What It Means to be Effortlessly Chic

Restaurant: Westport Cafe & Bar 

Location: 419 Westport Road, KC MO

Food: French Bistro-inspired

Service: Traditional waitstaff. Attentive, never cheesy.

Atmosphere: Laid back, European, cosmopolitan.

Price: Cocktails around $8, apps $4-$11, sandwiches & salads $6-$12, entrees under $20 

Rating: Three napkins

Effortlessly chic. When used to characterize a restaurant, it’s a descriptor that makes no sense unless one has experienced it firsthand. And that’s how I’d describe Westport Café & Bar, one of the newest establishments in Westport and quite possibly its very best.

The lighting is utilitarian-chic. The white
subway tiles on the walls are clean & classy.

Discussing my upcoming trip to the new-ish restaurant with friends, none of whom had been yet either, there seemed to be a theme: that they’d heard it was good and were interested to try it, but hadn’t pulled the trigger because they’d looked at the menu and nothing really jumped out at them. There was nothing extravagant. Nothing unique. No big hook. I bet if you asked owner Aaron Confessori, he’d tell you that’s the whole idea.

In fact, the home page of the website reads as follows: “Westport Cafe & Bar is a casual Paris-style Bistro that offers an American menu with classic French inspiration and preparations. Simple, quality ingredients are braised, grilled, poached, confit, or cured in the same old-world techniques that have been practiced by the French masters for years.”

You see, it’s really not about originality. Westport Café & Bar pays homage to the time-honored French dishes and techniques that have earned French cookery its reputation as the most influential in the culinary world, but with just enough of a twist to still achieve a discernable individualism.

And then there's this over-the-top beautiful framed
mirror toward the back that adds an ornate old world flare.

Part of the tradition of Parisian bistros and brasseries is good alcohol and Westport Café & Bar serves up, truly, some of the finest in the city (local mixologists Ryan Maybee and Beau Williams of Manifesto crafted the menu). Last night after taking our seats in the long hallway between the front and back dining areas just outside the door to the kitchen, I ordered up the Winter Smash and Elizabeth the Granny’s Westside.

Cocktails here are a must.

The Winter Smash was a tart, seasonally inspired mixture of Bourbon, fresh lemon juice, spiced honey syrup and peach, garnished with a skewer of three red berries and delicately walking a line between sour and sweet. Burying my snout in that lowball glass was a treat I was sad had to end.

Elizabeth’s Granny’s Westside looked the part of an old school cocktail in its small juice glass with egg white foam on top. Other ingredients in the lip-smacking libation were a homemade baked apple infused vodka, lemon, lime, simple syrup and soda. She didn’t want to share hers and I was confident I was winning out by not having to share mine.

Check out my mussels.

The gal who cuts my hair – a bit of a foodie herself and a great restaurant-talk cohort of mine – had been to WC&B and said the mussels were a must. Between choices with bacon and blue cheese or shaved fennel and roasted tomato, we went with the latter. It had been quite some time since we’d had mussels, so it wouldn’t have taken much for them to earn our adoration, but I absolutely did love them.

The mussels were plump and sweet with hints of garlic but not an overpowering amount. The tomatoes, though a little sparse, were soft and savory. And that broth, the best part of a steaming bowl of mussels, was a heavenly bath for the slices of baguette studding the bowl. My only gripe was that the fennel was not shaved, but rather came in long, undercooked strips. They lacked finesse and actually seemed more like long strips of Vidalia onion than fennel at all. Not bad, but not what we’d hoped for. Still, I’d order another bowl of those mussels with the exact same preparation in a heartbeat.

Seared tuna sandwich with ginger aioli.

One can go as pricey or cheap as they wish on this dinner menu. The salads and sandwiches are quite reasonable—Chicken Paillard for just $11, Tuna Nicoise for $12, Croque Monsieur for $9, Madame and her fried egg for just another dollar.

We didn’t go there on this trip, but the dinner entrees include plenty of seafood: fish of the day, arctic char, cod or scallops. There’s also pasta, roasted chicken, steak frites and pork shoulder. All range from $13 to $19.00.

