The hostess at Justus Drugstore in downtown Smithville tries to hide a look of surprise. A destination dining spot, the upscale restaurant typically books up several weeks in advance. And here we are: a party of four, on a Saturday night, without reservations.
“I was hoping we could eat on the patio,” I offer, and I can see a look of relief spread across her face.“Oh! It’s so much fun to eat on the patio,” she says as she leads us past the bar to a side door. “Stay close!” she says, turning abruptly on her heel to warn us of a bottleneck in traffic. “We’re about to make our way through a reunion of Smithville’s Class of 1969!”As the hostess makes swimming motions with her hands to part the sea, we pass the “cookshack” — a rough-hewn cedar and porch-screen structure. The centerpiece of the kitchen is a 5-foot charbroiler. A funky yellow glow emanates from the fluorescent light coverings designed to keep the bugs at bay. The satellite kitchen that serves the “Eastside” patio at Justus Drugstore encountered a few construction delays, but now it’s literally humming.And from the looks of the locals, the buzz is all good. Since opening in 2007, Justus Drugstore has attracted attention from The New York Times and a host of national food magazines drawn to chef/owner Jonathan Justus’ extreme locavore cuisine. Just about everything on the menu comes from within a few hundred miles of the restaurant.The Kansas City Star has contributed to the developing storyline. For one story, I joined the chef and his botanist-bartender for a foraging expedition in search of wild persimmons. For another, I witnessed a pig slaughter at Paradise Locker Meats, which supplies Justus and restaurants across the country, then sat down with chefs Mark Ladner of Del Posto in New York City and Nate Appleman of A16 in San Francisco to talk about sustainable agriculture and the rise of Missouri-raised Berkshire pork.The ambience at Justus would hardly be considered stuffy, but the “Eastside” is even less haute and more homespun. You wouldn’t feel out of place in shorts, and the lower-cost fare seems right for the times. Still, there is no skimping on high-quality local ingredients. And, just like the food prepared inside the restaurant, everything served outside is made from scratch — right down to the mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard and pickles.The menu is straightforward — a handful of starters, two salads, two sandwiches and two “country dinners,” a grilled Berkshire pork strip loin or an American Kobe beef brisket served over mashed potatoes with Berkshire bacon-braised green beans. Patio diners can order cocktails and desserts from the regular menu, but they cannot request items from the indoor menu.Oh, and there are no reservations; it’s first-come, first-served. The restaurant is 20 miles north of downtown Kansas City. The drive from our house was just long enough for our son, André, 15, to fall asleep and wake up groggy, an evil scowl on his usually happy face. Moments after sitting down, he ordered his standard Coke for a caffeine jolt while his younger sister, Daniela, reflexively ordered a Sprite. When bartender Jay Beavers returned to the table, he admitted he had taken the liberty of making an all-natural lemon-lime soda.“I can get you a Sprite if you don’t like it,” he offered.But after André cadged a swig of the natural soda, he was convinced and switched his order. The bar eventually ran out of simple syrup, but Beavers’ concoction of fresh-squeezed lemon, juices and soda water was a hit. Both kids could taste the difference.The starters include a satisfying house-made herbed cheese spread with house-baked crackers or crostini and a clever “BBQ and Chips,” a combination of pulled Berkshire pork, onions and fig jam in a Marsala port reduction served on a chip and topped with arugula.Salads are simple but memorable, thanks in part to the super-fresh greens from Fred Messner of Nature’s Choice. Diners can choose a mixed greens salad with a choice of Maytag blue cheese, creamy balsamic or white wine shallot dressing, but the Caesar is where the chef’s attention to his craft is most obvious: The house-made croutons are toasted in a mixture of garlic-infused guanciale, fat rendered from the hog’s jowl, and seasoned with parsley and chives.It’s just the sort of attention to detail that turns the ordinary into the sublime, and it’s the only salad my carnivorous son has ever cared enough to fight me for. As we looked over the menu, it was easy to spot the dishes that would have the most appeal to the kids: For Daniela, that’s anything with mashed potatoes, so she was up for trying the Kobe beef brisket with Berkshire bacon-braised green beans, even though she was foggy on the concepts “brisket” and “braised.”For André, the American Kobe beef burger was an obvious choice. Originally a Japanese breed of beef, the