IN Kansas City August 2022 by KC Media

Fun Dining Venues Popping Up All Around KC

THE

ARTS ISSUE

AUGUST 2022 INKANSASCITY.COM

AT HOME WITH ART IN MISSION HILLS THE KANSAS CITY MUSEUM,

REINVENTED

FALL ARTS PREVIEW

The Spaces You Live In The Moments You Live For

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ASK THE EXPERT

I have inherited jewelry from I have from Q : familyinherited memberjewelry or I have jewelry Q : athat a family member or IWhat have do jewelry I no longer wear. I do with it?

that I no longer wear. What do I do with it?

First, it is important to know the difference First, it is the important to know the difference A : two most common types of A : between between the two most common types of appraisals associated with jewelry evaluations

appraisals associated jewelry evaluations based on what your endwith goal is: based on what your end goal is:

1.1.INSURANCE APPRAISALS INSURANCE APPRAISALS reflect the full retail amount,

reflect the full retail amount, which is ideal if you wish to retain which is ideal if you wish to retain & insure the item. & insure the item.

This type of appraisal can be This type of appraisal can end be goal is counter-productive if your counter-productive if your end goal is to sell the piece, because the value to sell thereflects piece, because value generally the “new”the insurance generally reflects “new”often insurance replacement valuethe - which times replacement value which often is a higher amount than what the times is a higher amount than item was purchased for. what the item was purchased for.

2. 2.LIQUIDATION LIQUIDATIONAPPRAISALS APPRAISALS or “Liquid Value Assessments” or “Liquid Value Assessments” provide the amount an item is provide the amount an item is likely to sell for an immediate likely to sell for an immediate payment situation. payment situation. Diamond Banc offers complementary Diamond offers complementary liquid valueBanc assessments, even if you liquidprepared value assessments, aren’t to part witheven yourif you aren’t prepared to part with your pieces. This enables you to accurately pieces. This enables you accurately determine the value of thetoinherited determine theinto value the inherited pieces and go theofdecision making pieces and go into the decision making process informed. process informed.

items does Diamond Banc accept? Q What items does Diamond Banc accept? Q:: What We are actively seeking diamonds, A : We are actively diamonds, jewelry,seeking fine swiss timepieces A : designer

designer Rolex jewelry, fine swiss timepieces including & Patek Philippe, and including Rolex & Patek Philippe, and bullion. precious metals, such as gold & silver precious metals, such as gold & silver bullion.

does the process work? Q How does the process work? Q:: How Set up an appointment and visit our Set uplocated an appointment and visit A : on the Country Clubour Plaza A : office office located on the Country Club Plaza or at either TIVOL locations. Clients also or at the either TIVOL Clients have option tolocations. leave their items also have the toan leave their items at TIVOL tooption receive evaluation at TIVOL to receive an evaluation within 24 hours. within 24 hours.

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Contents AUGUST 2022

72 78

62 Features 58

IN CONVERSATION WITH WHITNEY TERRELL The author talks about growing up in Kansas City, the difference between writing ﬁction and nonﬁction, and class divisions in our society.

KANSAS CITY MUSEUM When, then, and the dynamic now.

Departments

2022 FALL ARTS PREVIEW Looking toward a dazzling 2022-2023 season, here’s a compendium of what’s happening in arts organizations this fall and winter.

FAMILY TIES Gallerist Toma Wolff’s art-ﬁlled Mission Hills home has deep connections to her past.

THE ART OF THE POP-UP There’s a new business model for chefs wanting to break into the food scene, and it just might change the way we think about dining out.

On the cover

ENTERTAINING IN KC

OUR MAN IN KC

ARTS & CULTURE IN KC

BEHIND THE MUSIC IN KC

LOOK IN KC

WOMEN’S HEALTH IN KC

LIVING IN KC

FLAVOR IN KC

110

FACES

112

MY ESSENTIALS IN KC

IN EVERY ISSUE

Dancer Blake Miller with the Owen/Cox Dance Group. Photo by Kenny Johnson.

AUGUST 2022

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EDITOR’S NOTE

INKANSASCITY.COM

THIS MONTH IN KC

JOIN US THIS FALL! TICKETS ON SALE NOW! SCAN THIS CODE TO PURCHASE.

Chris Botti

Napoleon Dynamite Film screening and conversation with Jon Heder, Jon Gries and Efren Ramirez

Piff the Magic Dragon & Puddles Pity Party J C C C . E D U/M TC

BOX OFFICE: 913–469–4445 / MON.–FRI. / 10 A .M. – 5 P.M. DEAFinitely Dope featuring Matt Maxey

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New Dance Partners | The Ultimate Collaboration

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Soweto Gospel Choir Hope

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Doug Talley Quartet

An Evening with Nigella Lawson

Editor’s Note

You Can’t Go Home Again

Vol. 5 | No. 8 AUGUST 2022 Editor In Chief Zim Loy

(And That’s OK!)

Digital Editor Emily Park Art Director Alice Govert Bryan

f the 11 homes my husband and I have renovated in Kansas City and its environs, I’ve rarely been back to visit any one of them after we’ve moved. And that’s for good reason. The second house we tackled was a grand Colonial three-story brick home in Central Hyde Park. It was the ’90s, and I put countless hours of labor in stripping layers of paint (lead-based, of course) off elaborate moldings and trim. I hand-stained the hardwood floors throughout the house, and in the sunroom, painted the floors a classic black-and-white tile pattern. The grand foyer was stenciled floor-to-ceiling in a three-hued motif I designed based on a William Morris fabric. The home was even featured in a national shelter magazine, Metropolitan Home, and made the cover! We were pretty pleased with ourselves and sold it at quite a profit. I assumed it was because of all the work I did. A few months later, in conversation with a neighbor, he revealed that the new owner had confided that they had (his words) de-Zimmed the house. Everything I had created was erased. Honestly, that hurt a little bit. After that reno, we moved to Sunset Hill, where a 1930s cottage with a truly amazing two-story living room that needed lots of love was my next project. Once again, I sweated the details. The whole house, including the living room, was totally revamped. The former den was turned into a true library, with loads of custom-built shelves and a prominent place for a big-screen TV, because if there’s one thing I personally detest, it’s a TV in the living room. A few months later, in a casual drive-by (something I do after leaving any home, and I just can’t help myself ), I saw through a window the new owners had installed one of the biggest big-screen TV’s I’ve ever seen—in the living room, of course. I’m sharing all this because last week I got a text from a friend. He was spending the afternoon poolside at a house that we lived in about 15 years ago, and the new owners suggested that I stop by. It was and still is one of my favorites, and I live just a couple of blocks away. History told me don’t go, but I couldn’t help myself. Well, dear reader, I’m so glad I did. The new owner was delightful, and so many things that I had planned to do but hadn’t accomplished had been finished by subsequent owners. When we lived there the floors were all Saltillo tile, which I hated but didn’t have the wherewithal to replace. Now they were gorgeous wide-plank hardwoods. But some of the details I loved—a chandelier, the linen curtains I had sewn—were still there! That’s when I realized that when you leave a home, you must let it go. It belongs to someone else now and they must put their mark on it. They aren’t buying your house, they’re buying their house.

photo by aaron leimkuhler

Associate Art Director Madeline Johnston Contributing Writers Judith Fertig, Timothy Finn, Cindy Hoedel, Cody Hogan, Merrily Jackson, Damian Lair, Rachel Murphy, Patricia O’Dell, Jenny Vergara Contributing Photographers Corie English, Elise Gagliardi, Kenny Johnson, Aaron Leimkuehler, Leslie Many, Bailee Sirmons Publisher Michelle Jolles Media Director Brittany Coale Senior Media Consultants Katie Delzer, Nicole Kube, Krista Markley, Darlene Simpson Business Consultant Chad Parkhurst Newsstand Consultant Joe J. Luca, JK Associates 816-213-4101, jkassoc.net Editorial Questions: zloy@inkansascity.com

Advertising Questions: bcoale@inkansascity.com

Distribution Questions: mjolles@inkansascity.com

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Zim

AUGUST 2022

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We could all use a me-day, right? Have a self-care session— on us. One lucky winner will get 40 units of Botox valued at $560 from aNu Aesthetics and Optimal Wellness. Look your absolute best this summer! Enter by August 30 at inkansascity.com/the-magazine/enter-to-win. Good luck!

That’s amore.

When the school year starts and those lazy days of summer end, it can be hard to keep up with everything—especially planning dinners every night. After a long night of toting around the kids from soccer practice to dance rehearsal, picking up a pizza pie that will feed the family—and possibly leave behind some leftovers—sounds like a pretty good idea. We asked Kansas Citians for their favorite pizzas in the metro. Whether you’re looking for the best meat-lovers pizza, a Chicago-style deep dish, something unique like a crab rangoon pizza, or a pizza that’s a bit healthier, we’ve got you covered at inkansascity.com.

FACEBOOK

Gloves off.

@INKANSASCITYMAGAZINE

A Kansas City maker known for vintage-style hats, leather goods, wallets, and other accessories is creating a new game with Yardball, its newest product—and Kansas City is excited. Within six hours the Kickstarter campaign launched by Sandlot Goods to fund Yardball reached its $15,000 goal. Just four days later on July 15, the Kickstarter campaign reached nearly $40,000. Yardball is a handstitched ball that’s the “perfect shape, weight, and size to toss around anywhere,” with no gloves required. We chatted with Sandlot’s co-owner and founder, Chad Hickman, about the overnight sensation. Get the story at inkansascity.com.

Turn the page.

National Book Lovers Day is on August 9, and we’re here to help local bibliophiles find their next read with a complete roundup of the Kansas City metro’s local bookstores. After all, the month of August brings summer to a close, and along with it the end of vacation season—but not for book lovers. Books give you a free ticket to travel to any time or any place you wish, and local booksellers can help you find just the place you want to escape to within new pages. The owners who select the books that peek out from local store shelves spend their time getting to know Kansas Citians—what we want to learn and where we want to escape. Head to inkansascity.com for your guide to local bookstores.

AUGUST 2022

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This Month IN KC

August

WHERE YOU NEED TO BE AND WHAT YOU NEED TO SEE BY

Emily Park

AUGUST SPOTLIGHT Spotlight: Charlie Parker August 23-27 Various Locations spotlightcharlieparker.org

816 Day August 5–16 Various locations dnakcmo.org/816-day Kansas City here we come! In 2018, former Kansas City Mayor Sly James signed a resolution that declared August 16 as 816 Day, Kansas City’s own holiday. The festivities celebrate Kansas City culture with live entertainment, branded events, and special deals put on by the Downtown Council, Downtown Neighborhood Association, KC Streetcar, Art in the Loop, and Power & Light District. This year, the 816 Day Planning Committee is bringing back 816 Day Scavenger Hunt Bingo starting on August 5 and leading up to August 16. The bingo card invites Kansas Citians to discover destinations along the KC Streetcar route. Spots on this year’s bingo card are still under wraps, but last year’s card directed participants to 36 places including Union Station, Tom’s Town, Mildred’s, City Market Coffee, and Steamboat Arabia. To complete the bingo card, snap a QR code or pick up a sticker from each spot on the card. Bingo players will hand in their completed cards at the 816 Day Celebration at City Market on August 16 for a chance to win gift cards to local businesses and other prizes. The 816 Day party starts at 5 p.m. and includes performances from The Black Creatures, Circus Scorpius, and Kyle Jones, plus other activities to be announced. From August 5–16 participating businesses will have $8.16 specials. So far, this year’s specials include a City Market tee for $8.16 with the purchase of a tee at HyperKC, with more specials to be announced soon.

Ethnic Enrichment Festival August 19–21 Swope Park eeckc.org Around the world. Travel the world without leaving Kansas City. One of the largest gatherings of multiculturalism in the country, the Ethnic Enrichment Festival features food and performances from cultures around the world. This year’s festival includes food options from 40 countries and nearly 30 live performances of music and dance representing a multitude of cultures. General admission is $5 and children 12 and younger are free.

All that jazz. Jazz comes alive during the ninth Parker. annual Spotlight: Charlie Parker Presented by KC Jazz ALIVE, the festival honors the Kansas City-born jazz icon’s legacy and impact on jazz in KC and around the world. The 2022 festival will kick off with a live discussion and musical entertainment at the Kansas City Public Library’s Plaza Branch on August 23 and will lead into four days of celebrations that include a Student Boot Camp, the 18th and Vine Jazz History Tour, and tribute performances at local jazz venues. Festivities will come to a close with a special concert at Tom’s Town Distilling Co. on August 27.

Jazzoo August 26 Kansas City Zoo kansascityzoo.org/jazzoo Animal attraction. The wildest party of the year brings party animals from across the metro to enjoy unlimited food, drinks, and entertainment—all while raising money for the Kansas City Zoo. Jazzoo proceeds provide food and care for the zoo’s 1,700 animals and fund educational opportunities for children in the community. Come wearing a show-stopping outfit under the creative black-tie dress code that requires a fun and lively mixture of formal wear and frivolity. Then grab a drink tray that will double as your map to food, drink, and entertainment throughout the zoo. Tickets are $250.

For Kansas City’s most comprehensive calendar of events, go to inkansascity.com AUGUST 2022

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AN EXCLUSIVE HOME DECOR DESTINATION BY STARK CREATIVE DIRECTOR ASHLEY STARK AVAILABLE AT KDR DESIGNER SHOWROOMS 913.859.0400

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Entertaining

IN KC

How to Cook Well with Others

TOO MANY COOKS WON’T SPOIL THE BROTH AS LONG AS YOU FOLLOW A FEW POINTS OF KITCHEN ETIQUETTE

Merrily Jackson

photo by

Corie English

M Email me with your entertaining questions, dilemmas, or triumphs at mjackson@inkansascity.com

AUGUST 2022 |

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y friend Marsha Ramsey returned recently from a three-month stint volunteering with World Central Kitchen in Przemysl, Poland, eight miles from the Ukrainian border, helping to provide emergency food relief to refugees. She worked 12-hour shifts in a kitchen that produced as many as 30,000 meals a day for hungry, devastated people. Although the volunteers were there for a terrible reason and the work was exhausting, she says the kitchen was a miraculous place to be. The volunteers, gentle people from all over the world, found instant affinity amongst themselves and the people they were helping. A few volunteers were celebrity chefs who had checked their ego at the door, just there to help. Marsha’s fellow volunteers took to calling her “Clyde” after Rachel Ray told her she worked as hard as a Clydesdale. Although I don’t have Marsha’s stamina (few do), when she told me about the WCK kitchen in Poland,

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Entertaining

IN KC

A Sharp Knife Makes All the Difference

I love cooking with people, especially when they have good knives. There is no kitchen task more pleasurable than chopping, slicing, or dicing with a heavy, razor-sharp knife. Always buy the best knives you can afford and keep them well maintained. Regular honing with a wand-style steel, along with professional sharpening once or twice a year, is best. Unless you have cheap cutlery you don’t care about, stay away from those electric, pull-through home sharpeners; they will damage your knives over time. I take my knives for sharpening to Ambrosi Brothers in Midtown. On Mondays through Thursdays, they will sharpen while you wait for a very reasonable price. And they have an assortment of professional cookware and cutlery to look at while you’re waiting.