Our first choice was the seared tuna sandwich. On a soft, sweet roll, rare strips of gorgeous pink tuna were heaped with a thick bedding of tender baby spinach and a brightly contrasting, sweet ginger aioli, which I loved. On the side was a small pile of sweated shallot, which I added to the sandwich, not knowing if they were just an optional topping or meant to go with my side salad. Each pleasurable mouthful melted away effortlessly. I instantly devoured the entire thing, which was not huge but certainly an adequate size.

The salad on the side, with shaved Parmesan and radishes, was lightly dressed with a heavenly, unctuous vinaigrette containing luxurious truffle oil. It didn’t overpower but was, rather, the perfect amount to make the salad a true bonus as opposed to a compulsory side.

Steak sandwich.

The steak sandwich came on another soft roll (though not the same one as came with the tuna sandwich) again with strips of delightfully tender meat and with a beautiful complimentary slathering of horseradish cream and sautéed onion; quite similar to the tuna sandwich in preparation, but an entirely different world of flavors. My fear with steak sandwiches is always overcooked stretchy, chewy meat. Not so here, as the steak melted away almost as easily as did the rare fish. I’m salivating now, as I relive the memories of each of these sandwiches.

As we conquered the French-inspired sandwiches, we also crammed salty pommes frites, buttery sautéed mushrooms and garlicky wilted spinach down our respective hatches. It was all so satisfying… so delicious… so… French. The attractive clientele sitting around us all seemed so laid back and satisfied, too. Our old neighbors Steve and Janie stopped by to chat. Steve’s a trained chef who knows his restaurants. I took his patronage as a sign we were on to something good.

Food finally gone, I polished off my backup drink – a glass of Tank 7 – and then glanced over at Elizabeth with an “I don’t want to leave yet” expression. She read me perfectly and “insisted” that we stick around for a cup of coffee (French Press, of course). I grinned and reclined. And as I sat back, sipping the warm coffee, I thoroughly felt and enjoyed the relaxed, collected French vibe emoting from every detail of the place. No one rushing, yet with superb service. Tasteful yet somewhat sparse décor. So much attention to detail yet not enough detail to be fussy.

I doubt I’m describing this all well enough to accurately convey the experience of dining at Westport Café & Bar, so here I’ll just circle back to my original point: I can call it effortlessly chic, but you simply have to experience it to understand.

Rating: three napkins

Genessee Royale Bistro Opens In West Bottoms

Restaurant: Genessee Royale Bistro

Location: 1531 Genessee St. KC, MO

Food: Lovable chef-driven, comfort-oriented approachable cuisine
Service: Traditional waitstaff

Atmosphere: 'Typical' casual stockyard-based American bistro

Price: Breakfast entrees $4-$9, Lunch $7-$9
Rating: Three napkins

Fans of Happy Gillis, Todd Schulte has given you something new to be fanatical about: Genessee Royale Bistro.

Many things excite me about this new restaurant. Please see the following:



The Owner: Schulte and his wife, Tracy Zinn, brought their lovable, eclectic style and vibe to the new place. Both Happy Gillis and GRB have that comfortable feeling like you’re eating at your buddy’s restaurant. The style and décor of both are a little retro but whereas Happy Gillis plays up the 40’s/50’s drug store feel, borrowing from that building’s original identity, GRB, in keeping with the bistro theme, has a slightly more European and old world flair… within the setting of a former service station. (That’s right, KC has yet another gas station-based eatery.) The “style” of their food, too, is something I’d call “lovable chef-driven, comfort-oriented approachable cuisine” with a bistro slant (catchy, right?).

...Upon entry

The Location: GRB joins R Bar on Genessee St. in the west bottoms, just north of the Golden Ox and Kemper Arena, an area whose renaissance I’m hoping the city will support. GRB’s opening would seem to elevate the possibility of success in creating a new “stockyard district” in the West Bottoms that could be a fun dining, art and entertainment destination in the future.

