IN Kansas City January 2024 by KC Media

AN INTERVIEW WITH NATIVE KANSAS CITIAN AND ET’S MOM, DEE WALLACE

EXPLORING INNER SPACE PSYCHEDELICS-ASSISTED THERAPY IN KANSAS CITY

Bistros, Bars Restaurants & WHAT’S IN STORE FOR 2024?

JANUARY 2024 | INKANSASCITY.COM

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FUN AND FABULOUS MUSIC FOR 2024

Joyce DiDonato Joyce DiDonato

Classical Concert Classical Concert

Joyce DiDonato’s Joyce DiDonato’s Sparkling Songs and Sparkling Songs and Strauss’ Die Fledermaus Strauss’ Die Jan. Fledermaus Friday & Saturday, 12-13 at 8 p.m. Friday Saturday, Sunday,& Jan. 14 at 2Jan. p.m.12-13 at 8 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 14 at 2 p.m.

Pops Concert Pops Concert

Jun Iwasaki Jun Iwasaki

Classical Concert

Classical Concert Cirque Carmen: Mozart’s Violin Concerto Cirque Carmen: Mozart’s Violin Concerto Troupe Vertigo No. 5 + The Magic Flute Troupe Vertigo No. 5 + The Magic Flute Friday & Saturday, Jan. 19-20 at 8 p.m. Friday & Saturday, Jan. 26-27 at 8 p.m.

Friday Saturday, Saturday, Sunday,& Jan. 21 at 2Jan. p.m.19-20 at 8 p.m. Friday Sunday,& Jan. 28 at 2Jan. p.m.26-27 at 8 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 21 at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 28 at 2 p.m. JACK EVERLY, GUEST CONDUCTOR JACK EVERLY, GUEST CONDUCTOR The music of Carmen and highThe music Carmen and highflying circusofperformers combine flying circus performers combine in this amazing collaboration led in amazing collaboration by this America’s premier maestro led by America’s premier maestro Jack Everly. Witness stunning Jack Everly. Witness stunning physical feats choreographed and physical choreographed and set to thefeats classic opera score by set to the classic opera score by French composer Georges Bizet. French Tickets composer from $40 Georges for adultsBizet. and Tickets from $40 $28 for children. for adults and $28 for children. Sponsored by Sponsored by

KAZEM ABDULLAH, GUEST CONDUCTOR KAZEM ABDULLAH, JUN IWASAKI, VIOLINGUEST CONDUCTOR JUN IWASAKI, VIOLIN W.A. MOZART The Magic Flute W.A. The Magic FluteNo. 5 W.A. MOZART MOZART Violin Concerto W.A. MOZART Violin Concerto 5 ERICH KORNGOLD Symphony inNo.F-sharp ERICH KORNGOLD Symphony in F-sharp Tickets from $25. Tickets from $25.

Pamela Frank Pamela Frank

Classical Concert Classical Concert

Violinist Pamela Frank Violinist Frank PerformsPamela Beethoven Performs Beethoven Friday & Saturday, Feb. 2-3 at 8 p.m. Friday Saturday, Sunday,& Feb. 4 at 2 Feb. p.m. 2-3 at 8 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 4 at 2 p.m. MICHAEL STERN, CONDUCTOR MICHAEL STERN,, VIOLIN CONDUCTOR PAMELA FRANK PAMELA FRANK , VIOLIN SHELLEY WASHINGTON Both SHELLEY WASHINGTON (KC Symphony co-commission)Both (KC Symphony co-commission) GINASTERA Variaciones concertantes GINASTERA concertantes BEETHOVEN Variaciones Violin Concerto BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto Tickets from $25. Tickets from $25.

MICHAEL STERN, CONDUCTOR MICHAEL STERN, CONDUCTOR JOYCE DIDONATO, MEZZO-SOPRANO JOYCE DIDONATO, MEZZO-SOPRANO CHEN YI + ZHOU LONG Transplanted Seeds CHEN YI +IVES ZHOUThe LONG Transplanted Seeds CHARLES Unanswered Question CHARLES IVES The Unanswered Question MAHLER Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen MAHLER eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Lieder Wayfarer) (SongsTHOMPSON of a Wayfarer) “The Places We Leave” JOEL JOEL THOMPSON “TheWelt Places We Leave” MAHLER “Ich bin der abhanden MAHLER “Ich bin der Welt abhanden Film + Live Orchestra gekommen” (I have been lost to the world) from Film + Live OrchestraTM gekommen” (I have been lost to the world) from Rückert-Lieder TM J.Rückert-Lieder STRAUSS, JR. Overture to Die Fledermaus Thursday, Friday & Saturday, Feb. 8-10 at 7 p.m. J. STRAUSS, JR. Overture to Die Fledermaus Thursday, Friday & Saturday, Feb. 8-10 at 7 p.m. Tickets from $29. Tickets from $29. CONCERTS ARE HELD IN HELZBERG HALL AT THE KAUFFMAN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS.

The Goonies in Concert The Goonies in Concert

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New Year, Fresh Look

New FreshLook Look New Year, Year, Fresh

Contents JANUARY 2024 66

58 Features 54

IN CONVERSATION WITH DEE WALLACE The Kansas City, Kansas, native and star of E.T.: The Extraterrestrial talks about growing up in KCK, her craft as an actor in almost 200 films, and her successful career as a healer.

OPENING SOON

54 Departments 18

ENTERTAINING IN KC

EXPLORING INNER SPACE

OUR MAN IN KC

Psychedelics-assisted therapy in Kansas City.

ARTS & CULTURE IN KC

LOOK IN KC

WOMEN’S HEALTH IN KC

LIVING IN KC

FLAVOR IN KC

MY ESSENTIALS IN KC

SMALL BUT MIGHTY An iconic Kansas City modern is brought to the light.

The most anticipated restaurant and bar openings coming in 2024.

IN EVERY ISSUE

On the cover Co-owner Austin Goldberg relaxes at In the Lowest Ferns, a new HiFi lounge opening in the West Bottoms in January. See page 58 for the story. Photo by Jim Barcus

JANUARY 2024| 10 | INKANSASCITY.COM

EDITOR’S NOTE

INKANSASCITY.COM

THIS MONTH IN KC

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Editor’s Note

Time for a Resolution

t’s January, so it’s time for our staff to share their annual (and that may come as a surprise for the IN Kansas City team) New Year’s resolutions for 2024. See if there’s some inspiration here for yours.

Herewith, our INKC staff’s intentions for the New Year. I’ll be prioritizing spending meaningful time with my parents and being patient with them as I continue to help teach them the latest in technology! Katie Delzer

After three years of staycations, my resolution for 2024 is to take a real honest-to-goodness vacation to someplace I’ve never gone to before. Alice Govert Bryan

Less social media for our family and more human interaction. Krista Markley

Déjà vu or 2023 2.0? Either way, I didn’t do so well with working on “me” this year so setting up 2024 to do just that! Self-care is my top resolution for 2024! Brittany Coale

Editor In Chief Zim Loy Digital Editor Liz Schroeder Art Director Alice Govert Bryan Contributing Writers Judith Fertig, Cindy Hoedel, Cody Hogan, Merrily Jackson, Damian Lair, Patricia O’Dell, Jenny Vergara Contributing Photographers Jim Barcus, Corie English, Aaron Leimkuehler, Nate Sheets Publisher Michelle Jolles Media Director Brittany Coale Senior Media Consultants Katie Delzer, Nicole Kube, Krista Markley, Josie Rawlings

I’m going to adopt more plants—and keep them alive. I’ll make sure all of them (and me, too) drink enough water. Liz Schroeder

As the saying goes, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” The new year can be a great time to create a five-year plan. Chad Parkhurst

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

Travel. Michelle Jolles My New Year’s Resolution is to actually use the TikTok hacks and recipes saved in my camera roll. Josie Rawlings

Vol. 7 | No. 1 JANUARY 2024

Distribution Questions: mjolles@inkansascity.com

Magazine Subscriptions:

My resolution is to stop trying to control the uncontrollable! Nicole Kube

Honestly, these are inspirational. I could add all of these to my own list. But travel is top of mind for me— my plan is to head back to Paris next fall. (And here’s hoping that whole bedbug infestation problem is over by then!) Zim

JANUARY 2024 | 12 | INKANSASCITY.COM

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INKANSASCITY.COM ENTER TO WIN Double date night. Time to treat yourself to a night out enjoying good food, great music, and delicious craft cocktails. Enter to win four tickets to the fifth annual Stanislav & Friends concert on March 8, 2024. Enjoy an evening of beautiful music at the Kauffman Center presented by Park University’s International Center for Music before heading to Tom’s Town for a VIP after party. The concert will feature young up-and-coming talent, ICM alums, and friends of the founder and artistic director, Stanislav Ioudenitch. Valued at $600, enter to win four tickets for the perfect double date! Enter by January 31 at inkansascity.com/the-magazine/enter-to-win. Good luck!

Tackling trivia. Trivia events have exploded across Kansas City in recent years. You can find them everywhere— local bars, craft breweries, independent coffee shops, and our favorite restaurants. If you’re looking for a new activity to get out of the house (but not out into the cold), try a night of friendly competition at your neighborhood watering hole. Take a date, your friends, or just yourself to stretch those brain muscles and explore the tastes of Kansas City almost every day of the week. Find our list of favorite spots at inkansascity.com.

FACEBOOK @inkansascitymagazine

Trying to decide where to eat? For the city’s most

comprehensive dining guide, head to inkansascity.com/eat-drink/ dining-guide. dining-guide

A mindful new year. The promise of a new year can

be inspiring and a little daunting. January often comes with recurring lists of what we’ll accomplish, what we’ll stop doing, and who we’ll become—all in the next 12 months. While the world gears up for another round of resolutions and annual goals, we’re looking inward with a mindful eye. We spoke to therapist Melissa Schletzbaum for guidance on greeting 2024 with a sense of purpose without setting ourselves up for a seasonal crash. Read more at inkansascity.com. JANUARY 2024 | 14 | INKANSASCITY.COM

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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER subscribe at INKANSASCITY.COM (under The Magazine tab)

PARK ICM PHOTO BY LARRY FLEVENSON

Singing the blues. Homegrown Kansas City talent Danielle Nicole is a Grammynominated bassist, singer, and songwriter known for her soulful and inventive style within the American blues scene. She embarked on a solo career after performing in a band with her two brothers, and her last album, Cry No More (2018), debuted at number one on the Billboard Blues charts. Her new album, The Love You Bleed, will be released late this month with 12 tracks exploring love, loss, and perseverance. We spoke with Nicole about growing up in music, her influences, and where she’s headed next. Check out the full interview at inkansascity.com.

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This Month IN KC

January

WHERE YOU NEED TO BE AND WHAT YOU NEED TO SEE by Liz Schroeder

JANUARY SPOTLIGHT

KC Paws Winter Fur-mal Union 828 January 20 kcpaws.org Party animal. Let’s get formal for our furry friends. KC Paws rescues dogs from situations of cruelty and neglect and fi nds them forever homes. Th is month, animal lovers gather for a night of laughter and love in support of our local rescue animals. The evening begins with a delicious dinner and dancing, followed by live entertainment. Enjoy stand-up comedy and stunt dog performances during silent auction bidding. Who knows? Some furry friends might even join in the fun.

Polar Plunge Longview Lake January 27 somo.org

KC Restaurant Week January 12-21 kcrestaurantweek.com/ Good eats! Kansas City’s premier dining event is back, and it’s not just a week—it’s ten full days of delicious meals at incredibly affordable price tiers. Indulge in the exclusive menus of the hottest new restaurants or return to your old favorites. It’s the tastiest way to support our restaurant community and many small, family-owned businesses. Ten percent of sales from each meal will benefit this year’s community partner, Kanbe’s Markets, as well as the Visit KC Foundation and the Greater KC Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. Choose from hundreds of metro-area restaurants and savor the flavors of our city through these specially curated multi-course menus.

Take the plunge. Do you have what it takes? Brave the frigid winter waters of Longview Lake to show your support for local Special Olympics athletes in this year’s Polar Plunge. Last year’s event raised over $105,000 through 397 plungers, and this year hopes to be even bigger and better. It’s a true one-of-a-kind experience that creates lasting memories for years to come. Bring your best costume and your sense of adventure!

For Kansas City’s most comprehensive calendar of events, go to inkansascity.com/events JANUARY 2024 | 16 | INKANSASCITY.COM

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Entertaining IN KC

Hosting Those With Special Dietary Needs

MERRILY OFFERS ADVICE— AND A FEW CONFESSIONS— ABOUT FEEDING GUESTS WHO HAVE FOOD SENSITIVITIES by Merrily Jackson photo by Corie English

ave you ever seen the film Gosford Park? I’ve watched it about a hundred times. Written by Julian Fellowes, it’s considered a master study of the British class system and the precursor to Downton Abbey. Among my favorite scenes is when the poseur valet informs the cook and housekeeper that his boss—one of Gosford’s weekend guests, the fussy, neurotic, furcoat-wearing movie director Morris Weissmann—is a vegetarian. “A what?” cook says. “A vegetarian” the valet replies. “He doesn’t eat meat.” “He doesn’t eat meat?” cook says, highly annoyed. “He comes to a shooting party, and he doesn’t eat meat?” “Now, now, we don’t want to be thought

Merrily Jackson at Billie’s Grocery in Midtown.

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

JANUARY 2024 | 18 | INKANSASCITY.COM

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Entertaining IN KC

Really-QuiteGood Vegan Spinach Lasagna

THIS EASY lasagna is a tasty solution for a dinner party where the guest list includes vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores. For the vegans, it would be the entrée; for the oms, a substantial side dish, served with meat balls or grilled Italian sausage. I like locally owned Scimeca’s meatballs, sausage, and spaghetti sauce. 1 ¼ 1 3 1 2 4 1 2 1 1

pound medium or firm tofu cup plain soy milk teaspoon dried oregano teaspoons dried basil teaspoon salt tablespoons lemon juice cloves garlic small onion, chopped cups fresh spinach, chopped jar (26 oz.) good spaghetti sauce, and then part of a second box lasagna noodles, cooked—or you can use No-Bake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put everything except the noodles and spaghetti sauce into a blender or food processor and blend. Layer the tofu mixture with the sauce and noodles. Bake 45 minutes.