AUGUST 2022 |

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I felt an urge to go there myself. It reminded me that some of the best times of my life have been spent cooking in one kitchen or another with family and friends. This is not to trivialize the humanitarian work of the WCK by comparing it to people cooking together for a dinner party. But human beings like to be part of something larger than themselves, even if it’s just chopping parsley for a dinner party. Here then are a few thoughts about how to have a good time cooking with friends in the kitchen. “WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP?” It’s the universally asked party-guest question. I used to suppose the offers were half-hearted and discourage guests from helping me in the kitchen. Then I slowly realized most people—even those who are inept kitchen help—are happy to be asked to do some little thing. Giving your guests small tasks is a great way to make them feel connected to the party. But nobody wants to work too hard. It’s best to have everything done that can be done before the doorbell rings, and then make assignments of the little last-minute tasks. For me, those tasks usually are the things on my party to-do list that I just couldn’t get to. When you give a guest a job, make sure he or she has a fresh drink, and get the music cranked up in the kitchen. Give them the tools they need. If you ask them, say, to chop some chives, don’t make them root around your kitchen for a knife and cutting board. And always make sure they know where the trashcan is. BE A KITCHEN SPONGE Julia Child said that “the more you learn about food, the more you understand how little you know.” I always learn something when I help a friend serve dinner in his or her kitchen. Everybody has their own little tricks to share, and I try to absorb them like a sponge. A couple of weeks ago I went to a dinner party where roasted asparagus was served diagonally arranged on a vintage silver platter and festooned with nasturtiums. (Yes, they’re edible!) It was so beautiful, so simple, so doable. BEWARE THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE My friend Kathy Kelly designs swanky kitchens. She uses a term called “the golden triangle.” It’s the area containing the stove, refrigerator, and sink. In any well-designed kitchen, says Kathy, none of the three elements of the triangle should be less than four and more than nine feet apart. To me, the lessons of the golden triangle are twofold. Lesson one is you don’t need a big kitchen to work efficiently. In fact, I can think of a few kitchens that are a little inefficient because they are so big. Then again maybe I’m just envious. Lesson two: if you are a guest and you are not helping, stay outta the golden triangle. Women seem instinctively to know this. Men, on the other hand, gravitate straight to the triangle and plop themselves right in front of the sink, and you have to brandish a pry bar to get them to move. SYNERGISTIC DINNER PARTIES Here are a couple of dinner party themes that work wonderfully AUGUST 2022 |

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Entertaining

IN KC

for cooking with friends. These are good menu solutions particularly when your guests include vegetarians or finicky eaters. Because they facilitate interaction, these dinners are also good when you have guests who don’t know each other. And they are easy on the hosts because everyone brings something. Style-your-own pizza party. I use Boboli crusts, but if you’re of a mind, you could make your own pizza crust, or use Trader Joe’s readyto-go pizza dough. I ask everyone to bring an assigned topping or two—some commonplace, like diced green peppers, others more exotic, like chopped figs, then I supply some toppings myself. Before the party I make little signs identifying each topping, because people like to know what they are eating. Displaying all the toppings next to the correct signs requires a few extra hands in the kitchen; it’s a fun, quick project for a couple of helpers. Important note: put toothpicks out and ask everybody to use them to do some clever thing to identify their pizza, because when they come out of the oven, the pies all look alike. Build-your-own taco party. This is perfect for the summer months when tomatoes and avocados are at their best. In addition to taco meat, you can offer proteins, such as fish, pulled pork, or shredded chicken. I provide the Old El Paso Stand ‘n Stuff taco shells as well as flour tortillas. You also can offer—or ask guests to bring—interesting ingredients

like arugula, chopped mangoes, and chipotle sauce. But again, identify ingredients with some sort of little signs. One can get tacos or pizzas anywhere, so to make the eating experience memorable, you want to have some special ingredients. For presenting the ingredients, it’s also nice to have an assortment of small serving bowls and little serving spoons and tongs. Start collecting them at art fairs and flea markets, and you’ll have a lovely mix in no time. Email me for lists of suggested taco and pizza ingredients, along with menu and serving suggestions. POSTSCRIPT: MORE ABOUT MARSHA’S TIME ON THE POLISH BORDER When Marsha wasn’t working in World Central Kitchen, she spent her time helping the refugees get much-needed items, such as suitcases, clothing, noise-reducing headphones, crayons and coloring books, sewing machines, bolts of fabric, and dog treats. She would haunt the train station, helping whoever she could with whatever she could. I told you the girl has stamina. She arranged travel and bought plane and train tickets to carry refugees to temporary homes around the world. She also rented a large Airbnb and housed groups of refugees. To learn more about her experience, visit her Facebook page (look for Marsha Ramsey).

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AUGUST 2022 |

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History shows it’s not as bad as it seems. Now is still a good time to buy and sell! HISTORICAL 30-YEAR MORTGAGE RATES: 1971-2022 20% 18%

12.43%

6.34%

1985 | Royals win the World Series

2007 | 1st iPhone hits U.S. market

16% 10.32%

14%

4.54% 1989 | World Wide Web is invented

12%

2018 | 1st American Princess joins British Monarchy

10%

AVE R AG E S I N CE 197 1 : 7.7 7%

8% 16.63%

6% 4% 2%

1981 | NASA launches first US Space Shuttle Columbia 9.19%

8.05%

1974 | Kemper Arena opens

2000 | The world didn’t end with Y2K

19 71 19 73 19 75 19 77 19 79 19 81 19 83 19 85 19 87 19 89 19 91 19 93 19 95 19 97 19 99 20 01 20 03 20 05 20 07 20 09 20 11 20 13 20 15 20 17 20 19 20 21

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Locate is a team of real estate agents affiliated with Compass Realty Group, a licensed real estate broker and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only. Information is compiled from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, condition, sale, or withdrawal without notice. Photos may be virtually staged or digitally enhanced and may not reflect actual property conditions.

Our Man BY

IN KC

Damian Lair

dlair@inkansascity.com : @damianlair #OurManINKC

Dazzling Deco

ith the last Party Arty held in early 2020, fans of the event were ready for a return. During that twoand-a-half year span, the event, like membership councils at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, underwent some realignment. Past iterations of Party Arty were organized by the now-defunct Young Friends of Art Council. Which, in my experience co-chairing the event, had the subtle effect of suggesting an age limit on arty-partying. Rest assured—now, middle-aged, and even old Friends of Art (myself included), can feel at ease at this less raucous new chapter of Party Arty. This year’s theme was Vitality and Vice, a nod to the recently opened exhibition: American Art Deco: Designing for the People, 19181939. People love a good Roaring 20s jazz-age party. It’s an accessible theme, attire-wise, and there’s a smack of Westworld voyeurism where people can get a jolt of surreptitiously sipping forbidden cocktails in a basement speakeasy. Yes, a little overplayed, but popular, nonetheless. We were welcomed with an Electric Deco coupe cocktail that looked like absinthe, but for all our sakes, was green-apple infused Tom’s Town vodka with green tea and lemon juice. A perfect choice, considering that Tom’s Town’s deco bottles are, in my opinion, just about the most attractive thing you’ll find at any liquor store. They even lent their vintage roadster for a prime photo op outside. Scattered performances caught people’s attention throughout the evening, including those by Jeff Freling on guitar and Quixotic. Otherwise, guests were happily congregated in Rozelle Court, nibbling on Rozelle-prepared antipasti light bites. I especially enjoyed a run-in with Michael Toombs, who was busy at work on a stunning live mural painting. The artist experience featured members of the African American Artists Collective, whose works were also the basis of Testimony, the incredible recent exhibit glowingly covered in a previous column. Painting alongside Michael were Jason Wilcox, Michelle Beasley, and Stasi Bobo-Ligon, with poet Glenn North narrating. I had just missed opening night for the new Art Deco exhibit, so I popped in for a peek. For me, Art Deco brings three things to mind: the Chrysler Building, Gatsby, and South Beach. What I didn’t realize was that, like most good things, it all started in Paris. A fun little fact: the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (mouthful—hence the reduction to “Art Deco”) was a post-WWI sign of European recovery and strength. Held in Paris, the participating AUGUST 2022 |

Damian Lair, dressed appropriately for an Art Deco bash at the Nelson.

OVERHEARD designers introduced a distinct de“This brunch is parture from the prewar past with a like an episode clean-lined, geometric, groundbreakof Scooby ing modern design. Wealthy AmerDoo. So. Many. Mysteries.” icans hauled these latest objects and fashions back to the U.S., and the rest is, well, history. The exhibit traces these influences through art, clothing, automobiles, architecture, and even trickle-down everyday objects like depression-era glass. A particularly fitting inclusion is a strikingly simple white satin evening gown, worn by Betty Drage Harvey to an opening celebration for what is now named the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. The dress was so notable at the time that it was illustrated in regional newspapers— graphics of which are also on display. A full-circle moment. Back at the party, Shake Shack was preparing late-night snacks for hungry guests as the night was winding down. We grabbed one of those truly tasty burgers on our way out, and 100 years instantly elapsed as we walked through the doors to the present. SPOTTED: Peregrine Honig, Anna Marie Tutera, Janeane Thompson, Lee Page, Sarah Page, Stuart Hanson, Elizabeth Napier, Jason Landrum-Vetter

24 | INKANSASCITY.COM

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Our Man

IN KC OVERHEARD “He was asked to leave the country, I believe.”

KC Hearts the Plaza! by Charlie Podrebarac.

CARNIVÀLE! YOU SURELY HAD your share of chance run-ins with a few of the 156 five-foot fiberglass hearts scattered far and wide across Kansas City during the three-month Parade of Hearts. Or, perhaps you embarked upon an exhaustive hunt to see each one. Falling in the former camp, I relished every spontaneous spotting while out and about in the city. Parade of Hearts was imagined as a public arts experience that could unite the city and serve as a fundraising vehicle for organizations especially affected by the pandemic. Five areas in need were identified, with a grantee designated for each: Health and Wellness (The University of Kansas Health System), Education (Mid-America Regional Council), Small/Minority Owned Businesses (AltCap), Hospitality and Tourism (Visit KC Foundation), and Arts and Culture (stipends for each heart’s local artist). Once the public display concluded, the majority of the original heart artworks were auctioned online. Twelve particularly special hearts, however, were reserved for a live auction and celebration: Heartland Carnivàle—an event for reveling in the success of this inaugural event. And I was delighted to be invited. Borrowing from Rio de Janeiro’s Carnivàle—the largest party on Earth—the halls of the Midland Theater were alive with feathered samba dancers, colorful florals, entertainers, and an abundance of heart. Lon Lane’s Inspired Occasions served up a food bar of East and West Asian and Latin fusion flavors, including adobo steak sliders and firecracker shrimp. And across the way, another menu—an homage to KC’s food history—with classic barbecue and Italian dishes. Holladay Distillery’s Carnivàle-inspired cocktails were concocted with cherry limeade and huckleberry vodkas. The real buzz, though, was who (and for how much) would be taking home the 12 hearts lined up across the stage. HOT Interspersed between performancGOSSIP: es by Lost Wax Collective, the Pythons Drill Team, and Mark Who was ready to Lowrey Ensemble, auctioneer leave the party early, so Dirk Soulis stirred the audibegan the three-mile ence into a frenzy—bidding tens trip home on foot? of thousands for the artworks. Among them were the Community AUGUST 2022 |

Bookshelf heart inspired by the Central Library parking garage ensconced in giant volumes and KC Hearts the Plaza! featuring the Nelson-Akins Museum, shuttlecocks, and familiar Plaza architecture. Sports fans had their choice among the crown-topped baseball Officially Kansas City Royals, the splatter-painted National Champs commemorating The University of Kansas’s 2022 NCAA National Championship victory, and of course—the loveable 3-D, curly-topped Ma’Homes Town. Gigantic congratulations are due to the organizers and volunteers who put this entire project together. I’ve organized and worked on various city-wide arts experiences and know first-hand what a massive undertaking it was to pull this off in the seamless, thoughtful way that this group did. KC hearts you! SPOTTED: George Guastello, Erin & Will Gregory, Amber Botros, Angie Jeffries, Heidi Markle, Matt Schulte, Alan Carr, Mark Allen Alford, Jr.

BBQ & BOURBON BUCK TUI BBQ had been on my to-try list for several months. So, when I heard they were hosting a very special chef ’s tasting menu, I booked my ticket immediately. Buck Tui opened this past February in Overland Park. The restaurant is a unique marriage of the perhaps surprisingly complementary flavors of Northeastern Thai and Kansas City barbecue cuisines. Buck Tui places a heavy emphasis on locally sourced ingredients and utilizes traditional Thai techniques to achieve the familiar smokey-salty-sweet barbecue that KC loves. The use of palm sugar, Thai smoking methods, and authentic sauces require the type of precision that the co-executive chef and pit-master, Ted Liberda, is known for. And speaking of Ted, he’s also the inspiration for both the restaurant’s name and logo. Buck Tui is a Thai term of endearment—a particularly fond way of calling to an adorable young chubby boy. It’s been Ted’s nickname among friends and family since he was a child. But, back to the tasting. We were greeted with—never a bad idea—cocktails. And wow—an incredibly unique and memorable cocktail—Let the Beet Drop. My dinner companion for the evening, Sarah Strnad, crowed just as much as I did. It was an amalgamation of Old Forester 86 bourbon (Old Forester supplied all the bourbon for the event), raspberries, cold-pressed beets, cardamom, pink peppercorn, lemon balm, citric acid, Fee Foam, and the glass rim was coated in freeze-dried raspberry powder. Without a doubt, one of the best cocktails I’ve ever had. And I hardly need to note my credentials. We were also served crispy brisket rangoon for a savory accessory. Off to quite a start, I must say. The six-course meal officially kicked off with amuse-bouche from the legendary Pam Liberda of Waldo Thai (also wife to Ted and the co-executive chef at Buck Tui). With her humor and smile, Pam treated us to a trio of steamed beef-sausage dumpling, wrapped and fried 26 | INKANSASCITY.COM

HOT GOSSIP:

What inaugural city-wide public arts project may skip a year, but return in 2024?

shrimp, and Miang Pla—smoked salmon with ginger, lime, peanut, and toasted coconut on a delicate lettuce leaf. Tyler Harp of Harp BBQ next took an interesting barbecue tack with a pesto-stuffed turkey roulade with grilled asparagus and white barbecue sauce. Am I the only one who’s never had/heard of white barbecue sauce?? Mind blown. For course three, Andrew Longres of Acre Restaurant in Parkville whipped up a large slab of grilled pork belly with pickled mushrooms from KC Mushroom Culture (truly incredible), charred summer berries, and mustard. The Town Company’s chef Johnny Leach (of famed New York’s Del Posto, Town, and Momofuku) presented a halibut collar with kohlrabi, salsa verde, and tortillas from Yoli Tortilleria. Not your typical barbecue fare. And for the final entrée, Ted presented a beef short rib with shrimp shiitake ginger rice all tucked and beautifully folded into a banana leaf pillow accented with an orchid. Truly sublime. For dessert, Helen Jo Leach from The Town Company and Kelsey Earl with Little Butter Bakery teamed up on a corn cake served with bourbon-soaked stone fruit and buttermilk miso ice cream. It must have been the buttermilk, because the ice cream was especially decadent. Throughout, we sampled a different batch of Old Forester bourbon with each course, expertly paired for complementary notes. The camaraderie and excitement of these local culinary talents joining together was palpable—a manifestation of what’s so wonderful about this city. We’re stronger when we come together. Oh, and barbecue.

