Jack Gage American Tavern near the Plaza

Jack Gage American Tavern
5031 Main St
Kansas City, MO
Website


HOW I FOUND IT:  We had no clue where we wanted to go for dinner (typical) so I logged onto Urban Spoon's website, and this place popped up.

ATMOSPHERE (SCORE: ***):  This is really a mixed bag.  The outside of the building is rather unassuming, not giving any hints as to what you might find.  The interior was a lot nicer than I expected.  I guess when I hear "tavern" I assume old hardwood floors and wooden stools everywhere.  I kind of wish they had gone that route, as the carpeted floors and uncomfortable booths aren't exactly American Tavern.  The backdrop for the bar, some nice antique placards for Mr. Gage, boxing promoter, were very cool, but just seemed out of place with the rest of the decor, even though the walls are lined with old timey boxing photographs.  The Jack Gage signs should set the scene for the whole restaurant, with their Coney Island attitude, but instead the place just kind of seemed uninspired.  We asked our server who Jack Gage was, and basically the story is that the owner bought these signs at auction and decided to model his new restaurant/bar after them.  We were hoping for even a made-up tale about the incredible Jack Gage, great-grandfather of the owner, who always wanted to open a bar, or some such niceties.  Oh well.

FOOD (SCORE: ***1/2):  We started off with the portabella fries, which, as you may have guessed, were sliced portabellas that were breaded and fried, served with "come back" dressing, which reminds me of Pizza Shoppe's "pink stuff", a mixture of ketchup, mayo, and spices that is way tastier than it rightfully should be.  There were many other appetizers that caught my eye, like the "Shrimp and Smoked Gouda Grit Cake", or the fried catfish.  But there was other eatin to be done!

I chose the chicken and waffles, after hearing great things via the internets.  And I was not disappointed.  Two large chicken breasts (the menu says "boneless", but they were actually airline breasts, which still have the first wing joint attached.  It didn't bug me, but I know it would bug my wife, who hates chicken on the bone), crispy but not too heavily breaded, juicy on the inside.  These two babies sat on top of a big ol' waffle, and the whole thing was covered in a sticky sweet bourbon maple glaze.  I really liked the syrup, but I think some might find the bourbon to be a bit overpowering.

Cyndi got the crab mac n' cheese, another internet favorite.  We were reluctant to check it out, after the lackluster lobster mac I had at Bristol.  Any fears were dashed, however, when she received a giant casserole dish filled with what seemed to be equal parts crab and mac n' cheese.  It was decadent, rich, crabby, and wonderful.  The only downside?  It's a big-ass bowl of mac!  I love it as much as the next person, but I kinda wish it was offered as a side instead of an entree, because there's really only so much mac n'  cheese you can scarf, no matter how good it is.

My friend Travis, who joined us, was torn.  He liked the sound of the garlic and chile rubbed ribeye steak, but wanted a strip steak instead of a ribeye.  He asked our waiter if this was possible, and his wish was granted.  The steak was cooked nicely, and the rub was actually pretty flavorful (I'm normally a fan of plain old salt and pepper when it comes to steak).

Even though we were already stuffed to the bursting point, we had to try the banana-raisin bread pudding.  It was served with a sweet banana and rum sauce and had me addicted from the first bite.  It was big enough that the three of us were able to share, which was nice.  What wasn't nice was that the banana bread pudding was the final nail in my stomach's coffin, and once I got home and sat on my couch I wanted to die.  Not that this had anything to do with the quality of the food, I just wanted you all to know that I ate until I hurt myself.  Yay me.

SERVICE (SCORE: ***1/2):  Our server was polite and answered any questions we had, and never left us hanging with empty drinks.  However, he just wasn't very personable or enthusiastic about anything.  Which is odd for a fledgling hotspot like this place seemed to be.

