It's Not Magic

Restaurant: Aladdin Cafe
Location: 3903 Wyoming, KC MO
Food: Normal Middle Eastern selections
Service: Underwhelming waitstaff.
Atmosphere: Lacking, but comfortable outdoor seating featured.
Price: Quite fair. $10-$15 entrees.
Rating: One napkin

One of the things I love about going to big cities like New York or Chicago is their diversity. Their culinary diversity, in particular, which births pockets of restaurants offering authentic dishes to clustered ethnicities whose relatives years ago immigrated and started a community mimicking their culture from home.

In New York you've got Little Italy, Chinatown, Little Fuzhou within Chinatown, Curry Hill, Curry Row, Little Manila... the list goes on and on, representing almost any ethnic group I can name.

Here in Kansas City, with a smaller population, we lack diversity on this level. Southwest Boulevard houses a concentration of Mexican restaurants, but few of them offer a menu full of the food Mexican people actually eat on a daily basis. Columbus Park used to house a small Italian population and now has shifted toward Vietnamese, but not an overwhelming number. We have 5 or less Greek restaurants. Very little Korean food. Almost no West African food. And our sushi is pretty weak.

Perhaps most diminutive compared to larger cities is our Middle Eastern selection. We have a few restaurants under the header of “Mediterranean” but certainly no abundance. Two hands are plenty for counting our choices for food like hummus, falafel, shawarma, gyros... ingredients like chickpeas, pine nuts, olives (and their oil), grape leaves and pitas. Not only does Kansas City have too few restaurants serving this food, but it has basically no standout known for doing it exceptionally well.

Midtown - namely Westport and Valentine - is where one finds what's probably the most notable restaurant in this category--Jerusalem Café. I've been there several times. It does the job. I'll give it an official review sometime, I'm sure. But it's probably telling that when I had my most recent craving for this kind of food, I sought a new choice.

Wanting to pause, on this occasion, and take in the glorious fall weather, Elizabeth and I stopped in at the little Aladdin Café on 39th whose outdoor seating had been beckoning us for some time. We decided to officially moved it off the sticky list of "we should really go there sometime" restaurants for the sake of a KC Napkins post.

The mission was to determine whether Aladdin was a cut above. I'd read good things on sites like Yelp and Urbanspoon from fans, but I trust your average reviewer on those sites about as much as a used car salesman. So here's my take:

Started with a cup of lentil soup. It was a stunningly beautiful bright yellow color and tasted of sweet Middle Eastern spices - turmeric, especially. This was easily the best lentil-based soup I've ever eaten. Get it. The smooth, rich, sweet curry flavor came to the fore nicely. Not too much coconut milk; just right.

Then we split the sizable Agrabah Appetizer Combo. It came served on a large platter, smooth dips across one side – hummus, baba ghanouj, genie dip – and solids on the other—two crusty falafels and two dolmas.

The plain hummus was good, but not revelatory. It came dusted with red sumac and an obligatory sprinkling of parsley with plenty of olive oil pooled on top. The genie dip in the middle, bright red with infused roasted red peppers and a dollop of sambal-like chili paste on the side, was my favorite of the three. A good spice factor and the red pepper flavor really sang. I would’ve enjoyed twice as much. The ghanouj was only fair. It had a bitterness to it that surprised me. Lots of tahini going on there, I believe. Maybe too high of a ration to the pureed eggplant.

The falafel were fun, with a hearty crust on the outside. Perfect deep-fried balls of chickpea batter. A little salty and soft in the middle. And the dolmas were good – better than the last ones I had at Jerusalem Café with tender leaves around loosely packed meat and rice. Not too dense the way they can be when they’re bad.

Having tried the whole plate, if I were allowed to customize it for my own liking, I’d eliminate the baba ghanouj and dolmas and increase the falafel and genie dip proportions in creating the John Special.

A basket of pitas accompanied the platter. The soft triangles smeared with rich dips filled us up quickly, and we were pleased that our waiter offered us a refill, though we declined.

Little room in our stomachs to spare, we chose to split an entrée—the Shawrma Platter. Here again we were served a large plate heaped with food. A decent value at $9.99.

What we got seemed quite different than what we were picturing based on the description on the menu, though. On the plate was the curry marinated chicken (no surprise) on a bed of rice with cooked zucchini, carrot and onions and raw tomato; the menu described it as curry marinated chicken on warm pita and topped with onions, parsley and tomato sauce. So where our pita and tomato sauce went, I’m not sure. Regardless, the plate of food tasted okay. It was a little bland, but not offensively so.