So, KC—where do you want to go? XO

AUGUST 2022 |

27 | INKANSASCITY.COM

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Arts&Culture

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graphs, geometric patterns, and motifs from Asian textiles seem to float in a timeless sea. His work can be seen locally at the Nelson-Atkins, the Albrecht-Kemper Museum in St. Joseph, Truman Medical Center, and Loew’s Kansas City Hotel, as well as galleries around the country. Toh has a studio in City Market. “Memories are fleeting with the ongoing assimilation to my immediate environment,” he says. “Memories inspire me to seek what was once familiar while blurring boundaries between Western or Eastern culture.” All that introspective studio work can make an artist peckish. Toh loves Singapore cuisine because it is “amazingly, diversely delish,” he says. “One of my favorites is Hainanese chicken rice, a ginger and scallion salty chicken you can find at ABC Café. My other favorite is a curry seafood noodle soup dish called laksa, my go-to comfort food at Spices Asian Restaurant in North Kansas City. Thankfully I love to cook, so everything else I’m not able to find I’ll make myself. Cooking, like art making, requires patience, repetition, and fine tuning the ingredients till they come out spectacular.” Upcoming exhibits include: Never As It Was (Solo exhibit) Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art September 16 through November 6, 2022

Heinrich Toh

Found in Translation: Explorations by 8 Contemporary Artists Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art October 8, 2022 through August 20, 2023

THE MIXED MEDIA ARTIST ANSWERS FOUR QUESTIONS

Judith Fertig

photo by

Elise Gagliardi

You’ll find more information at heinrichtoh.com

n a world that has historically asked us to be either/or, artist Heinrich Toh embraces the idea of both. Born in Singapore and a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art, Toh teaches and exhibits extensively throughout the United States. His exquisitely and colorfully layered images explore ideas of cultural identity, travel, and home. Flowers, paper lanterns, family photoAUGUST 2022

INKC: You grew up in Singapore, but have studied and now teach in this country. How does your work explore the East/West duality of your own identity? Toh: There are many facets about my work which investigate questions of identity and assimilation arising from travel and relocation. Past memories become fleeting, leading me to seek what was once familiar. By contrasting Eastern and Western sensibilities, my work reflects layered and overlapping cultural elements, combining past

| 30 | INKANSASCITY.COM

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and present. While objects selected have specific connection to my personal history, these elements alongside vast landscapes explore the evolution of identity, its nonpermanence, the passage of time, and the remnants of culture. Constantly evolving, drawn from the dichotomy of two worlds. INKC: Your work is very layered with imagery, colors, and compo-

sition. Do you start with a sketch/plan or just see how each layer develops? Toh: Always a plan. It is an intricate process with many moving parts, similar to putting pieces together in a jigsaw puzzle. I do make a sketch with notes that indicate which layers go on next. Printmaking tends to be very precise and non-forgiving, but I’m at a point of being able to be more spontaneous and let the work evolve. I utilize a variety of printmaking processes, from collagraphs, monotypes, and paper-lithography, printed with multiple runs through an etching press, that result in those layers of color, pattern, and imagery that viewers often describe as ethereal mindscapes. INKC: What is it about Asian textiles that resonates with you? Toh: Timeless beauty. I resonate specifically with the Sarong Kebayas

adorned by my grandmothers. I miss seeing these outfits with all their ornate floral laced patterns that were commonly worn every day

in Singapore. Referencing them in my work is a reminder about my Peranakan heritage. These reinterpretations of floral, ornamental, and geometric shapes reflect new patterns, retaining cultural history while looking ahead into the future. INKC: Why have you made Kansas City your home? How has this area nurtured your creativity? Toh: It’s been a growing creative journey living here, learning about myself while embracing the nuances unique to the Midwest. There’s a tremendous amount of talent in this city, each with their own unique stories, cultures that share similarities which embrace the positive differences that make us all unique. The opportunities from a flourishing KC arts scene has been most outstanding and perhaps more so now for the BIPOC [Black, indigenous, and people of color] artists community. I feel most fortunate and grateful to have the support from my patrons, peers, and the local museums that have been most supportive with having my work in their permanent collections. Having lived in multiple U.S. cities before calling KC home for the past 16 years, it’s important to remember that local art communities only become better and thrive from participation, being active, supporting, and showing up to your local art exhibits, concerts, or performances. Hint! Hint!

About Alice

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August City Stage in 17th - 28th Union Station

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AUGUST 2022

| 32 | INKANSASCITY.COM

www.kcactors.org 888.343.6946

Arts & Culture by

IN KC

Judith Fertig Embroidered Mandarin Duck Badge, Chinese, Ming Dynasty.

LIVELY CREATURES: ANIMALS IN CHINESE ART IF YOU WATCH baby goat videos, follow a basset hound on social media, or catch the daily forecast—Bones or No Bones—of elderly pug Noodle on TikTok, then this exhibit is for you. It should come as no surprise that Chinese artists, like artists everywhere, have been inspired by the animal kingdom. The Chinese have been expressing ideas through animal figures for millennia. But you have just this month to catch the Lively Creatures exhibit at the Nelson before it ends. The Nelson is widely known for its extensive collection of Asian art. From a 14th-century watercolor on silk of horses to an embroidered Mandarin duck, these animal images convey personal messages, political intrigue, spiritual symbolism, and pure delight. The exhibit runs through September 4. For more information, visit nelson-atkins.org.

AUGUST 2022

| 34 | INKANSASCITY.COM

ANASTASIA AT STARLIGHT THE STORY of Anastasia Nikolaevna, the might-just-be-last living member of the murdered tsarist family in Russia, has been a successful play, a 1956 film starring Ingrid Bergman and Yul Brynner (for which Bergman won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for best actress), a 1997 animated film with Meg Ryan voicing Anastasia, and now a new musical. With a script written by Terrence McNally, a new score and lyrics, choreography, and staging, this up-tempo musical takes us from the twilight of the Russian empire to 1920s Paris. Tsar Nicholas II was murdered in July 1918 along with the rest of his family. However, rumors persisted that one of them survived, prompting exiled Russian emigres in Paris to offer a sizable inheritance should the real Anastasia be found. A brave young woman sets out to discover the mystery of a past she can’t remember. Along the way, she encounters a dashing conman, a lovable ex-aristocrat, and a ruthless Soviet officer who hunts her down. Is she the real Anastasia? You won’t know unless you go. Anastasia runs from August 9 through 14 at 8 p.m. For ticket and performance information, visit kcstarlight.com.

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BOZ SCAGGS’ OUT OF THE BLUES TOUR JUST IN TIME for the dog days of summer, Boz Scaggs and The Robert Cray Band bring on the cool. Here’s the lowdown: Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Boz Scaggs can boast three platinum albums, dozens of hits including Lido Shuffle, Grammy-winning Lowdown, and Look What You’ve Done to Me with his bluesy, rock, and R & B sound. “Music has been a constant companion, and I’m feeling more free with it than ever,” Scaggs says. The Robert Cray Band features the eponymous singer and guitarist whose mellow, R & B sound takes inspiration from the late, great Sam Cooke. “Funky, cool, and bad,” says Cray. The Out of the Blues Tour 2022 travels all over the country this summer. Their one stop in Kansas City is Friday, August 19 for a 7:30 p.m. performance. For more information and tickets, visit kauffmancenter.org.

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PUSHING PAPER AT THE NERMAN MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT, maybe we haven’t come all that far from chiseling on stone tablets to pecking away at a laptop. Unless you think about paper, the writing material we all take for granted. For the past 20 years, our culture has talked about going paperless, but we still hold on to those 8 ½ by 11 sheets. Paper has a fascinating history, beginning with papyrus in 3,000 B.C.E. Egypt—imagine the Dead Sea Scrolls, written in ink on papyrus. The modern papermaking process—using pulp from woody plants—originated in China around 100 B.C.E. Paper not only made keeping records much, much lighter—no more lugging around those stone tablets—but also encouraged more experimentation, hence, art! Pushing Paper at the Nerman celebrates this everyday material and the extraordinary ways that artists use it. Wangechi Mutu employs a variety of techniques, including digital printing, collage, hand-printing, coloring, and even gold leaf. New Yorkbased Jane Hammond makes rice-paper collages. Kansas Citian Rashawn Griffin includes paper in his mixed-media “portraits” that also feature cloth, wood, and foam. For more information, visit nermanmuseum.org.

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Behind the Music

IN KC by

Timothy Finn

photo by

Bailee Sirmons

Susan Tilbury allowing me to disconnect or dissociate from the stuff that wasn’t fun. What was your favorite music in your childhood? The first albums you bought? Anything I could sing and anything that made me want to move. My brother bought a copy of Rapper’s Delight as soon as it came out. That was a revelation for me. Otherwise, I can’t really isolate a genre or an artist. I genuinely loved everything, from the Mills Brothers, Elvis, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, and Tennessee Ernie Ford to the Spinners, Chaka Khan, Styx, Led Zeppelin, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and the Beatles, of course. If I could sing it, I probably liked it. My very first purchases came on 8-track, via the legendary Columbia House Records’ 12-for-a-penny deal. I can’t remember them all, but I know they included: The Village People, Cruisin’; The Xanadu soundtrack (more for ELO than Olivia Newton John); Supertramp’s Breakfast in America; Sister Sledge’s We Are Family; and Foghat Live. I was probably 9 or 10 at the time.

usan Tilbury’s music resume is all over the map, touching an array of genres and locales, from the Ozarks and Nashville to New York and Kansas City. By the time she moved to Prairie Village, Tilbury had left behind several impressive experiences, including time with the Metropolitan Opera and, while in Nashville, collaboration with members of some well-known country stars and indie-rock bands. These days, Tilbury is at the University of Connecticut working on her doctorate in a rare field of music therapy. She recently answered questions from IN Kansas City about her tumultuous upbringing, her love for all kinds of music, her time with the opera, and her special relationship with Kansas City. What was your childhood like? First thing to know about me: I’m complicated, the product of a childhood filled with trauma, chaos, wacky situations, and an enormous cast of colorful characters, all worthy of a Kurt Vonnegut novel. This is reflected in, and explains, both my nonlinear life path and uncommon musical journey. When did music begin to become an interest? Who were your first inspirations? Music was my haven from all the crazy and trauma as early as I can remember. I sang nonstop. Whenever I was walking or playing or working on the farm or daydreaming in school, I was accompanied by a constant internal soundtrack. Music became an insulation to the chaos around me, AUGUST 2022

When did you first start performing and what were those performances like? I guess my first performances were with my Sunday school’s Angel Choir. My parents didn’t attend church more than a couple times a year, but I would walk there on my own, just so I could sing. Fun fact: I was kicked out of the school musical my sophomore year for behaving “too professionally for the talent level of the production.” It was incredibly awkward and feels like it could be a scene in a Wes Anderson movie, but, no, it’s my life. Let’s walk through some points on your resume. First, you attended the eminent Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan—kind of a big deal. When did that happen and what was the experience like? Interlochen fundamentally shaped my worldview, my values, and the person I became. I first set foot on campus during the summer between my sophomore and junior year. It is impossible to overstate how profound that experience was. Everything changed for me on that campus. Not only the arts instruction, but the academics, were world class. The environment was teaming with creativity, curiosity, ambition, personalized mentorship, self-expression, and thoughtful introspection. I was surrounded by stunningly talented and intelligent peers. I am tearing up right now, thinking of how quickly and profoundly the path I saw for myself changed, all because a couple people thought I could sing. After that: The Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. Talk about that. Eastman was both hard and amazing. I had never really developed the kind of executive and socio-emotional skills one needs to succeed in college, which is common for kids who come from challenging environments. So, I struggled with self-regulation, but I excelled as a performer and was in high demand as a soloist with the avant-garde and chamber music ensembles. I worked especially closely with legendary

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lutenist Paul Odette, whose influence I carry with me into every single performance, regardless of genre, even punk. You spent some time in Nashville in the early ’90s. What was that like?

In 1991, I married Hank Tilbury, who had been on staff at Interlochen as an audio engineer. Hank and I moved to Branson shortly after we got married, at the urging of his family in the Arkansas Ozarks. We arrived right when the boom was going crazy. Hank managed the only serious recording studio there. I worked as a florist, occasionally doing some session work for Hank. Hank and I hated life in Branson, so we moved to Nashville after two years. Hank had graduated from Belmont University’s music business program years earlier and had many dear friends there. With some help from my dad, we briefly co-owned a studio on Music Row, where a ton of great bluegrass and singer-songwriters recorded: Bela Fleck, Sweethearts of the Rodeo, a bunch of Edgar Meyer and Mark O’Connor projects, Maura O’Connell. Hank was also an early member of Lambchop during this time. He recorded and produced some of their early stuff—the Hank album is named after him—as well as half of the tracks on Vic Chesnutt’s, Is the Actor Happy, at our studio. I didn’t do session work in Nashville because I never aggressively pursued it and didn’t have the patience or desire to hustle amongst all the other singers looking for work at the time. Instead, I worked as a clerk and buyer at The Great Escape and sang in a band called Horse of a Different Color, which was comprised of Steve Goodhue (Lambchop), Paul Niehaus (Lambchop, Justin Townes Earle), Rob Mitchell (Tanya Tucker, Wang Chung and a ton of crap), Pete Langella, and me. You then spent a spell with the Metropolitan Opera. What did you learn from that? I went back to school at the University of Louisville in the summer of 1996 and won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions less than a year later, in February of 1997. Things tend to happen quickly for me when I decide to get serious. Usually too quickly for my own good. I would’ve benefited from more time in Louisville. I also got pregnant later that year. The next couple years were absolutely nuts. A series of family emergencies offered a perfect excuse for me to put my career on indefinite hold, which turned out to be permanent. I struggled for a bit with this decision. However, I came to these conclusions in the end: • Opera is a career with a short shelf life for a soprano unless you’re someone like Renée Fleming. • Kids are a lifetime commitment, and there are no do-overs in the game of parenting children into happy, healthy adults. • Opera was never my first love, rock-and-roll was. • It literally broke my heart (and my kid’s) every time I left even for a day or two to do a gig. • I just didn’t have the heart for it anymore. How did you end up in Kansas City? What do you remember about that time here? I never thought I would wind up in Kansas City. My daughter Neve and I came here to stay with my older sister, who lives in Overland Park, while Hank and I did some soul searching regarding where we wanted to be and what we wanted to do with our lives. I loved it, so we moved here. I might describe us as feckless and floundering without our respective music careers. It wasn’t a happy time, but I was determined to give Neve the kind of idyllic childhood I had always dreamed of. I was also AUGUST 2022

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Behind the Music

IN KC

convinced the kind of childhood we could provide as industry pros was not the most conducive to their well-being. So, we left that all behind. We wound up settling in Prairie Village. The day we moved in, neighbors came over with fresh-baked cookies and loads of kids Neve’s age were running up and down the sidewalk in front of our new home. That night, as we got into bed, Hank looked at me and said, “I think we’ve moved to Pleasantville.” In hindsight, I would say I was deeply grieving for several years when we first came to KC. Honestly, without music, I was pretty much lost and untethered. I didn’t know what to do with all the long-suppressed trauma that was surfacing now that I wasn’t spending every waking hour—and many of the sleeping ones—learning new music and pursuing a career. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. Then you got involved in the local music community. While I was getting ready to go back to school to study music therapy, I got to know Enrique Chi (Making Movies), and we soon started trading guitar lessons for voice lessons. The guys were young and inexperienced, but I saw tremendous potential. He thought the vocal exercises I had learned at Eastman and Juilliard were crazy, and the rest of the guys teased him relentlessly about the silly sounds I encouraged him to make. But he trusted me and was the hardest-working student you could imagine. He made incredible progress in a hurry. You are a board-certified music therapist. Give us the details on that—what you are doing now? And what has it revealed about the remedial power of music?

AUGUST 2022

I worked clinically for several years after becoming a music therapist. I also worked closely with Enrique’s nonprofit music education endeavors during its formation. Regardless of whether it’s entertainment, ritual, education, or therapy, music is a uniquely powerful force. Music and rhythmic coordination are ubiquitous aspects of human society that many researchers believe may predate spoken language. The power of music to inspire, unite, embolden, heal, or transform is almost incomprehensible. I eventually became frustrated with a lack of nuanced understanding regarding how music intervention works. Without this understanding, music therapy is essentially an intuitive process. So, I’ve moved on to research now. I research a phenomenon from physics called entrainment, and how it might function during things like chanting meditation, rhythmic rituals, dance, and live concerts. Are you still performing in any way? Yes! I knew I didn’t want to find myself in another place where I just couldn’t connect with musicians ever again. I got lucky enough to be invited to join a punk/garage band with a couple other academics before I even moved here. We finally played our first gig last week. It’s mostly covers right now, but we’re writing originals and just doing it all for fun and self-care. Call me a late bloomer, but I suppose all the crazy has prepared me for what I’m doing now. Any other series of events would have probably taken me in a different direction and prevented me from finding my way to this work that feels meaningful, important, and exciting. It’s as if I’m finally stepping into my self and embarking on my real life’s work. Here’s hoping I have enough time in this life to get it done.

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Look

IN KC

Fashion

Rachel Murphy

Just Keep Swimming

A POOLSIDE RUNWAY The Rosa two-piece invokes couture and comfort for a touch of glamour by the pool. This suit offers a high-waist bottom with plenty of coverage without looking dowdy. The puffed ruffle trails down one side to create a striking silhouette in any season. We love it so much that we might ditch the bottoms and pair it with a full, flounced maxi skirt for a tropical evening out. Rosa two-piece by Maygel Coronel, $345. Available at Clairvaux (Fairway and Hawthorne Plaza).

ummer may be winding down, but there’s always a reason to make a splash. If you’ve booked a private pool on Swimply (swimply.com) for an end-of-summer bash or have a coveted membership to one of the area’s year-round pools, it’s time to refresh your swimwear with a fresh mid-season look.

A SUIT FOR ALL SEASONS Birdies Panties and Swim always has swimwear, and this year-round style is a favorite. Colombian-made Milonga offers a classic bikini cut with an aesthetic underwire and tie back paired with a ruched tie bottom for a flirty silhouette. The underwire provides lift, and the South American style offers a bit of ‘cheeky’ fun. Monoaro bikini by Milonga, $110. Available at Birdies Panties and Swim (Crossroads).

