Camp Guide

SUMMER CAMP GU I D E

How to Choose a Summer Camp Your Kids Will Love and That You Approve – Even Amid a Pandemic

BY KIMBERLY BLAKER

Whether you're looking for enrichment for your child, a way to keep your kids occupied and supervised while you work, or need a short reprieve from parenting, there's sure to be a summer camp that's the right fit for your child and family. Even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, many summer camps will be up and running either offering alternative programs or by following safety protocols to reduce the risk to campers and staff.

The Benefits of Summer Camp

SUMMER CAMP offers kids plenty of benefits, and many kids are thrilled with the idea of going away to summer camp. Still, for some kids, particularly those who are shy, introverted, or homebodies, the thought of going away for a night, let alone a week or more, can cause considerable anxiety. When kids are adamantly opposed, forcing summer camp on them may not be in their best interest.

But for kids who are eager – or at least willing to give it a shot without much fuss – summer camp offers opportunities kids may not have elsewhere.

Summer camp provides kids the following benefits:

Fosters independence

A place to develop new and lasting friendships

Development of new skills

Discovery of new interests and hobbies

The opportunity for creative expression

A break from being plugged-in

Daily exercise

Improves their self-esteem

Teaches kids to work with others

Makes them feel part of a community

Prevents or reduces summer learning loss

Getting Started in Your Search

BEFORE YOU BEGIN looking into summer camps, create a list of the criteria you’re looking for. Here are some things you’ll want to consider. • What is your budget for summer camp? • What is the purpose of sending your child to summer camp? • Do you want a resident (overnight) or a day camp? • Are you looking for a short-term (week or two) or summer-long program? • Do you want a camp that’s very structured or one that provides your child with lots of freedom and choices?

“But do keep your child's choices in mind to ensure your child gets the most out of summer camp.

• What are your child’s passions, such as a particular sport, hobby, or other interest? Once you’ve narrowed down some of the criteria, you can begin your search. An excellent place to start is your local parenting magazine. Many summer camps advertise in local parenting publications found at newsstands and online. Also, visit http://www. summercamps.com/, where you can search by zip code or category. The American Camp Association (ACA) accredits summer camps. So this is another excellent place to look. The ACA educates camp owners and directors in health and safety for both staff and campers as well as program quality. It then accredits camps that meet the ACA’s standards.

Next Steps to Finding the Perfect Summer Camp

ONCE YOU'VE SELECTED a few summer camps that meet your primary criteria, and that fit your child's interests, share the choices with your child to see what excites him or her. Be sure to let your child know upfront that you still need to thoroughly investigate the camp(s) before making a final decision. But do keep your child's choices in mind to ensure your child gets the most out of summer camp.

Once you and your child have narrowed the list down to a manageable selection, you'll want to investigate the camps further. There are several things you'll want to consider.

IS THIS CAMP A SAFE OPTION FOR MY CHILD AND FAMILY DURING THE PANDEMIC?

Many summer camps are now offering virtual programs so kids can benefit from summer camp without the risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19. Virtual summer camps range from a couple of hours a day to all-day camps offering a broad range of virtual activities led by counselors. Virtual summer camp programs range from free to several hundred dollars.

PERHAPS YOU'RE CONSIDERING SENDING YOUR CHILD TO AN INPERSON SUMMER CAMP.

If so, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) offers suggestions on how summer camp programs can reduce campers' risk during the pandemic. Recommendations include promoting behaviors to minimize spread, maintaining a healthy environment, maintaining healthy operations, being prepared for when someone gets sick, and special considerations for overnight camps. When considering an in-person summer camp, review the CDC's more detailed recommendations found at https://www.cdc. gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schoolschildcare/summer-camps.html. Then compile questions to ask the summer camp you're considering to make sure it adheres to these safety protocols.

More Questions to Consider

WHAT ARE THE STAFF'S QUALIFICATIONS?