VALUE (SCORE: ***1/2):  I thought the food was well priced for the quality and uniqueness of the menu.  What took some stars away from this category was the drinks.  To me, a tavern should have some good priced beer.  It's a no brainer.  But my Boulevard Pale Ales were 5 bucks a pop.  In fact, I think even the bottle swill like Bud Light was 4.50 or 5 bucks, if memory serves me.  A real bummer if you're lookin for a place to eat and stick around for some drinks.

OVERALL (SCORE: ***1/2):  Jack Gage American Tavern was a nice change of pace for us, as it's menu is simpler and better priced than most of what you'll find on or near the plaza.  The food was the high point, being a nice, comforting, almost 'soul food' menu; but the experience was dragged down at times by the ho-hum attitude of our server and the overpriced beer.  The atmosphere and decor could have been great, given the Jack Gage memorabilia, but instead it just feels like they said, "well, let's just build a place and we'll find somewhere to hang these freakin things".  A great concept that fell a little short in execution.  Hey, welcome to Kansas City dining!

Bristol in Leawood

Bristol Seafood Grill

5400 W 119th St
Overland Park, KS 66209
Website

 HOW I FOUND IT:  It's in a pretty visible spot in the Town Center shopping center, and a pretty well known area seafood house.

ATMOSPHERE (SCORE: ****):  A classy establishment, to say the least.  The exterior of the building is nice, not overly fancy, and easily visible from the road.  The inside is a mix of modern contemporary stylings and traditional seaside accompaniments.  The lighting fixtures really stood out, large round chandeliers that put out a very mood-setting glow.  Had my wife not been pregnant and feeling under the weather, I daresay I would have gotten some after a dinner in a setting like that.  ALAS!

FOOD (SCORE: ***1/2):  We started off disappointed, so maybe that affected our opinion of the food we ended up with, but I like to think that's not the case.  When we sat at our table, we received a small card containing their "low tides" tasting menu.  A four course prix-fixe meal that sounded very tasty, and was a good price at 29 bucks, which is pretty amazing, considering one entree item at the Bristol costs around 25 bucks.  Well, that would have been amazing indeed, but apparently they weren't offering it anymore that night. We both decided we wanted that four-course deal, and the waitress came by to take our order.  Once we held up the card, she got a look of horror and said, "I'm sorry, you weren't supposed to get that menu.  We can't run it anymore tonight, as we're out of scallops (first course was a seared diver scallop)."  This was even more disheartening, as this was at around 6:30pm on a Sunday or Monday, I believe.  I can understand running out of something at like 8:30 or 9 on a busy night, but a seafood place running out of scallops at 6:30?  Really?...Seriously?

After being so dead set on that tasting menu, we had a really hard time deciding on what to get.  We decided to start off with the Lobster Tamale.  We love tamales, poblanos, corn, cilantro, and lobster.  So why the hell wouldn't we like a Lobster Tamale?  Because they faked the funk, that's why.  A tamale is one of those rustic favorites that, the less you do with it, the better it usually turns out.  Instead, what we got was a whole that was less than the sum of its parts, a cornmeal mush with some lobster chunks thrown in, wrapped in a corn husk.  Which I thought was funny, because that dish was a tattered husk of what a "lobster tamale"  could, and should, have been.  Melodramatic I know, but remember, at this point I was still pouty because they played with my emotions on the four-course menu!

Then came the mains.  Cyndi got the ahi special, a literal brick of seared ahi with roasted yukon potatoes, asparagus and poyot sauce.  The ahi was above and beyond our expectations, a nice, large portion full of flavor, that was augmented perfectly by the poyot sauce, which is basically Bearnaise sauce with a reduced meat glace added, in this case veal.