JANUARY 2024 | 20 | INKANSASCITY.COM

unsophisticated.” rebukes the housekeeper, played by Helen Mirren. “Mr. Weissman’s an American. They do things differently there.” A SHIFT IN ATTITUDE I used to, deep down in my hostess heart of hearts, think that— with the exception of my friend Bernie Ashcraft, the world’s lowest-maintenance vegetarian—anybody with special dietary needs was a little like the faddish Morris Weissmann. I tended to agree with my cooking buddy, the insufferable food snob Don Loncasty, who always gets a laugh when he refers to someone’s food allergy as “a cry for attention.” Of course, he says this as he lovingly alters the recipe to accommodate the allergy. My thinking has matured as dear friends have developed serious dietary issues. For some of us, eating the most innocent-sounding foods can have dire consequences. You want your precious guests to know they are eating safely and well at your house. A TEACHABLE MOMENT FOR THIS HOSTESS But I am also reminded of a guest I once had at a dinner party who, amidst the rush of getting the meal plated and served, strolled into my kitchen, and asked if he could read all the labels of everything I was serving. When I told him some of the packaging had been discarded, he wanted to go through my trash. I was annoyed at his nerve, but more annoyed at myself. I should have asked in advance if he had special dietary needs. I never used to ask—is that so wrong?—because I didn’t want to open the hornet’s nest of developing a menu for ten around one person’s pesco-vegetarianism and another’s egg sensitivity. Sometimes food allergies are simply preferences. I have a close chum, for example, whom I’ve noticed is selectively allergic to shrimp. If you put enough curry on it, she is suddenly no longer allergic. These days if I’m feeding someone new, I do ask about food sensitivities. But I think all hosts can presuppose that if there were a serious allergy, we would be informed without having to ask. I have an old friend whose husband has a horrible reaction to peanuts. When you invite them to dinner, she lets you know before you even get the invitation out of your mouth. And she reminds you every time. And she carries an Epi-pen in her handbag, just in case. Now that’s an allergy. TO TELL OR NOT TO TELL Call me shallow, but I care more about my social life than I do about the rights of our fellow creatures of the earth, animal, fish, and fowl. I would never become a vegetarian, for fear of getting struck off a great party list for being too high maintenance. Plus, I could never give up bacon. My aforementioned friend, Bernie, is much more high-minded. “Nothing with eyes” is what she’ll tell you if you ask her directly about her restrictions. But if you invite her to dinner, she usually won’t volunteer that she is a vegetarian because she doesn’t want anybody going to any extra trouble. And that is always the question when an omnivore invites a vegetarian to dinner: should the veg tell the om? I like Bernie’s approach. “There is always plenty of other food. I just eat around the meat,” she says. “If it’s a smaller gathering, I might let the host know, just to

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Entertaining IN KC avoid any possible awkwardness, but then I offer to bring an alternate dish.” EASY, FLEXIBLE MENU IDEAS For my part, I would be just as happy to be served a completely meatless meal, as would many of the meat eaters I know. But it seems more hospitable, if you are hosting a guest list that you know includes omnivores as well as vegetarians, and maybe someone gluten-free as well, to provide a flexible main dish. Shrimp Caneel with Creamy Lemon Rice (from Beyond Parsley) is a good such dish because you can leave the shrimp out and it’s still delicious, and gluten-free as well. Gwyneth Paltrow’s Risotto with Peas and Greens is a fabulous meatless, gluten-free main course. Email me for these recipes and any others mentioned herein. A pasta is perhaps the most classic and easy-to-make dish for a mixed crowd. You could prepare a Bolognese sauce or a meat ragu for the oms, along with a pesto, marinara or a rich mushroom sauce for the vegs. If you have gluten-free guests in the mix, Barilla makes excellent g-free pasta. A build-your-own pizza party is another viable option, as is a taco bar or a soup party. I have topping and filling lists as well as soup recipes—email me and I happily will send them to you. VEGANISM: NO LONGER FRINGE Once considered an eccentric splinter faction of vegetarians, veganism

has become more mainstream in the past decade. Now everyone has some vegans in their lives, and it has become easier to find vegan-friendly food products. (Billie’s Grocery, with locations in Leawood and Midtown, has lots of delicious vegan options, including vegan birthday cakes.) I have a marvelous recipe, yours for the asking, for a three-ingredient vegan cauliflower sauce that is delicious served with pasta. That being said, the vegans I know are flexible and pretty easy to feed. They eat vegan most of the time but allow themselves the odd bit of dairy, meat, or fish when they are invited to a non-vegan meal. THAT SNEAKY GLUTEN There are various levels of gluten intolerance, but for those diagnosed with celiac disease—and their numbers are on the rise—even the tiniest bit of gluten can be damaging. Serving them a completely uncontaminated gluten-free meal is a responsibility not to be taken lightly. Gluten slithers into all kinds of things, such as soy sauce and grated cheese, and is seldom actually called “gluten.” If it comes in a package, it is safe to assume it contains gluten, unless it is marked otherwise. Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s are rich sources of g-free items, and when in a pinch, remember that Minsky’s and Waldo Pizza both have fabulous, gluten-free pizzas, and they deliver!

JANUARY 2024 | 22 | INKANSASCITY.COM

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Our Man IN KC by Damian Lair dlair@inkansascity.com : @damianlair #OurManINKC

Finding Your Place

Damian Lair at Race, Place & Diversity, with Nick Cave and Sharon Hoffman.

Nick Cave: Forothermore, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, just before OVERHEARD it moved to the Guggenheim in New York. “Could you The visit forced me to reckon with subjects please airbrush and feelings in a way that only the most my belly away?” powerful art can coerce, and it remains one of the most memorable and moving art experiences of my life. Nick was born of humble, but loving, beginnings in Fulton, Missouri. He shared some of what his childhood was like in conversation with Dr. Stephanie Fox Knappe, senior curator of modern and contemporary art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Nick discussed the unassuming origin of his famous Soundsuits, and I wish I had the space to regale all that here. It’s worth noting, though, that Stephanie did an incredible job of revealing, through thoughtful questions, the essence of what makes this soft-spoken and gentle human being the modest community servant that he is—in addition to being, arguably, one of the most important living artists on the planet. Whitney Manney designed and created the one-of-a-kind, wearable award that was presented to Cave by the award’s endowers, Sharon and John Hoffman. Prior to the event—and truly one of the highlights of my year—I was able to meet and talk with Nick. Out of that conversation came some interesting ideas involving a recent documentary film, in which he is the feature subject. He proposed a future Zoom date with Sharon and me to discuss all this. Hopefully that story and outcome will make it on my 2024 “exceptional experi-

JANUARY 2024| 24 | INKANSASCITY.COM

PHOTO BY JEFF EVRARD

he past year was the source of so many incredible adventures for me—taking the first flight out of the new KCI single-terminal airport; my unbelievable access to the NFL Draft weekend; my inaugural ride on the new Zambezi Zinger—I periodically have to pause and pinch myself. Rounding out 2024, though, I had one more extra special experience in store. I’ve written previously about the Race, Place, and Diversity event, held annually by the Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey. Each year, the organization brings together the community in honoring one (rockstar) national individual and one local organization that each exemplifies a commitment to visibly advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion. This year’s community award recipient was the Kansas City Girls Preparatory Academy (KCGPA), an organization that became near and dear to my heart when I attended their inaugural gala this past summer. KCGPA is the city’s first and only open-enrollment, single-gender, public charter school, and it is proudly situated on the east side of Kansas City. The secondary school is led by a mission to prepare young women—particularly black and brown women—to use their voices, to succeed in college, and to lead impactful, meaningful lives. Dr. Chaurice Jacobson accepted the award on behalf of KCGPA and offered a vivid and moving account of what it’s like inside the institution’s embracing halls. This year’s National Award and Hoffman Legacy Honoree was Nick Cave. Nick is an artist, sculptor, educator, and foremost, a messenger. Though you may have passed underneath his 500-foot-long (!) The Air Up There sculpture encompassing the entire ceiling of the new KCI check-in hall, Cave is perhaps most well-known for his Soundsuit sculptural forms. The almost-living sculptures (which now number more than 500) serve as HOT a visual embodiment of social justice repreGOSSIP: senting both brutality and empowerment. What splashy Cave is an artist with a very clear sense of couple just moved his civic responsibility—and he’s not been back from Chicago shy about seizing it. to take over a I’ve traveled on multiple occasions to beloved retail shop? other cities just to see his exhibitions, including last year’s career-spanning retrospective,

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Our Man IN KC ences list.” You can be certain I’ll share it all here. . SPOTTED: Event Cochairs Peg VanWagoner and Calvin Ricks, Bunni & Paul Copaken, Christy & Bill Gautreaux, Sue & Lewis Nerman, Dianne Cleaver, Hilda Fuentes & Allan Gray II, Erica & Lorin Crenshaw, Lynn & Lance Carlton, Sean Kelly, Kelly Murphy, Jamila Weaver, McClain Bryant Macklin & Joseph Macklin, JoAnn Northrup, Toma & Andy Wolff, Debby & Gary Ballard, Kim Klein & Dr. Jeffrey Goldstein, Tammy & James Edwards, Gina Hull, Jane & Keith Gard, Melanie & Skip Miller, Susan Stanton, Tyrone Aiken, Tamara Weaver, Ratana & Oscar Tshibanda, Suzanne Shank, Linda & Topper Johntz, Zach Rose-Heim, Dr. Karen Curls, Darrell Curls, Marshall & Kathleen Miller, Michael Brantley, Mark Allen Alford, Jr., Eric Negrete, Niki Donawa, Will Brown, Lorece Chanelle, Cory Imig

SLEEPY HEADS DESPITE BEING the 12th annual Bingo & Brews event for Sleepyhead Beds, this was my first year attending. Sleepyhead Beds is a nonprofit organization that, in short, accepts and distributes gently used, donated beds and bedding to Kansas City-area children in need—free of charge. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for children and their families by getting children off floors and sofas (a startling reality for many) and into a bed of their own for restful, nourishing sleep. Mattresses and sheets are donated by individuals and businesses, sanitized, and delivered to children who have been identified by partner advocates, including social workers, school counselors and administrators, teachers, pastors, and healthcare professionals. What I especially love about Sleepyhead Beds is that, if the powerful but simple act of giving children the vehicle for critical sleep weren’t enough—there’s more. Not only has Sleepyhead distributed more than 30,000 mattresses since 2010, but it has also simultaneously diverted more than 1,000 tons of waste from local landfills. Though roughly one in 40 Kansas City children do not have a bed, Kansas Citians discard more than 30,000 mattresses annually. Imagine if more mattresses could make their way to a restless child instead of a landfill. But back to Bingo & Brews. The event was held at the beautiful Abbot event space in the East Crossroads. Each ticket holder received a bingo card, with additional cards available for purchase. There were eight rounds of bingo, with each round’s winner receiving an incredible prize. Some of this year’s prizes included a Country Club Plaza sleepover HOT with various Plaza Gift Cards for a day GOSSIP: of shopping and dinner at The Capital Grille. There was also a luxe day Who is super pumped with the Royals and diamond earrings about her backyard from Helzberg. Perhaps the most fun cold-plunge barrel? was the Backyard Band Bash, including a personal concert in your backyard

OVERHEARD by Mikey Needleman, topped off with food “I would like you from Fareway Market and beer from Bouto leave.” levard Brewing Company. In addition to each round’s major prize, the winner’s entire table also received a round of swag bags related to the signature prize. Sprinkled throughout the evening, attendees also got to bid on an array of live auction items, such as faraway golfing trips and eye-popping wine collections. Throughout the evening, we also visited scattered food stations created by Inspired Occasions, with the Thai chile shrimp and apple cranberry bread pudding being the highlights. Oh—and there was the cutest photo op where you could jump into a bed with all your friends. Stuffed animals included. Tucked halfway through the bingo rounds, we also got to pay tribute to a tireless Sleepyheads volunteer, Scott Burnett. He was honored with the Michael Vennard Sweet Dreams Award, honoring his years of service to the organization. Sleepyheads board member (and former bed recipient) Jermaine Jamison was featured in a short film that offered a first-person account of what childhood is like without a bed and how getting one can create the foundation for success in learning and achieving in the future. If you’re interested in attending Bingo & Brews, keep an eye out on Sleepyhead’s social media. The tickets for this hyper-popular event typically go on sale right after Labor Day and sell out almost instantly. Finally, if you have a mattress or sheets that you’d like to see (sustainably) disappear, go online and complete the form for donation/pickup. You’ll rest better knowing someone else is, too. SPOTTED: Katherine Holland, Lee Page, Angie Jeffries, Heidi Markle, Margaret Keough, Matt Schulte, Rhonda Burnett, Kara & Pat Lowe, Mary Jane Judy, Marla Svoboda & Michael Dean, Paul Hubbard, Dr. Tiffany Simpson, Josh Hollingsworth, Gayle Holmes

THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH I HADN’T BEEN to the circus since I was roughly the age of my three nephews, who are between 3 and 10 years old. Upon receiving an invitation to see The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey at the T-Mobile Center, I scheduled a Saturday afternoon date with the kiddos, and we were set for another adventure. First, toss aside any nostalgic or preconceived notions associated with the idea of a circus. Improving on the past, there’s no tent and no live animals. Instead, the show is brought to life as a massively scaled arena spectacle, far beyond what could fit beneath any tent. And in terms of what you’ll see—stunning feats of real human achievement, musical performances blended with aerial artistry, comedy, acrobatics, dance, and acts on highwire, trapeze, and bicycles. It’s a multi-platform, 360-degree experience that somehow draws the arena-sized audience into the vast and fast-paced show. In reflecting on the experience, what stands out most is the sheer amount of ongoing action. At any given moment, there were multiple

JANUARY 2024| 26 | INKANSASCITY.COM

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acts occurring on different areas of the stage, which occupied the entire T-Mobile floor area. There’s also a strong and thoughtful international aspect to the show. Ringling conducted global auditions last year for its retooled circus. More than 1,000 acts applied, with on-site auditions held from Mongolia to Las Vegas. The result is an aroundthe-world buffet of the most impressive performance arts and stunts smashed into one thrilling show—75 performers from 18 countries. For instance, there was Argendance, a bombastic folk-dance troupe from Argentina that introduces a fusion of Boleadoras, choreographed movement using cords with weighted stones, and Malambo, a traditional folk dance featuring percussive footwork. There was the impressive Black Diamond Trio, an all-female acrobatic hand-to-hand balance act hailing from Ethiopia. There were also the Gemini Twins from Ukraine, who specialize in duo aerial hoops, loops, hand balancing, and acrobatics. And what’s a circus without a flying trapeze act? The Flying Caceres feature nine featherlike performers from Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, and France. And finally—my favorite—the YAB Brothers, Sisay and Yabu, a two-man Ethiopian floor acrobatics performance act that is virtually impossible to describe, but jaw-dropping to watch. Literally—people’s jaws were visibly wide open, up and down our aisle. Scattered throughout, there were even more spectacular moments, like the world-record tallest unicycle rider (34.6 ft.) and a human cannon, all blended with live music, fire, and pyrotechnics. In sum, it was the big-top American icon reimagined for contemporary times. Perhaps, though, you should consider 8-year-old Alexander’s review, who exclaimed upon our exit “That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen!” And there you have it.