ANCHORS AWAY Navy blue is flattering on nearly every skin tone, and nautical stripes are classic. This long-sleeved one-piece is perfect if you love the sun but hate spending 20 minutes slathering yourself on sunscreen. With an athletic cut, tummy-flattening panels, and UPF 50, you’ll look sleek and stay safe while you swim, stand up paddle board, or just sip cocktails by the pool. Tommy Bahama Naples Stripe half-zip long-sleeve one-piece swimsuit, $178. Available at Tommy Bahama (Country Club Plaza).

AUGUST 2022 |

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Look

IN KC Beauty BY

Rachel Murphy

Waterproof WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE, AND NO MASCARA STREAKS

t’s the eternal dilemma—to wear makeup to the pool or not? The pull of flawless skin, miles-long eyelashes, and rosy, yet natural-looking, lips is ever present but the phantom of running mascara and smeared lipstick remains. The solution? Waterproof makeup products that truly stand the splash test. While these products do work, remember that beach or poolside makeup looks work best when applied with a light hand. Defined lashes and glossy lips say relaxed and effortless. Leave the winged liner and full face of makeup for Esther Williams or the U.S. synchronized swimming team.

WET LIPS Even if you don’t wear anything else, a swipe of lip gloss gives your face a little life at the pool. The Wet Lip Gloss from Kosas does triple duty by hydrating with hyaluronic acid and konjac root, plumps with peptides, and soothes with shea butter, evening primrose, and avocado oils. Plus, there’s a shade for every skin tone with several natural but better colors. We like Fruit Juice for that just-finished-apopsicle look. Kosas Wet Lip Gloss, $27. Available at Welwythn (Prairie Village Shops).

THE EYES HAVE IT Want the most bang for your buck? Add volume and definition to your lashes for the most natural enhancement. Waterproof mascara has come a long way, and the Lancôme Hypnôse Drama Instant Full Volume Waterproof Mascara proves it. Use the curvy S-shaped brush to build volume instantly with no clumps or flaking for 24 hours. Just make sure to grab some oil-based eye-makeup remover as well. They aren’t kidding about the waterproof bit. Lancôme Hypnôse Drama Instant Full Volume Waterproof Mascara, $29. Available at Ulta.

FLAWLESS FINISH Everyone wants flawless skin, even at the pool. The Boi-ing Cakeless Full Coverage Waterproof Liquid Concealer erases blemishes, sun spots, and other discolorations and won’t budge if you dive in. Dab a bit where you need it and blend well—there’s no need for a heavy foundation. Just sunscreen and this magic eraser for your face. Beneﬁt Cosmetics Boiing Cakeless Full Coverage Waterproof Liquid Concealer, $24. Available at Sephora.

AUGUST 2022 |

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Look

IN KC

Wellness

Rachel Murphy

Stroking Your Way to Health

here’s no denying that swimming is a great way to get in shape—one only need glance at the swim team at any high school or college to see the results. But are there opportunities for competitive swimming after higher education? Absolutely. Swim teams are available for all ages, and there are several to choose from in the Kansas City area. While some swimming experience is necessary, you don’t have to be Michael Phelps to join a team—most teams will offer an evaluation of your skills and place you where you’ll grow the most. While some love the thrill of competition, others just look for a place to improve their skills. Here are two places to get back in your lane, burn some calories, and stay fit. THE KANSAS CITY BLAZERS The Kansas City Blazers was established in 1975 and is now a USA Swimming Level IV Club, fostering Olympic hopefuls

AUGUST 2022 |

and novices alike. The Blazers offer practice groups for all ages, from 5 to adults. Practices occur at the Shawnee Mission School District Aquatic Center and several middle and high schools in Johnson County. The next evaluation is September 1st, so signup today. For more information, visit teamunify.com/team/ mvskcb/page/home. U.S. MASTERS SWIMMING For those less concerned about trophies and more focused on personal goals, the Masters Swim program offers a place to test their mettle. There are two Masters swim groups in the metro area—the KC Wave, Kansas City’s LGBTQIA club meets at The Swinney Recreation Center, and the Gladstone Masters meet at the Gladstone Community Center. Masters Swim encourages participants of ages 18 and up of all fitness levels to practice with others to increase their confidence and skill in the water, with resources including an online library of workouts, training and technique articles, and more. Dive in at usms.org.

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Women’s Health presented by

AdventHealth

IN KC Emily Park

A Healthy Gut ADVENTHEALTH’S LIZ BENNETT ON GALLBLADDER AND ABDOMINAL PAIN

The pain then can go away quickly or stay for several hours, and patients can experience pain every few months or have more frequent episodes.” Who’s most likely to experience gallbladder problems? Bennett says women have a higher incidence of gallbladder disease than men, and it’s most likely to present in people who are overweight, have diabetes, have liver problems, or are still of childbearing age.

DIAGNOSING GALLBLADDER DISEASE There can be other causes of pain that occur in the same location as the gallbladder. This can include irritation of the stomach, acid reflux, infection of the intestines, and ulcers of the stomach or small bowel. Bennett will ask patients to keep a food diary and pay close attention to the foods they eat and when pain is occurring. Other issues with the gallbladder can be diagnosed with further testing, which may include an endoscopy, ultrasound, and/or biopsy. So, when should you visit your doctor with your symptoms? “You know your body. If you are having episodes of abdominal pain that are concerning, consult your primary care doctor. You should see your doctor if pain is recurring, occurring more frequently, or associated with nausea,” Bennett says. “If the pain is sudden, unbearable, and does not improve, you may need to seek care in the emergency department. You should be evaluated in the ER if you have fevers, vomiting, and are unable to keep food down, and/or have yellowing of the skin or eyes.”

RECOGNIZING SYMPTOMS INDICATIVE OF GALLBLADDER DISEASE When the gallbladder becomes a problem, many patients experience symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and right upper abdominal pain after eating. Bennett notes that other more severe symptoms can include fevers and yellowing of the skin or eyes. “Typical pain will be after eating, especially when that meal is fried or fatty,” says Bennett. “Pain can occur in the right upper abdomen or upper middle of the stomach and sometimes wrap around to the patient’s back. Typically, pain will occur within an hour or two after eating.

ADDRESSING SYMPTOMS While treatment for some gallbladder problems may lead to surgical removal of the gallbladder, there are a few things Bennett sometimes instructs her patients to do before taking that step. “The best approach is to modify your diet,” she says. “Avoid fried, fatty foods, sugary sweets, caffeine, and acidic foods. If you are overweight, gradual weight loss can help, and moderate exercise is important.” If symptoms don’t improve or worsen, it’s time to consider surgical gallbladder removal. “If you have gallstones and you are no longer able to avoid pain with dietary changes, increased frequency of symptoms, and have evidence that your gallbladder isn’t functioning well on imaging, those are common reasons to have your gallbladder removed on a scheduled/elective basis,” Bennett says. Surgery to remove a patient’s gallbladder, also called a cholecystectomy, is often achieved via laparoscopic (minimally invasive) surgery. In most cases, patients who have their gallbladder removed laparoscopically can resume normal activities within a week or two, and patients lead a perfectly normal life after surgery.

ave you thought about your gallbladder lately? If you’re someone who experiences pain or discomfort in your midsection, the gallbladder is something you’ll want to pay attention to. For Dr. Liz Bennett, a general surgeon with AdventHealth Medical Group, it’s her job to think about the gallbladder, and she says that for adults—especially women—who experience ongoing pain in their midsection, a common culprit is the gallbladder. What’s the gallbladder do again? Bennett reminds us that the gallbladder stores and secretes bile into the small intestine to help digest food. When it’s working, it’s easy to forget the gallbladder is there, but when it’s not—due to gallbladder inflammation, gallstones, or another problem—it can lead to uncomfortable symptoms. “Problems from the gallbladder can range from pain from stones, acute infection, chronic inflammation, poor function, passage of gallstones, irritation of the pancreas, or stones stuck in the bile ducts,” Bennett says. “The ability of the gallbladder to do its job depends on what problem the gallbladder has.”

AUGUST 2022 |

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General surgeon Liz Bennett

Every Minute Matters Know where to go in an emergency. Your family’s health is your top priority. It’s ours, too. If you or a loved one are injured or experience chest pain, stroke symptoms or severe stomach discomfort, don’t hesitate. You’ll find expert emergency physicians at the AdventHealth ER standing by to help you. When minutes matter most.

Four Locations in Johnson County Prepare for emergencies by locating the ER nearest you at AdventHealthKC.com/ER.

Living

IN KC by

Patricia O’Dell

Textiles and Objects for the Home Kate McConnell

ate McConnell grew up in a large family, and she often visited and shopped at estate sales and thrift stores, repurposing her finds. She studied textiles at the University of Kansas, and the education proved to be life changing. “It was the dawn of mega fast fashion, and I could see that the quality of the fabric and the patterns declined,” McConnell says. She worked in a fabric shop in Lawrence in addition to her studies, and after graduation she applied to work at Asiatica with owner Elizabeth Wilson in Kansas City. “That was when I started really understanding construction. By 2014 I was production manager, but I continued to cut because I loved it. It informs the process in so many ways.” McConnell is now a designer and production manager at Asiatica, but she has also started her own business. Originally, she started designing and making dresses and gowns and selling Kantha blankets at pop-ups prior to the pandemic. “The aesthetic is just a part of me,” she AUGUST 2022 |

says. “Even if they weren’t art. I had become so engrossed in my job that having pop-ups with my clothes was fun.” But her business is evolving again. She continued to show and sell product through Instagram during the shutdown. Once things began opening up again, she started to rethink her operation. “The pop-ups were popular and successful, but also a lot of work,” she says. I wanted a place to land.” McConnell has just leased a booth at Urban Mining and it’s affecting her business in positive ways. “I can change things every month if I want to and expand what I offer. Also, I’d rather be there talking with people than working only on social media.” You can find McConnell, katemcconnellstudio.com, and her wares at Urban Mining, 3111 Gillham Road, urbanminingvintage. com, as well as her beautiful creations at Asiatica, 4824 Rainbow Boulevard, asiaticakc.com.

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WALL TO WALL NEW PORTER TELEO DESIGNS WAKE THINGS UP WHAT FUN! Porter Teleo

has launched five new patterns and my two favorites, inexplicably, are the most minimal and the most extreme. Holy moly, who wouldn’t want to spend some time with Gleam? Subtle yet dramatic reflective dashes are scattered—somewhat methodically (I know this seems incongruent, but it’s true) across a sold, matte background. Géométrie, in contrast, looks like how Alexander felt on his very bad day. Heaven, both of them, and I’d take either in Noir in a heartbeat. The other designs are swell as well. Check them out at porterteleo.com.

Above: A room wallpapered with Porter Teleo Gleam. Right: Porter Teleo’s Géométrie wallcovering in Noir.

AUGUST 2022 |

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Living

IN KC

Glazed earthenware designed by Hungarian-born, American designer Eva Zeisel and manufactured by Schramberger Majolika-Fabrik. Part of the Nelson-Atkins’ exhibit, American Art Deco: Designing for the People, 1918-1939.

Deco-Great

Patricia O’Dell

or many of us, the closure of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art was a particularly painful—if reasonable—blow during the shutdown of the pandemic. A source of solace and inspiration, the inability to stroll the halls and escape compounded the innumerable losses. American Art Deco: Designing for the People, 1918-1939, the first major exhibit since the museum reopened, is an exuberant reawakening that explores the art, design, and architecture of the period between the World Wars. Art Deco, short for arts décoratifs, took its name from the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts held in Paris. The style is characterized by linear, symmetric, angular designs; a contrast to the curves, swirls and nature motifs of the Art

Nouveau period it followed. The exhibit was curated by Catherine Futter, the former director of curatorial affairs at the Nelson-Atkins and the current director of curatorial affairs and senior curator of decorative arts at the Brooklyn Museum. “It infused all aspects and levels of society, from domestic life to civic and commercial architecture, film, jazz, nightlife, and fashion,” Futter says. While the exhibit was previously on view at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Frist Art Museum, Nashville, and the Wichita Art Museum, the Kansas City exhibit will feature objects from local collections including two vintage cars on loan from Dick and Evelyn Craft Belger and Marshall Miller. In addition, the Kansas City Museum has loaned clothing from the period.

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ART DECO ARCHITECTURE IN KANSAS CITY

EXTEND YOUR IMMERSION into the streamlined style of Art Deco with a tour of Kansas City’s buildings of the era. City Hall, Municipal Auditorium, the Kansas City branch of the Jackson County Courthouse, and the Kansas City Power and Light building were all built in the early 1930s as part of a ten-year plan for civic improvement and are excellent examples of the era. Geometric designs with bas-relief accents that appear in the stone and metal work inside and out.

BRING IT HOME

If you’re looking for the best art in town, and the most fun while shopping for it, start here! www.weinbergerfineart.com

AFTER YOU VISIT the Art Deco exhibit you may find that you’d like to bring the look home. Retro Inferno, the swinging shop on Main Street that is chock-full of modern furniture, has a few pieces ready to help you deco-rate. retroinferno.com

Paul Frankl, an Austrian-born architect and designer, started his company Skyscraper Furniture in New York City in the 1920s. His mahogany frame table with the cork top would make for a stylish dinner date, $6,850.

Cuban artist Carlos Gamez de Francisco.

114 Southwest Blvd. KCMO 64108 ♥ of the Crossroads Arts District @weinbergerfineart

The rosewood armchair with its graphic wood frame is an elegant blend of natural ornament and streamlined structure, $3,500. Hours: Wednesday–Friday 10–6pm •Saturday 12–5pm Home appointments available upon request

AUGUST 2022 |

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AUGUST 2022 |

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IN CONVERSATION WITH

Whitney Terrell words by

Cindy Hoedel

he boundary waters between reality and fiction are where Kansas City’s homegrown, celebrated novelist Whitney Terrell feels most comfortable plying his literary craft. Terrell, 54, began his career in journalism, doing a stint as an intern at the Kansas City Star and landing a job as a fact checker for the New York Observer. But fame came from his debut novel, The Huntsman, in 2001, an unblinking look at the racism lurking below the surface of elite Kansas City society, a world Terrell was born into. In 2006, The King of Kings County, a fictionalized account of the racial covenants used by J.C. Nichols to segregate the city’s close-in suburbs, was named a best book of the year by the Christian Science Monitor and landed Terrell on a list of top writers under age 40 by the National Book Critics Circle. In 2016, his third novel, The Good Lieutenant, about the Iraq war, made best-book lists at the Washington Post and the Boston Globe. Terrell is an associate professor of creative writing at University of Missouri-Kansas City. He is working on a novel tentatively titled Home, which is set in Kansas City during the Obama and Trump administrations. Terrell chatted with IN Kansas City by phone AUGUST 2022 |

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photo by

Leslie Many

from France, where he was vacationing with his wife, Gayle Levy, and their sons Morrison (Moss), 17, and Miles, 12. He discussed his critiques of his hometown, why America keeps getting sucked into endless wars and what he thinks the Democratic Party could be doing better. Why did you and your family pick France for a vacation? We’re here because my wife is a French professor at UMKC, and UMKC runs a study abroad program for students from all around the country to study the Resistance in France [during the German occupation of the country in World War II]. Lyon was a hub of the resistance, so we’re in Lyon. We’ve been here as a family at least six summers. We usually stay for all of June and half of July. What do your kids enjoy doing in France? They both went to Académie Lafayette (in Kansas City) for their early schooling, so they learned French, and we put them in French school when we get here. So, they go to class. Miles plays a lot of pick-up soccer near our apartment, and Moss is really into theater, so he spent a couple of weeks in Paris recently. He stayed with a friend

to war, trains, faces combat, determines whether he is a quote-unquote man, and wins the medals or dies.

and went to see a bunch of theater. Your first two novels were very critical of Kansas City, particularly the elite old guard of the city. Why do you choose to continue to live here? [Laughs] Being critical of a place does not mean you don’t love it. Criticism and discussion and feeling like you are participating in creating the narrative of a city is a kind of investment. I only have that investment in Kansas City. I feel invested in working with others to think about the way that narratives have been told incorrectly or unfairly and trying to create narratives that are more fair or more accurate. As a writer, I feel that is my best material—the place that I feel most connected to and that I care about the most.

