Food Heaven!

There are some amazing new movements in food these days. New York and Chicago have become melting pots for extremely forward-thinking new chefs. These guys are getting younger and younger, too. In fact, several of my favorite pastry chefs are under the age of 30. What is even greater is that one of them is here in our very own home town of Kansas City. His name is Christopher Elbow and he specializes in chocolate.

For the last three years, Christopher has been making his highly admired chocolates out of the back room of a high-end modern furniture store in the heart of downtown Kansas City. Recently Elbow renovated a small space on his own in a pretty sparse (and rundown) part of downtown. Driving there today with Kristen, I felt myself wondering if I was really in the correct area, but low and behold, we found it.

It is an extremely modern space with minimal architecture and bright colors. It almost looks like a lab, and the temperature inside was a freezing 67 degrees - don’t want the chocolate to melt. I am happy to report that his chocolates are still coming out of the back as beautiful as when he first started. Additionally, they taste every bit as good and flavorful as they look. Makes Willy Wonka look like child's play. Here are some pictures (with the bottom two that are Kristen and my favorites). If you would like to view Christophers website or even order some for someone special (like yourself), simply click this link here.

Christopher's Chocolates
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Caramel with Rosemary

An assortment of chocolates

Strawberry-Balsamic

Bananas Foster with Cinnamon & Caramel

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Alinea Restaurant

And while we are on the topic of food, Kristen and I will be going to Chicago in September for my birthday and, in addition to going to a Cubs game and catching an improv comedy show, I finally got reservations at the one restaurant in the world I would die to eat at - Alinea (seen below). It was recently named the top restaurant in the United States by Gourmet magazine. That's serious folks! Yes it even beat Charlie Trotter's, which means you guys won't have to hear me blabber about him as much anymore. Hahahaha. Check out a video of Alinea here. The video is to the right of the page. All you have to do is click the play button (small triangle). And finally, for some great food photos taken by a fellow food geek at his (count them) six visits to Alinea, click here.

Alinea Dining Rooms

(click images to enlarge)

So I apologize for the length of this post, but I am geeking out pretty big right now. With this and the additional news we received this past week, I am not sure things could get much better around here. Talk to everyone soon - Mark