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Arts & Culture IN KC Preschool for 32 years, and teaching music at P.S.1 Elementary School for 12 years. In 2006, the Brown Bag Concerts were incorporated into the nonprofit Westport Center for the Arts, which included foreign films, online tours of art museums, dance groups, staged readings of original plays and eventually fully staged plays, and a program for children called “Kids Team Up for Art.” Thomas retired from directing the Brown Bag Concerts Series after doing it for 21 years but continues to perform on her harpsichord about once a year. Her upcoming “gratitude” event is the Brown Bag Concert by Marian Thomas and Friends on Friday, March 22 (the day after J.S. Bach’s 338th birthday) from noon to 1 p.m. at Westport Presbyterian Church. Admission is free, with donations appreciated. INKC: How did you get interested in the

harpsichord? Marian Thomas: John Hamilton, my organ

by Judith Fertig

photo by Corie English

Marian Thomas HARPSICHORDIST ANSWERS FOUR QUESTIONS

f you’ve ever attended a free lunchtime Brown Bag concert at Westport Presbyterian Church, you have Marian Thomas to thank. The classically trained musician and social justice advocate combined her two passions by offering the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and his classical friends to the community when she founded the concert series in 1994. But starting a concert series from scratch was nothing compared to building her own harpsichord. “In 1980, my husband, a chemistry professor at UMKC, had taken a sabbatical at Brandeis University near Boston, and I and our three children went with him. I got a part-time job working for the harpsichord workshop of Frank Hubbard and proceeded after working there to build my

own harpsichord,” she blithely notes (more on that later). When they returned to Kansas City, Thomas began doing harpsichord gigs and tuning and regulating harpsichords in the metro area. “I’ve had a varied musical career in Kansas City,” she says. She was organist in two churches—Linwood United Church, from 1969 to1994, and the second from 1994 to 2009 at Westport Presbyterian, the one that had a fire in 2011 which destroyed much of the church interior including its organ and two pianos. “I became a church member there because I liked its involvement in social justice issues, and I had made many good friends.” Her other musical endeavors were teaching piano and harpsichord in her home studio, teaching music twice a week at Purple Dragon JANUARY 2024| 30 | INKANSASCITY.COM

teacher at the University of Oregon, was a harpsichordist. I attended his recitals and loved the repertoire he played. I had studied the pipe organ at Oberlin College and Conservatory, and was drawn to music by Bach, Telemann, Couperin, and Sweelinck. While working as organist at a church in Boston, I had to use their harpsichord while the pipe organ was being renovated. That whet my appetite to have my own instrument. Professor Hamilton had told me I should build my own harpsichord to understand the instrument thoroughly. During my husband’s sabbatical at Brandeis, I found work at the Frank Hubbard Harpsichord Workshop in Waltham, near Boston. I drilled wrest planks, cut plectra, and packed the components used in harpsichord kits for mailing. When I inherited money from my grandmother, I decided to use it to build a harpsichord.

INKC: What does it take to build your own harpsichord? MT: Since I am not a carpenter, I started with a “kit” containing the wood cabinet already partially constructed, two keyboards partly finished, and all the tools and accessories I would need, including a very detailed instruction manual. All of this cost $5,000, the amount I inherited. I also needed a workroom big enough for sawhorses to hold up

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Arts & Culture IN KC the instrument so I could install the case’s inner braces and the two keyboards. I used a Dremel drill and had to be extremely precise in all I did. I had skills as an artist and craftsperson, so was not intimidated by that aspect, but I read the instructions for each new step over and over before moving on! The experts at Hubbard Harpsichord shaved the underneath part of the soundboard for me, as they knew exactly how to enhance the sounds produced by plucking strings. They also installed the soundboard, which I then painted following historic customs and design. Back in Kansas City, my husband helped me install 183 strings, which required great patience! The final skill required was to voice each plectrum properly. I used Delrin, a modern plastic, instead of the crow quills used in the 18th century. Each one must be shaped with a scalpel, so a supply of Band-Aids came in handy! It took me about 300 hours to build my harpsichord. Its “coming out party” in 1984 was very exciting for me and for my musician friends! INKC: What are you most proud of in your Kansas City music career? MT: I prefer to say what I am most grateful for, and the list is very

long! All the people who let me share my love of music with them: piano and harpsichord students who took lessons long enough to be able to enjoy making music the rest of their lives; seminary students I taught, who came to appreciate how important music is in the worship life and community ministry of the church; local musicians who participated in the Brown Bag Concert; the Doug Talley Quartet who came on each Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday to perform jazz by

African-American composers and to lead the audience in standing to sing Lift Every Voice and Sing; the members of Westport Presbyterian Church who agreed that the organ lost in the fire of 2011 should be replaced by the Pasi Opus 24, one of the new gems in the crown of pipe organs in Kansas City. I am especially grateful for the collaboration and encouragement of two ministers with whom I was privileged to work: Larry Yeo at Linwood United Church and Scott Myers at Westport Presbyterian Church. INKC: Tell us about your “gratitude” concert in Kansas City at West-

port Presbyterian in March. MT: Before Westport Center for the Arts became a nonprofit organi-

zation in 2006, everyone who performed on the Brown Bag Concerts volunteered their talent. I often collaborated with the performers as pianist or harpsichordist. There have been several Brown Bag concerts held in March to celebrate the birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach. Rebecca Bell and I, with help from Leora Nauta, performed the complete Well Tempered Clavier by Bach. The March 22nd concert will celebrate Bach’s 338th birthday with performances of his oboe sonata by Meribeth Risebig and one of his flute sonatas by Lyra Pherigo, current director of the Brown Bag Concerts. I will play the harpsichord for those pieces. Robert Pherigo on piano will collaborate with Eman Chaseltori on cello for Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata, and my solo offering will be the Aria and seven of the Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach, played on the harpsichord I constructed 40 years ago.

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KAUFFMAN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS THERE’S NEAR THE STAGE. THERE’S FRONT ROW. THEN THERE’S MEETING STARS FACE-TO-FACE. To receive an invitation,visit icm.park.edu/icm-gala/ or scan the QR code. For additional information, visit ICM.PARK.EDU.

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Arts & Culture IN KC by Judith Fertig

HARRIMAN-JEWELL PRESENTS: ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA WITH ISATA KANNEH-MASON

photo by robin clewley

AFTER MAKING her Kansas City recital debut in 2022, pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason couldn’t resist coming back with the renowned Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as part of the Harriman-Jewell Series. Her debut album on Decca Classics, Romance–the Piano Music of Clara Schumann, drew popular and critical acclaim, entering the UK classical charts at No. 1. On the evening of Tuesday, January 23, Kanneh-Mason takes the stage in Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center with Vasily Petrenko, the orchestra’s new music director, conducting. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in London in 1946, travels the world performing classical music. They are recognized as being the UK’s most indemand orchestra and count passion, versatility, and uncompromising artistic standards as hallmarks and are celebrated as one the world’s most open-minded, forwardthinking and accessible symphony orchestras. The evening’s program will include Claude Debussy’s Danse; Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26; Sergei Rachmaninoff ’s Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27. For more information and tickets, visit hjseries.org.

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HANGAMA AMIRI: A HOMAGE TO HOME

Still-Life with Alocasia Plant by Hangama Amiri.

BEGINNING JANUARY 26, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art welcomes a new exhibit by Afghan Canadian artist Hangama Amiri, who fled Kabul with her family in 1996 when she was 7 years old. Her family lived a nomadic life in numerous countries before they settled in Canada in 2005, when Amiri was a teenager. Her work combines painting and printmaking techniques with textiles, weaving together stories and images from her homeland with her own experience of diaspora, leaving everything familiar to start a new life in a new place. Amiri’s mother taught her to sew. Her uncle was a tailor. Amiri sources her materials from an Afghan-owned shop in New York City, with fabrics and colors she remembers from the bazaars and streets in Kabul. Amiri’s large works reflect a layering of fragments, some frayed at the edges, representing memory, loss, and hope, as well as the struggle for women’s rights in Afghanistan and around the world. Hangama Amiri: A Homage to Home is organized by Amy Smith-Stewart, chief curator, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, where it debuted in February 2023. For more information and information about complementary public programs, visit kemperart.org.

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Arts &Culture IN KC by Judith Fertig

EXTRAORDINARY IMAGINATIONS THE CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY of Lincoln Center in New York City performs at the Folly Theater on January 20, in a concert presented by the Friends of Chamber Music Kansas City. Chamber music, played by a small group of musicians in a chamber or room, usually brings to mind the classics. But if you are expecting Beethoven and Bach, you might be surprised. The early years of the 20th century saw the emergence of a new approach to composition. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Reynaldo Hahn, Eugène Ysaÿe, and Ernest Bloch all brought exciting and pioneering approaches to the piano quintet, the etude, and the sonata, much as the world of fiction embraced stream-of-consciousness in the work of Marcel Proust, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf. In the more intimate setting of the Folly Theater, you can hear this new/old music as it was meant to be heard. The program includes: Hahn’s Quintet in F-sharp minor for Piano, Two Violas, and Cello; Coleridge-Taylor’s Four African Dances for Violin and Piano, Op. 58; Ysaÿe’s Sonata in D Minor for Violin, P. 27, No. 3, Ballade; and Bloch’s Quintet No. 1 for Piano, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello. The musicians of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center bring it all to life: Gloria Chien (piano), Yura Lee (violin/viola), Kristin Lee (violin), James Thompson (violin), and Dmitri Atapine (cello). Visit chambermusicsociety.org for more information.

JANUARY 2024| 36 | INKANSASCITY.COM

TAKE AN ART CLASS AT THE J SENIOR DISCOUNTS are not the only advantage to getting older. The Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City, known as The J, offers arts classes to adults 55 and older in a low-stress environment practically guaranteed to boost your mood, perfect for the winter months. You can see if a class fits your schedule, if a spot is available, then sign up, and you just go. You don’t have to be Jewish or a member. You can try painting with a palette knife, creating thick ridges of paint in impasto. If you’ve always wanted to tell your family’s story—or your own story—in art, you can take Artistic Storytelling. Learn how to handbuild ceramics or draw with graphite and dry materials. Experiment with mixed media. Paint on silk or take much better photographs with your phone. A qualified local art instructor leads each class, and the cost of materials is included in the class fee. The art studio is equipped with enhanced lighting, a ceramics kiln, potter’s wheels, and all the art supplies you could wish for. A new round of Heritage Adult Art Classes will begin again in late January and early February, with options for mornings, afternoons, and evenings. For more information and to sign up, visit thejkc.org.

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Fashion

Mariah jumpsuit, $99, from Ladyco (Brookside).

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EYEPOPPING COLORS TO STAND OUT IN WINTER BY Liz Schroeder

Cristobal wool coat, $745, from Clairvaux (Shops at Fairway and Hawthorne Plaza).

Red enamel and malachite stone ring, $129, from Nickel & Suede (Country Club Plaza and Liberty) Liberty).

pop of color a day keeps the winter weariness away! Gray skies, bare trees, and cold weather all take a toll on our moods (and dampen our wardrobes). You might be tempted to lean into the gloom of winter and dress to match, but we’d rather go big than go home. Banish your darker hues, muted colors, and earth tones in favor of something a little brighter and more beautiful. You’ll light up the room and spark some much-needed cheer. Colorful coats are an easy way to jazz up your wardrobe, but don’t sleep on smaller, more subtle ways to draw the eye—the right jewelry can take an outfit from flat to fantastic. Here’s to a happy (and splashy) fashionable new year.

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Evergreen shirtdress, $695, from Clairvaux.

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SPRING AND SUMMER

TOMATO GIRL AESTHETIC Featuring linen dresses and styles borrowed from the Mediterranean, the “tomato girl” aesthetic swept through last summer and was embodied by a lack of makeup and a love of all things vintage and gold.

PUMPKIN SPICE MAKEUP Pumpkin spice is already everywhere, so it’s only natural it ended up inspiring our facial trends, too. Think dark, fall-friendly monochromatic looks that use bronze highlights as a spicy pumpkin homage.

Essie Yellows + Browns nail polish, $10, from Ulta Beauty. Sky nail polish, $10, from Hoopla (Fairway Shops).

Fenty Beauty Match Stix ColorAdaptive Cheek + Lip Stick, $32, from Sephora.

THE LATTE LOOK You’d be forgiven for thinking the latte look and pumpkin spice makeup are . . . similar. And they are! Monochromatic looks were all the rage this fall and were often inspired by the favorite coffee drinks of whomever wore them. CINNAMON COOKIE BUTTER HAIR Deep brown with a ginger glow, this look was actually inspired by its namesake. First seen on Hailey Bieber, this dark-brown gingery hue dominated dye jobs as the weather turned.

Maintain the vibrancy and longevity of your Cinnamon Cookie Butter color with Drybar Liquid Glass Instant Glossing Rinse, $34, from Ulta Beauty. JANUARY 2024 | 42 | INKANSASCITY.COM

Kosas Weightless Lip Color, $26, from Welwythn (Prairie Village Shops).

MAC Cosmetics Amber Lights eyeshadow, $23, at Nordstom (Oak Park Mall).

tomato girl photo from janjan_1995, pumpkin spice photo from @hungvanngo, cinnamon cookie photo from @haileybieber

FALL AND WINTER

YELLOW LEMONADE NAILS Yellow was so 2022. Last spring’s big moment in nails shunned the yellows of the past in favor of a tropical, fresh shade reminiscent— and named—after an ice-cold glass of lemonade. BLUEBERRY MILK NAILS A trend that even some influencers bemoaned took the cutesy names too far, light blueberry milk nails were the creamy, powdered look that took over summer.

he last year of beauty has been a Wild West of self-expression through makeup, nails, and hair. New micro trends surfaced every other week through social media juggernaut TikTok, often started by celebrities like Hailey Bieber and trickling down through influencers in video how-tos and remixed interpretations. So many of these micro trends were named after foods that they could’ve been confused with seasonal bake shop menus: light blue became “blueberry milk,” and warm-toned brown hair dye was dubbed “cinnamon cookie butter.” But whatever you think about the endless cycle of beauty trends, they pushed prominently onto our cultural landscape in 2023. Let’s look back at some of last year’s most viral beauty moments.

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A Room of Your Own CREATING A PERSONAL SPACE AT HOME

Stoneware planter, $40, from Verdant (Crossroads).

Porcelain Wrinkled Bag by Chandra Beadleston, $75, from Leopold Gallery (Brookside).

favorite cookbooks or hang inspirational recipe photos, and aspiring musicians can display their instruments as art on the walls, surrounded by photos or records from their favorite musical influences. If writing or drawing captivates you, find a comfortable cozy chair with a desk or side table to organize your notebooks and art supplies.