Many summer camps use teens to staff the camps. Teens make excellent mentors and can bring liveliness to summer camp programs. However, the programs themselves should be developed by professionals and have professional oversight to ensure kids are getting the most from their camp experience.

HOW DOES THE CAMP ENSURE YOUR CHILD'S SAFETY?

Find out what kind of safety training the camp provides its staffers. Also, is there staff on hand at all times that knows CPR? What are the camp's procedures in the event your child becomes ill, has an accident, or an emergency?

WHAT IS THE DAILY SCHEDULE FOR CAMPERS?

Ask for a daily itinerary, so you know your child will be getting everything you and your child anticipate from the program.

WHAT ARE THE RULES?

Each camp has its own set of rules. So, find out whether your child is allowed to call you. If it's a summer-long residential camp, can parents come and visit? Can kids bring along a cell phone or electronics? Also, how much money can they bring, and how is it managed?

DON'T SWEAT IT

Keep in mind, although there are many great camps, no camp is likely to offer everything precisely the way you want it. Just choose the one that best fits your child and satisfies your most important criteria. Remember, your child will have many summers to come and plenty more opportunities to work in more exciting camp experiences.

Camp Listings

Summer at Barstow

Kansas City’s favorite summer camps for kids ages 3-14! Choose from 600+offerings. Campers love Summer at Barstow’s action-packed adventures in creative arts, athletics, academics and STEAM, plus field trips to the city’s best attractions. Parents love our experienced instructors, 4:1 camper-to-staff ratio and extended care options. Summer at Barstow offers camps for every budget, age, interest, and schedule. Extended care available. May 23-Aug. 12.

11511 State Line Rd., Kansas City 816.277.0445 barstowschool.org/summer

Camp Invention

Thanks to amazing reviews from parents, teachers and most of all – campers, Camp Invention is back! Spark your kid’s creativity and confidence with Camp Invention’s exclusive program, Explore! Campers in grades K-6 collaborate with friends in hands-on, openended STEM adventures designed to inspire curiosity, stretch imaginations and give your explorer an epic summer experience. They’ll dive into ocean research with their own robotic fish, develop inventions for space exploration, build a spinning robot artist, and design a mega-marble arcade! There are a limited number of spots available and they fill up quickly.

Multiple locations 800.968.4332 invent.org/save

Camps For Kids

Camps for Kids works to assure that no Kansas City area child will be turned away from summer camp because of low income or physical or developmental disabilities. Founded by Marjorie Powell All in 1981 when the Federal government discontinued a program providing summer camp to children with disabilities or financial need at no cost to their families.

Children attending Camp for Kids are transformed by the learning, growth, and acceptance from camp. To be among peers who share similar life challenges is comforting and fosters interpersonal growth. Camp also bridges the learning loss between school years.

Many camps have a specific medical focus including chronic kidney disease, autism spectrum disorders, spina bifida, cancer, foster care children, bereavement therapy, visual impairment, developmental challenges, neuromuscular diseases, and congenital heart disease. Several camps have an arts focus such as mixed media and dance. Most camps have small staffs and utilize volunteers to conduct their activities. They focus on providing outstanding camping experiences for the children. Few camps have dedicated personnel to raise the needed funds to support the camp’s programs. Camps for Kids support is critical to their continued operation and success.

816.839.6496 campsforkids.org

Church of the Resurrection

Vacation Bible Camp at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection this summer offers a week where children attend HERO University for four days of fun, friendship and faith-building. Children will experience Super-HERO lessons from the greatest hero of all–Jesus!

Vacation Bible Camp is a fun week filled with Bible stories, games, music, crafts, service projects and an end of camp surprise celebration. Church of the Resurrection currently plans to offer Vacation Bible Camp at each of their five locations in the greater Kansas City area – Leawood, Downtown Kansas City, Blue Springs, Overland Park and Olathe.

