Beyond ‘Cue in KC

It’s true. Just like the hick-from-the-sticks sings in “Oklahoma!”, “I went to Kansas City on a Friday; by Sattiday I learnt a thing er two.” Thing One: KC reigns, in most smoked pork lovers’ opinion, as the home of the world’s best barbecue. Thing Two: The town can also hold its own as a James Beard-blessed culinary capitol.

So, let’s start right there, with Beard medalist Michael Smith. We’d first met oh, about a hundred years ago, when he cheffed at the city’s elite American Club, “just following others’ ideas,” he recalls. Today, he owns pretty much an entire city block, peppered with his concepts, including Extra Virgin, home of Mediterranean tapas and more.

Two bros seated near me there discussed the menu. “You gonna have the rabbit gnocchi?” “Of course,” his friend replied in a ‘duh!’ tone of voice. Me, too. It’s the kitchen’s best-seller, featuring leeks, shiitakes, Parmesan and breadcrumbs brightening the tender pulled meat in its savory broth.

Dinner that night was at The Town Company, where another duo of Beardies coddles foodies’ palates with a tightly-curated menu, leading off with the don’t-miss hot buns served with carrot dip. Next, I chose a collage of citrus segments and parsnip (odd bedfellows, but spot on) in buttermilk, poppyseed and bee pollen (hard to bypass the smoked egg chips or the duck fries), followed by sweet potato dumplings with ginger, gouda and scallions. See what I mean?

Time out, the following afternoon, for a tour and tasting ($10) at Christopher Elbow Chocolates, purveyor of bonbons worthy of Tiffany (but far tastier). Here, we get to compare chocolate from three global regions — Madagascar, Vietnam and Ecuador — as we follow the process from cocoa bean, harvested by hand, to best-selling bonbon Fleur de Sel.

Near my downtown hotel, I discovered a beyond-sweet breakfast haunt called Homesteader (whose GM had gone to Minnesota State, Mankato, he divulged). A dozen or so locals raced for seats when the doors opened at 9 a.m., here for an unassuming but inventive menu featuring the likes of a fried green tomato Benedict (my yummy choice), chicken and waffles, a biscuit board and beignets with chocolate sauce. My kind of hangout.

Hard to top that, but Sunday brunch at Homestead held its own. It’s a tiny, upbeat site near City Market (acres of viands and produce to wander, plus lots of vendors’ stalls). I grabbed a counter stool to sip a Bloody Mary while forking up a veggie Benedict starring summer squash and crunch kale (or choose corned beef hash, red curry, smoked pork quesadillas and such) plus its famous cinnamon roll, as huge as my head.

Dinner at Affare, another Beard nominee, highlights contemporary takes on German fare at comfy, well-spaced tables backed by a bar showing oldie silent movies. My swell server recommended the abundant spinach salad, which blossoms from demure to dynamite with a bath of hickory smoke unleashed from a Mason jar tableside. Next, ruddy duck breast in a lebkuchen cookie-spice glaze and orange-peppercorn sauce. I was going to skip dessert until my server, who knew better, intervened with an offer of nut cake served with burnt honey ice cream.

Just when you think the food scene can’t get any better, along comes Arthur Bryant’s Barbecue, serving ribs and more in a nondescript counter-service site (you’ll find it by following your nose) where Presidents Truman and Carter and celebs Spielberg and Redford are numbered among its fans. Paper towels and squeeze bottles of sauces adorn each Formica tabletop.

Following that iconic lunch, I trotted my hickory-smoked jacket over to 18th and Vine, longtime heart of the city’s vibrant Black community. Here, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum unfurls the story of the league, started in the 1920s, back when “everybody got dressed up to go to the ballgame.” The Kansas City Monarchs traveled to games in their own bus, with a cook, because they weren’t welcome in white-owned establishments along the way. Their history parallels the love of the sport plus the sad story of segregation until Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier.

Across the street stands the American Jazz Museum, the first of its kind, where hands-on stations explain the functions of mixing, harmony and more and alcoves salute the story of the Big Four — Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald, whose recordings visitors can summon. Live jazz evenings, too.

From one art form to another, I’m off to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (free admission), where its collection of works from India and East Asia plus Native American beadwork steal the show. But perhaps the city’s most famous museum is the world’s only one devoted to World War I. Enter gazing down at a field of poppies, honoring the 65 million who died in this horrid conflict, detailed in a timeline, films, artifacts and posters (yes, Uncle Sam Wants You). Walk into a shell crater. Peek at churches and schools commandeered as hospitals. Learn about the destructiveness of chemical weapons. Then ponder the abiding question: Is lasting peace even possible?

Getting around the city is made easier via a free streetcar line running from the City Market and its nearby River Market Antiques — a three-story magnet for all things collectible — through the Power and Light Entertainment District to Union Station, with plans underway to expand. For now, grab an Uber and head to Country Club Plaza — a horizontal, rather than vertical, shopping enclave spanning 15 square blocks dressed in warm, Spanish-style bricks amid plentiful fountains reminiscent of Seville. Retail — from H&M to Tiffany — vies with watering holes and coffee houses, and on the day of my visit, a four-block-long parade protesting the rule of Trump and Elon.

Just like the song and I promised, you, too, can go to Kansas City on a Friday (only an hour-plus via Delta) and enjoy your chance to learn a thing or two, while enjoying its singular jazz, food and history scenes, and be back to work on Monday, if you must. For more information, check out visitkc.com.

The city will celebrate 50 years of Pride June 6-8 this summer!