A HOME FOR YOUR HOBBIES What’s your hidden passion? Maybe you know, and maybe you haven’t even had a second to think about it. There are opportunities everywhere to prioritize your interests, even in small spaces. Spark your gardening creativity with a corner dedicated to potted plants or a window box to grow kitchen herbs. Chefs in training can add a shelf filled with

A CALMING CORNER No need to clear out an entire room for a meditative moment, the perfect personal nook is only a few steps away. Find some cozy seating—an armchair, loveseat, or even a beanbag if that’s what feels right for you. Check out your local shops for artwork that strikes you and build out from there. Do flowers give you a sense of serenity? Sign up for a monthly subscription from a local florist to fill your favorite vase. Bring your personality to life with self-care that reflects what you love, whether it’s yoga, reading, singing, dancing, or scrolling through videos of cute dogs.

o matter how much we love the people we share our homes with, the time comes when we all need a little time and space for ourselves. Creating a space all your own can do wonders to bring a sense of calm and relaxation to hectic, chaotic days and lives that always seem to be moving too fast. Whether you have access to a whole room or just a small corner, curating a personal space is a great way to explore your personal tastes, tackle a new skill, and express yourself.

JANUARY 2024 | 44 | INKANSASCITY.COM

Emerald Hills painting by Evin Schuler, $250, evinschuleroils.com.

Lily Floral Designs’ monthly flower subscriptions start at $65. lilyfloraldesigns.com

For the family

The Ice at Park Place - open every day Skate into the New Year with special events like the Barbie + Ken Skate (Jan 14) and Frozen Sisters’ Skate (Feb 4). Visit parkplaceleawood.com/theice for hours and events.

For date night

KC Restaurant Week, January 12 - 21 These menus are sure to be a special treat during KC Restaurant Week. Reserve your table early at: • • • •

801 Chophouse - Prime Steakhouse Bamboo Penny’s - Tropical Thai Mission Taco Joint - West Coast Street Tacos Plate - Modern Italian

For you

Take time this year Refresh, indulge, or send a gift to someone deserving. Park Place is home to several spas, fitness studios, and beauty services. Focus on YOU in 2024 at: • • • • • • •

Bar Method Bare Med Spa Everyday Beaut MassageLuXe The Gents Place Timothy Weber: A Hair Salon Upgrade Group Training

Visit ParkPlaceLeawood.com for more details. Park Place is located on the northeast corner of Nall Avenue & 117th St., just north of AMC 20 Theatre.

Women’s Health IN KC presented by AdventHealth

by Liz Schroeder

How Does Cultural Competence Improve Patient Care? A Q&A WITH BILINGUAL FAMILY PHYSICIAN CLAUDIA WENDELL, MD

intersection of three cultures: the patient’s, the physician’s, and the culture of medicine. All three influence the outcome of the encounter. Cultural competence plays a huge role in medical outcomes not only because patients have a better understanding of what their medical care involves but also because they feel understood. INKC: What obstacles have you encountered? CW: Bias and stereotyping come to mind first. Although patients belong to a group, they are still individuals, so we cannot generalize. Another obstacle would be healthcare team members who are not open to having some degree of curiosity, empathy, and respect for patients who look, act, or speak differently than them. Lastly, a lack of interpreter services or ethnically diverse physicians can perpetuate barriers. In my clinic at AdventHealth, we have bilingual staff members and live translators available anytime, and I am more than happy to speak Spanish with patients who prefer to speak Spanish.

INKC: What is cultural competence, and how

has it shown up in your medical practice? Claudia Wendell: Being culturally competent means being able to communicate effectively and provide quality health care to all patients, not limited to a specific group. We have an increasingly diverse population, so cultural competence has become a measure of the quality of care we provide. Being an immigrant myself, patients with a similar background have naturally sought my care. Having similar life experiences makes me more aware of the patient’s needs, fears, and goals. It has been incredibly valuable and rewarding to advocate for my patients. The key to successful cultural competency is having compassion for all our patients.

INKC: How does improved cross-cultural in-

teraction affect relationships with patients? CW: Each patient’s culture influences their per-

spectives, values, beliefs, and behaviors about health and well-being. These factors affect recognition of symptoms, thresholds for seeking care, comprehension of and agreement to treatment options, expectations of care (including preferences for or against testing and procedures), and acceptance of preventive measures and medications. Meeting patients where they are strengthens the physician/patient relationship. Let’s think about language barriers. Imagine being alone, unwell, and unable to understand directions or express what you’re feeling. And language is only one factor. When a physician interacts with a patient, there is an JANUARY 2024 | 46 | INKANSASCITY.COM

INKC: What steps would you recommend for doctors looking to improve? CW: We should leave any judgment outside the exam room. Be willing to negotiate between your medical advice and your patient’s beliefs to agree on a plan that is acceptable to both. Learning from patients different than us is such a powerful, enriching experience.

Claudia Wendell, MD

Now serving Kansas City Michelle Dew, MD, FACC Cardiology

Michelle Dew, MD, FACC, is now seeing patients in Greater Kansas City. As a Board-certified cardiologist, Dr. Dew’s passion for patient education and her vast clinical experience have earned her countless honors. She has a strong clinical interest in women’s cardiac issues including during pregnancy and menopause; men’s cardiac care; and general cardiac care such as prevention, maintenance and pre- and postsurgical care. Dr. Dew will now see patients at AdventHealth Shawnee Mission as well as at our Lawrence and Lansing locations.

AdventHealth Medical Group Cardiology & Cardiovascular Surgery at Shawnee Mission 9119 W. 74th St., Suite 350 | Merriam, KS 66204

To learn more about Heart Care at AdventHealth, scan this QR code or visit AdventHealthKC.com.

Living IN KC by Patricia O’Dell

Retreat to Advance GOLDEN AND PINE FOUNDER DESIGNS SECOND ACT

tephanie Agne opened Golden and Pine in East Brookside eight years ago. Her relaxed but refined aesthetic had immediate appeal, and customers began asking if she would help them with their interiors. She was uncertain at first. “I’d been doing my own work, so it wasn’t out of the question. I hadn’t worked on full projects with clients before,” she says. “But as people kept asking, finally I said yes.” It was a good move for her and her clients. Now she is making another shift. Recently, Agne closed Golden and Pine, which had relocated to the Prairie Village shops, and will focus professionally on interior design through her firm Retreat Interior Design Studio, which is named for her love of travel and the inspiration it brings. Agne begins the design process by determining priorities and the

clients’ lifestyle. She understands what it’s like to be busy and have competing responsibilities, and she’s committed to make home both relaxed and inspiring. “I start by asking a lot of questions. Do they have children and pets? Do they like to entertain, and if yes, casually or formally,” she says. In addition, she selects images to show clients to see what they respond to—casual, formal, modern, traditional. Once she has that feedback, she starts to source product. “Comfort is always key. I focus on fabrics that are touchable, wear well, and are functional, but that look great.” But reflecting the clients’ lifestyle is critical, which is one reason Agne styles the home at installation, which may include providing smaller pieces to finish the space. “At that point,” she says, “we’ve built a relationship that is transparent and secure.” See Agne’s work at retreatinteriordesignstudio.com.

JANUARY 2024 | 48 | INKANSASCITY.COM

interior photos by matthew andersoni. agne photo by kaley kocinski

Stephanie Agne

interior photos by matthew andersoni. agne photo by kaley kocinski

UNLOCKING THE MYSTERIES OF PLACE PBS SERIES PROFILES THE CAREERS OF ARCHITECTS, ARTISTS, AND DESIGNERS

DESIGN IN MIND is an original documentary series cre-

ated by the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art. The latest installment, Unlocking the Mysteries of Place, features Gil Schafer, the founding partner New York-based Schafer Buccellato Architects, who has a deep understanding of place, proportion, and the importance of homes built for people, not egos. Previous installments profiled designer Bunny Williams; director, producer, and screenwriter James Ivory; and architect Robert A.M. Stern. These documentaries are thoughtful, personal, and informative. They are available online at classicist.org/articles/design-in-mind.

PREP FOR SPRING. It's never too early to plant an expansive garden of glorious bulbs in a space that needs brightening. We can help. OVERLAND PARK 10530 Marty St. 913.642.1500 Mon-Fri 9 to 6 | Sat 10 to 5 Item #191642

JANUARY 2024 | 49 | INKANSASCITY.COM

Gil Schafer

Living IN KC by Patricia O’Dell

New Hit Hues for 2024 BLUE REIGNS SUPREME FROM ROBIN’S EGG TO NEON

T dictions.

Sherwin Williams Upward

Benjamin Moore is moodier with Blue Nova, which leans a little purple. While I’m a huge Ben Moore fan, this hue could be challenging. I found myself humming, “I love you, you love me…” but I doubt Barney the dinosaur was the inspiration. I’m sure there’s a just right spot for this. Be sure and let me know if you have it.

Valspar Renew Blue

he sky is the limit for paint manufacturers this year. From demure to bouncy to shouting, those in the know are picking shades of blue to dominate in 2024. Perhaps with the looming election, they are hoping a soothing and peaceful color will lower temperatures. Regardless of the motivation, here’s a look at their pre-

Sherwin Williams is looking Upward. This pale blue pairs well with both crisp whites and darker shades of gray and black. There’s no question that this color is easy to live with and neutral enough that it won’t say, “That’s so early 2020s” by 2026.

Graham & Brown’s color of the year, Viridis—which is an adjective meaning fresh and green—is a great neutral. Complex, yet soothing, this shade would work as well indoors or in the garden. Graham & Brown Viridis

Farrow & Ball Sardine Benjamin Moore Blue Nova

Valspar selected Renew Blue as its 2024 color of the year. It’s close to a color I refer to as “smudgy turquoise,” and like that shade of blue, this one plays well with neutrals. It reminds me of old-house bathroom tile, or the color you’d see in a 1940s Paris pied-à-terre.

Farrow & Ball’s collection with fashion designer Christopher John Rogers is equally bold. Raw Tomatillo, Romesco, and Lobster (which is turquoise) may remind you of the 1970s, but Cardamom, Liquorice, Macadamia, and Sardine take the edge off.

JANUARY 2024 | 50 | INKANSASCITY.COM

Farrow & Ball Raw Tomatillo

Farrow & Ball Cardamom

Farrow & Ball Romesco

Farrow & Ball Liquorice

Farrow & Ball Lobster

Farrow & Ball Macadamia

CUT IT OUT

NEW YEAR, NEW ROOM WITH AMPERSAND WALLPAPER COLLABORATION

THE EVER-POPULAR Kansas City-based Ampersand Studio has applied their bright, whimsical designs to peel-and-stick wallpaper in collaboration with Chasing Paper. Both designs are floral prints. Floral Cut Out is available in a bright, cheerful yellow, bold blue, gray, and a pretty, lively multicolor with blues, greens, yellows, and pink. Fine Point Floral features charming line drawn floras against white, or rich background colors of blush and blue. Peel-andstick samples are available as well, and the site has a handy footage calculator. ampersanddesignstudio.com

Floral Cut Out, $5 a square foot.

WE’RE A STEP ABOVE CARPET| LUXURY VINYL FLOORING | HARDWOODS

Fine Point Floral, $5 a square foot.

12619 Metcalf Ave. Overland Park, KS kcwholesalecarpetstores.com

JANUARY 2024 | 51 | INKANSASCITY.COM

SPONSORED CONTENT

SWEET DREAMS WITH WANA BRANDS

By Liz Schroeder

uality sleep can be hard to come by, whether you’re struggling with stress, anxiety, or physical discomfort. Wana Brands, a woman-owned edibles company, is tackling sleepless nights head on with their cannabinoid-powered wellness gummies, including two distinct sleep formulations focused on falling and staying asleep. Innovation is a cornerstone of Wana, and thousands of hours each year are spent researching and developing the newest and best-quality cannabis science solutions. Both the Fast Asleep and Stay Asleep gummies contain cannabinoid blends with THC and CBD along with CBN and CBG—two rare cannabinoids that have been demonstrated to help with anxiety and physical tension. “We want to target the root cause of why you’re having trouble sleeping,” says Kaitlin Mackenzie, content director at Wana Brands. “We also have a very thoughtfully dosed amount of THC to optimize sleepiness without messing up your REM cycle.” A proprietary blend of more than 30 terpenes, biological compounds that give plants their taste, smell, and effects, can be found in both Fast and Stay Asleep Gummies. “These products aren’t about getting high; they’re about helping you enhance your life.”

GET TO SLEEP No need to count sheep—Wana’s Fast Asleep formulation is easily absorbed and powered by a thermodynamic individual molecular encapsulation technique from Azuca, Wana’s industry-leading technology partner. These low-dose and fast-acting gummies target the root causes of sleeplessness, including muscle tension and stress, through a blend of THC, CBN, CBD, melatonin, and more than 30 sleep-promoting terpenes.

You’ll start feeling relaxed and ready for bed in five to 15 minutes. “Fast Asleep is great if you have trouble falling asleep or if you’re like me, you sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and want to go back to sleep quickly,” says Mackenzie. If you can’t shake the morning grogginess after using over-the-counter sleep solutions, give these gentle, plant-powered supplements a try. STAY ASLEEP Make tossing and turning a thing of the past, and don’t look back. The higher-dose Stay Asleep gummies don’t include Wana’s fast-acting technology, but they will last all night. Unlike the Fast Asleep gummies this blend has no melatonin, but its ten milligrams of THC still pack quite a punch. “If you need that longer-lasting effect, but are nervous about a higher dose of THC, you can cut it in half or even quarters,” says Mackenzie. “Everybody’s body is different. We always say, ‘Start low and go slow,’ so start with a low dose, wait at least an hour to feel the effects, and then take more if you feel the need.” Pop in a Stay Asleep gummy 45 to 90 minutes before your bedtime, and enjoy a long-lasting and peaceful sleep. Fast Asleep and Stay Asleep gummies are calibrated to address your sleeplessness at the source. “Wana has the most calibrated and thoughtfully formulated cannabis products that you’re going to find to help you sleep,” says Mackenzie. “We have been very intentional about each component of the formulations.” Plant-powered and vegan, both products use organic sweeteners and avoid harsh chemical ingredients. Pain and anxiety are two big reasons why people have trouble sleeping, and both sleep formulations by Wana attack the problem from every angle. “I always have them on my bedside table,” says Mackenzie. “I never go without them.”