Sounds vaguely familiar. That arc of so many movies including Top Gun and Star Wars, which says that combat teaches you whether you are a man, is not true of combat. Combat is very bad for people, destabilizing, debilitating, traumatic. It changes people’s lives and doesn’t teach anyone anything about whether they are a good person or not. It’s too random. Also, my character in The Good Lieutenant is female, so she’s not trying to find out whether she’s a man. So, to find a structure that wasn’t doing that was hard. The story is told in reverse chronological order to avoid putting combat in a privileged place in the narrative. Your podcast fiction/non/fiction covers the intersection of literature and the news. Do you observe any blurring of the boundaries between fiction and news, and do you have concerns about trends in either category? No. I think it’s very important for fiction writers to be familiar with writing nonfiction. At UMKC we have a multi-disciplinary program, so you can study creative nonfiction and fiction or poetry or screenwriting or playwriting in the MFA program. I don’t think I would have been able to write The Good Lieutenant if I didn’t also know how to write journalism, because there were no embedded novelists in Iraq.

In both The Huntsman and particularly The King of Kings County, there are lovely descriptions of places such as the colonnaded apartment buildings along Armour Boulevard, the Country Club Plaza, and Mission Hills. Do you struggle personally with how much it’s OK to feel nostalgia and affection for some places where segregation and racial covenants played a role in their formation? I would say that’s true of the Plaza. The apartments on Armour Boulevard were from a prior period. I don’t personally feel a tremendous amount of nostalgia for the Plaza. I like downtown. I’ve been excited about downtown’s renaissance. I like the sort of weirder parts of the city. I like the West Bottoms. I like the East Side, where I live. I think Columbus Park is interesting.

Maybe that’s a bad thing. Maybe it is, but it wasn’t happening. So, I had to go and write nonfiction about it. I also knew I was going to write a novel. Journalism has been crucial in all my books. In The Huntsman there are scenes set at the Kansas City Star that were based on my internship there as a reporter just out of college. There are ideas in the book that come from news stories that other people at the Star wrote. I’m constantly looking into newspaper archives for ideas for stories and to research stuff.

Would you say your feelings about the Plaza are tainted by what you know about J.C. Nichols and his racial covenants? Yeah, for sure. That changes the legacy of the Plaza radically for me. Social ostracization is a theme that emerges in your early books. Did you ever feel ostracized as a result of the critiques in your books? No. I come from a position of real privilege in this society, from a family that’s lived here a long time. Very rarely do people do anything that is negative. Sometimes they do, but compared to the historical issues we are talking about, and the way that people have been marginalized in this city, particularly people of color, nothing has happened to me that’s worth really mentioning. You covered the Iraq War as a reporter and as a novelist. Does each of those forms require a different mindset and is it hard to shift from one to the other? Yeah! Writing The Good Lieutenant —I’m very proud of that novel… Why? I think it succeeds in the way I wanted it to succeed. But, it took eight years to write. It was very hard to do. The journalism I wrote came immediately. It was easier to process and tell the story in a nonfiction way. Why is that? When you’re doing nonfiction, you have control over the plot. It was hard to avoid telling a traditional war story, which is: Young man goes AUGUST 2022 |

The Huntsman came out 20 years ago. Do you think we have made any progress in that time in overcoming racism? The phrase “overcoming racism” is too broad to say “yes” to, right? No, we have not overcome racism. We have evidence of [racism] that happens every single day in America. Kansas City specifically feels like a more diverse city now than it was in the ’90s. And I don’t mean just in terms of black and white. There are more diverse kinds of people living in Kansas City, from more diverse backgrounds than there were 20 years ago. Troost Avenue is no longer a completely solid dividing line between black and white. I live a couple of blocks from Troost. I used to live on the east side of Troost, and I still own a house there. I know what the neighborhoods are like. They are fairly integrated. If you go over The Paseo or Prospect, that is not a very integrated space, but I think those lines are changing. Another difference is that a lot more white students are going to public school in Missouri than were 20 years ago. Now, that mostly is in charter schools, and you can debate whether or not that’s a good thing, but it is a difference. My kids’ school, Académie Lafayette, was not perfectly integrated, but it was integrated. If you look at the political leadership of the city, it’s been much more diverse also.

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Left to right: Terrell’s ﬁrst novel, The Huntsman, was published in 2001. His second novel, The King of Kings County, published in 2005. Terrell’s third book, The Good Lieutenant: A Novel, was published in June 2016.

The King of Kings County came out in 2005, one year after Thomas Frank’s What’s the Matter With Kansas. Frank grew up in Mission Hills and is just two years older than you. Both your books take a hard look at class divisions, something no one was really talking about at the time. Do you know Frank, and do you consider yourself a populist, a word often used to describe Frank’s writings? Yeah! In fact, I just had Tom on the most recent episode of the fiction/non/ fiction podcast. He was here in France and came to visit me in Lyon, and we did the show together with my co-host, V.V. Ganeshananthan.

right? So, the Republicans have abandoned those wars and certainly the Democrats have as well. Joe Biden received a lot of criticism for leaving and ending the war in Afghanistan. But that was the right thing to do. You don’t see some sort of policy disaster happening now because of that departure. So, I do think Americans will for a short period of time be uninterested in doing war, and then the old war narratives will come back, and we will drum up and try to have another one, and we’ll have to argue. It’s always about narrative. When you start seeing movies that are pro-Iraq War…

What was the topic? What the Democrats should do now that the Supreme Court seems to have turned so far right.

Watch out. Right. It was interesting to me what preceded the Iraq War. There was a resurgence in interest in the quote-unquote Greatest Generation. There was this tremendous amount of interest in World War II and how wonderful and fantastic it was for us to fight in those wars and win them. That narrative was part of what made it possible for Bush to invade Iraq.

What should they do? We were arguing that what they don’t talk about is winning votes in the Midwest and South. Missouri used to be a bellwether state that voted for [the winner of ] the presidency, whether it was a Democrat or Republican. We only vote Republican [for president] now. You can win votes in Missouri as a Democrat, but the Democratic Party is not trying. That is very frustrating to me.

The Good Lieutenant is a searing criticism of the Iraq War. Since it was published in 2016, do you see any shifts in American attitudes toward endless wars overseas? Absolutely. President Trump, who I do not like and did not vote for, campaigned openly against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. That would have been unthinkable for a Republican politician during the Bush era, AUGUST 2022 |

When you see your own kids and the students you teach, despite all the challenges their generation faces, what gives you the most hope? I feel like my kids have grown up in an environment that is more diverse, more accepting of people of different sexual orientation and different ways of thinking about gender, and they are not caught up in the sort of culture-war arguments that were taking place when I was in high school. I am hoping that is going to be a trend for the future. Interview condensed and minimally edited for clarity. 61 | INKANSASCITY.COM

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Kansas City Museum WHEN, THEN, AND THE DYNAMIC NOW words by

Judith Fertig

photos by

Aaron Leimkuehler

‘‘T

he first question a history museum asks is ‘what is the story?’” says Lisa Shockley, the curator of collections at Kansas City Museum. The museum’s story is full of comedy, tragedy, plot twists, near-death experiences, and most recently, a stunning comeback. Its cast includes a stuffed buffalo, a beloved igloo, and the mirror ball from the Cowtown Ballroom. If there’s one phrase that best describes the evolution, it is “transformational change,” says Anna Marie Tutera, the museum’s executive director. “It’s so important to honor all those who have gone before us at the museum, and to honor the community who has supported us for so long. And it’s also important to celebrate our exciting new future. We’re moving forward.” Forward—with a new magic formula. The City of Kansas City owns the property, and the nonprofit Kansas City Museum Foundation governs the museum and adds a wide diversity of experience and talent. “We now have greater autonomy and a greater vision,” says Tutera. Renowned fabric artist Sonié Joi Thompson-Ruffin, the vice chair of the foundation, celebrates the museum today as “the Home of the Whole Story of our City’s history.” It wasn’t always like that. Says Paul Gutierrez, the director of visitor experience and public programming, “Whether you’re a longtime Kansas City resident or new, this museum should be your first stop. It’s the window to the city.” And that window is open. HOW IT ALL BEGAN The museum rests on top of a bluff in the Historic Northeast, which once had a birds-eye view of 17th-century indigenous Plains tribes, 18th-century French fur traders, and 19th-century explorers Lewis and Clark going by. Soldiers for the North and the South and the enslaved people caught between during the Civil War passed by. European immigrants, “fresh off the boat,” trekked to

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Left, top to bottom: Three second-floor exhibits celebrating Kansas City history: its industry; medical artifacts from St. Joseph Hospital; and Story Sharing, about the lives of ordinary Kansas Citians.

homestead in places farther west. By the early 20th century, the 70-room Corinthian Hall mansion in the Beaux Arts style went up, built by a man who came west to sell hay, but found that lumber was far more lucrative. Robert A. Long, his wife, Ella, and daughters Sally and the famous equestrienne Loula, lived the lumber-baron lifestyle until Long’s death, after which his daughters donated the property to the newly formed Kansas City Museum Association in 1939. In those days, a history museum meant “don’t touch.” Taxidermied animals arranged in semi-lifelike dioramas were all the rage. When the museum opened in 1940, one of the highlights was a large mounted buffalo in the former dining room. The museum’s first director, John Ripley Forbes, was also eager to create a living collection and a more interactive experience, with animals housed in the former conservatory. But the museum found itself in a financial crisis and agreed to be sold to the City of Kansas City in 1948. In the 1950s, a replica of an igloo in “Eskimo Land” on the third floor of Corinthian Hall fascinated visiting children, who loved climbing in and out of it. By the late 1950s, the Cold War and the Space Race steered the museum’s emphasis towards natural history and science. The conservatory became the planetarium. Even the name changed to Kansas City Museum of History and Science in 1960. Over time, however, the museum ran out of space—and out of money, as Corinthian Hall desperately needed renovations to keep pace with public-safety requirements and to allow more exhibit areas. The science collection and the planetarium were transferred to create Science City at the newly renovated Union Station in 1999. The former Kansas City Museum Association was dissolved. Again, Kansas City Museum needed to change course. RENOVATION AND REBIRTH By 2006, new museum director Christopher Leitch, with support from the new Museum Advisory Board, made renovating Corinthian Hall a priority. By 2014, the city took over

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Above: Because the original chandelier for the Corinthian Hall salon was lost, it was replaced with a porcelain lighted sculpture by artist Linda Lighton. Right: The breakfast room, restored to its original colors, is now a meeting space.

management and operations. Anna Marie Tutera came on as the new executive director, and International Architects Atelier created a multistage master plan for Corinthian Hall. The only problems? Money. And a greater, more inclusive guiding vision. “Seven years ago, my first day on the job, I was up on the roof with buckets trying to catch the leaks,” says Gutierrez. “I wondered what I had gotten myself into.” “The turning point came in 2017 with funding that came in through general obligation bonds,” says Gutierrez. “Once the dollars came in, the scaffolding went up.” To widen the scope and vision of the museum, a new board of directors came on with the new nonprofit Kansas City Museum Foundation, representing a greater diversity of talent and experience. “We want to tell a more complete story of Kansas City, not to blame or shame,” says Gutierrez. That story includes local artists, indigenous tribes, and diverse members of the community sharing their stories in the “Our City, Our Stories” exhibit. Since the reopening of Corinthian Hall in October 2021, with its standout array of collections, it’s been onward and upward. COLLECTIONS—KEEP ‘EM COMING Three collections stand out, says Shockley. The medical collection from the former St. Joseph Hospital Museum, the 30,000 garments at the

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Above: The first floor of the museum is reserved for exhibits about the Long family. Opposite, top: A second-floor exhibit documents the early history of Kansas City. Opposite, below: The rollicking story of El Torreon and the Cowtown Ballroom is a revolving display.

Historic Garment District Museum (part of Kansas City Museum housed at 801 Garfield Street), and the largest collection of Cheyenne and Arapaho objects in the country, currently not on display. “Like many other museums, only about two to three percent of our collection is on view at any given time,” says Gutierrez. Donated objects keep coming in so fast, volunteers like Janine Joslin are still cataloguing items from 2014, stored in the basement of Union Station. Says Joslin, a former director of The Chieftains Museum in Rome, Georgia, “I recently worked on an early charge card, like a dog tag, printed with the lady’s name and address from a long-gone Kansas City department store from the 1940s or ’50s. I measure, photograph, describe, and assign identifying numbers to each piece before storing it again.” One of Shockley’s items on her wish list is “more compact storage and more trained museum staff and interns.” Also on her wish list are items many would think were too ordinary for a museum, yet they tell stories of everyday Kansas City life: a Monopoly game, a Girl Scout uniform from the ‘80s or ‘90s, and sneakers from that same period. She’d also like to put the collections on a digital online database to help researchers more easily find what they need. TURRELL SKYSPACE: “A BEAUTIFUL SYMBOL” Part of the master plan for creative use of structures on the museum property includes construction of a Turrell Skyspace, “a beautiful symbol,” says Tutera. “The idea of light has been central to our vision. We

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are illuminating Kansas City’s history.” With plans by artist James Turrell, who considers the sky his canvas, the former water-cooling tower will be transformed into an underground chamber with a square oculus through which you can view the sky. “You enter as an individual, looking up at the sky with other people. It’s a solitary, yet communal experience, bringing a sense of unity. It is a project that will be restorative and healing.” They hope to expand the experience with music and other sensory elements. “We definitely want Turrell Skyspace to be completed before the World Cup in 2026,” says Tutera. “Turrell Skyspace reaffirms that we’re all under the same sky,” she says. ENGAGING THE COMMUNITY Beyond museum exhibits, other activities engage the community. Out on the sweeping museum lawns, summer concerts swell with jazz, bluegrass, country, and folk music. People bend to yoga poses. Inside, once a month, Shockley presents a program featuring one item in the museum’s vast collection. School tours add the lively chatter of children—and visits to the soda fountain. And, of course, the Fairy Princess returns for the holiday season, a tradition since the former Kline’s Department Store debuted her in 1935. “Visitors to the museum can now relive old memories—and create new ones,” says Gutierrez. “We are the Home of the Whole Story.”

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words by

Jenny Vergara

THERE’S A NEW BUSINESS MODEL FOR CHEFS WANTING TO BREAK INTO THE FOOD SCENE, AND IT JUST MIGHT CHANGE THE WAY WE THINK ABOUT DINING OUT

U p p o THE ART OF THE

f you have never experienced the spontaneous joy of discovering and eating a warm arepa stuffed with skirt steak and queso fresco at a farmers market or tucked into a plate of street tacos at a local brewery, enjoyed a pizza with crust as light as a cloud at a natural wine shop or bit into a smash burger with everything on it while sipping on a drink from a local distillery, then it is about time you did. In fact, we insist you do, as the chefs hosting these food pop-ups may very well be the future of our local food scene in Kansas City. What started as a survival tool for many chefs during the pandemic in Kansas City, has now evolved into a legal path and

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license in Kansas City, Missouri, that allows these trained food folks to earn a living by opening for one or two nights inside a handful of local businesses, bars, and breweries, selling their food to anyone lucky enough to follow them on social media or find them popping up in the wild. Embracing the freedom and flexibility that comes with owning their own food business, these chefs enjoy having something that they can pick up or put down whenever they need extra income or can do in conjunction with a kitchen job at a local restaurant. Some dream of owning their own food truck or brick-and-mortar restaurant one day, others want to

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host multiple pop-ups to serve multiple locations. Without being hampered by the hours and heavy overhead costs associated with opening a new restaurant, local chefs can experiement with different food items to figure out their hero menu items before making a large financial commitment to a brick-andmortar in real time. All of them typically offer only a few menu items each week, advertising on Instagram with catchy names and enticing full-color photos meant to whet the appetite and get people excited to try their latest viral offering. They are called pop-ups because they can happen at any time and any day of the week. Ordering and paying for your food is done via text, QR code, or website, and although each one works a little differently than the next, all provide detailed instructions on how and where to go to pick up the food or have it delivered to your door. These variable food vendors have found local farmers markets a great place to popup in addition to retail shops, such as Big Mood Natural Wine in the Crossroads. Local breweries, wineries, or distilleries are also natural hosts for pop-ups as they are looking for those who can provide good food to pair with the beverages they already sell. Pizzas, burgers, sandwiches, tacos, pies, fresh pasta, or cinnamon rolls are all on offer for those willing to seek it out and support this new culinary gig economy. Now with a bright future ahead for popups in all parts of the city, we thought we’d bring you a list of those who are adding their own unique flavor to the local food scene. TACOS VALENTINA After being furloughed during the pandemic, Roger Avila, Kendra Valentine, and Pablo Muñez talked about the challenges of working in the hospitality industry and wondered

Heirloom corn house-made tortillas are the perfect vehicle for authentic tacos from Tacos Valentina.

if they could build a better mousetrap. They decided to start small, with Tacos Valentina, a pop-up celebrating their shared culture and serving authentic and approachable Mexican food. Tacos were an easy place to start and are a food item that has a history of being sold at pop-up roadside stands all over Mexico. They bought a countertop mill to nixtamalize heirloom corn varieties to make their own tortillas, each with its own distinctive flavor and color. They fill them with a variety of proteins, (barbacoa, carne asada, al pastor, and cochinita pibil) fresh produce, and handmade sauces based on whatever is fresh, local, and in season. Their rotating selection of tacos and tetelas (a Oaxacan type of taco made from a tortilla that is shaped into a triangle pocket filled with beans and cheese and griddled to hold its shape) has developed a following with a regular sched-

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ule that includes Thursday nights at Casual Animal Brewing Co., Saturday evenings at Alma Mader Brewing, and Big Mood Natural Wine on First Friday, in addition to private events and catering. The goal is for the trio to one day operate several pop-ups all over the city on the same night operating out of one central commissary kitchen. Follow them on Instagram @tacosvalentina. DEVOURED PIZZA From hosting her own backyard pizza parties during the pandemic with her little Gozney Roccbox portable pizza oven (for whom she is now a brand ambassador) to popping up with her world-famous “cloud crust” at watering holes around town, Jhy Coulter has been the pizza pop-up to watch for some time now. This year you can find Devoured Pizza at the Overland Park Farmers Market,

A special “cloud crust” is the base for delectable pizzas from Devoured Pizza.

