October 29th, 2008

Organic Dining Across America: Kansas City

Posted by Jenn Breckenridge

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Kansas City has many interesting monikers. Home to KC Masterpiece, this city has been lovingly dubbed as the”Barbecue Capital Of The World.” Also known for the Kansas City Strip cut of steak, K.C. is not exactly the kind of town you’d think would be big on organic dining. Well, you’ll be surprised to find, amongst the European-style boulevards and fountains that have given this city the names “City Of Fountains” and “Paris Of The Plains,” there are some stellar choices for connoisseurs of fresh, local and healthy, cuisine.

Blue Bird Bistro

In an 1870’s era neighborhood on the west side of downtown Kansas City, sits a bright corner cafe with original tin ceilings and tile flooring. It’s the kind of place you’d think would house an old-time ice cream shop or maybe a drugstore, but surprisingly it’s one of Kansas City’s best upscale organic restaurants, Blue Bird Bistro. This little restaurant is a Missouri standout with its delicious array of organic vegetarian dishes, grass fed beef, free-range chicken and fresh, wild caught fish. About 90% of the ingredients here are organic (minus some items like salt and spices for which no organic option exists) and most of them are sourced locally, from some 50 different farms.

When asked if Kansas City was ready for organic when Blue Bird opened for business, owner Jane Zieha-Bell explains simply, “When we started, organic conjured up the image of hippies and Birkenstocks. We knew we needed to appeal to a wider range of people, so we dressed in business suits and marketed ourselves as fresh, healthy and knowing where all the food was raised and grown.” Jane’s marketing strategy has definitely worked, as Blue Bird Bistro proves to be busy for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Try to make it to one of Blue Bird’s phenomenal Farm Table dinners where they feature the ingredients of a specific farm and invite the farmers to come speak with guests about the food. Each course is paired with organic or biodynamic wines. So fun! If you’re lucky enough to brunch at Blue Bird, bring a healthy appetite. Blue Bird’s tofu scramble is renowned amongst the city’s vegetarian populace, the biscuits and gravy come with or without handmade bison sausage, and the organic blueberry pancakes are as big as your face…but, thankfully, not so big they won’t fit in it.

Room 39

Room 39 opened in 2004 with a menu of “Seasonal American Cuisine.” The menus of Chef Owners Ted Habiger and Andy Sloan completely revolve around what produce is being harvested at that moment from the 15 or so local farms they proudly support. Why do they go through all the extra trouble and expense to research and purchase local and organic vegetables and meat? According to Ted, “The simple answer is that it tastes better. It is also always fresher than trucking something in from California. In addition, I could not imagine myself working every day with product that has no soul. Knowing the person who grows or feeds your food is essential to me, the staff, and our guests.”

Due to Room 39’s devotion to seasonal cooking, the menus at this 10-table gem change daily. Diners are offered a mouthwatering array of dishes, proving the decision-making process here to be Room 39’s only downfall. Seared Scallops with Mustard Spaetzle, Butternut Squash and Braised Cabbage or Mushroom Strudel with Goat Cheese and Sweet Onions Baked in a Puff Pastry? Or maybe Black Pepper Crusted Duck Breast with Creamy Farro and Tomato Jam? Whatever you decide to have for your entree, there is no question that you must save room for the Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cheesecake with Shaved Chocolate. Or the Chocolate Molten Cake? Or…

Local Burger

Forty-five minutes from Kansas City lies Lawrence, Kansas and within Lawrence lies an unexpected beacon of sustainable cuisine well worth crossing state lines for. If you love eating meat, but hate the idea of factory farming and its effects on animals and the environment, then Local Burger is the place to go. All the meat at Local Burger- beef, buffalo, elk, turkey, pork, lamb, chicken, buffalo- is raised responsibly. That’s quite an unusual feat and has gotten owner Hilary Brown named on Outside Magazine’s list of “Big Ideas and Visionary Giants.” Hilary proudly testifies, “All of the meat that we have is what I would call ‘beyond organic’. That is to say the standards we have set are higher than the current organic standards… Local Burger is committed to ‘clean’, ‘real’ food - no unnatural additives, preservatives, fillers, colorings or chemicals. We believe that everyone has a right to know what they are eating.”

We asked Hilary one of the toughest questions about the burger business today, “How do you rationalize the heavy use of beef at Local Burger, when you consider the intense environmental impact of raising cattle?” Her response offered new perspective.”I am thrilled that you asked this question! The figures that are used to address the environmental impact of meat are usually based on conventional factory-farmed meat- vastly different from meats that are raised on a natural diet in their natural environments by skilled ranchers. Properly raised livestock may possibly combat global warming. Livestock, like cows, buffalo and elk, are herbivores; they are intended to eat grass. Responsible grazing practices promote healthy perennial grasses, and those healthy perennial grasses effectively remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the soil.” Hilary’s commitment to revamping the fast food industry is admirable. Even if you’re not convinced that raising livestock will combat our global warming woes, Local Burger still has you totally covered with an incredible housemade veggie burger and tofu filet, not to mention the delicious homey sides like organic fries and rainbow slaw. Yum! As they say at Local Burger “Fast food never felt so good.”

Tip: If you’ve been following the Low Impact Living series on Organic Dining Across America, you may have noticed the growing trend in farm-to-table restaurants. With farm-to-table, chefs deal directly with the small local farmers in their region, creating a healthy symbiotic relationship with the local land, animals, economy, and all the people that grow, cook, and eat the food. Find out what farms and farmer’s markets are in your area at LocalHarvest.org, and make farm-to-table cooking part of your life.

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