LEARN MORE AT WANABRANDS.COM/SLEEP

IN CONVERSATION WITH

Dee Wallace words by Cindy Hoedel

he mom from E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial turned 75 just before Christmas and she is as sparkling and timeless as the iconic film. Kansas City, Kansas, native Dee Wallace went to Hawthorne (now Betram Caruthers) Elementary, Northwest Junior High, and graduated from Wyandotte High School. She earned a teaching degree at University of Kansas, then taught drama briefly at Washington High School in Kansas City, Kansas, before leaving for New York to pursue acting. Wallace has appeared in nearly 200 films, working with legendary producers and directors, including Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Wes Craven, Stephen King, and Blake Edwards. In addition to her role as Mary in E.T., the second most-watched movie of all time (after Titanic), Wallace also appeared in many popular horror films, including The Hills Have Eyes, The Howling, and Cujo. Recent films include Every Other Holiday, Rob Zombie’s 3 From Hell, and Jingle Belle. On top of her acting, Wallace has a successful career as a healer and hosts a live radio call-in show at 9 a.m. Pacific Time every Sunday morning, blogtalkradio.com/consciouscreation. Wallace recently chatted with IN Kansas City by phone from her home in Woodland Hills, California, where she lives with her husband and her beloved rescue dog, Freedom. Her daughter, Gabrielle Stone, lives five minutes away and in August gave birth to Wallace’s first grandson. iamdeewallace.com

What is your New Year’s Resolution for 2024? Keep creating. Create with lots of love. That’s my goal every single day and certainly for the new year. How do you go about that, in practical terms? You have to be very clear about what you want. Love yourself enough to know that you can create it and start asking, “How can I?” Then take action. Are some parts of that—knowing what you want, loving yourself, taking action—easier for you and some parts more of a struggle? I would answer that by saying I know that struggle and worry are negative prayers. You are literally praying for what you don’t want. I choose not to struggle, and I choose to create easily. I choose to love myself so much that I want to give me everything that I want. I’ve been told by friends who are worriers that it adds to their stress when people tell them not to worry, because they can’t help it. It isn’t a choice. Oh, bullshit! Sorry. That’s not true. Everything’s a choice. We were put on this plane to practice free will. Nobody can think a thought for us, feel a feeling for us, or hold a belief for us. We can choose to worry, or

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we can choose to know that we are the creators of ourselves. If you step forward and take care of things, there’s nothing to fricking worry about, is there? Have you always been an optimist, or are you a recovered pessimist? I was never a pessimist. My daddy called me Bright Light. It’s the name of one of my books. I’ve lived through two suicides in my family—my father and my brother. My dad was a severe alcoholic. So, you know, crummy things happen in life. My mother, Maxine Bowers, was a huge figure in Kansas City. She ran Cancer Action for years and years. She lived into her late 80s. She was powerful, she was loving. I learned everything from her and am everything I am because of her.

‘‘

See, if we keep telling our story,

we keep living our story. That is what happened to me. What I did with it and am doing with it today is what’s important.”

You were in high school when your dad killed himself. How did you deal with that at the time and are you still dealing with it? No, what’s the point? See, if we keep telling our story, we keep living our story. That is what happened to me. What I did with it and am doing with it today is what’s important. So, I can keep saying, “My dad committed suicide and that’s why I can’t . . .,” “My dad was an alcoholic, and we were really poor so that’s why I can’t . . .,” or I can say, “That’s what I grew up with. Now, I am going to create the successful, happy person I want to be.” I notice that you talk about your mother more than your dad. My mother is probably Saint Maxine up there right now. And I’ve got to say, my dad, with all of his challenges, taught me a lot about naivete and fun and the beauty of the holidays, the beauty of family. You had another tragedy when your second husband, Christopher Stone, died suddenly at a young age. Yes. He died of a heart attack when my daughter was almost seven. When my daughter was in high school, she was acting out, and she said,

“Well, your dad didn’t die when you were seven years old” and blah blah blah. I stood up and looked at her and said, “This is the last time you will ever use your father to make less of yourself.” She says it is one of the moments that changed her life. That’s powerful. I mean, let’s all stop using the reasons why we can’t and start asking every day, “How can I be more love? How can I be more success? How can I be happier? How can I do good things in this world?” Instead of focusing on all the BS that all of us—all of us!—have in our lives. On your podcast you sometimes talk about moments where you become a channel, when you suddenly see or know something about someone in the room. Do you remember the first time that happened to you? Yeah, I’ve been channeling since I was a little girl. All kids do. All people do—they just learn to turn it off. The first time, I was seven or eight and I woke up and I went in and woke my mom up and said, “Something’s wrong at Grandma’s house.” So we called Grandma and nobody answered. God bless my mom, she had to be at work at 7 a.m. but we got in a car and drove over there, and the cat had jumped up and turned on the gas burners on the stove. Grandma was OK, but who knows if she would have been fine in the morning. After my father’s suicide, my father as a light visited me in my bedroom and gave me messages. This has been going on all my life. It’s just a normal natural thing for me, and it is for a lot of kids. When they talk about their imaginary friends, they are channeling. It’s just agreeing to have access to all the information that is available to all of us. It’s just energy. Everything is energy, so if you’re not open to it, you’re shutting yourself off from a lot of the experience of life. Do you think your ability to channel makes it easier to slip into a character when you act? Oh, you know, honey, everybody has their own technique. If you’re an English actor, usually you break everything down, you study the part. I don’t do that. It doesn’t work for me. But nobody is going to say our brilliant English actors aren’t brilliant because they don’t channel the role. Have you ever worked on a film where you changed your character based on feelings that came to you through channeling? Well, I don’t change anything because that’s the way I work. I was Mary in ET. I was Donna in Cujo. I wasn’t Dee playing them. I was them. Do you ever find when you’re playing a scene that you start to go in a completely different direction than the director laid out? Every director I’ve ever worked with embraces that. That’s when you find gold on a set. It’s when things happen that you least expect, and everyone is open to going with it. What are your memories of growing up in Kansas City, Kansas?

JANUARY 2024 | 56 | INKANSASCITY.COM

Dee Wallace is best known for her role as Mary Taylor in the 1982 blockbuster film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

We lived in two different houses. I went to Wyandotte High School. I loved school. I was a cheerleader; I was homecoming queen. It was where I went to experience my own power. I attended Washington Avenue Methodist Church, which became Trinity. That was a big part of my upbringing. My mom, who was a wonderful actress in Kansas City theater, directed all the plays and would perform half-hour readings at our church. Watching her is when I decided I wanted to do this. I have dear, dear memories of my grandmother, Betty Bowers, who was really the foundation of our church and helped raise me because my mom had to work all the time, since we were very poor. We lived for a long time in a duplex with my grandma, they lived up above and we lived below. I had really fond memories of my youth group and Donna Robinson, who took such good care of me through the youth

group, and we became friends. What was your neighborhood like? The first thing that comes to mind is the beautiful trees. We had such beautiful trees in our neighborhood. One thing I’ve really gone out of the way to do living out here [in California] is getting to know my neighbors. You know, taking cookies around at Christmas. I know all our neighbors, we’re all very close. I live on a cul-de-sac. The kids come to me to get Popsicles and Fudgsicles all the time. I’ve been in the same house for over 40 years, which is a very Midwestern quality, as you know. The people in the Midwest—I’m really proud to be one of them.

JANUARY 2024 | 57 | INKANSASCITY.COM

Interview condensed and minimally edited for clarity.

o N SO OPENING

THE MOST ANTICIPATED RESTAURANT AND BAR OPENINGS COMING IN 2024 words by Jenny Vergara

s a new year dawns for Kansas City’s dining and drinking scene, it’s time to put together our annual list of places that we anticipate will open sometime this year. As with all things relying on construction and materials, the timelines are best guesstimates made by the restaurant owner or chef and are not an exact science. This list is only meant to give you a tantalizing taste of the exciting things to come this year. The good news is that new places are continuing to open all over the metro, and it seems they will almost all either be small, affordable, single-owner spots, proudly serving colorful but casual cuisine (think hamburgers, pizza, tacos), or they will be massive multi-million-dollar entertainment complexes with several food and drink options at one location. It feels like the perfect post-pandemic story line to write for the next chapter of our food scene, when we either want to be in smaller spaces with fewer people, or with all the people, all at once. We are also going to be introduced to the concept of a “listening lounge,” which has its origins in Japan. Kissas or kissaten are intimate listening rooms found in Tokyo, where listening to new music on an excellent sound system is often given more thought (and budget) than

the atmosphere or even the menu. Here is where you can hear a deep cut from an album you may have never heard before with incredible sound quality and clarity. Today, they are referred to as “HiFi bars” in the U.S. and offered with some food and drink. Although they have been operating in larger markets for years, we now have two of them planning to open this year in Kansas City. As I type this, we are still waiting for news from Jonathan Justus and Camille Eklof on the new reincarnation for Justus Drugstore. Sagebrush, the cocktail bar from the fine folks that own The Campground is also still on the drawing board. The new Green Dirt Farm cheese shop and restaurant space with a rooftop deck in downtown Kansas City has just announced a February grand-opening date. We will also see the opening of the food and drink options at Pennway Point, where the KC Wheel is already in operation. These were all places listed last year that ran into unexpected construction delays of one kind or another. Fingers crossed we see them all open by the end of winter or early spring months. With a national spotlight shining on Kansas City, our dining scene continues to rise and expand to meet the needs of both locals and tourists alike. This year only continues to prove Kansas City has always been a dynamic, well-rounded, and evolving dining destination.

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Fern Bar

WINTER 2024 FERN BAR 2045 Broadway Boulevard, Kansas City, MO By the time you read this, local bartender-turned-bar-owner Bryan Arri will have just opened Fern Bar, his agave-based craft cocktail lounge in the former Broadway Bank building owned by Denver developer Ken Wolf. Arri worked at top cocktail spots Manifesto, The Monarch Bar, and Corvino Supper Club & Tasting Room before originally launching Fern Bar as a pop-up, hosting cocktail events while refining both his drink recipes and message about the importance of supporting small artisanal producers making handcrafted rum, tequila, and mezcal. Working with KEM Studios on the design, the bar features elegant, rounded corners painted in pastel pink and terra-cotta hues with gold accents and mature cacti, agave, and sugarcane plants decorating the space. A pick-up window in the back of the bar is where a team from Tacos Valentina will be selling their delicious tacos to go with your cocktail of choice. Whether you like to sip your tequila or mezcal straight or prefer yours shaken up in a delicious cocktail, come to Fern Bar and escape from the winter cold. fernbarkc.com

THE WISE GUY TAVERN 1924 Main Street, Kansas City, MO The co-owners behind the Rockhill Restaurant Group, which includes two Rockhill Grille locations, also own the license for the Miracle Bar holiday-themed pop-up in Kansas City. Bret Springs and Zach Marten announced at the end of 2023 that they have signed a lease to take over the location of The Rieger Hotel Grill & Exchange, which closed in 2020 during the pandemic, to open The Wise Guy Tavern. The 3,317-square-foot space has been completely gutted and rebuilt, featuring one long bar down the south wall of the space. It opened first in December 2023 as the Miracle Bar with the walls of the restaurant painted red and green as part of the holiday decorations. They plan to reopen in mid-to-late January as The Wise Guy Tavern. The goal is for the space to feel like an old neighborhood tavern that has been there for years. The partners felt the location’s signature 1915 floor tile and brick walls were the perfect backdrop for an old-school tavern. The menu and drink options are still being worked out, but with that name, I might hazard a guess that Italian food of some kind may play into the menu.

IN THE LOWEST FERNS 1105 Hickory Street, Kansas City, MO Austin Goldberg, Dante Walton, and Jason “J” Eubanks are the brains behind the two-year-old conceptual design, branding, and production company, Nomada, and they are ready to open a first for the West Bottoms—a new HiFi lounge called In the Lowest Ferns. The low-slung, rectangular-shaped loading dock is now high on vibes thanks to the state-of-theart sound and lighting system that the partners have installed, which will spin their own playlists in addition to hosting a rotating list of local and international sound producers, DJ’s, and musical acts, ready to envelop the crowds in sound while they enjoy a drink or two. The large space has been transformed with upcycled furniture, retro hanging lamps, and groovy JANUARY 2024 | 59 | INKANSASCITY.COM

In the Lowest Ferns

bamboo chains that divide the main floor from the seating areas. Tropical plants hang from the skylit ceiling and are tucked throughout the space anchored by the substantial concrete bar where there will be a selection of cocktails. No food is planned, although the occasional food truck may post up outside the venue, along with special ticketed food pop-ups hosted inside the space. Instagram @inthelowestferns

BAR MEDICI 1800 Walnut Street, Kansas City, MO David Manica and Christian Moscoso are opening Bar Medici on the ground floor of the Reverb apartment complex in the Crossroads, launching the first food-focused bar from the duo. Inspired by the opulence of 15th-century Florence, Italy, Manica spared no expense outfitting the space in subtle shades of silver, gold, and bronze. The bar and restaurant will celebrate many Italian culinary traditions, including coffee service standing at the bar, aperitivo (the Italian tradition of having a drink and bites after work but before dinner), and by serving Italian gelato for dessert. The lunch, dinner, and late-night menus, created by their new culinary director Mitchell Fetterling, will feature light Mediterranean-inspired fare along with plenty of smaller plates made for sharing. barmedici.com

SUSHI KODAWARI 2100 Central Street, Kansas City, MO With only eight seats and two seatings a night, lawyer-turned-sushi chef Karson Thompson is hoping to wow his guests with his own relent-less pursuit of perfection, which is what the word “kodawari” means in Japanese. Sushi Kodawari will open on the first floor of The Creamery building in the Crossroads delivering a multi-course (ten to 15 courses) fine-dining, two-hour, omakase experience. Serving as the head sushi chef, Thompson will prepare a set menu that just 16 guests a night will have the option to enjoy with a glass of wine or sake or as a “double omakase” experience where the drinks will be paired with each course. Guests can expect that a 15-course menu at Sushi Kodawari might consist of ten raw fish courses—each course a single piece of nigiri or sashimi, including some dry-aged fish—all served with preparation history or story behind each bite. There might be a chawanmushi (a steamed savory egg custard) or handmade slices of tamago, a kind of Japanese omelet, in addition to other small plates to complete the meal. Open for dinner five nights a week, Thompson plans to open reser-vations a month in advance, expecting them to sell out in a matter of hours. sushikodawari.com

Thaiger Night Market

Mr. D’s Donuts

SPRING 2024 THAIGER NIGHT MARKET & MR. D’S DONUTS 1727 West Pennway Street, Kansas City, MO The little black building on Pennway Street on Kansas City’s Westside was supposed to be a hair salon, until owner Justin Tanner approached Johnny Chen and his wife, Boggie Otgonbayar, owners of Mr. D’s Donut Shop, about opening a donut shop there. Known for their honey-dip glazed donuts and pineapple fritters, the two plan to take the morning shift here, offering their entire donut selection along with coffee, while Adison Sichampanakhone, owner of Thaiger and Ice Cream Bae, will take the afternoon and night shift, opening Thaiger Night Market servJANUARY 2024 | 60 | INKANSASCITY.COM

ing Thai and Lao cuisine for lunch and dinner. Expect a vibey but casual feel where you can find Pad Thai, Chicken Grapow, and spicy Lao Pho loaded with short ribs, along with a selection of cocktails and wine. Instagram @mrdsdonutshop and @thaiger.kc

Orange by Devoured

ORANGE BY DEVOURED 325 East 31st Street, Kansas City, MO Jhy Coulter and her partner, Brit Estes, will open their first brick-andmortar restaurant, Orange by Devoured, in the Made in KC flagship building on 31st Street in Midtown that also houses The Black Pantry and Ludo’s Shuffleboard Bar. After a successful stint as a mobile pizza pop-up, the new concept will serve wine, beer, and tapas-style small plates, including gambas al ajillo, pesto arancini, and Portuguese marinated carrots, in addition to a variety of cloud-crust pizza pies they are known for slinging. orangebydevoured.com