You can ﬁnd Baré Coffee Grill’s Venezuelan arepas at Park Place Farmers Market.

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Big Head Burger serves smash burgers with a secret sauce, cheese, pickles, and bacon on a brioche bun.

Zero Zero Handmade Pasta is cooking up a delish ready-to-eat pasta dish every Saturday.

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every Wednesday and Saturday from 7:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m., slinging creative pies to hungry shoppers. She also plans to return to some of her favorite spots on alternative days, such as Big Mood, Strange Days Brewing, and KC Wineworks, in addition to doing private events and catering. Although the chef has found her new 5:00 a.m. wake-up time a rough adjustment to be ready to open at the farmers market, she feels the love from a curious and enthusiastic new fan base at the market. In addition to her crowd-pleasing pizzas, such as the Vegan Bae and The Pep, she has also added two new breakfast pizzas for the folks at the farmers market. The first is a more traditional pie topped with bacon, potatoes, scrambled eggs, cheese, peppers, and onions. The second she calls “Jam Bam” and it comes topped with crème fraiche, prosciutto, and blueberry ricotta for those who love it sweet and savory. Coulter is thinking a small brick-and-mortar location is likely her next big step for Devoured. She wants a permanent place to create ‘za that has her “Jhy-ness” on it. Follow Devoured Pizza on Instagram at @devouredpopup. BARÉ COFFEE GRILL After studying gastronomy in Venezuela, Leonor Gutierrez moved to Kansas City six years ago, finding culinary work in high-end restaurant kitchens like 801 Chophouse, North Italia, and Rye in Leawood. Now, ready to return to her roots, she has opened her own Venezuelan pop-up, Baré Coffee Grill (pronounced bar-ray, and named for an indigenous Amazonian tribe), where she makes traditional arepas every Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to noon at the Park Place Farmers Market in Leawood, where a line starts to form the minute she steps in front of her grill. The gluten-free arepas are made with white-corn dough formed into a flat, round disk and grilled until it puffs up and can be cut open to be filled with one of four cus-

tomary fillings—reina pepiada (chicken and avocado salad), carne mechada (skirt steak with queso fresco), scrambled eggs with queso fresco and pico de gallo, and her vegan one filled with black beans, avocado, and pico de gallo. Gutierrez has also found success catering for corporate or private events with her arepas and Venezuelan appetizers, such as tequenõs (friedcheese sticks) and pastelitos (savory hand pies filled with ground beef ). She will be popping up at the market until October, and then assessing the success of her first season. Having her own restaurant is a dream, but for now she is considering which farmers market to pop-up at next season. Find Baré Coffee Grill on Instagram at @barecoffeegrill. BIG HEAD BURGER After catering a Kansas City family reunion in 2019, David Bryant was convinced by his childhood friend and local Kansas City barbecue enthusiast and photographer, Tarik Sykes, to bring his Waterloo, Iowa, based smash burger concept, Big Head Burger, to Kansas City. Working side by side with his mother, Nina, Bryant opened Big Head Burger in Iowa, first as a food truck, and eventually as a brick-and-mortar restaurant serving hand-ground burgers, hand-cut French fries and hand-dipped milkshakes. Bryant is currently looking to build his burger empire by opening a second location in Kansas City, but in the meantime, he and Sykes are hosting a series of pop-ups this summer at local breweries to give people a taste of what is to come and see where the summer takes them. With a solid schedule of dates set you’ll be able to find Big Head Burger this summer at Pathlight Brewing, Sandhills Brewing, Callsign Brewing Company, and a few others, serving up smash burgers with secret sauce, cheese, sliced onions, and pickles on a brioche bun. The response to his smash burgers so far has been impressive, with Big Head Burger already generating big buzz in

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Kansas City. Follow Big Head Burger on Instagram at @bigheadburgerkc. ZERO ZERO HANDMADE PASTA Mitch Fagan and Leah Steinberg started making fresh handmade pasta at home, inspired by their pre-pandemic travels to Italy. They eventually got so good at it, they built a cottage business selling pasta to friends and family. Zero Zero Handmade Pasta, named after the 00 flour used to make their pasta, may have been born out of boredom, but it is big business now, as the couple has signed the lease and will open their first fresh pasta store on Kansas City’s Westside in the former home of Fervere/Ibis Bakery next door to Blue Bird Bistro this month. Working together with a handful of trained employees, the couple makes a different pasta each week, announces it on Instagram, and takes orders Friday through Wednesday, then produces the pasta on Wednesday night. On Thursday, their customers get fresh pasta delivered right to their door, just in time for the weekend. This year they expanded into a booth at the Brookside Farmers Market where you can find them on the weekends selling fresh pasta right next to the produce vendors. Their new retail location puts their pasta-making talent on display with large wood tables behind glass where guests come in and watch. They also have a small market section where they sell bags of the flour they use to make their pasta, from Kansas City-based Marion Milling, in addition to a selection of seasonal ingredients one might need to build a sauce. Saturdays they offer a single pasta dish, ready-to-eat. It might be a piping hot slice of lasagna or something that can be quickly cooked to order and enjoyed there with a glass of wine or at home. As for the brick oven that was a showpiece of Fervere, they plan to use it to bake beautiful loaves of focaccia bread to sell. Follow them on Instagram @zerozeropastakc.

words by

Emily Park

MUSEUMS & EXHIBITS

2022 Fall Arts Preview WHEN THE CURTAINS CLOSED ON THE 2021-2022 ARTS SEASON THIS SPRING, KANSAS CITIANS WERE LEFT WANTING MORE. AFTER ALL, EXPERIENCING KANSAS CITY’S ROBUST REPUTATION FOR THE ARTS BACK AT ITS FULLEST IN-PERSON POTENTIAL FOR THE FIRST TIME IN TWO YEARS FELT OH, SO GOOD. THANKFULLY, IT’S AGAIN TIME TO LOOK FORWARD TO A DAZZLING 20222023 SEASON. GRAB YOUR CALENDAR

Untitled painting by Kwanza Humphrey.

BECAUSE HERE’S YOUR GUIDE TO ARTS IN

Kansas City Artists Coalition

KANSAS CITY THIS FALL.

In 1975, a group of local artists gathered to discuss how they could lift one another up and change the lives of artists living in Kansas City. That group founded the Kansas City Artists Coalition (KCAC) and has been showcasing exhibitions from local contemporary artists ever since. This fall’s shows put the spotlight on a diverse group of painters, sculptors, printmakers, and mixedmedia artists including Adam Crowley, Elizabeth Moore (August 5-26); Adam Finkelston, Steph Kates (September 2-30); Nina Staehli (October 7-28); and Kwanza Humphrey (December 2 - January 6). Trying to build up your own art collection on a budget? You won’t want to miss KCAC’s Art for All exhibition. From November 4-26, this show focuses on small works from KCAC Member Artists that are no bigger than 18 inches and priced under $500. A full schedule is available at kansascityartistscoalition.org.

Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art Johnson County Community College ranks within the top ten university/college campuses for public art in America, and that can be credited to the Nerman Museum. On September 9, the museum will debut Adorned, a special exhibit that explores what it means to be our true selves through the act of adornment. “In times of political, social, and economic strife, adornment is our balm of choice. Adorning self and space through jewelry, clothing, and physical transformation is a simple but potent pleasure.” The new exhibit is on display through February 5. Keep up with the latest at nermanmuseum.org.

Cyborg by Pepe Mar.

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art While canvassing the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art for his installation in the upcoming seventh annual Atrium Project, Mexican artist Pepe Mar was captivated by Hans Hofmann’s Rising Sun. This year’s Atrium Project, Pepe Mar: Rising Sun, will be on display from August 19, 2022, to July 30, 2023, and visitors will be greeted by a textile printed with images stained with colors reminiscent of Rising Sun stretching across the museum’s main atrium wall. From October 14, 2022, to March 5, 2023, patrons will be transported to different cultures with influences from Japanese ukiyo-e printing, Mexican folklore, and Indigenous, European, and Tibetan Buddhist symbology in Christian Ruiz Berman: Hortus Inconclusus. Visit kemperart.org for details.

Demons, Chin ‘Demon of Lust,’ p93 from Indigenous Woman by Martine Gutierrez.

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art From the Deaf Cultural Festival on August 27 to Dia de los Muertos celebrations on October 30, The Nelson-Atkins Museum invites Kansas City to discover new cultures and traditions in a multitude of manners. During your visit to the museum this fall, time travel to the dazzling days of Art Deco with works of art, design, and architecture that explore the nuances of the time period in American Art Deco: Designing for the People, 1918-1939 on display through January 8, 2022. Also on display this fall are Luxury and Passion: Inventing French Porcelain (Beginning August 13) and Goya/Chagoya (Beginning September 16). Visit nelsonatkins.org for a full calendar of events.

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PERFORMING ARTS

Folly Theater City in Motion As the longest-running contemporary dance company in Kansas City, City in Dance specializes in dance innovation and training Kansas City’s up-and-coming artists through the School of Dance and Youth Dance Theater. Offering three public performances a year, the next chance to see City in Motion comes on September 10 at the 23rd annual Dance in the Park. City in Motion will take the stage with an eclectic, family-oriented performance at Roanoke Park. Keep up with the latest at cityinmotion.org.

Expect an all-new experience at the Folly Theater this fall. The historic theater is closing its doors for three-and-a-half months to undergo a serious makeover. “This will be the most consequential, impactful, and transformational revitalization undertaken by the Folly in over 40 years,” says Rick Truman, executive director of Folly Theater. When the theater reopens in October, calendar highlights include Folly Jazz Series (October 14-May 5), World Ballet Series: Swan Lake (October 20), and A New World: Intimate Music from Final Fantasy (October 22). View all scheduled performances at follytheater.org.

photo by dario acosta

Verona Quartet

The Coterie Named one of the nation’s top children’s theaters by Time magazine, The Coterie has been producing new works of theater for young audiences for over 40 years. From children’s classics to brand-new stories, the 2022/23 season will be a great one. The season starts off September 20-October 16 with Akeelah and the Bee, a play about a girl growing up on the South Side of Chicago with a natural talent for spelling. Next up? Tell Tale Electric Poe (October 20-30) and A Charlie Brown Christmas (November 15-December 31). Check out the full season’s offerings at thecoterie.org. AUGUST 2022

Friends of Chamber Music Friends of Chamber Music started as four performances in private homes nearly fifty years ago and has evolved into a tradition of over a dozen annual performances in concert halls across the city. This fall’s season introduces “stunning string quartets, masterful solo pianists, and enchanting early music,” including Verona Quartet (September 30), Europa Galante (October 7), Vox Luminis (October 29), Master Pianist Terrence Wilson (November 6), Ulysses Quartet (November 11), and Tallis Scholars (December 2). For more information visit chambermusic.org. | 74 | INKANSASCITY.COM

Jen Mays will star in About Alice.

With more than 125 members, the Heartland Men’s Chorus is a gay men’s chorus that has been celebrating community, pride, and authenticity since 1986 with musical excellence. The chorus opens its 37th season on December 3 with ‘Tis the Season. The annual holiday spectacular will offer robust arrangements of timeless classics and cutting-edge yuletide twists the chorus promises will “leave you laughing all the way to New Year with class, sass, and tidings of good cheer.” Stay tuned for season announcements at hmckc.org.

Harriman-Jewell Series

Kauffman Center Presents Inside one of our favorite buildings that illuminates the Kansas City skyline, the Kauffman Center for Performing Arts introduces internationally recognized artists and performers with Kauffman Center Presents. The Happy Together Tour 2022, one of the first performances of the season on August 21, features music legends The Turtles, Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, The Association, The Vogues, and The Cowsills. On September 2, Weird Al Yankovic returns to Kansas City promising a totally unique set list from his 14 studio albums. Become enthralled with the purity of tone, distinctive charm, and diverse repertoire of the Vienna Boys Choir on November 1. Then, wrap up the season with a chance to spin the wheel and win prizes at Wheel of Fortune Live! Head to kauffmancenter.org/kcpresents for the full fall season.

This season marks 1,000 performances of leading artists in music and dance from around the world. “Who knew what started out in 1965 with two dancers from the New York City Ballet on a sanded-down floor of a tiny stage would turn into one of the most respected performing arts presenting organizations in the country,” says Clark Morris, executive and artistic director of the series. The 58th HarrimanJewell Series season highlights include Terence Blanchard-Absence featuring The E-Collective and Turtle Island Quartet (October 2), Scottish Chamber Orchestra with Nicola Benedetti (October 22), Our Song Our Story: The New Generation of Black Voices (November 20), and Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott (March 31). For the full season lineup visit hjseries.org.

Kansas City Actors Theatre In its 18th season, Kansas City Actors Theatre (KCAT) is pulling back the curtain to a full season for the first time in two years. From August 17-28, About Alice—adapted from a book of the same name written by Kansas Citian Calvin Trillin—takes audiences through the beautiful memories Trillin made with his late wife. From September 7-18, Dot introduces audiences to a family dealing with the matriarch’s recent diagnosis of Alzheimer’s as they learn to care for themselves and their mother. The 18th season comes to a close with Smart People from January 18-29, which takes place on the eve of Barack Obama’s 2008 election as a group of friends grapple with questions of race. Learn more about the season at kcactors.org.

The Kansas City Ballet’s season opens with Giselle, October 14-23.

Kansas City Ballet

Kathryn Stott and Yo-Yo Ma. AUGUST 2022

This year, Kansas City Ballet is taking audiences on the journey of growth the ballet has seen over the last decade under the direction of Devon Carney. “The 2022-2023 season as a whole is a great example of where we’ve gone over the last decade and where we’re headed,” Carney says. The season opens with Giselle, October 14-23, and continues with Cinderella and it’s all-new choreography by Carney from February 17-26. It wouldn’t be Christmas in Kansas City without The Nutcracker, would it? The KC Ballet tradition will be on stage from December 7-24. For full details visit kcballet.org.

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photo by kenny johnson

Heartland Men’s Chorus

Deborah Brown is The Voice.

Kansas City Repertory Theatre

Kansas City Jazz Orchestra In a city with a rich history and reputation for jazz, KC Jazz Orchestra has been keeping that tradition alive since 2003. This season celebrates 20 years with a five-concert anniversary season including The Horn featuring Sean Jones (September 30), The Voice featuring Deborah Brown (November 10), The Family (December 6) featuring Chloe and Lonnie McFadden, The Future featuring Lee Langston and Eboni Fondren (February 24), and The Root (April 29). Also be on the lookout for special events at kcjo.org.