Parents are always welcome to join the fun as volunteers for The Great Adventure, as children learn important lessons from the Bible about trusting God, persevering, and serving others. Suitable for all children preschool through grade 5. Camp runs from Monday, July 18th through Thursday, July 21.

Various locations throughout the city 913.897.0120 cor.org/VBC2021

City of Leawood

The City of Leawood Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department is offering a variety of camps for all ages and interests. This summer you can sign-up for creative and engaging art camps, including the popular “Art Party” and “Little Artists” camps located in the Community Center on the lower level of City Hall. Have a sports superstar in the

making? Be sure to sign them up for “Super Sports” and “Challenger Soccer” camps. For children ages 9-11 who aren’t afraid of heights, sign them up for the awesome “Challenge Adventure Camp” which takes place on the giant climbing walls and ropes course at Ironwoods Park. Don’t forget the outdoorsy kids with our curiosity inspiring nature camps including the “Half Day Nature Camp”. This year they will also be launching our “Rocket Kids Camp” where kids ages 8-12 will learn how to build their very own rocket.

Increased staff, and social distancing will be used so everyone can enjoy the fun safely.

Various Locations throughout Leawood 913.663.1954 leawood.org

Kansas City Missouri Parks & Recreation

Get ready for a summer full of fun at the Kansas City Park and Recreation’s Summer Enrichment Camps. Ten-week day camps are a great chance for kids ages 6-13 to stay socially, mentally, and physically active. Campers enjoy educational enrichment opportunities, crafts, games and safe socialization. The health and safety of staff and campers is the utmost priority so Kansas City, Missouri Parks and Recreation follows CDC guidelines for all programs. Summer camp is $80 per week with lunch and snacks provided. Camps are conveniently located at five KC Parks Community Centers throughout the city including Hillcrest, Kansas City North, Southeast, Tony Aguirre, Westport Roanoke Community Center. Scholarships are available.

Various locations throughout Kansas City kcparks.org

KC Watersports

You will find Kansas City’s premier wakeboarding, wakeskating and watersports school at KC Watersports. All Summer Camps are taught at their Cable Park Facility on one of our two cable lakes located just South of Spring Hill, KS. Camps are held daily Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Their passion is teaching people how to enjoy watersports at every level. They have the facilities and staff in place to ensure that every rider, regardless of skill level, can learn something new. Whether you’re new to the sport and have never ridden any kind of board before to the advanced rider wanting to learn a new flip or twist KC Watersports camp will fit every level of rider.

Included with camp is instruction from top level coaches, all of the necessary gear, and a light lunch. Campers must bring a positive attitude, swimwear, sunscreen and a towel.

25825 Edgemore, Paola, Kan. 913.783.4300 kcwatersports.com

Rockhurst

Summer at the Rock is a unique experience for both elementary students and High School students. The grade school athletic camps include: baseball, basketball, football, lacrosse, soccer and wrestling. The grade school academic program offers: future scientist, HSPT prep, musical theater, robotics, science enrichment and study skills. The High School student courses include: Magis academy, PSAT prep, summer credit, academic courses.

9301 State Line Rd., Kansas City 816.363.2036 rockhursths.edu

EATING AND DRINKING WELL IN KANSAS CITY

SEAING IS BELIEVING

During the late ’80s boom in boneless, skinless chicken—the era where pork was “the other white meat”—tuna was marketed as “the chicken of the sea.” That may have been a fair characterization of the smallest species, albacore. Bigger species are very much the buffalo of the sea: big, lumbering beasts who stomp their habitats in massive herds and offer up meaty pink flesh. The tuna tartare appetizer at the brand-new Ocean Prime relies on that meatiness, adapting a classic beef dish to aquatic environs. It works rather beautifully, with chunks of bigeye tuna neatly laid atop a fatty layer of avocado, a crunchy layer of paper-thin fried wonton and a kiddy pool of gin-

