones & Butter, evokes her parents’ food-intensive parties with enough visceral force to make a hardcore vegan suck the marrow out of a lamb shank.

Her book is now out in paperback, and at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, February 1, she makes a tour stop at Jasper’s Restaurant (1201 West 103rd Street, 816-941-6600). A $50 ticket to the Rainy Day Books event includes a four-course dinner made by chef Jasper Mirabile Jr. and modeled on Hamilton’s recipes. Specifically: minestrone with grilled-cheese sandwiches, “Mother-in-Law’s Eggplant Parmigiano Casserole,” Prune’s chicken thighs and braised fennel, and mascarpone ice cream with salted-caramel croutons. Hamilton spoke with The Pitch recently by phone.