The Patio: When spring starts to… spring, I start looking for patios where I can dine al fresco. GRB has one. It was barren on my first visit but I’m sure that when temps are conducive to outdoor leisure, they’ll make it into a hospitable environment. The huge windows between the patio and building raise like garage doors which is always a lovely effect.

I love it when my camera catches people like this guy
thinking "is that guy taking my picture?"

We were brunching on our initial “preview trip” to GRB. It was a Saturday and I was shocked at the crowd that was there considering how new the place was and given its somewhat remote location. I figured it would take a while before people started thinking about going to the West Bottoms during the lunch hour. We got the last seats in the house, including the ones at the bar.

Charming.

Breakfast menus were no longer being handed out, but I picked on up and saw a thoughtful list of meals, from the simple and healthy like steel cut oats or ruby red grapefruit with caramelized sugar, to the heartiest of warm breakfasts like the Farmer’s Plate, corned beef and potato hash and cornmeal pancakes. The lunch menu, though, is thoughtfully breakfasty, as well. Clearly Schulte realizes folks like me may stumble in past noon still seeking their first meal of the day and a cup of hot coffee. How accommodating.

We somehow avoided the many sandwiches, including grilled cheese, a hamburger on Wolferman muffin, turkey and ham, corned beef, chicken salad and ham salad. Elizabeth got the Vegetable Tartine and I the Creamtop Buttermilk Biscuit and Fried Chicken.

Vegetable Tartine

The tartine was a healthy eater’s dream: a large piece of perfectly browned toast with a bed of caramelized onions, shaved Brussels sprouts, roasted slices of butternut squash topped with mixed greens. One of those meals that, at first glance, you wouldn’t think would be filling, but when done, you’re completely sated and feeling good about your healthy decision.

My chicken and biscuit, though falling on the opposite end of the health spectrum, were equally satisfying. The bottom half of a perfectly golden, soft biscuit was dog-piled by a big piece of fried, juicy white chicken breast, gravy and a perfectly cooked sunny side up egg. Lightly dressed mixed greens on the side. Delicious down-home indulgence. That’s all I have to say about that.

Creamtop buttermilk biscuit and fried chicken.

After finishing our meals, our attentive, friendly server kept dropping by to top off our coffee cups. We hung around and relaxed for a while, took in the comfortable surroundings, noted the generally pleased expressions of the other patrons (among them John McDonald of Boulevard), watched Schulte pass from the kitchen area (sparkling stainless steel and white tile seen through a rectangular cutout in the wall back by the restrooms) to the bar and back with food and dishes, greeting all the guests with a familiarity like he knew them as established regulars and I thought to myself that this is how it should be. This is my favorite type of restaurant. Classy yet relaxed, unique but not kitschy. Whether upscale or affordable, this is what I’m always looking for in a dining experience.

Schulte and team in the beautiful kitchen.

As with Happy Gillis, one could make the argument that the prices are a little on the high side (just a tad) compared to other lunch spots' sandwich prices and portions. I don't totally disagree, but I'll knowingly pay two or three bucks more per entree  for food and atmosphere like this. I can't afford it every week but it's a great treat and worthy, in my mind, of a three napkin rating.

I’ll return soon and provide an update on other items from the menu. But I’d say Genessee Royale Bistro is off to a great start with a solid, proven concept that I’d happily travel a few miles, over a river and through a dark and vacated stockyard to enjoy.

Rating: three napkins

A Good Bloody at Blue Grotto

Restaurant: Blue Grotto

Location: 6324 Brookside Plaza, KC MO

Food: Brunch, lunch and dinner w/ Italian flare

Service: Normal waitstaff

Atmosphere: Charming. Features wood fire oven.

Price: Brunch entrees $6-$10, Drinks for $3

Rating: Two napkins

Word is slowly getting out that Blue Grotto, the tasteful Italian/wood-fired pizza restaurant in Brookside, serves a mighty fine brunch—and $3 breakfast cocktails to boot.

We made the trip a couple weeks ago after waking up on a cold weekend morning and thinking brunch near a warm hearth with a bit of alcohol in our bellies would be a great way to ease our way into the frigid day.



