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Bluestem: Kansas City Part 2

So a few months after my culinary awakening at The Stolen Grill my girlfriend at the time and I cruised across the state one afternoon, ate dinner, and cruised on back. Somehow I don’t think she was terribly impressed with this idea, and I’m pretty sure she thought I was just plain nuts. She was wrong though, it was worth every mile.

Several years and a new girlfriend (now wife) later, Ellie and I have discussed a few times whether I would feel as strongly about The Stolen Grill’s food if I ate there today. I honestly don’t know. The memory is clouded with romance so strong that while I’d love to say yes, the reality is probably that it was a long time ago, and some of the memories have been overshadowed by other great meals all across the country.

September 28 was our anniversary. Being our fifth, we had the lofty initial hope of going to Napa Valley since it was a bit of a milestone and we had honeymooned there. As it often does, life got in the way and the plan never quite came together. With a new job and unforeseen car repairs we instead decided on a one night trip to our Western rival, Kansas City, to eat one meal. Ellie did not think I was nuts and in fact, she thought it was a great idea.

I’d spent two years salivating over the thought of going to Kansas City for one meal since reading about Colby Garrelts and his restaurant Bluestem in the 2005 Best New Chefs edition of Food & Wine. I was shocked to see a winner from Missouri and knew I had to eat there after reading just one quote: “Then I got a job at a place called the Stolen Grill”.

We got to our hotel way earlier than needed, and with the restaurant only a few miles away, and time to kill, we decided to make sure we knew where it was so that we might, for once, be early. Venturing down Westport on foot and looking at the various shops the area seemed way to familiar and I made some crack about Bluestem being in the same spot as the Stolen Grill. As we approached the top of the hill, it became clear — it seriously was. I couldn’t possibly have been looking more forward to our meal at this point.

Bluestem has very limited seatings and upon arriving they sat us immediately. Unfortunately there was only one table left and it was somewhat in a corner. True gentleman that I am, I gave Ellie the seat facing the room. She’s a great wife though, and traded with me knowing that it would disappoint me to face a wall as I’d been looking so forward to this meal. You should know, that I’m a beautiful man, and she obviously wanted nothing more than to stare longingly into my eyes — plus of course the fact I complained and she didn’t want to listen to me.

With musical chairs out of the way our waiter greeted us. He and the entire staff were awesome. Throughout the meal they were graceful and attentive; always there when you needed something, but never overbearing. I rarely have questions about a menu, but when I do, they’re generally in reference to ingredients I’m unfamiliar with. Often they leave waiters stumbling for answers because I’ve pinpointed the strangest items on their menu. Tonight’s questions: What is bagna cauda, kalamansi and merluza were each answered eloquently and with terrific detail. Clearly well trained, the servers had obviously been given the opportunity to try each dish in order to better describe them.

The menu at Bluestem is such that on a weekend, besides being able to have anything on the menu a la carte, you can also opt for three courses for $55, five for $65 or 7 for $75. You make the choices yourself picking a combination of items between the left side of the menu (appetizers), and the right side (entrees). We were informed portions would be altered based upon the choice made. Wine pairings for each are $25, $35, and $45 respectively. Monday through Thursday there is also the opportunity to have 12 courses for $100 which they describe as a “Spontaneous Collection From the Chef.”

Ellie and I love menus like this. Rather than being unnecessarily weighed down by one item, restaurants serving small portions allow diners the opportunity to try several items to better see and taste the full range of what a kitchen has to offer. When we were in New York for instance, we ate at a restaurant called Degustation where we literally ended up eating over 80% of their menu.

I will warn you now to brace yourself because this post is ridiculously long. We chose seven courses (4 from the left, 2 from the right, and one dessert) and I will do my best to describe everything in as much detail as I can recall after the jump.

For those of you pressed for time, here is a copy of the menu from 2007.09.28. For the rest of you, get your jump on.

Bill’s Meal:

Watermelon Shooter with Lemon Honey Foam Easily one of the best amuses I’ve encountered the sweet effervescence of the lemon honey foam accented the watermelon in such a way that it truly did awaken the palette. I couldn’t stop thinking about Gerard’s grilled watermelon and scallops at Niche and how good it would be with the lemon honey combo.The presentation had an amazing visual appeal as the red streak dangled down into the yellow. I don’t know if it was all watermelon. I got the impression it may have been a red and yellow variety but I unfortunately didn’t think to ask.

Gazpacho, Cucumber, Onion, Tomato, White Gazpacho Emulsion My second gazpacho of the last two weeks, the bowl was brought out with all the ingredients already in it. Then, table side, a server poured in the golden tomato consommé. I’m a sucker for table side service as you don’t often see it. When done well, it’s an easy way to bring interactivity to the dining experience, and it’s always a hit with diners.If you’ve never had tomato water, or tomato consommé, you need to try it. It packs a wallop of pure tomato flavor into something visually so unassuming. Theirs was especially potent, and a great first course to my meal.

