Step away from the desk.
Sure, you can brown-bag it and save a few pennies. But remember this: A midday indulgence costs less than a night on the town.Scoping out new restaurants for lunch is an easy way to get a sense of the menu and quality of the food without the all-out financial commitment.The FarmhouseDeadlines. Deadlines. For weeks I hadn’t been able to break away from eating at my desk. Neither had Beth, a friend who works downtown for a Web advertising agency. Sadly, we spent a week e-mailing, trying to hit on a lunch date. On the day we finally arrived at the Farmhouse, the weather was sunny and not the least bit muggy — a perfect day to linger over lunch on the patio.As a waitress wearing cowboy boots handed us a menu, we both fell silent. Everything on the short menu sounded good and fresh and appeared to be sourced locally, although the menu did not include the names of specific farmers.Given the cachet that local farm products lend to a restaurant, it seemed a curious omission.“We’ll be going more in that direction,” general manager and co-owner Dan Wood told me later. “Right now we’re still finding those purveyors.”He estimates 60 percent to 70 percent of the Farmhouse’s food comes from a local source. The goal is to be close to 100 percent local a year down the road. If you want to get a sense of who is supplying the restaurant, ask to see the chalkboard list.The Farmhouse opened for lunch in early July and recently added weekend brunch. Dinner service is planned in the fall, after the restaurant receives its liquor license. But apparently there’s already plenty of buzz over chef Michael Foust’s food. As Beth and I finished lunch, chef Jonathan Justus and his wife, Camille Eklof, owners of Justus Drugstore in Smithville, took a table. But plenty of Wood’s customers who wander in from the nearby City Market might not care as much as Justus about where their food comes from. They just like how it tastes.So it helps that prices are modest, based on the quality of the food. Choose a sandwich for between $6.50 and $8. And instead of fries, sub a cup of soup or salad for $3 more. Try the roasted beet salad with the smoky pulled pork sliders. The earthiness of the sliced pink and orange globes was accented by the saltiness of fried capers and balanced by a citrus reduction. House-made crème-fraiche gave a mellow finish to each bite. Beth ordered the farmer greens dotted with bacon lardons, hard-cooked egg and clever soft polenta croutons. But her fried green tomato sandwich was the clear winner. Perfectly breaded with Japanese-style panko crumbs, the crust shattered from the gush of juice beneath it.But since heirloom tomato season is fleeting, hurry and get yours before they’re gone. Café AugustaStaycations may be all the rage, but I find a weekend getaway more relaxing. So on a recent Saturday my husband and I headed to Café Augusta, a “New World” bistro in a strip mall on 87th Street Parkway in Lenexa.It felt like we’d stepped into a well-run B&B. We were greeted by a smiling woman who pointed to a blackboard with the around-the-world special of the day: shrimp skewers in a mustard sauce over polenta and roasted carrots plus a house side salad. Another day, it was knockwurst and warm German potato salad. Another day, Brazilian rice and beans.The bistro is owned by Micheline Burger, who immigrated to Kansas from Germany when she was 5 years old, and her daughter Mijanou Cackler. Burger gave up her law practice after 33 years to join her daughter in their first-time restaurant venture. Their goal is to create American and ethnic comfort foods based on seasonal produce they buy from the Overland Park farmers market. After we ordered lunch at the counter, a waitress dressed in a quaint flowered apron brought the tomato Provencal appetizer ($6.75) to the table — slender, pale wheels of Roma tomato topped with fresh goat cheese, fresh rosemary and thyme, all bathed in a golden pool of olive oil and broiled in a tiny casserole dish.The walls of the modest dining room are painted a mellow yellow and sage green. Art deco prints and watercolor paintings line the walls. There’s a pleasant openness to the space, and except for the ubiquitous white floating tile ceiling, you wouldn’t know you were in a box of a space. The vegetarian ciabatta ($7.95), a thick sandwich filled with artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, tomatoes and chevre, included a tasty blueberry pesto. Not much of a sandwich guy, my husband found the special more to his tastes. As we ate, the hostess/cashier walked around to each table to offer a free pint of soup to take home. It’s smart marketing, and everyone took some. The soups sell for $4 per pint. With the kids away on their own vacation, we reheated the corn with prosciutto soup later that night, pairing it with wine, cheese and bread for a light supper.And I would definitely return to Café Augusta for dinner. The menu includes solid European-style dishes such as beef bourguignon, pork scallopini and Basque grilled skirt steak, and on Saturday night bottles of wine are half price.Spin!If it’s 1 p.m. — on a Monday, no less — get in line.Two groups of women milled around, waiting for another one in their party to show up. I joined them while waiting for Karen. A single mom, she had to wrangle free baby-sitting. Of course, I could have invited her young girls: Spin is certainly kid-friendly. But we were due for a good chat.I surveyed the huge menu, and by the time Karen arrived I was deep into a list of red and white pizzas. Karen was game to try the melanzane (roasted eggplant, caramelized onion and goat cheese). I was intrigued by the salsiccia con mela (Italian sausage and apple with crushed glazed pecans). The Main Street location is the fourth area restaurant for the local Neopolitan-style pizza chain co-owned by Gail and Richard Lozoff with Ed Brownell of Bagel & Bagel and Einstein Bros. fame. The high ceilings are accented by wood beams. The exposed light fixtures are artistic, and the graphic along the back wall is nearly the only adornment in this spacious, yet homey eatery.After placing our order, we headed for a table near a bank of windows. Soon we were noshing on the rosemary flatbread with a trio of spreads (white bean hummus; roasted red pepper and goat cheese; and Sicilian green olive and roasted artichoke) served in a pottery bowl. The appetizer is $4.95, a good deal if you have the munchies.The “Pizza Mia,” for $8.25, is a six-inch mini pizza with your choice of toppings served with a side salad or cup of soup. Although we sampled the Sonoma and the chopped BLT, I recommend the Sonoma, a red leaf and spinach salad with grapes, apples, raisins, goat cheese, glazed pecans and a blood orange vinaigrette.Spin has just added gluten-free flatbreads and crusts to its menu after receiving a huge number of requests from customers. The crusts are $2 for personal size and $4 more for the 12-inch pizzas.And if you’re not headed back to work, all the bottles of wines are $18 — all day. If you are going back to the office, stop by the gelato counter instead.Since the clock was ticking, we ordered mango and strawberry with chocolate chips to go. The mango is less intense than the golden-orange hue suggests, but the strawberry with chocolate has a smooth, satisfying texture.Back at my desk, I lapped up what had become a pink puddle. Dumb idea? Maybe, but I felt the stress melting away.
the farmhouse
300 Delaware St.816-569-6032www.EatAt TheFarmhouse.com Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. for Saturday brunch café augusta new world bistro
12122 W. 87th St. ParkwayLenexa913-859-9556 www.cafeaugusta.comHours: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday; 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdayspin!
4950 Main St.816-561-7746www.spinpizza.comHours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday6541 W. 119th St.Overland Park913-451-774614230 W. 119th St.Olathe913-764-77461808 D N.W. Chipman RoadLee’s Summit816-246-7746
300 Delaware St.816-569-6032www.EatAt TheFarmhouse.com Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. for Saturday brunch café augusta new world bistro
12122 W. 87th St. ParkwayLenexa913-859-9556 www.cafeaugusta.comHours: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday; 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdayspin!
4950 Main St.816-561-7746www.spinpizza.comHours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday6541 W. 119th St.Overland Park913-451-774614230 W. 119th St.Olathe913-764-77461808 D N.W. Chipman RoadLee’s Summit816-246-7746
$15 for $30 of Food & Drink at Thomas Restaurant