And that’s how I end up characterizing Aladdin Café, in the end. It didn’t surprise, impress or wow (except the standout lentil soup). The service was pretty bad, but the server, I believe, was new so we cut him a lot of slack. The tables outside weren’t particularly comfortable, nor has much of anything been done to cozy-up the atmosphere inside or out. But if you want to take your Middle Eastern food al fresco, I’d certainly give Aladdin Café a try. Just don’t expect magic.

Rating: one napkin

Tapa v. Tapa: La Bodega

Our recent experience at tapas restaurant Extra Virgin left us wondering just how much competition it gives perennial KC tapas favorite La Bodega. With more beautiful early fall weather in front of us and a hard week of work behind, our minds were thinking happy hour come 4:00 this Friday, giving us the perfect excuse to ramp up the competition by heading over to La Bodega.

We wasted no time, immediately rattling off all our HH favorites for our slightly alarmed waitress who was simply expecting to take drink orders. Service coming back from the kitchen was equally fast. With a set list of HH tapas, the kitchen has many plates ready/waiting to churn out the highest volume possible in this daily period of cheap prices.

Diving right in, top honors went to the Pimientos Rellenos de Piquillo - roasted red peppers stuffed with ahi tuna and rice. This chilled plate of stuffed peppers is served as a little roll diced into three beautiful lipstick-red segments - almost like a Spanish sushi roll. Savory, but refreshing at the same time due to the sweet roasted bell pepper, I always love this dish. Never done it before, but next time I think I'm going to order it twice. That good.

Our other favorite is Queso de Cabra al Horno, a round earthenware dish filled with a pool of beautiful tangy tomato sauce around a pillow of goat cheese, baked and served hot with small slices of garlic toast. Spoon some of the brothy tomato pulp and creamy goat cheese onto the toast and enjoy the two perfect bites that follow.

The Pintxos de Higo - bruschetta of goat cheese and roasted red peppers with a fig coulis - have a lot of the same pleasing qualities and a similar flavor profile as the Pimientos, but the sweetness from the fig coulis is a scrumptious addition. Almost like apple butter, it's a delicious sort of condiment I'd greedily smear on all kinds of things.

The Tortilla Espanola is nothing like a Central/South American tortilla (great reference here). It's a tall, filling pie of egg and thinly sliced potato... actually, more potato than egg. The La Bodega version comes topped with a slightly spicy, creamy red pepper aioli that compliments the plainly flavored, yet delicious egg and potato fluff nicely. At $4 during HH, this is a must-have if you're concerned with keeping  your bill down (and let's face it - it's Happy Hour - so you are).

Coming literally from the Mediterranean - talking seafood here - is Calamares a la Plancha. Usually a solid choice, this time the squid segments and tentacles were either undercooked or over-marinated, with an unusually mushy texture. The texture is normall one of my favorite things about the cephalopod - a little chewy, but in a fun way, if that makes sense. Overcooked, it can be inedible, so there's a fine line between perfect and yucky. I'm also questioning whether maybe the dish was assembled early in the day and then warmed slightly before serving. This could have contributed to the disintegrating squid. Served with yellow rice, cucumber and a delicious olive oil, lemon and garlic sauce, it's normally a solid bet, but maybe not a good HH selection.

Bringing up the rear were the Albondigas Caseras: simple meatballs in a spicy garlic sauce, served, too, with small pieces of garlic toast. A "safer" choice on the menu, the meatballs are very simple and unoffensive. And the rich, slightly creamy garlic sauce has a great level of spice. A fantastic sauce one would eat on almost anything. Do a biscuit slathered in this sauce and you've got a fantastic garlicky Spanish version of biscuits and gravy! (Okay, I may have lost some of you on that one.) Yes, count on the sauce to be great, but also count on the meatballs to be overcooked and hard as a Super Ball. Especially at happy hour.

In the end, we determined this to be an unfair tapas comparison. Some of our favorites, we think, were submarined by the fact that they were prepped ahead, kept warm too long or rushed altogether for happy hour service. We also didn't order some of the very best dishes because they aren't on the happy hour menu (read: Solomillo con Cabrales).

Given past experiences that were wonderful, I'm comfortable giving La Bodega a rating of three napkins, equal that of Extra Virgin. But look for a future review in which a direct Tapa v. Tapa comparison crowns one of these restaurants the true King of the Mediterranean.

Rating - three napkins

Second Anniversary: Dinner of Firsts

“You know why I wish Sharper Image was still open on the Plaza?” I asked.  

“Because you need to get a nose-hair trimmer?” she shot back with comedic immediacy.  

We broke into pathetic laughter at Extra Virgin as we continued sipping our wine and gobbling an assortment of lusciously rich, briny olives in the amazingly perfect September night air. Tuesday night was our second anniversary dinner and from this snippet of conversation it would seem apparent we’re already turning into our deepest darkest fear: an old married couple. Good thing the edgy restaurant and, in particular, its unique menu, helped steer things back where we like them… a state of feeling opposite the pathetic, mind-reading, nose-hair-monitoring couple illustrated by this inane banter.  