ger ponzu sauce. —MARTIN CIZMAR

LIGHTS ON WESTPORT

Welcoming three new restaurants to Kansas City’s oldest neighborhood

BY NATALIE TORRES GALLAGHER PHOTOGRAPHY BY CALEB CONDIT & REBECCA NORDEN

SINCE KELLY’S WESTPORT INN OPENED in one of Kansas City’s oldest buildings at the intersection of Westport Road and Pennsylvania Avenue in 1947, the district has seen many iterations of its identity— from family-friendly shopping destination (Pryde’s has operated since 1968) to hip restaurant harbor (RIP Prospect of Westport) to late-night party precinct (Johnny Kaw’s and the other Johnny Kaw’s). Lately, the neighborhood seems to have more appeal to out-of-town developers than locals: Denver-based Atomic Provisions took over the former City Ice House building in the summer of 2020. This spring, Nashville-based Tin Roof, an indoor-outdoor music venue, will open where Sailor Jack’s used to be. And of course, there is the new Taco Bell Cantina at the bottom of the Westley on Broadway apartments.

There is no reason to mourn: These new businesses should help reenergize an area that is still feeling the effects of the ongoing pandemic. You’re going to feel a lot less depressed walking past a brightly lit building than you will catching your reflection in its darkened windows. And there are still locals who are willing to put some skin in the game. This month, we check in with three new, locally owned Westport operations.

Guy’s Pizza and Deli If your heart broke when Joe’s Pizza shuttered in December after twenty-four years of feeding Westport’s drunken slobs, there’s good news for you: You can still get a slice of Joe’s original pepperoni (drizzled with honey, of course) from the new tenant, Guy’s Pizza and Deli, which opened in the same location in January. Owner Andy Miller obtained Joe’s original pizza recipe but opted to upgrade all ingredients, changing the finished product for the better. He also retained the entire Joe’s staff.

But there is one very important addition to the space: sandwiches. Guy’s offers several classics. You will find a glorious Italian sub loaded with no fewer than five cold cuts— prosciutto, pepperoni, mortadella, finocchio, salame—plus provolone, giardiniera peppers and all the other vegetables you’d find in an Italian kitchen. There’s a Reuben, of course, and a PLT, which is basically a BLT but with thick-cut pancetta instead of bacon, which is pretty genius. There are the basics to appeal to the masses, including a hot ham, beef and cheese or veggie panini.

Sandwiches do not automatically come with a bag of Guy’s chips. And if you are one of those wise, cultured few who appreciates the absolute glory of a crunchy potato chip on a sandwich, well, do yourself the ultimate favor and go for the PB&J Crunch. Imagine: peanut butter and grape jelly slathered on wheat, layered with perfectly crisp and liberally seasoned barbecue chips. This combination is crushed together in a panini press, delivered to you in a basket with a

pickle spear and, of course, a bag of Guy’s chips. You are drinking something cheap—a yard beer you would never order anywhere else, but somehow that PBR is as refreshing as you need it to be when you bite into the so-bad-it’s-good, sweet-savory unholy matrimony of warm peanut butter, gooey jelly and Worcestershire-imbued fried potato shavings. It does not look all that appetizing—just a sort of smushed, skinny earth-toned triangle with brown panini press lines—and it shouldn’t make sense. But the flavors come together in your mouth, and it’s not PB&J with BBQ chips: It’s bite-sized nostalgia, some long-lost childhood afternoon that you taste and remember and feel, like the sensation of running through a sprinkler or chasing down the ice cream truck. And you get to tear into it while you throw back an adult beverage, which is the kind of full-circle experience everyone needs once a lifetime (or once a week, depending on how often you find yourself at Kelly’s).

Miller keeps Guy’s as local as possible. Meats are sourced locally, bread is from Farm to Market. You can order slices and sandwiches from the walk-up window on Pennsylvania Avenue, or you can enjoy them from a stool at Kelly’s.

