Cheese Slipper Night at Fervere & Little Freshie June 26, 2013

I am ashamed to admit I had never been to Fervere prior to going to Cheese Slipper night. This bakery is the stuff foodie legends are made of. If you are serious about your bread then let me assure you without hesitation….. this IS a place you need to check out. The fact that they are only open three days a week and on those three days they close at 2:00PM “or until sold out” plus that they simply do not advertise, should give you an idea of the cult following attached to this establishment.

I know most of us try to stay away from bread on a daily basis which of course is not much fun. I don’t know who made that rule..I guess I can blame Dr. Oz he sounds like a reasonable scape goat of healthy living. However on the occasions when we do have bread it should be the kind that you hear angels singing in your head with every amazing bite.

Fervere, (fur-vair’-ay) is the Latin root word for “passion” and “fermentation”, and you can tell from the moment you are granted access to this cozy store that they are truly passionate about their craft.

On Saturday nights they have “Cheese Slipper Night” and they run it in conjunction with Little Freshie located around the corner. Little Freshie is a hand crafted soda fountain and espresso bar. All ingredients at both locations are all natural and any flavors you get at Little Freshie are house made as well.

We arrive at Fervere about 5:30, even though cheese slipper night starts at 6:00 we just happened to be on that side of town. This was the first cheese slipper night of the season and the line started forming right about the time we got there. I was intrigued and could not wait to get inside to see what all the fuss was about. Eventually I was able to make it through the door to this bakery and was greeted with the most amazing aroma. Seriously the smell of fresh bread baking is pretty spectacular and if you disagree…..well you need help. This is not a large place and the oven on the back wall is simply gorgeous. On their website it says it was designed to represent the communal ovens in Europe.

That evening we had three different types of cheese slippers to choose from. The first being an asparagus and dill, the second being a mushroom and red onion and these are the two we chose. The other is topped with a farm fresh campo lindo egg. A cheese slipper before you top it with awesomeness is spectacular standing on all on its own.

Fervere describes a cheese slipper as a light crispy ciabatta embedded with smoky cheddar pieces and topped with garlic cheese curds, providing intense flavor and a rich texture. Now this is what I know….as it bakes all that cheesey goodness fills in the air pockets of the ciabatta and it is quite possibly one of the most divine things I have ever eaten. I am pretty sure I said “wow” six or seven times while munching away.

Once we secured our small loaf of warm goodness we headed around the corner to Little Freshie. Most of the establishments located in the Westside area serve local ingredients and all natural and Little Freshie is part of the pack. So while chowing down on cheesey goodness we enjoyed a couple of hand crafted sodas. My other half went for the pineapple serrano and I chose the blackberry lavender. They were perfectly interesting and refreshing.

These places do not advertise so if you want to be in the know then you need to get on the social media bandwagon. Like both of these businesses on Facebook and you will never miss anything delicious.

I can assure you there is an heirloom tomato cheese slipper in my future and I can’t wait!

Cheese Slipper nights are not a part of their normal business hours and if you watch Facebook you will see the announcements. However both of these places offer so much more. Check out their websites to see some of the goodness!

Fervere

Thursday and Friday 11:00 – 7:00 or until sold out

Saturday 9:30 – 2:00 or until sold out

816-842-7242

1702 Summit

Kansas City, MO 64108

http://www.fervere.com/

Little Freshie

8-6 Tuesday – Sunday

811 W 17th Street

Kansas City, MO 64108

http://www.littlefreshie.com/index.html

The Frosted Sugar Cookie Quest June 5, 2013

I have a thing for frosted sugar cookies…ok maybe more than a thing. More like a long-standing love affair. I love to bake probably more than I like to cook, but the frosted sugar cookie in its simplicity is not something I like to bake… Instead I have made it a personal mission to find the best frosted sugar cookie in the city. Lucky for me my foodie friend also shares this same mild obsession. So over several years we have compiled data (aka taste tests) to seek out what we believe to be the winner. I knew there was a reason we were friends! There are a few bakeries in the city that I love and I can’t drive by without stopping such as Dolce in Prairie Village but even my favorite bakery did not land in the top three of frosted sugar cookie glory.

My foodie friend and I have schlepped baggies to one another over the years meeting in restaurants and movie theatres for our version of a cookie exchange as well as individual tastes tests and here is what we think belongs in the top spot.

Winner for presentation is…..Swoon.

I first found out about Swoon from last year’s Pitch Best Of edition. I think it’s fabulous the frosted sugar cookie gets its own category spot. Two years ago the winner was the wedding cookie at Latteland and then last year was Swoon. I tried the Latteland cookie and it was certainly delicious but got nosed out of my winning choices.