A lot of restaurants these days are making we foodies want to eat seemingly stranger things… the castoff and forgotten foods that those with a closer connection to the source of their meal – land or animal – have always appreciated (read: offal). Extra Virgin, Michael Smith’s newish tapas restaurant at 19th and Main connected to his flagship, falls squarely into this group and may be the best example of this food trend come to life in Kansas City.  

Seating is about 55/45% indoor to outdoor. We went al fresco since it was such a beautiful night, but the indoor dining room is mostly filled by a large, rectangular bar with only a few outlying tables and chairs. The kitchen is semi-exposed, showcasing a beautiful wood-fire oven. Our outdoor seating was very comfortable – a large patio just off the main sidewalk, and on a Tuesday night when the restaurant wasn’t too busy, we felt like we were welcome to stay there as long as we liked.  

Last year's anniversary dinner was steak at Capital Grille, so this year we chose EV to try some more… interesting things. Some "firsts". How’s this for interesting: halibut cheeks, cabrito tacos, wild boar sausage, lamb kebabs, Campo Lindo chicken livers… Let’s back up, though.  

We started with a simple assortment of olives. I’ll definitely enjoy these again with a couple happy hour beers and half-price tapas in the near future (all the tapas with asterisks next to them on the menu are on the happy hour list). Our wine selection, La Posta del Viñatero Bonarda at the normal 50% markup over normal retail, was perfect for our meal, and I’d trust the rest of the wine list is equally well-geared toward the eclectic menu.  

Round one selections were the cabrito tacos: shredded, slow-cooked, spiced goat meat, with a simple slaw topping and spicy, citrusy mojo dressing on tiny homemade corn tortillas. Assemble yourself. These were our favorite item the whole night… they were intensely flavorful and satisfying, and our addiction to spiciness was aptly fed by the mojo’s kick. The tortillas were hands-down the best I’ve ever had.  

Next we devoured the spicy halibut cheeks, served in a miniature cast iron skillet with sugar snap peas and a beautiful sauce of roasted grape tomatoes and plenty of course grain mustard. The cheeks were perfect round medallions of halibut, almost similar to a scallop but less sweet. Exceptional. All-the-while we were maximizing the richness of our intake with bites from a meat board covered in slices of carpaccio-thin sopressata, speck, Spanish chorizo and wild boar cacciatorini. You know what you’re getting with a meat platter like this and we certainly weren’t disappointed. The tiny pickled peppers were delightful, wrapped up in the rich meat slices.  

Round two brought us lamb kebabs, crab and corn fritters, and Campo Lindo chicken livers. I love the taste of lamb meat and the spices that work so well in it. These skewers could have used just a little more flavor, but the tomato sauce was helpful. I spooned large amounts of it on top of the meat and picked up the whole stick, devouring each in 3 or 4 huge bites. 

The fritters were the biggest let-down to me. A great recipe, no doubt, but fried too long. The crab and corn flavor was virtually non-existent, drowned out by the pungent burnt taste overwhelming our palettes. I'd like to try these again, fried less, and see how well the crab and corn stood out.

The chicken livers arrived last. We had assumed they would come more as a pate' to be spread on crostini, but were surprised to receive a plate with one sizable piece of grilled toast topped with a huge heap of whole chicken livers, covered in a rich, fruity balsamic reduction with caramelized onions. If you like chicken livers, I'd recommend getting this dish - it's a very filling portion with tremendous flavor and a beautiful creamy texture. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what the fruit also used in the sticky sauce was - berries? dates? figs? Whatever the case, I was surprised by how much I liked this dish.  

At this point you’re probably asking yourself whether we were actually eating everything on each of these plates – hoping the answer is no. Wrong. We took it all down, without ever stopping long enough to gain any perspective on the level of gluttony we were exhibiting. I admit this with a strange mixture of embarrassment and pride. This was easily one of my best gastronomic performances to date. 

The richness of all that fatty food required some sort of digestif before we bid our anniversary good night, so instead of dessert, we opted for cocktails. My modernized version of an old fashioned was hands-down better than any I've ever had. Those happy hour olives and beers I mentioned earlier... add one of these to that order.

Here's how I'd sum up Extra Virgin: You owe it to yourself to pick a night when the weather is perfect for outdoor dining, and go drop $100 downing a bottle of wine and plate after plate of these original Mediterranean tapas, delivered to you over the course of a couple relaxing hours of sheer indulgent bliss. You may hate something you try, but I guarantee you'll also love something, and the original experience will almost assuredly win you over.

Rating: three napkins