Westport Fish & Chips If you were going to illustrate joy, it might look like a funnel cake: a chaotic scribble, some powdered sugar pointillism, maybe a squiggly flourish to suggest a drizzle of hot caramel or berry sauce if you were at one of those fancy state fairs that had a line around the cart. Sure, it’s a chaotic mass of deepfried dough that retains no life or flavor five minutes past its birthdate, but if it lasts longer than five minutes, you’re eating that funnel cake wrong, loser.

The nice thing about Westport Fish & Chips is that you get all the benefits of carnival favorites without actually having to go to a carnival. There is that joyous funnel cake, and you can enjoy it at this eatery’s four-seat counter when it’s hot from the fryer. Of course, most people go to Westport Fish & Chips for the fish, and it’s very good here. You can get cod, catfish or shrimp, beer-battered and deep-fried and served with tangy tartar sauce. Order it spicy—with chili powder and Old Bay mixed into the batter—for a satisfying kick. Fries are bulk-ordered and frozen, but they’re crispy and salted, and they’re not meant to be the star of the show, anyway.

Westport Fish & Chips opened in July, and it shares a kitchen with Chick-in Waffle, located next door. Both fast-casual eateries are owned by Farid Azzeh, who has also owned and run Westport mainstay Jerusalem Cafe since 1990. Farid’s son Anas Azzeh manages both Chick-in Waffle and Westport Fish & Chips. He’s added a handful of other state fair staples to the menu—mozzarella sticks, honey-battered corn dogs, fried Oreos—that should help sponge up any of the poor decisions you made at one of the bars down the street.

The Peacock Some things sound like they have no chance of working—like a warm peanut butter-jelly-barbecue chip panini—and end in harmony.

Other things sound good in theory but fall apart in practice, like me with bangs—or the items I ate at two visits to the Peacock two months apart.

The new restaurant from Jeffrey Schmitz and Gene Switzer, owners of Bistro 303 next door, opened in the former Ragazza space in December. The layout has not changed since its days as an Italian taverna. There are still just forty-eight seats, including the slender bar, behind which hangs a television permanently displaying a bright male peacock in all his glory.

Befitting the peacock theme, this is a place that wants to show off its plumage in aggressive and sometimes bizarre ways. Chef Brian Mehl (formerly of Plate in Brookside) has plucked elements from global cuisines and smashed them together with a strange confidence. There are some perplexing options, such as hummus whipped together with beet puree and goat cheese and garnished, inexplicably, with paper-thin taro chips and crunchy brittle candy pieces. The tom kha gai—coconut broth soup from Thailand—contains gluey shiso noodles and smoked duck. On the happy hour menu, perfectly crispy calamari is served not with aioli for dipping but atop a bitter brown mole. The happy hour salmon was particularly baffling: Cooked, shredded and chilled salmon is mixed with mayo and sprinkled with olive tapenade and fried potatoes. Why?

Peacock’s vegetable dishes rise above the fray. Fried Brussels tossed in a beet-molasses syrup are quite tasty, and the chilled happy hour broccolini is uncomplicated and flavorful. And the bar is fully stocked with beer, wine and cocktails.

STRIKING OIL

James Chang, restaurant GM and food entrepreneur, is on a mission to educate Kansas Citians about Taiwanese cuisine.

BY DANIELLE LEHMAN

THE FOOD INDUSTRY HAS ALWAYS BEEN HOME TO JAMES CHANG. Born in Taipei, Taiwan, and spending his childhood in many cities across the U.S., the forty-two-year-old general manager of Waldo Thai was more or less raised in his grandmother’s rice shop, the noodle factory where his dad was employed and multiple American-Chinese restaurants where his family worked. “I basically grew up in a commercial Chinese kitchen,” Chang says. Everything in his life revolved around food and the hospitality industry. When Chang was just eight or nine years old, he asked his dad for a bicycle for his birthday, but instead, his dad handed him a step stool. “He wished me a happy birthday and said, ‘Now you can reach the deep fryer baskets.’” Those experiences helped James find his calling to produce and sell his own chili oil, a venture which now sells out in just hours when a new batch is released.