Kobe is raised by Mark and Jill Schmitz of Majinola Meats in Panama, Iowa. The burger is ground at the restaurant and served on a house-made bun with a choice of condiments. André added locally made Shatto cheddar for $1.50, although Maytag blue or house cheese spread also are available. Hand-cut fries added an additional $5. Granted, this was less expensive food than in the main restaurant, but it was not cheap food.And that’s the point.André’s entrée totaled $16.50, but in my book it was worth every cent because the flinty flavor made him consider the yawning chasm between a fast-food, assembly-line burger and the artisanal burger in his hands. It was, hands down, the best burger he’d ever tasted.As Daniela blissfully twiddled the tender brisket into thin, juicy chunks with her fork, Jonathan Justus stopped by our corner table to explain how he grinds the Berkshire pork from Paradise Locker Meats in nearby Trimble, Mo., and makes his own sausage. By now, both kids are paying close attention and taking a new interest in what’s on their plates, and that’s really what makes “Eastside” so appealing — it serves as a casual steppingstone to understanding what the fresh, local food movement is really all about.Sure, the decade-old movement is filtering into the mainstream, thanks to first lady Michelle Obama’s interest in locally grown, organic food. But the food has to be affordable to more people. People who don’t give a hoot about fine dining.Who among us doesn’t understand a tender Berkshire pork loin or a spicy Italian Berkshire pork sausage?Two weeks later, I asked my son what he remembered most from that dinner on the patio.“It was all very cool,” he said.
justus drugstore’s ‘eastside’ patio
106 W. Main St.Smithville, MO 64089816-532-2300www.drugstore restaurant.comPrice range: From $3.50 for a side of coleslaw to $12 for a “country dinner,” grilled Berkshire pork strip loin or American Kobe beef brisket Dinner: 5:30 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 5:30 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 5:30 to 9 p.m. SundayVegetarian choices: Mixed greens salads with choice of Maytag blue cheese, creamy balsamic or white wine shallot dressing ($5), Caesar salad with house-made croutons ($7) or coleslaw with pickled ginger ($3.50) Noise level: Bubbly, with some street-side traffic thrown in Reservations: First-come, first-served on the patio only Happy hour specials: 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. to close Sunday through Thursday
106 W. Main St.Smithville, MO 64089816-532-2300www.drugstore restaurant.comPrice range: From $3.50 for a side of coleslaw to $12 for a “country dinner,” grilled Berkshire pork strip loin or American Kobe beef brisket Dinner: 5:30 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 5:30 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 5:30 to 9 p.m. SundayVegetarian choices: Mixed greens salads with choice of Maytag blue cheese, creamy balsamic or white wine shallot dressing ($5), Caesar salad with house-made croutons ($7) or coleslaw with pickled ginger ($3.50) Noise level: Bubbly, with some street-side traffic thrown in Reservations: First-come, first-served on the patio only Happy hour specials: 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. to close Sunday through Thursday
what to drink
If you only think of beer with brats, it’s time to shake things up. Creative cocktails made with interesting infusion by bartenders Jay Beavers and Chris Conatser are not to be missed. From the simple syrups used in a nonalcoholic lemon-line soda to the “elixir du jour” (on my visit an apple-infused brandy with a wild blackberry syrup and lime juice), every ingredient is made from scratch.The Silver Elder Fizz, which won Beavers rave reviews at the Greater KC Bartending Competition, was frothy fun. But the kids were mightily impressed when Conatser ran out to snip fresh mint from a flower box next to our table as an ingredient for a drink he was mixing at the bar. Now that’s dedication to your craft.
If you only think of beer with brats, it’s time to shake things up. Creative cocktails made with interesting infusion by bartenders Jay Beavers and Chris Conatser are not to be missed. From the simple syrups used in a nonalcoholic lemon-line soda to the “elixir du jour” (on my visit an apple-infused brandy with a wild blackberry syrup and lime juice), every ingredient is made from scratch.The Silver Elder Fizz, which won Beavers rave reviews at the Greater KC Bartending Competition, was frothy fun. But the kids were mightily impressed when Conatser ran out to snip fresh mint from a flower box next to our table as an ingredient for a drink he was mixing at the bar. Now that’s dedication to your craft.
MY DINNER AT is a story about a single dining experience. The Star pays for the meal.
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