Torchon De Foie Gras, Bosc Pear, Sauterne GeleeAs I’ve grown older, I’ve found my preference to lean towards simpler, more classic preparations of foie gras like this. I find the addition of overwhelming flavors or heating can often be overkill as it has a tendency to unnecessarily mask something so sublime. This has resulted in my becoming a big fan of foie gras torchon, and this is easily the best I’ve had all year.I was happy to see black pepper and finishing salt sprinkled across the top of the torchon. It’s often omitted, and the salt especially always lends itself well to the richness of foie gras. I did find the serving of the gelee and pears on Asian soup spoons a little confusing as I couldn’t quite figure out how they expected me to eat this. I wasn’t sure if I should pick them up, or if it was assumed that I’d just eat the items off with a fork. If you’ve never tried, picking up diced gelee with a fork it’s pretty much impossible, and with enough foie gras to yield multiple bites, in the end I decided to just sort of rudely slurp off portions of each. They were the ones that served it to me this way — I was just rolling with the punches.

Wagyu Tartare, Black Olive Caramel, Hard Boiled Egg, Caper Berry I’ve had Wagyu tartare elsewhere in the past and overall I was unsold on the need to use it because of the other strong flavors involved. This however was good.The Wagyu was just finely diced raw beef left untouched as the egg and caper berry (standard fare in the tartare world) were kept separate on the plate leaving nothing to overshadow the reason for Wagyu’s expense. Unmentioned, it also came with potato chips. Not gaufrettes or some fancy rendition mind you, but plain old deep fried potato chips.The most interesting thing about the dish was definitely the black olive caramel. Salted caramel is a flavor you see a lot lately and the olives gave a similar effect; adding to the caramel a really interesting briny saltiness. I only wished there’d been more to enjoy.

It was at this point that I was reminded once again of why I have strong opinions on taking pictures in restaurants. For the sake of the blog I’ve tried my hand at taking some recently. Coupled with the way it made me feel while eating in a restaurant of this quality, and seeing how crummy the pictures really are, I stopped. It was intruding on my experience as it made me feel more like a spectator to my meal then an actual participant.

Gnocchette, Lemon, Parmigiano Reggiano, Summer Herbs
This was my second favorite dish of the night. Gnocchette, if unfamiliar, is a pasta similarly shaped to gnocchi but smaller and not made with potatoes. There wasn’t much to it as it was just a bowl of fresh, house-made pasta with lemon juice, zest and herbs. The citrus, however, was light and had a cleansing effect that in a way almost served as an intermezzo before moving onto the heavier meat and seafood courses.

Merluza, White Beans, Chorizo, Pearl Onion, Herb Emulsion
Neither of us had heard of merluza before. From what I gather, it is hake, and similar to cod. It was one of the flakiest pieces of fish I’ve ever eaten. Cooked to perfection its delicate flavor was overshadowed somewhat by the potency of the smoky chorizo in the white beans. We both found that while we really enjoyed the flavor our preference was that it was maybe a touch too much somewhat masking the flavor of the fish.

Campo Lindo Hen, Braised Wagyu Cheeks, Matsutake Mushroom, Black Radish
I could consume this every day for the rest of my life and still want more.

The chicken’s butter-soft tenderness was amazing and its strong flavor reminded me of what chicken should be. This strength allowed it to stand up to the rich bold flavors of the braised Wagyu cheeks. Along with the coveted matsutake mushrooms and black radish, it was perfect. It reeked of the earth, and with each bite I filed it away into my memory to remember forever.

DessertDesserts were the one thing at Bluestem that did seem to more forcefully push the boundaries of traditional flavor as each had a savory component. I’ve been trying to get a copy of the dessert menu but so far have proven unsuccessful. Two savory elements I recall were jasmine and I believe celery.My dessert was probably the most common of the savory combinations as I basically had a malted cake with chocolate sorbet and a stout foam. Stout and chocolate is on the fast track to classic combinations these days, and it was a beautiful dessert with each element adding a contrast of taste, temperature and texture. (Ellie insisted on a picture of this one as it was beautifully plated)

Ellie’s Dinner:
I’ll see what I can do to get Ellie to comment as her meal is tougher. I only ate a bite of most of these, but will do my best to fairly comment to the best of my recollection.

Roasted Beets, Endive, Green Apple, Hazelnut, Laack Brothers Aged Cheddar Vinaigrette
Certainly a typical spin of the flavor wheel for beets, it was executed nicely and as with all the dishes, it was beautiful visually.