You’ve managed to develop two cult followings—your loyal customers at Waldo Thai and now the fans of your chili oil business. How do you develop those relationships? I’ve been the GM and not-so-handyman at Waldo Thai since before we had the gas connected. I said yes to the job because Pam and Ted [Liberda] offered me a chance to be part of a team that would change the face of Thai food in Kansas City. I’m horrible with customers’ names, but I will remember what you ordered the last time you were in. My whole service ethos is to try and make you feel like you’re visiting a friend or a family’s house—relaxed, full of chuckles and, most importantly, to send you home “fat kid wasted.” How did you get into the chili oil business? It was kind of a fluke. I used to buy chili oil from the Asian store until one day I saw the ingredient labels and realized there were a lot of additives in them. I thought maybe I could do better than that. We never did chili oil at my dad’s restaurants—I actually learned the basics by watching an old Cantonese cook I used to work with many eons ago. I try to source ingredients that are minimally processed, and I personally make all batches by hand. I’ve been really lucky with word of mouth and publicity. Now here I am, hand-bottling, -labeling, and -shipping four hundred-plusbottle batches. You clearly have a passion for sharing food with people. Why is food such a powerful way for you to build connections with people? I still remember the stories my grandma told me about being hungry and trying to figure out how to feed six kids with nothing, so food for my family is more than just nutrition. It’s about wellbeing and happiness. Also, growing up Asian, the words “I love you” were never spoken. I can count on one hand how many times I’ve heard “I love you” from my family. Love, especially with my dad and grandma, was shown with food.

PERFECT DAY

Quality Coffee

I would start my day at Blip Roasters for the sole reason that I love how their coffee beans taste. Family Meal I love Family Cabin in Belton. It’s a very old-school diner that serves chicken fried steaks, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, fried okra, fried pickles and pancakes the size of manhole covers. Dinner I love how Antler Room incorporates Asian flavors. Some upscale restaurants have great food that lacks soul—so thought out that it lacks a certain warmth. Antler Room always manages to elevate the execution while keeping the essence of a dish.

BERRY SUBTLE

At the Black Shire of middle Missouri, the gins come by the quarter.

BY MARTIN CIZMAR

AMERICAN GIN IS A VERY BROAD AND LOOSE CATEGORY—pretty much anything goes as far as botanicals are concerned, so long as a hint of juniper berry is “perceptible.”

Hermann’s Black Shire Distillery is one of the state’s best distilleries, with the pot tended by Derek LeRoy. His father, Paul LeRoy, has been the winemaker at sister business Hermannhof Winery for four decades.

For his new line of quarterly seasonal gins, Derek could go about as far afield as he wanted so long as a little juniper remained perceptible. A winter gin that’s groggy with baking spices? A super citrusy spring offering that could go racing into a greyhound? That’s not what he wanted to do. Rather, his two new gins have the same backbone, with plenty of juniper accented by a burst of bitter citrus. They’re riffs on the same refrain, wearing their family resemblance proudly even as the spring offering goes a little more into lemony and orangey territory while the winter one lays back with touches of clove and allspice. March is shoulder season, and if you’re lucky, you might be able to find both at Black Shire’s tasting room a block from the old train station in Hermann.

Ting’s Filipino Bistro

NEWSFEED

WHAT’S NEW IN KANSAS CITY FOOD & DRINK

The Brady Brunch

The city’s newest Irish restaurant, Brady & Fox, will be open for St. Patrick’s Day—or there will be a funeral instead. “If it kills me we’re going to make it,” says Shaun Brady. “Please print that: if it kills me.”