RED KITCHEN: CIEN POR CIENTO MEXICANA 7926 Santa Fe Drive, Overland Park, KS Alejandra de la Fuente is considered a success story at the Lenexa Public Market. She started her culinary journey by hosting “Tamale Tuesday” pop-ups inside the market in 2017, quickly moving to a small stall where her breakfast burritos became the stuff of legend, and then finally into the flagship restaurant spot in the market as her business continued to grow. Now she is ready to move into her own brick-and-mortar location in downtown Overland Park in the space where The Table formerly operated their catering kitchen. The restaurant will be rebranded to Red Kitchen: Cien por Ciento Mexicana and will focus on catering, breakfast, and lunch service, where she will continue to serve quality Mexican cuisine along with the “Best Burritos in Kansas” as named by Food & Wine magazine. Instagram @redkitchenkc

OSTERIA BIANCHI 9261 Northeast 83rd Terrace, Kansas City, MO One of the best things about living in Kansas City is its Midwestern affordability, which tends to bring great chefs who left to go to bigger restaurants in larger cities back home when it’s time to open their own restaurants. That’s true for the newest culinary couple in town, Josh and Kelly Bianchi, who have moved back to Kansas City after both enjoying successful culinary careers in Las Vegas for the last 17 years. He worked for Verti at the Palms Casino Resort and Drai’s at The Cromwell, and she worked her way up through Wynn Las Vegas to become the executive chef for catering and special events. Now back in Kelly’s hometown, the couple has leased the space of the former Trago Bar & Tapas restaurant in Liberty, where they plan to open Osteria Bianchi, a casual dining neighborhood Italian restaurant with some modern American influences. Guests can expect to see dishes like wood-fired pizza, cacio e pepe made with traditional handmade tonnarelli pasta, and an entrée highlighting local pork prepared three ways—braised pork belly, roasted pork loin, and crispy carnitas served with spaetzle and red wine-braised cabbage. Instagram @osteriabianch

CITY BARREL PIZZA & PATIO 120 East Gregory Boulevard, Kansas City, MO The team behind City Barrel Brewery is taking their downtown beer and bringing it to the burbs, ready to pair their pints with pizza at City Barrel Pizza + Patio opening in the former Bier Station location in Waldo. The space is getting a makeover, with a new paint job, a larger JANUARY 2024 | 61 | INKANSASCITY.COM

Red Kitchen: Cien por Ciento Mexicana

outdoor patio, and a much larger kitchen. Co-owner Joe Giammanco wants this new spot to be a fun, community spot for the neighborhood. The executive chef, Benjamin Woods, plans to serve New Yorkstyle round, floppy pies with sourdough crust in three sizes and thicker crust, Grandma-style square pizzas, along with New York-style submarine sandwiches, chicken wings with wild sauces, rad garlic knots, fried mozzarella sticks, and signature salads. The space will open with 15 beers on tap, mostly from City Barrel and a few other local favorites, in addition to cocktails, mocktails, and wines by the glass or bottle. citybarrelbrewing.com

SUMMER 2024 TRIUNE 1656 Washington Street, Kansas City, MO Ken Wolf ’s Washington Plaza building, formerly the Screenland building at 17th and Washington Street, sits neatly between the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and the Westside neighborhood, which makes it the perfect spot to open a restaurant. With an attractive outdoor terrace that will offer outdoor seating, Wolf has planned to make the first floor spaces that rim the terrace into separate food businesses that include a restaurant, a bar, and a food market. Enter local restaurant operator Steve Blakely, who owns Sauced, the burger stand in the courtyard of the Corrigan Station building. He and Wolf started talking about the type of restaurant he saw for the space back in 2021, and eventually the plan came together for Triune, which means three things in one. For Blakley those three things are hospitality, ambience, and food, and delivering on that will be his team of hospitality professionals—Whitney Coleman as the maitre’d, Rodolfo Rodriguez as executive chef, and Evelyn Brock as the bar manager. The concept will be a blend of fine food served in a casual dining setting, with a menu of a creative mix of small plates made for sharing, along with a handful of classic entrées and a full bar serving wine, beer, and cocktails.

Osteria Bianchi

City Barrel Pizza & Patio

ROCK ISLAND BRIDGE 1799-1719 American Royal Drive, Kansas City, MO The Rock Island Bridge project is well underway, featuring dramatic cantilevered spaces that hover 40 feet above the Kansas River. It promises to be the first of many exciting developments the city will see taking place in the West Bottoms over the next five years. Located across the street from the Hy-Vee Arena, the visionary development project was founded by Michael Zeller, CEO of Flying Truss, who is leading the project. It will be the first development of its kind in the nation, creating an entire entertainment district on a bridge that physically connects Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas. With 35,000-squarefeet of space, the plans include both indoor and outdoor spaces with live music, dining overlooking the river, coffee shops, bars, an event space and a farmers market. No word yet on what local restaurants might be opening on the Rock Island Bridge. There will also be a pedestrian path connecting the Kansas levee trails system and the Greenline Trail, with ZipKC offering zip lining across the river. In addition, visitors will be able to rent kayaks, canoes, and bikes. rockislandkc.com

KON TIKI ROOM 1922 Baltimore Avenue, Kansas City, MO Two known players in Kansas City’s local beverage scene, Chad JANUARY 2024 | 62 | INKANSASCITY.COM

Kon Tiki Room

Troutwine, co-owner of Torn Label Brewing Co. and Public House, and Chris Seferyn, owner of a former Martini Corner staple, The Velvet Dog, are coming together to open a new tiki bar and street taco concept called Kon Tiki Room. It will be located in the former Beco Flower Shop building next to the popular watering hole Up Down KC. With a Mainvest fundraising campaign underway, the Kon Tiki Room is currently under construction. The space will have Polynesian-inspired décor and serve as a welcoming late-night (open until 1:30 a.m.) spot, serving handcrafted tiki cocktails and gourmet street tacos until close. Mixing tropical drinks with Mexican tacos in a modern take on a tiki bar will fill a notable late-night gap in the Crossroads. kontikiroom.com

HANK’S GARAGE & GRILL 5801 Nieman Road, Shawnee, KS There’s another new restaurant and bar pulling into downtown Shawnee. Eric Flanagan has kicked off a new Mainvest campaign to raise funds for his newest concept, Hank’s Garage and Grill, opening just north of Jay Sander’s Drastic Measures bar on Nieman Road. Flanagan is coming off two successful campaigns that partially funded both King G Bar and Deli and Jim’s Alley Bar in downtown Kansas City. Hank’s Garage & Grill will open inside a six-bay auto repair shop that will be transformed into a real neighborhood hang, serving affordable food and drinks in an approachable, communal environment. Look for a large outdoor patio dotted with picnic tables flanked by two outdoor bars crafted from shipping containers and a third main bar located within the garage. Inside there will be high-top tables and multiple TV screens to watch sports. Guests can expect a small list of classic cocktails and an extensive beer program created by managing partner Gus Cobb, who is also the general manager of King G and Jim’s Alley Bar, and Flanagan, who is a certified cicerone. With fresh draft beer on tap and budget-friendly yard beers on ice, Hank’s will feature a simple bar menu focusing on cheeseburgers made from quality ingredients. Instagram @hanksshawnee

XO 709 West 17th Street, Kansas City, MO When Noah Manos purchased the small, rundown garage located on the corner of 17th Street and Jefferson on the Westside, he was looking to get his hands dirty with a project of his own. As a principal in Paper Airplane, a design-build company in Denver, Colorado, he was used to working with clients to make their dreams a reality, and now he wanted to do that for himself. Friends who live in Kansas City encouraged him to start shopping around for a place here to open a 30-seat, HiFi listening bar, XO, which Manos is opening in collaboration with his business partners, Mitch Foster and Will Minter, owners of ESP, a popular vinyl listening bar in Denver that curates the music to match the energy of a space as it evolves day to day. With both indoor seating and an outdoor patio that will open later this summer, XO is made for true audiophiles—guests who come ready to settle in for a drink and some food as a wave of sound ebbs and flows throughout the space around them. In addition to the music selections, ESP will also manage the bar program at XO. Local James Beard Award nominee for outstanding chef, Johnny Leach, is consulting on the food menu, which should be nothing short of amazing. XO’s goal is to tempt and tease all your senses at once.

Hank’s Garage & Grill

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Exploring Inner Space

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PSYCHEDELICS-ASSISTED THERAPY IN KANSAS CITY words by Judith Fertig

any people we see every day are walking around with wounds we can’t see—deep tracks in the brain where the same thoughts shuttle back and forth, keeping sufferers in fight-or-flight mode, depression, and hopelessness. For many years, a retired local police officer dealing with PTSD was one. He now joins a growing number of Kansas Citians benefiting from psychedelics-assisted therapy. And it’s working. “It saved my life,” he says quietly. After witnessing traumatic events as a first responder, “You see and do things that normal people don’t see and do,” he says of his former “toxic” job. As a result, “My mind was going 1,000 miles an hour,” he recounts. “I tried to find a way to turn it off. I was easily angered. Everything was black and white, fight or flight. My relationships suffered. I got divorced.” Trying to get better, he went through Warriors’ Ascent, a holistic program designed for combat veterans and first responders. It helped for a while. He tried yoga, meditation, talk therapy. “But my PTSD symptoms just got worse,” he says. “I did a ton of research on ketamine and decided to start an infusion followed by talk therapy. I go to a ketamine clinic in Lee’s Summit. They hook me up to an IV. I wear an eye mask and listen to a soundtrack. After about 45 minutes, I’m finished. The next day, I talk with Michael VanderWaal (a therapist and licensed medical social worker in Missouri), and I feel like I can breathe again. I am starting to be more open and vulnerable with my kids. There is a pause before I get pissed off.” In other words, he is healing. Ketamine, a medically approved tranquilizer used in surgeries, is available in lower doses at clinics around the metro area. Ketamine, legal in both Missouri and Kansas, is one of three psychedelic drugs up for Food and Drug Administration approval for mental health use but has not yet been approved. In fact, the F.D.A. warns: Use of compounded ketamine products without monitoring by a health care provider for continued on page 74

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Small but

Mighty AN ICONIC KANSAS CITY MODERN IS BROUGHT TO THE LIGHT words by Patricia O’Dell photos by Nate Sheets

In the living room, Schmitz suggested keeping shelves spare, providing plenty of negative space to emphasize the objects that are there and not overwhelm the eye. Local art and midcentury icons, such as the candleholders from Modern Love, share space with the Eames House Bird roosting on the top perch.

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Above, left: The newly installed window brightens both the living room and the kitchen beyond. Above, right: In the wife’s office, fabric-covered panels allow her to change art and inspiration easily. Opposite: The reeded doors on the the Matt Castilleja-designed credenza conceal an extensive music collection. A Happy Habitat throw enhances a comfortable spot to unwind. The natural wool rug provides warmth underfoot.

or a creative Kansas City couple with a midcentury aesthetic, living in a Donald Drummond house was irresistible. They love midcentury-modern architecture, and the size was perfect for them. “We love living in a space that feels welcoming and warm and not cavernous. The size fits our lives. We don’t have kids, and we don’t like chores!” the wife says. But after living in the house for five years, they were ready to make adjustments. They didn’t need more space but wanted to make the home more livable while retaining its integrity. They began to ask people for suggestions for designers who would be a good fit for the house and their needs. “Several business owners and acquaintances mentioned Lisa Schmitz,” she says.

Schmitz could see the house’s appeal, and also areas that needed adjustment to accommodate the couple’s lives. “The living room did not get much daylight, and the finishes in the kitchen were heavy handed,” Schmitz says. “In addition, functionality and storage was a challenge.” The primary bedroom had a tiny water closet, which held a sink and toilet; a full bath was across the hall. The couple was using a back bedroom as a closet because of the lack of storage in the primary bedroom, and there were several different floor materials, including carpet, stone, and tile. The clients loved the house. The goal was to restore it, improve its functionality, and make it feel cleaner and brighter. “Our big focus was to clean up the flow and simplify the layout,” Schmitz says. Schmitz and Carly Pumphrey, a designer with Lisa Schmitz Inte-

JANUARY 2024 | 68 | INKANSASCITY.COM

rior Design, began to reimagine the space. One of their first objectives was to lighten up the living and dining spaces. In order to provide some texture and definition between the two functioning areas of the room, they exposed the brick surrounding the fireplace. In addition, they added a sliver of window next to the fireplace. “This window appears in other Drummond homes,” Schmitz says. “I don’t know why there wasn’t one here, but it was a fun moment to realize that we could slip it back in. Just peeling back the wall a few feet made the whole room more open and welcoming.” In addition, the team added a stone ledge that floats across the entire length of the room. “The ledge anchors the fireplace, but also becomes the bench for the classic Eero Saarinen table and chairs at the other end of the room,” Schmitz says. “This integrates the dining experience into the living and kitchen space.” The team did not want to go overboard with midcentury furniture, but one of the client’s requests was a white leather Eames armchair. “We did go with the Saarinen table and chairs, but we’re careful it doesn’t become a time warp,” Schmitz says. “We like to use new pieces that mix well and play nicely.” To that end, they chose to customize the Matt Castilleja Iconic cabinet to hold the client’s extensive album and CD collection and designed a custom side table in the living room. The warmth of the walnut repeats in the kitchen cabinets and shelving, while the tile backsplash provides a clean, white background that reflects the light from nearby windows. Here, too, the team peeled back a bit of the kitchen wall to invite more natural light from the living space. “We installed underfloor heating throughout,” Schmitz says. “Both beneath the cork flooring and the terrazzo.” In addition to terrazzo in the bathrooms, the team suggested the same flooring in the

Above: The dining area is tucked into a corner with a long built-in bench and a black Saarinen dining table that repeats the dark hues of the Rich Bowman landscape above. Opposite: In the kitchen, local ceramics are worthy of open shelving, here and in the studio coffee bar beyond.