Shrimp Bisque, Potato Croquette, Vegetable Relish, Aioli
As a possible contender for second best bisque ever, they poured this soup table side as well. It was simple and spot on with its potently rich essence of shrimp.

Tasmanian Sweet Crab, Green Apple, Endive, Kalamansi
This one I ate a few bites of. I actually thought there was some fennel in it initially. It was one of the most delicate dishes I’ve ever eaten and was just beautiful to look at. Like much of the food at Bluestem, the textural contrasts were really wonderful.

Orecchiette, Oyster Mushrooms, Braised Hen, San Marzano Tomato
Basically pasta in red sauce, this was great. It was a hearty dish, perhaps more suited to a cold night, but just like my hen with wagyu cheek it had a really intense earthy pungence.

Merluza, White Beans, Chorizo, Pearl Onion, Herb Emulsion
See above.

Berkshire Pork Loin, Bacon, Apple, Fennel, Montasio
I recall the loin was wrapped with the bacon, and it tasted really good, but after so many courses, I was mildly full at this point and don’t recall much else sadly. Mostly, I was too transfixed on my awesome sixth course to take the time to think about hers at length.

Dessert
Ellie had an apple dessert with truffled vanilla ice cream. I wish I could remember exactly what this was but I only had one bite. The truffle combination with the apples and vanilla gave what was mostly a simple dessert an instant sophistication and an enormous, unexpected depth of flavor. It was really amazing to taste the truffle with the sweetness, and it’s a combination I hope to have in the future.

With our meals complete our server brought us one last thing: a tray of petit fours and gelee to choose from. It was another nice touch showing the sophistication and attention to detail shown to the service at Bluestem and a nice finish to what was admittedly, an expensive meal.

“After early childhood, there are few opportunities to experience a completely novel sensation…”

- Alex Kapranos

The following morning I was a little saddened as it hadn’t been quite the experience I’d hoped for.

Over the past week and a half, as I’ve had time to reflect further on the meal, I realize I’d put the restaurant onto such a pedestal that for all the things they did right, they would never live up to the expectations I had set in my mind. Armed with my Stolen Grill romance I had sought something new and different. I wanted my world to change, and I had set myself up to be blown away. But I was not.

I had wrongly assumed more cutting edge flavor combinations would be had, and if this is what you to are after, Bluestem does not deliver except on the dessert front.

What they do offer is an exceptionally high level of skill. The flavors, while familiar, were executed flawlessly. Course for course, it was the most well executed meal I’ve ever eaten. Everything was well seasoned and cooked perfectly, the precision of each knife cut was beautifully evident on each plate, and the techniques when classic, were flawless.

Even when new techniques like foams were used, they were done in a thoughtful way that complimented rather then detracted from the complete vision of the dish. As an example, perhaps I’m wrong, but I believe the hen in my last savory course was sous vide as it had an incredible tenderness and no color — an indication of direct contact with a heat source. They didn’t feel the need to wave this in the diners face and it went unmentioned on the menu.

Overall as I’ve reflected, I’ve really struggled to capture my thoughts which is the main reason this is so long. With this post you’re truly getting my diary as I work out my feelings about what Bluestem did for me.

Condensing all my thoughts down, I thinks this best sums up my final opinion:

At its core, the cuisine at Bluestem is rooted in simple mostly familiar flavors I’ve found somewhat difficult to describe. I realize only now, after editing, that flavors evident in so many of the dishes which I described as earthy or bold all fall under the umbrella of the fifth sense, umami.

Umami is a Japanese word that basically means savory. Meats like chicken, beef, pork and even cod are thought to be rich in umami as are things like mushrooms, truffles, and the even finer pointed example: black radishes. I have to believe they were vividly aware of the umami throughout their food. It turned up around so many corners I’d have a hard time believing it was merely by chance that so many dishes were rich with it.

Whatever their reasons, I eagerly look forward to making another trip to Kansas City in the future so I can once again witness the elegant perfection of Bluestem.

and a brief note on wine:
I didn’t mention the wine pairings above because it was the one portion of the meal that missed for me. I was under-whelmed by the small portions they served as they were literally two tiny tastes that yielded only enough for one good bite.

It was a sad disconnect as the manager and bartender were both well versed in the wines they offered. With each course they would come to our table to personally explain what they were giving us, how it was made, and from where it came.

Many of my pairings were not wine as I was served a mixed cocktail with Limon cello (gazpacho), sherry (tartare) and cognac (dessert). While I certainly don’t mind people being adventurous with their pairings, I found the choices either a bit strange (cognac) resulting in a miss, or a bit safe, like sauterne with the foie gras.

Categories: restaurants, reviews

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