Five Stars for Westside Local

If I was going to start a restaurant, first and foremost, the food would have to be excellent. I would set my restaurant in a hip, funky urban area, like the Westside of Kansas City. I would include some outdoor seating—how about a beer garden! Of course service would have to be great, and the food should be sourced from local farms and rotate seasonally. I wouldn’t be snooty and would of course welcome children. Let’s add something else… a kicker… why not a garden behind the restaurant? There we go, that’s the restaurant I would open.

That’s exactly what I got at Westside Local last week. It’s my new favorite restaurant in Kansas City. In fact I just ate there again today for a work luncheon.

Prices are reasonable—you can get a $11 sandwich or $20 entrée. There are lots of fun appetizers of local cheese and meats, and a terrific beer menu.

We sat outside in the beer garden. It was no frills, but just perfect: there were grape vines growing from the pergola and mason jars filled with wildflowers and basil on each picnic table.

Since we were all about local, I enjoyed a glass of Boulevard’s Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale. It was tasty. For dinner, I had the summer quinoia with pesto, squash, toasted peppered pecans and chevre. It was very good.

I tried Justin’s lavender carrots which were divine. Luke had a hummus plate, and wanted

me to mention that he especially enjoyed the grapes. That and flirting with the little girl in the high chair at the next table over.

I thought the service was great and the setting ideal. There is nothing that could have made me enjoy this meal more than I did, which is why I am giving it a score of a perfect 5 stars.

Now… who wants to go back, like, tomorrow?

You know That local restaurant on the westside

So another outing and another fine dining experience westside local cafe and beer garden was an extremely neat little restaurant in between downtown and the plaza. Since we all were a little slacking apps were owed by just about everyone. So after a wonderful cheese plate an some pretty good muscles I ordered a burger. Now I downgraded my meal which may not have been fair due to the mustard. ( I Gould have known to get it on the side.) it was just ok. Erin's $20 pasta really was lacking however moms Blt was superb and every thing else I tasted was great the little thig were what stood out to me the nuts crackers veggies and all of that was beyond good! Oh and dont forget homemade ketchup! Overall my only complaints were the service seemed a little lackluster and it was a bit overpriced. But the decor and small things were enough that I would still give it a 3.7 you did good Justin u did good

Gas Club turns Dance Club?

We're meeting this evening at a local bistro for our July outing, and there are some of us who haven't yet completed our blogging requirements.

You know what that means: The Appetizer of Shame.

What a system: The offending non-blogger has to buy an app for the group to share. We all win, right? The slacker is punished, the group is fed.

Wait a moment.

If a perennial blog bum consistently has to buy appetizers for the group, has he truly learned his lesson? And how can one argue that justice is being served if his finances are shared with his wife (who is a consistent blogger and very nice, may I add)?

Is that fair?

A more fitting outcome for this hypothetical situation is that the slouch have to buy an appetizer of shame AND:

Perform the Bernie dance outside the restaurant.

It's only fair.

For the future of the dinner club, we need to encourage blogging and discourage laziness. The Bernie performance would accomplish both. What say you, Gassies?

PizzaBella = Yum

The June pick was PizzaBella, an excellent choice and the pizza puts the Plaza's Coalvines to shame.  First I had to pick the appetizers of shame.  I chose a cheese plate, which was good, but the highlight of the evening were the brussell sprouts.  They were the best brussell sprouts, I have ever ate, and I have had some good ones.  I tried most of the pizzas except the anchovy that grandpa had and Michaels's eggplant pizza.  The marghareta, potato, sausage, and of course my prosciutto pizza, were all excellent.  A nice thin and crisp crust, the tomato sauce on the pizzas that had it was not overbearing.  I had enough left over pizza to last 2 lunches, and it was almost as good warmed in the microwave.  I give PizzaBella a 4.1 and would definitely go back.