With new partnerships and a community tour, KCRep’s 2022-2023 season takes audiences from a bold Shakespearean comedy to not-to-be-missed new plays, frighteningly fun ghosts, and Christmas magic. Twelfth Night kicks off the season from September 6-25 with a new take on Shakespeare’s comedy. In October’s Ghost Light: A Haunted Night of Songs and Stories from KC’s Cultural Crossroads, local storytellers and musicians will bring spooky stories to life on dates to be announced. A KCRep classic, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol makes a return from November 18-December 24. Find out what’s next on the season roster at kcrep.org.

See Black Panther like you’ve never seen it before.

Kansas City Symphony

Kansas City Chorale The Kansas City Chorale’s 41st season opens on October 14, with Travels of Marco Polo in Helzberg Hall. Back after a sell-out performance in May 2019, this show follows Marco Polo’s epic journey with music from Rome to the Far East. This will mark the second performance in nearly 500 years of Bartolomeo Escobedo’s Missa ad te levavi which was recently restored from the Vatican library. Watch for the details of the rest of the season at kcchorale.org.

AUGUST 2022

This season marks the close of Michael Stern’s 18 years as music director of KC Symphony as he steps into retirement. “The 2022/23 season promises to be revelatory in many ways,” he says. “We are making the case for music and the arts in our community as fervently as ever. This new season welcomes the new and explores innovative paths as we look together toward the future, and it celebrates the best of what our KC Symphony has come to mean for our city.” This season, the symphony will welcome nine guest conductors during its classical series; the pops series will bring back showstopping classics; the family series will offer animations and zoo animals; and special presentations include movies such as Harry Potter and Black Panther with a live soundtrack. There’s plenty to choose from, so head to kcsymphony.org for the full season lineup.

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Midwest Trust Center From local rising talent to international superstars, the Midwest Trust Center never has a shortage of stellar performances ranging from classical music to Broadway theater, national tours, and more. The Opus 76 Quartet returns as Midwest Trust’s artists-in-residence with a series of concerts that kick off on September 25. Other season highlights include New Dance Partners: The Ultimate Collaboration with KC Ballet, Owen/Cox Dance, Störling Dance Theater, and Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company (September 18), DEAFinitely Dope Matthew Maxey (September 29), Legally Blonde—The Musical (November 12), and An Evening with Nigella Lawson (November 19). Check out the full list of performances at jccc.edu/midwest-trust-center.

Lyric Opera Kansas City Audiences are invited to open their world with the Lyric Opera’s first full season since the start of the pandemic. The season starts in Spain, with one of the most popular operas of all time, Carmen, on stage from September 24-October 2. Then, it’s time to visit Paris with La Traviata from November 5-13. This holiday season, Lyric Opera takes audiences to Bethlehem with the return of Amahl and the Night Visitors, created in collaboration with master puppeteer Paul Mesner from December 2-11. Get more details and see what’s on tap next at kcopera.org.

Violinist Shmuel Ashkenasi

Owen/Cox Dance Group Every performance given to Kansas City audiences by the Owen/Cox Dance Group is a world premiere. The 20222023 season kicks off with Creative Interactions, offering free performances of new works from seven choreographers August 13-14. Then, spring comes early from October 7-9 with What Came with Spring, an original show from choreographer Christian Warner in collaboration with The Black Creatures that puts the spotlight on what it means to be Black in America. Get more details at owencoxdance.org.

PHOTO BY KENNY JOHNSON

Park International Center for Music Park University’s International Center for Music turns out some of the best classical musicians in the world, and this season’s performances match that reputation. Get a peek at up-and-coming classical talent during Park ICM’s Orchestra Fall Concert (October 7), Piano Studio Recital (October 28), and Orchestra Holiday Concert (December 3). Meanwhile, catch performances from world-renowned classical pianist Ilya Shmukler (October 8) and violinist Shmuel Ashkenasi (November 19). For the full list of upcoming performances visit icm.park.edu.

AUGUST 2022

FALL ARTS PREVIEW CONTINUED ON PAGE

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Family Ties

GALLERIST TOMA WOLFF’S ART-FILLED MISSION HILLS HOME HAS DEEP CONNECTIONS TO HER PAST

words by

Patricia O’Dell

photos by

Aaron Leimkuehler

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The Wolff’s formal living room is an amalgam of contemporary art and midcentury-modern furniture. Far left above the console is an acrylic on paper by Jose Bedia next to Paul Anthony Smith’s artwork. A Zhang Huan photograph hangs over the fireplace. Holding pride of place on the coffee table is a mixed-media sculpture by Harma Heikens. Flowers on the console table are from Studio Dan Meiners.

oma Wolff ’s connection to art and her home is rooted in family. She grew up in a family that collected art—her late father, Byron Cohen, opened the Cohen/Berkowitz Gallery in the Crossroads in 1994 and her mother, Eileen Cohen, was an art teacher. Her day-to-day life from the time she was a child was infused with artists, art buyers, and creatives. “I was born into an art family,” she says. “Some of my earliest memories involve art. When I was young—before I was 6 years old—I would make drawings, tie them up with a bow, and go door to door selling them.” Her life was so infused with art that around the time she was in middle school

Above, top: In the family room, a Squeak Carnwath painting hangs on the back wall next to a Wang Huaxiang bronze sculpture. The Wolff family, from left to right: Andy, Simon, Ava, and Toma Wolff. Above: Another view of the family room with artworks from, left to right, May Tivet, Leslie Dill, and Elizabeth Huey. Opposite: Alan Siegal’s Tongue Chair accompanies an Allison Schulnik oil painting.

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In the dining room, a colorful antique rug purchased from a shop in Fez, Morocco, anchors the contemporary table and chairs. Photograph is by Hendrik Kerstens. Flowers are from Studio Dan Meiners.

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George (left) and Venice, the Wolff’s two rescue doggos, have a favorite spot in the kitchen.

she was puzzled that a friend’s family had nothing on their walls. “It was shocking to me that they didn’t have any art on their walls anywhere,” she says. “That’s when I realized that maybe my family was different.” Wolff ’s family ties are strong, but she did not plan on buying and raising her children in the house she grew up in. “We bought the house about 18 years ago. I was with my father at an art fair in Miami, and my mom—on a whim, I think—went to look at condos. She called and told us she had made an offer, and that I had a week to

AUGUST 2022 |

decide if we wanted their house.” Wolff and her husband, Andy, had been looking, and while they had seen many houses, nothing seemed right. The Wolffs realized that her family home was perfect for them. “There were wood floors, a million walls—all white—it was exactly what we wanted,” she says. While she and Andy decided to maintain the integrity of the house, they knew they wanted to make it their own. “We put in a new kitchen and a new master bedroom,” she says. “And we blew out the upstairs hallways to have more walls.” They enlisted interior designer

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Lisa Schmitz to help with the renovation. It was her idea to install the multicolored panels in the kitchen. “We wanted something that was playful,” Wolff says. “It’s automotive paint on inexpensive wood. We didn’t know if it would stand the test of time. We thought if we got tired of it, we could change it out, but we never have.” The art, of course is the focus, but Wolff finds that, as with the panels above the cooktop, she moves art less than one might imagine. Even with new acquisitions, many beloved pieces stay put. “One of the great things about working in the gallery is that I’ve always had new artwork around me. I love the pieces in my house, and I don’t want to part with them, but I do stop seeing them in a way, because seeing them where they are is so normal to me.” She does rotate work if she buys a new piece, and occasionally, she

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trades pieces with her mother. “We sort of play with moving things back and forth,” Wolff says. This works well because her taste and her late father’s taste were so similar. “We were walking through an art fair separately one time and when we met up, we agreed to take each other to our favorite piece. It was the exact same piece,” she remembers. “So, we bought it together.” Wolff says she doesn’t overthink where a piece of art will live at home. “I’ve never bought a piece knowing where it was going to go. I buy art because I love it. I need it. It’s a hunger. So, I know I’ll figure out a place for it. I’m not thinking about whether it will match the furniture. I do think about how something may relate to the other art around it, because I like the way art relates to each other.” Wolff and her father closed the physical gallery in 2011. They moved the business online and she, Andy, and their children, Simon

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Above: The primary bedroom features a Adam Cvijanovic painting above the bed and a mixed-media piece by Carla Malone Steck on the right. Top left: The open staircase showcases smaller pieces, including a Hendrik Kerstens photograph on top left, Peregrine Honig’s painted gloves, middle second row, and an Annie Leibowitz photograph bottom of the fourth row. Left: The upstairs hall is an art-filled gallery, centered on an Andrew Schoultz painting.

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family ties continued

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Every guest comments on the stunning powder room installation—a paint and ceramic piece by Phillip Mayberry that wraps around all four walls of the room.

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and Ava, moved to Florence, Italy, for a year. They came home to Kansas City when her father became ill. After he died, she decided to let the business evolve naturally. “Now I’m consulting,” she says. “I want my clients to connect to the artists and their stories. There’s no art for sale on my website. It’s important to hear the artists’ stories, to connect their ideas and enjoy the visuals. You might look at something and not understand it. But once you hear the story behind it, you’re connected. Once we identify artists that they like, we can find the right pieces.”

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fall arts preview continued from page

Starlight Theater

Hamilton returns to KC in March.

The stars shine bright at Kansas City’s outdoor theater with Broadway musicals, some of the year’s most anticipated concerts, and engaging theatrical performances. Three national Broadway tours come to Starlight this season: Anastasia (August 9-14), Sister Act (August 16-21), and The Prom (September 13-18). Visit kcstarlight.com for more information.

Anastasia is at Starlight, August 9-14.

PNC Broadway in Kansas City Experience the grand thrill of a Broadway performance right here in Kansas City with the American Theatre Guild’s PNC Broadway in Kansas City 2022-2023 season. This fall, R.E.S.P.E.C.T. offers a tribute to Aretha Franklin from November 15-16. Then, Tony Award-winning director and choreographer Jerry Mitchell brings Pretty Woman: The Musical to Kansas City from December 6-11. This spring, PNC Broadway offers Broadway favorites you won’t want to miss such as Hamilton, Hadestown, Six, and Disney’s Aladdin. Get all the details at americantheatreguild.com/kansascity.

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UMKC Conservatory

Toni Stone tells the story of the ﬁrst woman to play professional baseball in the Negro Leagues.

For over a century, the UMKC Conservatory has been a leader in arts education turning out world-class musicians, dancers, and theatrical performers. This fall’s calendar is full of public performances that showcase the university’s excellence, from choral performances, jazz concerts, performances from orchestras, symphonies, and ensembles, theatre productions, and dance recitals. Keep up with this fall’s schedule at conservatory.umkc.edu.

Unicorn Theatre Known for thought-provoking plays that illuminate social issues such as race, religion, and gender identity, Unicorn Theatre introduces works that have never been produced in the region. This fall, audiences will meet the first woman to play professional baseball in the Negro Leagues in Toni Stone (September 7-25); experience a nail-biting psychological thriller The Sound Inside (October 19-November 6), and peek into the world of four formerly incarcerated line cooks who dare to dream of creativity in Clyde’s (November 30-December 18). Get all the details for the upcoming season at unicorntheatre.org.

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Flavor

IN KC

In the Kitchen CORN, ZUCCHINI, AND CHICKPEA CREPES BY

Cody Hogan

PHOTOS BY

ate summer—the time of year when gardeners can be faced with an overabundance of fresh corn and zucchini—and a dearth of ideas for dealing with them. While tinkering with my summer surfeit, I came up with this versatile little crepe made of corn, zucchinis, and chickpea flour. It is simple, endlessly adaptable, and tasty. And in retrospect, its evolution was an exercise in reinventing the wheel. It began as a suggestion from the editor to write about corn. I made the mistake of Googling corn recipes— there are not really that many in the big picture, just infinite variations on a few familiar concepts, such as slathered corn on the cob, cornbread, creamed corn, and corn salads. Overwhelmed and underwhelmed simultaneously, I closed the computer and just sat looking at the freshly shucked ear of corn on my cutting board. There was a perfect, young zucchini next to it, and I thought about how nice they are together. I decided I would work with both, perhaps in the form of a fried cake of some kind. Having previously written about corn fritters ( July 2020) and vegetable pakoras (September 2018), frying was out, but I did like the idea from the pakoras of using chickpea flour for binding the two together. After repeated attempts, my “cake” dwindled to the thinness of a crepe, the corn and zucchini less of the protagonist and more of a supporting player accentuated with savory and smoky spices. And I had absolutely cooked myself back to farinata, a classic Italian flatbread snack from Liguria. It is also claimed by parts of the south of France where it is known as socca. It dates back to the Romans, supposedly being baked on the backs of metal shields by soldiers. There really is nothing new under the sun, but hopefully this crepe will be new to you and will become a new staple in your summertime repertoire.

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Aaron Leimkuehler

Zucchini, Corn, and Chickpea Flour Crepes The basic batter for this crepe is essentially equal parts by volume of chickpea ﬂour and water, water plus a little fat. For a reference point, start with one cup of each, each which will make one or two 12inch crepes, depending on how thick you like them. As for the chickpea flour, there are essentially two types of flour that are called the same thing but are actually a little different—and fortunately they are interchangeable in this recipe. In the European and North American traditions, larger, lighter-colored chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans) are preferred, but smaller, darker chickpeas that are usually split in half are favored in the Middle East and South Asia (when ground into flour they are referred to as chana, gram flour or besan). The size of grind can also affect the way the flour absorbs water, so you may need to add a splash of water or sprinkling of the flour if you need to adjust the consistency of the batter. First whisk the chickpea flour with one scant teaspoon smoked salt (or regular salt if that is all you have) and one teaspoon ground cumin. Drizzle in the water while whisking the flour, then whisk in two tablespoons of ghee (I like to use ghee because of the buttery flavor and its affinity for corn) or olive oil. Try to eliminate all lumps, then allow the batter to rest for at least two hours and up to several days (if refrigerated). The resting period allows the flour to more uniformly absorb the water and the crepe will be a little more resilient and less likely to break when being handled. In the meantime, cut the kernels from an ear of fresh corn. With a box grater or mandoline, shred a smaller zucchini into long strands, or use just the outer green layer of a larger zucchini (the cottony, seedy inside of large squash is better suited to compost pile or as fodder for your pet rabbit or chicken—the chicken will also appreciate the corn cob). When ready to eat, turn on the broiler in your oven. On the stove-

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top, preheat a skillet on high. I like to cook these flatbreads in a large (12-inch) non-stick skillet.* Add two tablespoons of ghee or vegetable oil to the hot skillet followed immediately by about half a cup of the corn and half of the zucchini shreds. A delicious but optional addition here could be a generous handful of chives left long, or half a shallot, thinly sliced. Cook for about three minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid scorching. If the pan looks dry, drizzle in a bit more ghee, otherwise, gently pour about half of the batter over the vegetables, tilting the skillet this way and that to distribute the batter evenly (perhaps not perfectly) over the bottom. Continue cooking on high for about two minutes, then place the skillet under the broiler (as close as you can get it) for about three minutes more. Alternately, if you feel comfortable with your crepe-flipping skills, shake the skillet to dislodge the crepe and then with a big flick of the wrist and tip of the pan, flip the crepe and continue cooking on the stovetop for about three minutes. Do not try to flip the crepe with a spatula as it will be much too delicate for such a maneuver at this stage. When cooking under the broiler, a few scorched blisters should appear, and in either case the lace of batter around the edges should be dark brown and crispy, perhaps even smoking a little. Slide the crepe onto a cutting board and allow it

In Your Pantry

BETTER BUTTER UNLESS YOU LIKE to go exploring in the dairy section of better gro-

cery stores, you might not realize how many types of butter there are. The big differences are salt and fat content. But for the curious palate, there are even more variables to experience.

Cultured When the cream to be churned to butter is inoculated with cultures (as in live yogurt) and allowed to ferment briefly, the flavor becomes more complex, even tangy. This is the perfect butter for slathering on your morning toast or baking into homemade brioche. Occasionally you can find cultured butter at farmers markets (behind the counter, sometimes from unpasteurized milk—-gasp!). “Wild” butter like that can take on a funk not unlike an extremely mild blue cheese. Delicious to some, mildly off-putting to others.

Non-Bovine Butter isn’t just about milk from cows—a brilliant butter is made from goat milk. It is pale, almost white, and is soft and spreadable, even at refrigerator temperature (although its delicate ﬂavor really shines at a cool room temperature). In addition to being delicious, goat butter, like goat milk, is often an acceptable alternative to those who are sensitive to bovine milk.