Mine was not nearly as mindblowing.  I ordered the grilled Mahi Mahi, which I had eaten there before at  lunch some time ago, and remembered enjoying it.  What came out was passable, albeit under-seasoned and slightly dry.  For my side items, I had a choice of two, and opted for a coma inducing amount of carbs, going with the lobster mac n' cheese, and the lemon-asparagus risotto.  The risotto was quite nice, hearty without feeling heavy, thanks to the light touch of lemon.  The lobster mac and cheese kinda let me down, even though it was as advertised.  I was expecting something like a 'play' on mac and cheese, maybe with some nutmeg, chives, old bay, I dunno, SOME kind of seafood flavor profile in the cheese sauce itself. It literally tasted like regular ol' mac n cheese with some lobster meat in it.  It was more confusing than anything, and I found myself wishing it was just plain mac n' cheese, because I freakin love the stuff.

Desserts were a molten lava cake, which was accompanied by an almond tuille and some ice cream, and hit the spot.  Cyndi ordered a "Chocolate Velvet Cake", which in our minds would have been similar to a red velvet cake, but with chocolate.  Instead it was a big-ass piece of what tasted like a flourless chocolate cake.  Which is completely different from a red velvet cake that tastes like chocolate.  But still good.

SERVICE (RATING: ****):  Our server was polite and professional, and handled the situation of us having the Forbidden Menus well.  She was also very knowledgeable about the menu.  That poyot sauce I mentioned earlier, that I liked so much?  I had no idea what that crap was, and asked the waitress, who informed me of the ingredients without even stopping to think about it.  Thorough menu knowledge is always a huge plus.

VALUE (RATING: **):  Cue fog horn.  Bwa bwaaaaaaa.   Had we been able to have the ever elusive "Low Tides" tasting menu, I think the value would be great, sitting at a nice 29 bucks for four courses.  However, having our entrees weigh in at 25-29 dollars each, and a wack-ass tamale for almost 9 bucks, and desserts bringing up the low end at about 7 bucks, and this was a rather expensive trip to ho-hum-ville.

OVERALL:  Having been in a couple times, I can safely say that I just don't really see what the big deal is with this place.  While I did like the decor and the service, I was very let down by the actual food and the price that was slapped onto it.  I mean, I recognize that good, fresh seafood is hard to come by in Kansas City, and if you want the real deal, it can cost you.  However, I don't think that is a good excuse to charge out the ass for mostly run-of-the-mill fare.  I'm OK with paying more for a great meal.  If I shell out as much as I did here, though, I expect the food to be at least really damn good.  Instead, what I got was all over the place, ranging from really good, to mediocre, to just plain boring.

OVERALL SCORE: ***1/2

Pine & Bamboo Garden in Shawnee

Pine & Bamboo Garden                                   
10915 Shawnee Mission Parkway
Shawnee Mission, KS 66203
Website


HOW I FOUND IT: It's right down the street from my house, and I had been told by a friend that their Dim Sum is where it's at.  I have a soft spot for Chinese food, so it had to be done.  This review is kind of a double review, both for the regular menu and their special dim sum menu, which is available all during the week, but on Saturday and Sunday, they bring out the carts and let you browse.

ATMOSPHERE (SCORE: ***):  The exterior isn't much to look at, a typical southern Kansas City strip mall affair, but at least the sign is large enough you can see it rather easily off Shawnee Mission Parkway.  The only downside is that it's on this weird frontage road that is kind of a pain in the ass to navigate.  The interior is typical chinese restaurant fare, with random knick knacks in cases strewn about, and lots of those little kitties with their paws up.  It feels kinda sterile in there, except when we went on Sunday for dim sum.  Then it was packed full of large families, and there was a buzz in the air that is absent during normal service.

FOOD (SCORE: ****1/2):  The regular menu doesn't have too many surprises, but what is there is executed quite well.  This ain't your typical carry-out.  They also have a section on the menu with "Authentic Chinese Dishes", items that you don't normally see in a chinese restaurant around here.  I asked the waitress about some of the items my first time, because I honestly had no clue what the hell some of the stuff was.  She would tell me certain things were more popular with the Chinese customers, not so much with Americans.  I took it as a challenge, and got the spicy salty pork, which was like super thick, super salty bacon.  Delicious and unique. The other chinese restaurant  staples such as fried rice, lo mein, crab rangoons, and the ubiquitous General Tso's were all great.