There were several folks at the bar when we arrived, each keeping to him or herself and reading a newspaper. Perhaps these were the worst of the hangovers BG was helping nurse that morning. A few other diners were seated in the main sections of the restaurant and a few more trickled in after we were seated. It wasn’t busy, but it wasn’t depressingly slow, either.

We were led to the quaint and scenic upstairs loft area, which gave us a great view of the centrally located open-air kitchen below, where a chef busied himself amid breakfasty ingredients. Being picky about seats, we were quite pleased.

We’d been to Blue Grotto before and found their pizza to be one of the best in the city, if not comparable to the best Napolitano pizzas in bigger cities across the country. But brunch was of particular interest to me because though its dishes often are so similar, the quality can vary so widely. Would Blue Grotto be the soggy, watery and unripe type? Or would it be among those that stand above?

The first advantage of Blue Grotto’s brunch is that it is not a buffet. No Styrofoam eggs tasting of metal chafing dishes. No sterno-burnt pancakes or overly greasy, soggy bacon inadvertently poached in its own rendered grease. All the dishes appeared to come straight out of that stone oven that ascends from the back of the kitchen on the ground floor all the way up to the ceiling, infusing the dishes placed inside with beautiful wood fire scent.

After giving our orders, we were brought our $3 – yes, $3 – drinks: a bloody mary for me and a mimosa for Elizabeth. The bloody came in a boulevard pint glass with a wedge of lime and spear of three pimento-stuffed green olives. Plenty of girth to appease my rumbling stomach. It was perfectly done, spicy but not too spicy, thick but not too thick. No huge chunks of garlic of horseradish to chomp, which I find a little off-putting at that hour of the day… in a drink. I honestly can’t claim to have had a better bloody mary ever. Mimosas tend to be uniform, but this one was at least served in a pretty tall glass. It, too, hit the spot.

Service was quite slow. There only appeared to be one server but from our bird’s eye point of view, we saw both the chef and the bartender roll their eyes and complain to each other about her performance while we were there. We became slightly agitated with the wait but our food came before we ever came close to complaining. Those who are apt to complain, though, may have done so. Still, she was friendly and we were quite content to sip our delicious beverages as we shook off the cobwebs.

The menu is in a small state of flux as told to us by our server. Currently they list things like Panne Fratau, Pizza Benedict, Omelet, Quiche, B&G, Corned Beef Hash, French Toast and Granola. I ordered a staple, the Biscuits and Sausage Gravy. Elizabeth ended up choosing the Omelet.

I can’t say there was anything exceptional about the B&G, except that it was B&G, which, to me, is always exceptional. I would marry a plate of biscuits and sausage gravy if I could. In fact, I made a point of making B&G with my brother on the morning of my wedding as a sort of “last breakfast” before taking the plunge. And those B&G were comparable to the ones at Blue Grotto.

The biscuits were delicious – a brown crusty exterior protecting a light, fluffy interior. Certainly seemed to be made from scratch. The gravy seemed a little lacking in sausage flavor somehow, though I think I like an unusually high proportion of meat in my sausage gravy.

Elizabeth’s omelet surprised me. It was the best-cooked omelet I’d ever had (hopefully the photo of it here shows that), which is to say that it wasn’t at all overcooked. So often an omelet is overdone on the outside – airy and dry - with uncooked, watery ingredients inside. This one, filled with artichokes, peperonata and asiago cheese, was uniformly correct in its doneness and such a pleasure to eat. The savory artichokes and peppers were just right for that “I’m not breakfast but I’m not lunch” meal.

Being honest, the cubes of herbed breakfast potatoes on the side were terrific, too. So much flavor from the freshly chopped herbs. The salad on the side was a total throwaway – just lettuce and a little vinaigrette. Something a little more inventive could have been better paired with the dish.

Each of us received a ramekin of fruit on the side – cantaloupe and red grapes. They weren’t especially great, but requisite, I guess.

And so it was, in the end, a satisfactory brunch, indeed. There are more inspired options in town, but if a breakfast cocktail is on your mind, Blue Grotto gets a big leg up on the competition. That bloody mary was a standout.

Rating: two napkins