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to cool briefly before cutting and serving. Continue cooking with the remaining batter and vegetables. Your diners won’t settle for just one. This crepe, or farinata, is a fantastic starting point for variations. Traditionally, it is made without the corn or zucchini, and might be made a little thicker (one batch of batter for a whole 12-inch skillet). It can be cooked longer and made more dry and cracker-like. Certainly other vegetables could be added or used as a topping, as could any number of herbs or seasonings—chickpeas have a great rapport with spices, so your favorite curry blend would be lovely here. It could be stuffed and rolled like a cannelloni, or layered for a gluten-free lasagna. Regardless of the modifications, don’t bother trying to reinvent the wheel. Enjoy the bounty of the summer while it lasts with a little help from an ancient idea.

SUMMERTIME

*Note: If you don’t have a skillet that size, buy one. It is the single, most-used piece of equipment in my kitchen. I cannot imagine not having a skillet this size for cooking at home, as I can cook an entire meal for two people in it. The generous size allows for room to move things around, and cook things quickly. That being said, you could certainly cook these crepes in a smaller skillet, especially cast iron. You will simply have to make more of them.

Salty and Sweet Traditionally, most butter was salted for preservation. Refrigeration has eliminated that requirement and now salt is used primarily for ﬂavoring. Because the amount of salt can vary substantially, especially from brand to brand, bakers, cooks (and those closely watching their salt intake) can use unsalted butter (AKA sweet butter) so they have complete control when seasoning.The minimum fat content in American butter is 80 percent compared to 82 percent in Europe, but most high-end butters meet or exceed even the European standard. Irish butter takes it a step further using grass-fed cows for more ﬂavorful, healthful butter.The labels will tell you everything you need to know.

Ghee/Clarified When butter is heated to the point that all water is evaporated and the dairy solids separate from the fat (some impurities float to the top, most sink to the bottom), and the pure fat is separated from the other particles, the result is clarified butter. The process is easily accomplished at home, but does require a bit of time and patience. The resulting product is incredibly stable at room temperature, and can be heated to extremely high temperatures before smoking, making it an excellent choice for high-temperature cooking (unlike extra-virgin olive oil which smokes at a relatively low temperature). Ghee is a specific Indian classification of butter in which the butter is simmered for a period of time to become more aromatic with a rich, nutty flavor.

AUGUST 2022 |

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Flavor

IN KC

Jenny Vergara

photo by

Corie English

In Your Cocktail CHAZ ON THE PLAZA

hen the brutal afternoon heat from the summer sun beats down on Kansas City, there is a cool, dark respite with a quiet corner table for two waiting at Chaz on the Plaza. Here live music plays with no crowds, and a bartender beckons you to have a seat while they mix a refreshing cocktail to help you wash the day away or gear up for what the rest of your night will bring. For over 13 years, Chaz on the Plaza, located inside The Raphael Hotel, has been the secret spot to listen to live music five nights a week. The audience is usually a mix of locals and tourists who come to listen and drink as a variety of talented local performers play. Early week,

AUGUST 2022 |

you’ll find local barman Kenny Cohrs behind the stick at Chaz shaking up some good trouble. “Monday and Tuesday evenings the vibe at Chaz is intimate and we’ve paired it down to just cocktails and live music on those nights. We have plenty of regulars who come in then to relax and reconnect with a drink and enjoy what feels almost like a private performance,” Cohrs explains. Starting Wednesdays, Jordan Carver, the food and beverage director for Chaz, along with Shawn Hartwig, the executive chef, open the kitchen evenings for happy hour from 4 to 6 p.m. with appetizers, such as bacon-wrapped dates, duck-fat fries, and mimosa deviled eggs avail-

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able to curb your cravings before dinner, served Wednesday through Saturday until 10 p.m. Cohrs enjoys tending bar at Chaz because it allows him the opportunity to be an ambassador of sorts for the city, introducing people from out-of-town to a wide variety of quality local spirits made right here in Kansas City. “I have regular business travelers who come to Kansas City for work every other week, stay at The Raphael, and then come see me for a drink at Chaz on the Plaza,” says Cohrs. “They come and sit at my bar and trust me to introduce to them new cocktails I’ve made using local spirits, like the Float Trip, a drink that uses Ben Holladay, bottled-in-bond, 100-proof whiskey from Weston.” After six years of barrel aging in open-air ironclad buildings, Missouri’s oldest distillery, Holladay Distillery, finally released their first small batch of Ben Holladay Missouri Straight Bourbon Whiskey after a 30-year hiatus. Named after the original owner of the distillery, Ben Holladay, who purchased the land in Weston to make whiskey after seeing the active limestone springs on the property, a water source that served as nature’s own filtering system for impurities in the liquor. A transportation tycoon in the 1800s with interests in everything from stagecoaches to silver mines to saloons, Holladay kept detailed records of what he used to make his bourbon back then, and that same mash bill, or blend of grains, was used create this first batch that now bears his name. Kyle Merklein, Holladay’s master distiller, has overseen the distillery’s bourbon operation since 2016 and has spent countless hours comparing the lab work on what is in the current barrels to the data found in the company’s old handwritten ledgers. After years spent aging, tasting, and blending different barrels with help from others, including Doug Frost, who holds the titles of master of wine and master sommelier, they believe they have matched Holladay’s original flavor profile. Pick up a local bottle of Ben Holladay bourbon at your local liquor store, sip it straight to enjoy the natural flavor profile of this local spirit, and then use it to make this cool and refreshing take on watermelon bourbon smash perfect to enjoy anywhere you find a bit of shade and a body of water this summer. raphaelkc.com/

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Float Trip 1.5 ounces Ben Holladay Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon Whiskey 1 ounce watermelon juice cordial* .5 ounce lime juice

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AUGUST 2022 |

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Flavor by

IN KC

Jenny Vergara

FLYING COW GELATO

In Culinary News

SHERI WEEDMAN has expanded her confection credentials into frozen treats with the opening of her popular new ice cream shop, The Flying Cow Gelato, located in the Westwood Hills Shops, next door to Annedore’s Fine Chocolates, her original chocolate shop. After moving her own chocolate production kitchen out of the space next door, she used the room to make the leap into gelato-making. Using equipment from Italy, she taught herself how to make the smooth, dense, and flavorful Italian ice cream containing less butterfat than traditional American-style ice cream. Neighbors are lining up for a cup or cone of her creamy gelato in rotating flavors, such as toasted coconut, mint chip, key lime, hazelnut, pistachio, and dairy-free grapefruit prosecco or lemon basil. There’s also vanilla and chocolate for the purists at heart. Can’t decide? Try the five-flavor sampler for only $10. facebook.com/flyingcowgelato

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Outdoors TAKE IT

From patio furniture to outdoor kitchens and décor for every style, Nebraska Furniture Mart has everything you need to relax, rejuvenate and restore. So, turn off notifications and turn on the outdoor speakers. Pour your favorite drink and put your feet up. Because the ideal escape is right in your own backyard.

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Jenny Vergara

BABA’S PANTRY AFTER YOU have enjoyed chef Yahia Kamal’s creamy

In Culinary News

hummus, fresh pita, onion-filled falafel, and chicken shawarma wrap along with a glass of the lemonade of the day at Baba’s Pantry, you must try his new dessert item that is sure to keep you cool during the blistering summer months. “Babapops,” are his own homemade creation, popsicles made from classic flavor pairings found in Palestinian cuisine. Think rich coconut date, refreshing watermelon feta, and tart and smokey cherry sumac, and if you are feeling extra spicy you can try a frozen pop made with torshi, a popular chopped and pickled vegetable relish, or one made with spicy green shatta, a combination of parsley, cilantro, walnuts, and jalapeños. They are so cool, they’re hot! babaspantrykc.com

AUGUST 2022 |

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Jenny Vergara

STRANG RESERVE

In Culinary News

THE STRANG CHEF COLLECTIVES, which includes Strang Hall, the six-concept food hall in downtown Overland Park and the soon-to-open sister concept with two food stalls that will open on the lower level of the Lightwell office tower in downtown Kansas City, will soon have everything they need to throw a heck of a party by the end of 2022. That is when they will open Strang Reserve, a 7,000-square-foot event space located next door to Strang Hall, that can accommodate up to 280 guests while offering a wide variety of food and drinks in a modern space perfect for both personal and professional occasions. The service provided at Strang Reserve allows the chefs to cater separately or together, making everything from boxed lunches to buffets to formal dinners, with bar service available. Customers will love the ease of one-stop shopping with the bonus of choosing from endless styles and types of cuisine all available under one roof. Now, that’s a service worth celebrating! strangreserve.com

CAR WON'T WON'T GO? GO? CAR CAR WON'T GO?

Select Fridays June – September

Summer Concerts on the Lawn 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.

$5 per adult Free for children 12 y/o and under (must have adult present) Picnics, blankets, and lawn chairs welcome. Dog and cat friendly. Gates open at 6:30 p.m.

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CELEBRATING FIFTY YEARS O F C O M M U N I T Y H E A LT H C A R E LO E WS H OT E L KANSAS CITY

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Reservation for One PLATE by

Jenny Vergara

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late has a new sister location to match its modern Italian restaurant in East Brookside, one that offers a similar classy, yet casual vibe. Located in the Park Place shopping center in Leawood, the restaurant operates out of a former California Pizza Kitchen that has made an impressive transformation both inside and out. The restaurant has been outfitted in shades of gray, with black-andwhite accents and pops of natural wood that give it an urban feel (even in the middle of the suburbs) complete with neon sign, a private dining room, and sheer curtains separating the seating areas. The only traces left of its former life is the robust pizza oven that is still in use and a nice outdoor patio. From its inception, Plate has continued to evolve with each version morphing more completely into the sleek upscale restaurant with AUGUST 2022 |

Aaron Leimkuehler

professional service, consistent dishes, and a solid wine list that owner Christian Joseph always envisioned for his restaurant. His original location opened in 2015, a charming Brookside spot, before it closed in 2017 due to fire. The new version of the East Brookside restaurant came a few years later, opening right before the pandemic, when Joseph moved Plate into a much bigger space with a more sophisticated look and menu located only a few blocks away from the original on 63rd Street. It was a bold move at the time, as the restaurant seemed to suddenly go from an everyday option to special-occasion dining. Now, with the new Leawood location, designed by two local companies, Icon Architecture + Fabrication and Odimo, it feels like the right space, in the right place for this level of food and service on a night out. Chef Jeffery Thomas, who came over from Sullivan’s Steakhouse, is leading the kitchen at the Leawood location, while Bryan Wigger, a

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chef who has worked at several boutique hotels, is now heading up the kitchen in Brookside. With this kind of talent in both kitchens executing the same menu, the focus is not on new, novel dishes, but on getting every dish consistently delicious every time, the hallmark of any successful restaurant. While there may be few surprises on the menu, when it comes to defining modern Italian food, Plate has a point of view—consisting of perfectly executed seasonal dishes that focus on fresh flavor, such as caprese salad, carpaccio, and an arugula salad with lemon, EVOO, and a sprinkle of Parmesan and Romano cheeses. For entrées, you can find everything from a heritage pork chop to half a roasted chicken, along with a tender filet and K.C. strip that this Cowtown hangs its hat on. There is also a nice list of vegetable sides that would also make a lovely meal all on their own. Then there are the comforting pasta dishes that dominate the center of the menu, such as the satisfying pappardelle pasta ribbons tossed in a rich pork shoulder ragout that is cooked low and slow with plenty of tender shredded pork throughout in a rich meaty tomato sauce spiked with wine. In addition to the ubiquitous salmon and scallops found on many menus, there was a barramundi, or Asian sea bass, a firm white fish with a moist texture that was the real hero on the seafaring side of the menu. The fish fillet was sautéed in butter until golden brown and served on a bed of a sautéed olive and giardiniera mix. A delicious and perfectly seasoned piece of white fish that had enough fat to benefit from the pickled tang of the cured olives and other vegetables. As someone who loves pizza, especially in a restaurant with a good pizza oven, it was hard to not order any of the pizzettes on the menu, but with dessert still in my sights I decided to plan another trip to try their popular lunch and happy-hour pies. Returning to Plate after a recent stint as the executive pastry chef at Verbena is the talented Nikki Vavra, who has been put in charge of training the pastry teams at both locations on how to make both the signature breads and desserts on offer at Plate. Having enjoyed her desserts at Plate in Brookside before, almost to the exclusion of everything else I ate, I was delighted when her signature chocolate bomb and lemon ice cream sandwich both hit the table. The rich chocolate bomb had a hard chocolate shell filled with whipped chocolate mousse, a dollop of raspberry jam, and dense chocolate flourless cake ball sitting on chocolate “dirt” and a lacy chocolate brittle. In contrast, the light and bright lemon ice cream with a chewy lemon cookie that had the texture of a French macaron was like my palate cleanser for the chocolate bomb. My spoon kept going from one dish to the other. With an excellent pastry chef in the house this is not a place to skip dessert. The beverage program at Plate is built for happy hour, with a large horseshoe-shaped bar made for friendly conversations over small plates and an Aperol Spritz or any of the cocktails on the curated menu. The wine list is clearly a passion for Joseph, who has worked for years to build it up to where he wants it with Italy, France, and California wines dominating the menu. Available by the glass or bottle, you can celebrate with a nearly $360 bottle of Billecart-Salmon bottle of Champagne from France or a $32 bottle of La Cacciatora Lambursco from Italy, and everything in-between. With this second helping, it finally seems like all the ingredients have come together to make for a truly memorable meal at Plate. platekc.com AUGUST 2022 |

Circa 1780 presentation armoire, in solid mahogany, from the port of Bordeaux (sold).

Image credit: Ben McBee Photography.

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Women-Owned Businesses Networking Breakfast IN KANSAS CITY hosted a networking breakfast celebrating women who own businesses, including those featured in a special section in the July issue. Over coffee and breakfast bites, guests connected with each other to discuss mutual concerns and cultivate friendships. For more photos go to inkansascity.com/events. photos by madeline johnston

AUGUST 2022

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Welcoming Consignments for Auction

AUGUST 2022

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My Essentials

IN KC BY

Emily Park

BRADY LEGLER ARTIST. JEWELRY DESIGNER. RUG DESIGNER

B PHOTO BY SHELLY LEGLER

rady Legler paints his world with bright and vibrant colors that come through in his abstract paintings, fine jewelry designs, and lines of handmade silk and wool rugs. “The continual shift of infinite patterns and colors is both invigorating and calming to me,” he says. “The beauty I find in abstractionism, I also find in symmetry. I think my work incorporates both. I love exploring the infinity of patterns and color.” Legler has made quite a name for himself around the world, and samples of his work have appeared in Vogue, Elle, Modern, Hunger TV UK, 1st Dibs, The New York Times,GQ, Lucky, Paradis, Grazia France, Hospitality Design, Robb Report, and more. Legler grew up in Kansas City, and when he’s not traveling the world looking for inspiration, he’s splitting his time between living in Kansas City and New York City. “Living in New York for the past 15 years has been amazing, but Kansas City has a greater sense of warmth and community for me,” he says. “I travel a lot with my work and KC just feels so good to come back to. It’s my home!” bradylegler.com

Brady’s essentials... HIDDEN GEM:

The Belger Arts Center. I got a full behind-the-scenes tour years ago and had no idea how this cool space was in the heart of KC and housing so many creatives.

TAKE IN THE ART:

I discover new art on every visit to the Nelson-Atkins Museum. You could go every day for a month and always uncover something new. We are so lucky to have a world-class museum in KC. My favorite painting on display is Caravaggio’s Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness.

HOME MAKEOVER: BITE TO EAT:

Café Provence in Prairie Village. I order whatever the staff recommends—everything is amazing, but soufflé night is my favorite.

Green Door Antiques in the West Bottoms has the most unique finds in KC. I have two amazing vintage chairs from there that I use in my studio.

CREDIT CARD DAMAGE:

NIGHT CAP:

PERFECT DAY:

Halls has always been my go-to KC destination since college for shoes, clothes, and gifts—they have it all. I also love Ulah for the exact same things. Tivol too, of course!

Johnny Kaws in Waldo for a Manhattan.

A perfect day for me starts with a coffee from Second Best Coffee, a quick run, getting some paint on a canvas, then lunch or dinner at Caffetteria in Prairie Village.

AUGUST 2022

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