Fine Dining, Kansas City

The Melting Pot is a relaxed multiple-course fine dining experience. The help is attentive and the food is outstanding.

Favorite Dish: The spinach and artichoke cheese fondue is melt-in-your-mouth, scrape-the-bottom good. You get bowls of dippers such as green apples, three types of bread, and vegetables. You can get more and more bowls of dippers to dip until your hear's desire (or you've run out of cheese!). The banana foster's white chocolate fondue is a nice variation from traditional chocolate fondue. You can watch as your waiter sets the bananas on fire and pours blue glowing flames into your white chocolate fondue. You get a plate of desserts to dip such as cheesecake, poundcake, coated marshmallows, and fruit. The dippers are great desserts alone! This fondue is more subtle and less sweet than your traditional dessert fondue. I also had a chocolate martini. They dip the rim of the glass in their chocolate fondue and the rich goodness drips down into your drink. Every time you bring the glass to your mouth for a drink you get a coating of chocolate.

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Another trip to Kansas City, another decadent lunch at Fou Frog with friends! I met colleagues from my days as a page at the Linda Hall Library (1988-90!) for a leisurely mid-day meal. This is a great place to linger over your meal and with a glass of French wine in front of you. Fou Frog - which has now been open in the burgeoning City Market neighborhood for almost a decade - is far from being stuffy or pretensious. The food is top-notch, but the setting and atmosphere is comfortable and informal. The menu regularly features a number of tradition beef and chicken favorates, but the real "catch" here are the fish and seafood specialties. The wine list is very good, with a number of reasonably priced vintages as well as some more expensive "classics." Think "White Burgundy"!

Favorite Dish: Any of the daily seafood specialities can be recommended - and the bouillabaisse is usually excellent.

The name "Aixois" comes from the home town of the maitre chef, Aix-en-Provence. He's opened an authentic bistro in the Aix style here, and it's become one of my favorite places in K.C. You'll love the seafood specialties here, prepared in delectable "southern french" manner that will put you in the mood of Provence. They have a full menu - salads, poultry, usually some kind of game dish - but I always eat seafood here, and I've never been disappointed. On a pleasant day, it's quite nice to sit outside on the patio overlooking Brookside Boulevard. Good wine list, too.

Mangez-bien!

One of my favorite restaurants in K.C, I love both the food and the ambience. Interesting food well-prepared - with a touch of Alice Waters influence. Good wine list. the decor is delightful even if your are not a big fan of contemporary art. The walls of the main dining room are covered with amusing caricatures of well-known paintings, everything from Mona Lisa to Nighthawks to Andy Warhol's soup can.

Located within Kansas City's world class art museum, the Nelson-Atkins Gallery is the Rozelle Court Restaurant, a local favorite spot for lunch. Lighter fair prevails, but you can always find something interesting and tasty. Well known for unique salads, quiche, that sort of faire. It's a popular destination for Sunday brunch.

Fashioned after an Italian courtyard, the Rozelle has been called "the prettiest restaurant in the midwest" by Travel Holiday * magazine. Live music (usually jazz) on Friday evenings - the only night the restaurant is open, and during the Sunday brunch (usually chamber music.)

Favorite Dish: It's been a long time since I last ate at the Rozelle, so I don't remember the food as much as the ambience.

This restaurant has a great reputation for steaks and chops, but has a varied menu. It offers an elegant setting, a wonderful view of Kansas City's mid-town area, and painting's by Thomas Hart Benton, one of KC's best-known artists.

Favorite Dish: To be honest with you, this place is way out of my price range, and the only time I have eaten there was Sunday Brunch on a special occasion. It turned out to be extra special. The food was terrific, and there were so many choices that we absolutely over-indulged. Especially on their incredibly rich deserts. If this kind of thing is in your budget - go for it!

Sunday Brunch 10 am to 2 pm.