FROM THE EDITOR
14
KANSAS CITY OCTOBER 2022
Nina Cherry WRITER
Our jazz writer, Nina Cherry, has a fun story in this month’s issue about nontraditional spots to see ensembles perform around town, including Whole Foods.
Natalie Torres Gallagher WRITER
Natalie Torres Gallagher wrote a large portion of this month’s soup feature, including a memorable ode to the clam chowder at Earl’s Premier.
Zach Bauman
PHOTOGRAPHER
Longtime contributor Zach Bauman brought this month’s Loop section to life with photos of the adorable ducks at the center of a bitter feud in Lee’s Summit.
ILLUSTRATIONS BY JOANNA GORHAM
I
strongly associate the town of Grandview with its DMV. I live in Kansas City, Missouri, a city of a half-million people and one motor vehicle office (see page 24), so Grandview is where I end up any time I need to renew my tags. It’s not a negative association—my all-time greatest experience at any DMV happened when I showed up in Grandview to get tags for a used Volvo I drove while my old Land Cruiser was in the shop. Unfortunately, the seller had omitted one letter from my last name on that title. The clerk at the DMV was someone who enjoyed her job and obviously relished detailing all of the many steps I was going to need to take to fix this situation. “Can I just use your pen to fix the letter right here?” I asked. “You can’t just write something on the title. It’s typed! This is a legal document!” I thought for a second. “OK, just make the title out to the name it says on there.” And thus Martin Cimar left the DMV with a procedural victory and new license plates, a feat any man is lucky to accomplish once in his lifetime. This month, I found a second reason to smile about Grandview. That’s the haleem soup featured in this month’s cover package (page 48), which you’ll find at a cute little cafe called Housewife a few doors down from the DMV. I didn’t know which of the twenty-two soups chef-owner Anna Sorge had on rotation when I walked in the door, but I showed up on a lucky day. “It’s to die for,” said the guy working the counter, who seemingly enjoyed his job almost as much as the state official down the street. “You’ll have to let me know what you think. It’s my favorite one.” I haven’t had the others, but it’s my favorite, too. That haleem was inspired by Sorge’s Pakistani neighbors and is a green curry with lamb, warming garam masala spices, barley and lentils. I spooned through the bowl so fast I needed to blow on each bite, and I left feeling satisfied on a level bordering the transcendental. A great bowl of soup—probably more than any other food—can do that. Especially as the air starts to chill, there’s a certain satisfaction to having a whole meal in a bowl. With this issue, we tried to tell the stories behind a few of the city’s great soups, including the iconic steak soup the Plaza III was known for, which now lives on through mail order, and two African soups eaten with fufu, a dough-like ball of cassava that became trendy last year thanks to social media. It’s been a long, hot summer, and I, for one, am very ready for soup season. Here’s hoping Martin Cizmar EDITOR IN CHIEF you are too and that one of these bowls brings MARTIN@KANSASCITYMAG.COM you the same feeling I had down in Grandview.
C O N T R I B U TO R S