A Little Slice of Pizzabella

Mr. Ref here.  This month we let our son's girlfriend pick the restaurant, she has attended the past couple of months because she was finishing up her college studies in the Kansas City area.  She picked Pizzabella and it was a great choice.  I had the Sausage pizza, no surprise there, however it was not your traditional sausage pizza, this one was made with fennel sausage, which is a little stronger taste.  I thought it was very good, the crust was very tasty, although it was tough to cut.  I also sampled a few other pizza's and thought the potato pizza was one of the best I tasted, all of the pizza's were good.  However, as good as all of the other food tasted the Brussels Sprouts were outstanding, I would have never thought someone could make brussel sprouts taste so good, but I think Mrs. Ref and I will be going back to order a pizza and feast on the brussel sprouts.  All I can tell you is, you have to go and taste them for yourself to TASTE how incredibly wonderful they are, and I am not a brussel sprout fan.

Our waiter did an absolute magnificent job and was very knowledgeable of everything on the menu, including the wines.  It was a great experience and I will go back, I gave it a 4 out of 5.

Outstanding Pizza in the Crossroads District

I need a weekly pizza fix to feel that all is right in the world.  It doesn't even have to be great pizza--just decent.  Just to be clear--there is no such thing as bad pizza, but not every pizza joint can boast outstanding, delicious, "oh man, I could eat this everynight for a year" pizza.  Pizza Bella can! 

 

 

We had a small group for the GAS Club this month, but the smaller group made it easier to hear what was going on at the table and easier to share our plates as well.  Becky owed the club some appetizers and wisely chose a cheese plate and brussel sprouts.  The cheese plate was good, although I'm not sure of all the cheese varieties.  There was Brie and soft goat cheese along with a raisin/walnut bread, mustard, nuts and a hard cheese with green streaks that tasted delicious.  But next to the fire roasted brussel sprouts, the cheese plate was forgettable.  A very hefty portion allowed all 6 of us to get a nice sampling with enough left over for Becky to take to lunch the next day.  The smoky flavor was obtained by cooking in the pizza oven at a high temperature.  Our polished, well-informed server gave us the secret recipe, but we will not be sharing that with our missing members!

We each ordered a different pizza and were able to sample 6 pizzas.  I'll need to come back a few more times to get through the rest of the list as all sound delicious.  Grandpa couldn't resist the anchovie pizza and the fishes weren't hairy, looked and tasted fresh, but--let's be honest--they were still anchovies!  Even Grandpa picked them off before devouring the crust and sauce.  My own Margherita Pizza had just the right mix of mozzarella and basil over a robust tomoato sauce.  My favorite was the Potato pizza--the potatoes were so creamy and buttery tasting!

A nice meal could be made of the brussel sprouts alone, but I couldn't return without ordering a pizza--it tastes great leftover!

Final Score from Mrs. Ref 4.5 of 5

 

The Farmhouse was Outstanding

Mr. Ref here, I missed the last GAS club gathering, because I was... refereeing, but I am sure glad I didn't miss this one.  The Farmhouse had an abundance of atmosphere and some very unique décor.  They actually had a wall made out of old doors, and if you didn't really look at it you would not even notice because it blended right in.  The wall-door fit right in with the rest of the ambiance.  This was month especially nice because our son Michael and his girl friend Kate were able to attend.  This time we had several people that did not blog from the last outing, so we were bombarded with appetizers and my wife opted for wine as her extra donation to the group.  The family had a great time talking about all of the activities they had already started this summer and all of the up coming adventures still to be had for the summer.
Let start talking about the food, I had Aged Hanger Steak and it was very good.  The steak was cooked to perfection and was melt in your mouth good, and the fries were homemade from fresh potatoes.  Even though it doesn't sound like much, it was delicious and one of the best meals I have had with the GAS club.  I also tried my wife's salmon, and I generally do not like salmon, and it was very good also.  I really enjoyed The Farmhouse and gave it a 4.5 out of 5.  I would definitely recommend the Farmhouse.