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Above, left: A curbless, zero-entry shower and terrazzo flooring provide long-term functionality in the primary bath. Above, right: The cheerful orange cabinetry is a warm, bright start to the day. Opposite: Cork flooring and natural bedding in the primary bedroom create a cozy cocoon at the end of the day.

wife’s studio. “She is an artist, and terrazzo looks great and wears and cleans well.” The room is both beautiful and functional. Walnut appears again in her desk, and the tech board above showcases inspiration, or pieces of her work. The room connects to the kitchen, and Schmitz and her team designed a coffee bar and additional storage here as well. Bins of supplies are hidden in large drawers. The primary suite is spare, but functional. Terrazzo floors in the primary bath repeat the material from the studio, but here cheerful cabinets wear the orange hue, too. Custom curtains span one wall of the bedroom, creating a cozy cocoon when drawn. “The house turned out amazingly—so much more charming and functional,” says the owner. “Lisa and her team honored the original vibe of the house while giving it a refresh and making it more modern. Renovating an entire home can be exhausting, but Lisa and her team made the process fun.” JANUARY 2024 | 73 | INKANSASCITY.COM

THE IT LIST Interior Design Lisa Schmitz Interior Design lisaschmitzinteriordesign.com

Construction Schmitz Remodeling schmitzremodeling.com

Furniture Castilleja Furniture | Objects mattcastilleja.com

inner space continued from page 65

sedation (sleepiness), dissociation (disconnection between a person’s thoughts, feelings, and sense of space, time, and self ), and changes in vital signs (such as blood pressure and heart rate) may put patients at risk for serious adverse events. The other two psychedelics being considered include MDMA—a blend of mescaline and methamphetamine known by its street name Ecstasy—and psilocybin or “magic mushrooms.” While traditional therapies—ranging from talk therapy to prescribed antidepressants to eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)—help in some anxiety, depression, and PTSD cases, they don’t move the needle in others. In response, surprising new players in mental health therapy are emerging—psychedelics. Not the Timothy Leary “bad trip” LSD of the 1960s, not Aaron Rodgers’ ayahuasca, but a new cadre of psychogenic substances with a scientifically proven track record in improving mental health. Tyler Kjorvestad, M.D., and psychiatrist at the University of Kansas Health System, is also the editor of the Journal of Psychedelic Psychiatry. He sees patients and conducts clinical trials of psychedelics in treating various mental health conditions. “Timothy Leary set us back 40 to 50 years,” says Kjorvestad, referencing the national backlash that resulted from Leary’s experimentation with LSD in the 1960s. “Psychedelics can be much better than our current standard of care for mental health.” “Anxiety and depression can become habitual and disrupt the normal feedback system. I grew up on a dairy farm, and I liken neural pathways in anxiety and depression to ruts in the ground. Once they’re there, it’s hard to drive out of the ruts. Medications and psychedelics take a

road grader to those ruts,” he maintains. Because the brain is “plastic” or able to change physically, to a degree, the damage—“the ruts”—can be reparable. Psychedelics also “turn on large, different portions of the brain” that can facilitate healing, Kjorvestad says. The National Institutes of Health estimate that 3.6 percent of American adults suffer PTSD, with another eight percent mired in depression, about a third of that is treatment-resistant depression. A recent Gallup survey revealed that 29 percent of adults reported being treated for depression at some time in their lives, a marked increase since 2015. Michael VanderWaal, the Kansas City therapist treating the retired police officer, was one of them. “I read Michael Pollan’s book How to Change Your Mind when I was pretty disenchanted with the state of mental health care,” he says. VanderWaal was also depressed after his mother, a neonatal nurse, died. He tried psychedelics and felt better, and thought, “If I can do this to help myself, maybe I can also help others.” He explains, “A psychedelic experience can help heal past traumas. Ketamine infusion is a really effective, fast-acting antidepressant. It’s like putting on scuba gear and exploring the coral reef of your own mind. You see things at a more bearable distance and can talk it through.” And get better. “It takes a lot to create enough neuroplasticity in the brain to make new neural pathways,” says VanderWaal. “Psychedelics like ketamine allow for significant and lasting change in a short amount of time.” “Psychedelics could really revolutionize mental health care. A new study in the September issue of the journal Nature about treating PTSD with MDMA for 18 weeks shows that 71 percent of subjects got so

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much better that they no longer met the PTSD criteria,” he adds. “Medical approval is the latest route to getting these available to people who need it,” says VanderWaal. “In Michigan, there have been ballot initiatives from grassroots efforts making certain substances legal. And they have long been part of certain spiritual practices.” Those “aha” spiritual moments are one reason that Shannon Josendale, a Kansas City entrepreneur and reiki master, seeks out ketamine-assisted therapy. “My body was holding onto the past and old patterns,” she says. “I felt very burnt out. I couldn’t get out of my brain.” She goes to Awakenings KC for her ketamine infusions because of its safety precautions. “They make you feel very safe,” she says. “When you come out, you feel very ‘gooey,’” she says. “I try to write things down as they come to me.” The next day, she does talk therapy with VanderWaal. “It takes the weight of the world off your shoulders. It makes you realize how amazing we are at our core.” What concerns Katja Cahoon, a psychedelics-assisted therapist and licensed clinical social worker in Kansas City, Missouri, and Menlo Park, California, is the lack of availability of psychedelics-assisted therapy to those who can’t afford the sessions or don’t live near places that offer it. Cahoon administers ketamine by a specially compounded lozenge and often does it in a group therapy session. It’s less expensive. Nineteen hours of psychedelics-assisted therapy costs $1,500 each for a group versus $3,800 for an individual. “My mission is to harness the power of the group—first responders healing together, for example,” she says. She also advises carefully evaluating the therapist you work with, their training and background. “Do they know how to support you?” she urges people to ask. Even though there are plenty of clinics in the

Kansas City area offering infusions with no talk therapy follow-up, “Ketamine infusion alone can be damaging if there is no integration afterwards,” she says. “It’s not a miracle cure,” she counsels. “People who experience this kind of therapy get in touch with themselves. They also go into observer mind—which you can also get from meditation—in which you observe a thought but are not that thought. That’s where therapy can happen. You realize you can change the thought that is holding you back.” Adds Kansas City therapist Alaina Borra, “Whether there are life-changing outcomes or some symptom reduction, psychedelics-assisted therapy is best at breaking down old patterns, giving people the opportunity to live differently.” According to Kjorvestad, the approval process for psychedelics will still take some time. “MDMA for treating PTSD is close to F.D.A. approval in 2024. If it is approved, then the Drug Enforcement Administration has 30 days to reschedule the drug to a two or three so it can be prescribed. Then there is a risk evaluation process. And finally, it can go to manufacture.” Psilocybin trials to treat addiction are currently on the F.D.A. radar for possible late 2025 approval. It could be worth the wait. “A single day of psychedelics-assisted therapy can take the place of ten years of psychotherapy,” says Kjorvestad. “It is much better than our current standard of care.” And it’s much better than suffering alone. “Human beings are built for community,” says the former police officer. “When you have PTSD, you start isolating because you feel differently.” Now that his symptoms have lessened, he feels better, more connected. “For the first time, I’m hopeful.”

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Flavor IN KC

In the Kitchen

MACKEREL AND MAKING BETTER CHOICES BY Cody Hogan

PHOTOS BY Aaron Leimkuehler

t’s that month again, the one where we all try to return to the gym for the first time in ages, restrict our diets according to the latest trend, try meditation and positive affirmations, and probably even give up alcohol. I’m trying something a little less painful—eat more vegetables and seafood, especially the kinds with healthful fats, like mackerel. The greatest hindrance to achieving my new year’s objective is our distance from the ocean and the fragile nature of good quality seafood. Most seafood, especially the kind with high concentrations of healthful oils, just doesn’t travel well unless it is preserved in some way, like salting, drying, canning, or freezing. Working in a restaurant, I have better access to the good stuff than most people, but that doesn’t help my fellow Midwesterners. Which brings us to frozen seafood (see In Your Pantry) and a recent find at a local Asian market—Korean salted frozen mackerel. Mackerel is a delicious fish high in all the good fats we're supposed to eat more of. The salted version is a very popular dish in Korea and is most commonly served as a side dish accompanying rice and an assortment of vegetable preparations. Unlike salt cod (aka baccala), which is very heavily salted and dried for long-term storage, Korean mackerel is only lightly salted. The salting and natural high oil content of the mackerel aid in its successful freezing. Note that if you are watching your salt intake, you can soak the fish in water in the fridge for a few hours to remove some of the salt. In Korea, the traditional method of preparation is a simple pan fry with a light dusting of flour or cornstarch. Grilling is a delicious alternative (my favorite for flavor), just watch out for flare ups over open flame due to the high fat content in the fish. As for eating more vegetables, Kansas City is a wonderful location for finding great produce—just not always during the winter. At this time of year, root vegetables, especially colorful ones, are a good choice,

and nuts and nut oils are good sources of healthy fats. And for winter salads, I find fruits like apples, pears, persimmons, and pomegranates great additions that add pleasing textures and freshness that can be elusive in winter produce. Feel free to make substitutions in the following dish. And regardless of your choice of seafood, cooking method, and produce selections, I encourage you to join me in making delicious decisions for your 2024 resolutions. Seared Korean Mackerel with Roasted Carrots, Persimmons, and Tahini Dressing Thaw the fish—it doesn’t have to be completely thawed. Most seafood is glazed with the thinnest coating of ice to help prevent freezer burn. So for thin filets like those of mackerel, rinsing the frozen fish under running water will remove this coating, which will help with caramelization and prevent spattering in the skillet. Dry the fish with a paper towel and season with a little black pepper (no salt needed with salted fish) and set it on a plate while you deal with the carrots. For a hungry adult, I would prepare about three carrots per person (sweet potatoes could be substituted here). Peel them, then toss them in a skillet or roasting pan with salt, pepper, and extra-virgin olive oil. Put the pan in a 400oF oven for about 15 minutes. Stir the carrots, and if you like things a little spicy add a sliced Fresno or other spicy pepper to the carrots, stir again, and return the pan to the oven. Cook 10 minutes more, possibly a bit longer—I love it when the carrots get some tasty, smoky char and crispy bits which add depth of flavor. For the persimmons, I would suggest the squat round Fuyu variety, firm ripe, about one half per person, peeled or not depending on your preference. Cut into ¼-inch thick slices. Keep an eye on the carrots—depending on your speed (and level of distraction) in the kitchen, they may already be done. Next make the tahini dressing: In a mini food processor, place a

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clove of garlic (2 if you love that fiery garlic heat), a ½ teaspoon of salt, ½ teaspoon ground cumin, 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil, and pulse to make a paste. Add ½ cup tahini, the juice of two lemons, and ¼ cup water. Process on high to make a smooth and creamy paste. Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary. (Toasted almonds, a dash of water, and a bit more olive oil would be a delicious alternative to using the tahini.) Begin heating a skillet and prepare to assemble the dish. Add a few tablespoons of avocado oil (healthful and stable at high temperatures) to the skillet, lightly dust the mackerel filets with flour, and carefully place them skin-side down in the hot skillet. Cook for about 4 minutes on the skin side—it should be browned and crispy—then turn the

fish over and cook 2-3 minutes on the flesh side until it has a pleasant caramelized color. You should be able to assemble the plates while the fish cooks: place a big dollop of the dressing on each plate and spread it around a bit. Top the dressing with the roasted carrots and pepper, slices of persimmon, a few final drips of dressing, a sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds and/or toasted almond slivers (for more crunch), and a few leaves of mint. Remove the fish from the skillet, placing one piece next to the salad on each plate. Normally I would suggest a nice wine at this point, but since you’re probably not drinking this month, how about a little green tea kombucha. Take a moment to be grateful for the delicious, healthful meal you’re about to enjoy. And maybe afterwards you can go to the gym…

In Your Pantry

FROZEN SEAFOOD CLAIMS LIKE “we have our fish flown in daily,” especially in grocery stores, are essentially meaningless unless someone shows you a tag with a harvest date that is at most two days past. Most seafood caught at sea can spend several weeks on ice (hopefully after being processed at sea) before the boat returns to shore. The exceptions are “dayboats” where a boat goes out in the morning, catches fish, and returns to shore the same day and the fish is immediately for sale locally or purchased and shipped, arriving at its destination hopefully the next day. In this part of the world, restaurants can purchase “dayboat” seafood (still a day or two out of the water), but you as a consumer probably can’t. There are exceptions, but they are few and always shockingly expensive. Here are some good choices for frozen seafood and how best to use it.

The Usual Suspects Some of the most readily available frozen fish include cod, tilapia, sole, and recently, branzino. Most seafood is glazed with a thin coating of ice before it is packaged (the coating helps prevent freezer burn), which needs to be rinsed or thawed off before cooking. Thin fish like those listed don’t really need to be fully thawed before cooking, and actually tend to be more moist when cooked from a partially frozen state. Also, look for filets that are individually vacuum sealed—they are much less likely to deteriorate in the freezer. if you’re trying for a sear when cooking, make sure the filets are dry on the outside. All these fish respond well to a simple coating of cornmeal and a Southern-style pan fry. Another tasty technique is to place any of these fish atop cooked potatoes or thinly sliced tomatoes and onions, then roast covered in seasoned breadcrumbs with a good drizzle of olive oil, until the fish is flaky and the crumbs are crispy.

Asian Market Finds Asian markets tend to have a much wider variety of frozen seafood than the average grocery store. Some good fish that are easy to prepare include croaker (lots of different sizes good for many applications—just go online), Korean mackerel, and tuna. Japanese products tend to be of particularly high quality but expect to pay for it. Go with an open mind and have your phone ready to research all of the interesting and unfamiliar seafood options available. Shrimp Shrimp are the most consumed seafood in America, and for good reason. When treated with respect, they have a lovely sweetness and texture that responds well to just about any cooking method. When purchasing, keep in mind that almost all shrimp have been frozen. If they are not frozen at the grocery store, then you don’t know how long they have been sitting in the display case, already in the process of decay. It’s best to thaw your own—overnight in the fridge is best, but under cool running water is a fast and safe method for those in a hurry. Shrimp with shells on are a bit more work (sometimes more work than you have time for) but retain a bit more flavor. EZ-Peel shrimp have the benefit of still retaining the shell (which is very EZ-ily peeled away) but have the intestinal vein already removed, which makes them ideal for grilling or sautéing when you are looking for a bit of protection for the shrimp and a more pronounced flavor.

Octopus Although intimidating to many home cooks, octopus is a type of seafood that freezes beautifully. In fact, freezing the octopus helps tenderize it (as opposed to the much older technique of fishermen beating it against the rocks on the seashore). Spanish octopus tends to be of very high quality and is worth the trouble of seeking it out. Octopus loses a tremendous volume when cooking, so keep that in mind when purchasing. Before applications like grilling or searing, octopus must first be cooked, usually by gently simmering in a little water with seasonings like garlic, bay leaf, salt, and crushed red pepper. A wine cork is traditionally cooked along with other seasoning to help tenderize the octopus, but this technique has been disproven. Cook the octopus immediately after it is thawed (possibly before it is thawed completely), because it is highly perishable—and rotting octopus is possibly one of the worst smells you will ever experience in a kitchen.