Brady should be fine. His “worst, worst-case scenario” is that St. Paddy’s will be celebrated with a small menu at the chef-driven concept, which he and co-owner Graham Farris, a longtime buddy who is also a chef, call an “Irish-American restaurant and lounge.”

Brady is best known from Brady’s on Troost, which carried his name but where he was only a minor partner. That spot won a lot of fans in Brookside, a heavily Irish Catholic neighborhood. The new restaurant will sit at 63rd and Troost, in the former Brookside Poultry Co. space. Although the whiskey collection will start small at Brady & Fox, Brady’s last project was especially popular with whiskey geeks—its collection of rare Irish whiskeys was only rivaled by a bar called The Dead Rabbit in lower Manhattan. “When we closed, we had a hundred and ten bottles of Irish whiskey on the shelf,” he says. “That was the most Irish whiskey by the pour in the U.S.”

Brady and Farris (“The ‘Fox’ comes around because his mom’s maiden name is Fox,” Brady says) have been working together for a decade, starting at the Ambassador Hotel and continuing with Brady’s and Conroy’s Public House together.

Brady & Fox will be focused on the food, with the chefowners hoping to showcase their talents. The lounge area in the back will be designed for diners to take a drink before moving into the main room, where they’ll be able to get meat pies or fish and chips, plus, on weekends, cuts from a whole leg of lamb roasted on the former tenant’s rotisserie. There are plans to do a full Irish breakfast after the opening rush slows. “I was tired of asking people questions, ‘Can we?’” says Brady. “Now it’s my place so, yes, we can.”

Plant Parm

The newest spot in the Northland’s Iron District food cart pod has been “seven years in the making.” That’s how long it’s been since Landon Isabell started doing vegan Italian pop-ups at his house in Portland, Oregon. Isabell moved to Kansas City during the pandemic and opened his plant-based Italian project, Landoplenty, which was inspired by his upbringing: “My second dad is Italian and owned Italian restaurants for over thirty years. I got creative, veganized his dishes and Landoplenty came to be.”

Italian food tends to make heavy use of cheese, and Isabell says it’s hard to get vegan cheeses that taste right. “Luckily, I’ve been vegan for ten years now and I’ve had that much time to experiment,” he says. “My biggest hurdle has been mastering the pastas, which require tedious dough-making and lots of muscle. But I’ve got it down now!”

Look for more from Isabell in the future, possibly including a latenight vegan drive-thru and a kava bar. “I have about twenty different projects in the pipes,” he says. “I’m a Gemini, so it comes naturally.”

Proving It at Parlor

Kansas City proper has been without a standing Filipino restaurant since KC Pinoy closed in the West Bottoms and Manila Bay Express moved to Grandview. That’s changed thanks to Theresa “Ting” Santos-Spencer, who is now serving staples like lumpia, spamsilog and adobo at Ting’s Filipino Bistro in the Crossroads’ Parlor food hall. Santos-Spencer is hoping to open a full-size restaurant in Midtown, at 1803 W. 39th St., in the former Blue Koi Noodles & Dumplings space, she told the Star.

Something Fishy

The closure of a sushi chain restaurant in the Power & Light district might not normally cause much of a kerfuffle. But the abrupt end of the Drunken Fish became the talk of the local food scene after the restaurant’s general manager took to social media.

Joshua Wilson, who has identified himself as the former general manager, said that there were “several red flags” that made employees and management wonder if the restaurant was in danger of closing. On February 3, he even emailed his boss to ask about those red flags.

“I asked head office if there were plans to close the location and if the staff should start looking for new jobs,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “I was told, ‘No. There is nothing to worry about.’”

The next day, he and other managers were asked to come to the restaurant at 10 pm to turn in their keys.

“These weren’t just employees of a restaurant,” Wilson wrote on a GoFundMe page. “These were people with lives and responsibilities. Companies ask staff to give two weeks’ notice of leaving a position and I feel that the same two weeks should have been given to the staff.”