Swoon is not a retail store but more of a business you order artistic custom crafted cookies. They are not cheap and I think of it this way. I probably would not give my Mom a box of Christopher Elbow chocolates. She is thrilled with her Russell Stovers she can poke the bottom of to see what surprise is on the inside, and feels probably the same way about M&M’s. To her chocolate is chocolate. Swoon cookies are kind of the same way..a cookie you should give as a gift to someone who is not in love with the Keebler elves. If you are looking for presentation that is the place to order from. I called and left a message and my call was returned late that evening where we discussed exactly what I was looking for. This is also not a great gift for procrastinators because when I ordered her baking schedule was already a week out. Considering I have already started my Christmas shopping I think it is fair to assume I am not a procrastinator. I did not actually taste this cookie but I had purchased the cookies for my foodie friend who has been on this sugar cookie quest with me so I trusted her judgment 100%.

Verdict….I would order again. On a side note if you know my Mom and eat a piece of chocolate she offers you …I would suggest flipping it over to see if she has defaced it first.

http://www.justswoon.com/index.php

1668 Jefferson St.
Kansas City, MO 64108
(913) 687.6233

The next place to mention is for taste and if you want to order some for an event. Which brings us to Boulevard Pastries.

They have been in business since 1991 and I am pretty sure there is not a sugar cookie cut out they can not make. My foodie friend had ordered some for an event she was hosting and was nice enough to slip a few in a baggie for me to sample. They will not ship so you must pick up what you order and try not to freak out on the location. It is my firm belief that some of the best places to be found are gems without fancy store fronts in Leawood. So for me this is not the place to randomly satisfy my cookie craving by stopping in but if I had to order cookies would be my first call.

Verdict….I would order from this bakery any time.

http://www.blvdbakery.com/index.php

Boulevard Bakery
2815 Independence Ave
Kansas City, MO 64124

Now for my favorite in the taste category hands down goes to Murray’s.

This is not known for being a bakery it is known for being a knock your socks off ice cream joint. To sample a cookie from a place that has amazing ice cream is a hard thing to do…but then I spied it! A delicate frosted sugar cookie and I was easily swayed. Flecks of browned butter in the frosting..each bite literally melts in your mouth.

This is not your decorator cookie this is just a cookie for the glory of the cookie. I told my foodie friend I had found the pinnacle of sugar cookies and she was trying to be good so I could not cajole her into a trek to Westport. Then months later it was her Birthday and we were at the movies…of course Westport was on my way so I stopped to get her a movie treat…..then she understood…eureka!!!
Now there are a couple of tricks about Murray’s…they are not open year round because they close for the winter. Secondly they only accept cash or check. By the way if you are there don’t be a fool and go for broke and sample the ice cream as well.

Verdict…THE WINNER!

Murray’s Homemade Ice Cream
4120 Pennsylvania
Kansas City, MO 64111

Hy-Vee 95th and Antioch more than a grocery store. June 1, 2013

I love grocery stores and I always have. I am the person that will walk up and down every aisle just to check out new products. It might be because I am a foodie, it might be because I love to see how things are marketed, and it might be because I love anything local. So off we went to grab a quick-lunch at the new HyVee located at 95th and Antioch. This grocery store has a bar in it so of course it had to be checked out because ….well really do I need a reason? The store is huge, and the amount of employees working while we were visiting was fairly astounding. I am going to attribute that to the fact this store has not been open long and is their new crown jewel.

Since we went for lunch I will talk about that first. There is a wide assortment of prepared foods to choose from just like any Hyvee including the usual Chinese and Pizza. However the choices in the prepared food area were much greater and there was something for everyone. If you want to grab anything from that area just like any other Hy-Vee store you grab your food then grab a table. We decided to venture upstairs to the second level to check it out before making our decision. At the top of the stairs we were greeted and asked if we wanted to eat the brunch buffet or order from the grill. It was a bit late in the day for breakfast but I did peek over to the brunch buffet and I spied a bloody mary bar and some boiled shrimp….pretty stellar for a grocery store. We opted to order from a server off a menu that had typical pub type sandwiches.

My other half chose the buffalo chicken sandwich and I chose the reuben. The first thing I noticed when the food came out was clearly we were not going to starve because the plates were overflowing with fries. Secondly when it came to the fries they were hand cut and not a frozen product. Were they fries like Westside Local or The Farmhouse serves…no but lets be real this is a grocery store so if you are expecting that you probably need to reset your reality meter. My reuben had the makings of being something really good but the corned beef was a bit on the tough side. It was grilled which is a plus in my reuben hand book so points for that. They served it with a ramekin of 1000 Island which was already on the sandwich. I guess some people REALLY like it to be slathered, dunked and dipped.

The buffalo chicken sandwich got two thumbs up from my other half. He said it was better than the one at Buffalo Wild Wings. He was also thrilled by the fact that while eating “in a grocery store” he got to watch the end of the Indy race.

We were waited on, ordered two sandwiches and two sodas and our tab was about $15.00 so in my book that is a deal.

After eating we headed back downstairs to check out the store. The produce variety and quality here is just outstanding and the same goes for the meat and seafood department. I was sold on the idea when I walked by some black truffles for sale! I have a few friends that live on that side of town and they are thrilled to have this new shopping destination…..I don’t blame them one bit!