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Flavor IN KC by Jenny Vergara

photo by Corie English

In Your Cocktail

BRIX LATIN AMERICAN CUISINE’S CLANDESTINO The Alchemist, a vibrant purple cocktail delivered to you in an antique suitcase and assembled in front of you like a magician performing slight-of-hand tricks for the table. He created the drink as a tribute to all the bartenders and mixologists working to bring new flavors to life, using spices, spirits, mixers—creating something out of nothing. “For this cocktail, we used a combination of La Gritona Reposado from Mexico and Pisco Acholado from Peru with lavender liqueur and pea-flower syrup for sweetness and orange bitters to balance it all,” says Valencia. “It’s a cocktail that’s bright purple in color and spirit forward.” brixkc.com

rom the dark days of Prohibition to present day, Kansas City has been known for enjoying a cool cocktail in secret space. Call them hidden bars, blind tigers, or speakeasies, this city has been home to both the historic version and the modern day one, where it is now legal to drink but there might still be a secret word or door you must know to gain admittance. Striking the delicate balance between secrecy, word of mouth, and profitability, today’s hidden bars come and go (R.I.P. Manifesto), but none in recent memory have attempted a Latin theme until Brix Latin American Cuisine’s Clandestino opened in Westport. Meet the latest place to enjoy a drink in the dark. Brix Latin American Cuisine opened in 2022, in the former Westport Saloon spot, and it shares an owner with Cancun Fiesta Fresh, a much loved to-go taco and margarita spot. The food menu at Brix is as compact as the restaurant itself, highlighting the star of the show—their house-made birria

The Alchemist

that takes 24 hours to create. You can enjoy the spicy slow-cooked beef in everything from quesabirria tacos to pizza birria and even birria noodle bowls. No reservations are needed at Clandestino, as seating in the 16-seat secret bar located inside of Brix is on a first-come, first-served basis. Simply tell the hostess you would like to enjoy a drink at Clandestino, and she will escort you back through the restaurant to a wall covered in greenery, pulling a handle in the wall as a secret door swings open and you are shown inside. The room is draped in velvet curtains, decorated with bookshelves full of knickknacks and candles that provide the ambience. Just about the time you realize there is no bartender and no bathroom, a waitress will appear to take your order. When your cocktails are ready, a bartender will come tableside to present each drink in its own dramatic way, all intended to spark your curiosity. Raul Valencia, the director of operations and head mixologist for Clandestino by Brix, created the drink menu at Clandestino, and the standout drink to date has been JANUARY 2024 | 78 | INKANSASCITY.COM

The Alchemist .75 .75 .75 .5 3 .25

ounce La Gritona Reposado ounce Pisco Acholado ounce lavender liqueur ounce pea flower syrup* dashes orange bitters ounce absinthe

In a mixing glass, add La Gritona Reposado, Pisco Acholado, lavender liqueur, pea-flower syrup, and 1 cup of ice, stir 10 seconds clockwise with a bar spoon. Take a rocks glass, drop 1/4 ounce of absinthe in, then slowly coat the inside of the glass. Dispose of absinthe and add fresh ice until 3/4 of the glass is full. Using a cocktail strainer, pour cocktail from mixing glass into a rocks glass and enjoy. *Pea Flower Syrup In a pot, boil 4 cups of water, then add 1 cup of Incas dried pea flowers (buy online) and stir it slowly with a spoon for 10 seconds, letting it sit for 2 minutes. Using a metal strainer, strain the water and flowers into a heat-resistant bowl. Dispose of remaining flowers left in strainer. Add 4 cups of sugar into the bowl with pea-flower water and stir until it is dissolved. Keep it in your refrigerator.

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Flavor IN KC BY Jenny Vergara

NEW WHOLE FOODS

In Culinary News

FOR THOSE who love food and enjoy cooking, a common dilemma can be where to shop for groceries. It always seems to take two to three destinations, and one of those is likely an international market. An elegant new solution has presented itself at 119th Street and Metcalf Avenue, where a new Whole Foods Market has opened with Pan-Asia Market located just steps away. Park once and shop twice to get everything on your list. It is a match made in culinary heaven. This Whole Foods replaces the one formerly at 119th Street and is much larger with more amenities, including an upgraded coffee bar, restaurant and bar, and indoor and outdoor seating capacity. Their product assortment features more than 750 local items from the greater Kansas City, area including Campo Lindo Farms eggs, grass-fed beef from Redger Farms, tortillas from Yoli Tortilleria, bread from Farm to Market, and gluten-free baked goods from Emily Kate’s Bakery, along with confections from Andre’s Confiserie Suisse, Christopher Elbow Chocolates, and Askinosie Chocolate. For hours and more information go to wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/ overlandpark and panasiasupermarket.com.

JANUARY 2024 | 80 | INKANSASCITY.COM

Avoid the ides of March & Join us for an evening in Rome

February 10, 2024 at the intercontinental hotel

Patron Levels & Tickets at

SHOP OUR AUCTION!

kcshakes.org/gala

honorary chairs

Jim & Diana Cusser

founder’s award

Honoring Jim & Merrily Jackson

Flavor IN KC by Jenny Vergara

LUCA BAGEL CO.

In Culinary News

LOCAL DOUGH BOYS Aaron and Luke Salvatore are proudly celebrating ten years of Providence Pizza in Kansas City. Known for their New York-style thin, foldable slices and puffy Sicilian and Detroit-style square pizzas, they now have two locations in Westport and Grandview where you can try their pizza pie. What some people might not know is the brothers have also been making New Jersey-style bagels (which is the same as New York-style bagels, although some believe them to be a bit larger and fluffier) at their pizza shop almost since their inception, originally selling them at breakfast, and then eventually on Saturdays only. Last year they relaunched their in-house bagel program as Luca Bagel Co., popping up at the Overland Park Farmers Market during the growing season. This winter, fans can either preorder for best selection, or drop in on Saturdays to pick up their favorite flavors of bagels and cream cheese available each week. To check out their selection or preorder your own, go to lucabagel.com.

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Flavor IN KC by Jenny Vergara

THE CULINARY CENTER OF KANSAS

In Culinary News

AFTER 25 YEARS of teaching Kansas City how to cook in downtown Overland Park, entrepreneur Laura Laiben announced in November she would be stepping away from her culinary legacy, The Culinary Center of Kansas City. She is selling her ownership stake to two local food lovers, Joe McConnell and his business partner, Darren Palmet. Both men have had impressive corporate careers in operations and finance and marketing respectively. Palmet’s career took him all over the world, while McConnell was raised in Kansas City, briefly lived on both coasts and soon returned to Kansas City to raise his family. The two met while working together at a local firm, but it was at a fateful coffee a year ago, where they both discussed that they were ready to take on something completely different, something with a mission of nurturing friendships, community, and learning experiences. That’s when they put out some feelers and were introduced to Laiben. The two will not be making any changes right away, but they have expressed an interest in growing the business with more locations to give more people more opportunities to grow their culinary curiosity and cooking skills. kcculinary.com

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Spotlight KC ATTRACTIONS NOT TO MISS IN JANUARY

B&B Theatres

Sinkers, Blade & Timber, and Breakout KC

Enjoy the incredible food and drinks, exclusive amenities, and the magic of the movies at B&B Theatres!

Savor mini golf with the kids or enjoy some cocktails at Sinkers Lounge. Feel the thrill at Blade & Timber or Breakout KC.

Missouri Star Quilt

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

Missouri Star offers free quilting education, fun inspiration and a vast assortment of pre-cut fabrics, notions and more!

Introducing the next chapter of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. nlbm.com

@AttractionsKC @gkcaattractions

Flavor IN KC

Reservation for One STRANG CHEF COLLECTIVE AT THE CASCADE HOTEL by Jenny Vergara photos by Aaron Leimkuehler

ig hotel chains are always looking for new ways to keep their guests from leaving the premises to go in search of local food and drink, while also wanting to attract locals living or working near the hotel. Kansas City’s own Strang Chef Collective has developed an elegant solution for both Marriott’s Tribute Portfolio’s new Cascade Hotel and Aloft Hotel, its sister concept next door, by offering multiple food concepts run by local chefs under one roof. Located on the Country Club Plaza, the Strang Chef Collective food hall offers four chef-driven restaurant concepts in an 11,000-square-foot space that spans two floors. On each floor, guests will find two restaurants, one bar, and plenty of indoor and outdoor seating. Serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner to hotel guests and locals alike, the Strang Chef Collective food hall is a clever model that ensures diners

variety, speed, and convenience. Entering the space at street level, you’ll find the food hall has its own entrance separate from the hotel. Instead of walking through the hotel lobby to get to the restaurants, you’ll walk right into the hub of the restaurant operation. Guests from the hotel can go to the lobby level and make their way to a door that leads directly into the second floor of the Strang Chef Collective and navigate their food and beverage options from there. On the ground floor is Verde, where the chef Nicole Schute is focused on serving a mix of Latin American and Caribbean cuisine, while Parma, a southern Italian concept from the chef Derek Losson, is focused on classic Italian American red sauce, pastas, sandwiches, and more. Up the stairs, (there is also an elevator), guests will find Khai-Noy, a Southeast Asian restaurant by Chris Jones, who previously was a sous

JANUARY 2024 | 86 | INKANSASCITY.COM

chef for Anourom Thomson at Anousone, which is located inside Strang Hall in downtown Overland Park. Jones is offering a similar menu to Anousone, which is inspired by the food of Thailand and Laos. Finally, Bruce Dunseith operates Gasthaus, offering casual German-inspired dishes such as currywurst and schnitzel. After reviewing the menus located at each restaurant counter, we made our way back to a table and scanned the QR code to order items from each concept. The QR code is tied to your table number and will send you a text when your order is ready to be picked up. The first dish to arrive was Khai-Noy’s crispy chili pork tossed in a sweet-and-spicy sauce served with white rice. It’s hard to resist the balance found in most Asian cuisines, particularly Thai and Laotian cuisine. The crispy, fried pieces of tender pork and salty, sweet heat from the sauce relied on that balance, and I regretfully put down my fork when the next dish arrived. The meatball grinder from Parma came with a hearty green salad, yet the sandwich itself came to the table with sliced ham and fresh mozzarella cheese slathered in a delicious red sauce—but no meatballs. Before we could ask, Derek Losson appeared tableside to apologize for our lack of meatballs. They had apparently run out. He kindly offered to make us another dish, and when I pointed to our table filled with the food we had ordered, he boxed up a piece of cheesecake for us to take home. Despite the lack of meatballs in my grinder, the bread, cheese, and red sauce revealed the use of quality ingredients. I wouldn’t hesitate to order from them again. The plate presentation of Jagerschnitzel from Gasthaus was notable. A beautiful blue bowl arrived filled with crispy potato sticks beneath a battered and fried pork cutlet that was doused in mushroom gravy and a small pile of tangy red cabbage. It was designed brilliantly because as you cut into the dish, the gravy had softened the crispy exterior of the battered pork, but the potato sticks added back in that element of crunch. Next, the chimichurri steak tacos from Verde came two to an order with a side of chips and cheese. Tender bits of steak were seasoned and seared before being stuffed into a redand-white corn tortilla from Caramelo Tortillas in Lawrence. The tacos were bathed in an aromatic, fresh herb chimichurri sauce and a sprinkle of queso fresco cheese. They were fresh and delicious. I can see why it’s their best-selling dish. For those who would like to see more locally owned restaurants operating at the Country Club Plaza, we should give three cheers. The new Strang Chef Collective has added four more chef-driven local restaurants to the mix.

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JANUARY 2024 | 87 | INKANSASCITY.COM

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My Essentials IN KC by Liz Schroeder

HAYLEY BESHEER SANTELL DESIGNER. ENTREPRENEUR. AUTHOR.

H photo by corie english

ayley Besheer Santell is always ready to talk ethical fashion. The Kansas City native founded MADI Apparel, a brand dedicated to sustainability and ethical practices, in 2014. Drawing its name from “Making a Difference,” MADI Apparel lives up to the message, sourcing sustainable materials and donating a pair of underwear for every item sold. Though Santell’s work has been featured in major media outlets across the country, she still loves calling Kansas City home. “I’m grateful to have traveled all over the world, but nothing hits home quite like KC,” says Santell. “No place is perfect, but KC has the right mix of affordable living and working, arts and culture, exciting sports teams, seasonal weather, and the nicest, most genuine people.” One of those people is Santell’s husband, Danny Santell, who she calls her favorite musician. “He’s from the Bronx but has made Kansas City home. His Dominican and Puerto Rican roots all come into play in his music. Many of his songs feature more than one language like Spanish and Russian. I may be biased,” says Santell, “but he’s an interesting guy, and that reflects in his sound.” Santell owns Slow Motion Goods, a brick-and-mortar shop in Westside, and has also recently released a coffee-table book titled The Art of Ethical Fashion. “Life feels easy here,” Santell says. “Comfortable, happy, and filled with supportive community members.” Santell herself is one such community member—her brand is one of only three percent of the world’s fashion brands to pay a living wage to all team members. madiapparel.com

Hayley’s essentials...

REPEAT EATERY: I love the veggie burger and kale salad at The Westside Local. They’re next door to my shop and we share a backyard, so they’re like my work family. I love the little details— candles and flowers on the tables, the lush beer garden with plants everywhere, and their seasonally changing locally sourced menu. HIDDEN GEM: One of my

favorite spots is Le Lounge at No Vacancy Hotel. The decor is breathtaking and unique. It’s inviting and comfy for locals, and I’m sure quite memorable for outof-towners staying there.

SHOPPING SMALL: My favorite bookstore in the world is Prospero’s Bookstore. I’m their biggest fan and rave about them to anyone who will listen. It’s three stories with a hidden staircase to the upstairs—flooded with tons of windows and natural light. It’s a spot you can really get lost in for a bit. SELF-CARE SESH: My go-to spot for

handmade organic face wash, lotion, and deodorant is Skin KC. I love that everything she makes is clean, safe for my body, and packaged in earth-friendly reusable bottles! LOCAL ARTISAN:

Margaret Kinkeade makes the most unique minimalist ceramics using clay reminiscent of Oklahoma red dirt, inscribed with traditional quilt patterns. I love her mugs, pitchers, and incense trays. JANUARY 2024 | 88 | INKANSASCITY.COM

WELLNESS FIX:

I grew up on the swim team at Woodside and my grandpa was one of the first members, so it’s not only full of nostalgia and comfort for me, but it’s packed with wellness magic. The pool is open for six months of the year, and I spend every second soaking it up. GET BOOZY: My favorite drink

is the Mean Mule at Mean Mule Distilling Co.. The crew includes my great friends Meg and Jeff Evans and members of their immediate family who make their own spirits and handcraft their cocktail syrups. The changing seasonal bar menu is really special! My favorite bar is Panther’s Place—I love the vibe and recommend it to vacationers traveling to KC. MUSICAL MUST: Hands down my favorite place for

music is Mutual Musicians Foundation. I love that it doesn’t open until midnight and feels like the world pauses in that moment—all that matters is the music.

INSPIRE INSPIRE YOUR STYLE YOUR STYLE

Sometimes a clean look is all you need to feel refreshed. Simple, contemporary pieces, like the Sometimes a clean look is all you need feel refreshed. contemporary pieces, like the Japandi inspired furnishings shown here,to create a relaxed Simple, aesthetic perfect for mixed-use spaces. Japandi inspired furnishings shown here, create a relaxed aesthetic perfect for mixed-use spaces.

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