The last time we went, though, it wasn't for the regular menu items.  I had been informed of their dim sum menu, and had to go check it out.  Dim sum is a Cantonese tradition of serving tiny plates of food that normally accompany tea.  For our purposes, think of it as a Chinese version of Tapas:  Small plates that are fun to share, and give you the ability to sample many different dishes.  What adds to the experience is that there are various carts loaded with these dishes, and servers wheel this cornucopia of awesomeness by your table, so you can actually point to something and say, "That looks good, hook it up", and they hand it over.  As the server hands you a dish, they mark it on your ticket, and at the end it all gets tallied up, most dishes being between 2 and 3 bucks a pop for 2 to 3 pieces of food.

When we arrived, there was about a 15 minute wait.  I thought this strange since I didn't see very many people in the dining room.  Our number was called, and the hostess took us to the back of the restaurant, which was jam packed with large groups of Chinese families.  We were the only whitebreads in the whole place.  Whenever you're eating at an 'Ethnic' restaurant, and you're the only American there, you know you're in for the real deal.  I always take it as a good omen.  

Now, on to the food!  I wish I would have taken pictures or notes, because we tried so many things, there's no way I remember all of it, or even knew what some of it was.  The beauty of dim sum is that there's bound to be something you get that you're not a big fan of, but it really doesn't matter because it's a small amount and you can move on to the next plate.  For example, I got the shark-fin soup, and wasn't really as thrilled about it as I had hoped, so I set it aside and proceeded to shove into my gaping maw a whole steam bun filled with red bean paste.  It had a springy texture on the outside, and kind of resembled a boob, being spherical, pale, and having a tiny red dot in the center.  I immediately brought this to the attention of my wife and brother-in-law, who were not nearly as excited about that as I was.  I am a child.  Anyway, the red bean paste was a new experience for me, and I loved it.  A vaguely umami taste of beans, but mostly sweet, almost like sweet potato puree.  The star of the show was the 'sticky fried rice', a dome of not-so-great looking rice that happened to be freakin delicious.  Cyndi's brother, normally not an adventurous eater (I'm pretty sure if he was on death row, his last meal would be chicken tenders.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, Henry, I'm just sayin), ate the living hell out of it.

If I could hop into my delorian and fire up the Flux Capacitor, I'd go back and be a little more patient.  I was starving for this meal, so I grabbed a lot of stuff off the first few carts.  As a result, I pigged out like a fatass, and was actually sad when more and more carts came around with roasted duck, shrimp dumplings, and a wide array of desserts, but I was too full to try any of them.  So my advice for this kind of meal is pace yourself, relax, and enjoy the ride.

SERVICE (SCORE: ****):  When we've gone for regular service, the servers have always been polite and attentive.  The dim sum is a little different because the servers mainly take care of drink refills (which they were on top of), and the others wheel the cart by and let you take what you want.  Regardless, the staff is friendly and while we were in the waiting area, I took notice that there seem to be a lot of regulars, and the people at the front (an older couple who i assume are the owners), would greet each one as an old friend.

VALUE (SCORE:*** for regular menu, ****1/2 for dim sum):  Their regular menu, while of a higher caliber than most chinese places, is just a tad higher than I'd really expect to pay for american chinese food.  It's comparable to Bo Ling's in that regard.  The dim sum can't be beat.  You pay a few bucks for each plate, and get a metric assload of food for a very good price.  

OVERALL:  As a regular Chinese restaurant, Pine and Bamboo Garden is above average, but nothing to make me gasp in awe then experience a blowing of the mind.  But when you go for Dim Sum, you are truly experiencing something special and unique.  I know there are other restaurants that do Dim Sum, but in terms of Kansas City dining, it's something that everyone should try at least once.  In terms of variety, quality, and fun it can't be beat for a sunday afternoon.

OVERALL SCORE: (***1/2 for regular menu, ***** for dim sum)