Sometimes I need to pamper myself. This is the meal and Kansas City restaurant I go to

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I’ll let you in on a little secret: I absolutely love going out to eat by myself.

Whether I am in Munich or Manhattan, Dallas or Brooklyn, it is a joy to explore cities through the terrific food at local restaurants.

I moved to Kansas City from New York in June 2020. I’d spent more than 100 days alone in my Brooklyn apartment trying to make sense of the “new normal” that was the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But there was one thing I could not stop thinking about: the sumptuous duck confit pasta from Jack’s Wife Freda.

It was my final meal shared with friends before the world turned upside down. Months later, I’d moved halfway across the country, started a new job, bought my first house. Vaccines were widely available. Dining rooms were open. I was ready to explore again.

I’d been following Martin and Katrin Heuser’s restaurant, Affäre, on Instagram for months. I kept thinking I’d save eating there for a special occasion. But why?

I booked a table for one.

I love traditional German cuisine. Schnitzel, wurst and tangy sauerkraut are all wonderful. But where Affäre really excels is showcasing the best local, seasonal ingredients from the region in thoughtful and unique dishes that go far beyond what many Americans imagine from a German restaurant.

“A lot of new diners are scared of the names because they are in German, but if you look at the ingredients, they are all the same and familiar,” said Katrin, the restaurant’s sommelier.

Take the Gebratene Entenbrust ($38), or duck breast. I always do.

The lean and succulent Pekin duck is lacquered in a Lebkuchen-citrus glaze and served with an orange-peppercorn sauce, sweet carrot purée, vegetables, duchesse potatoes.

When I saw duck on Affäre’s menu, it felt a bit like fate.

Martin, the chef, added the duck to the menu right around the start of the pandemic. Its preparation and plating — the circle of carrot puree and delicately positioned vegetables — were inspired by a meal he had at a Michelin star restaurant in France. But he wanted to put a German spin on it. It is now one of Affäre’s bestsellers.

My first bites were tangy and rich. The natural sweetness of the gingery carrot purée added a refreshing balance to the duck breast. The Lebkuchen glaze is infused with notes of clove, allspice, cardamom and orange, just like the traditional German Christmas cookie. The duck breast rests on a bed of demi-glace sauce made from the duck breast trimmings and white peppercorns.

At the recommendation of my server Katie Hendley, I paired the meal with a refreshing orange wine, of which Affäre regularly has several excellent options on the wine list, along with an off-menu side salad. The kitchen always creates beautiful, delicious and unique side salads from seasonal ingredients.

I simply have not had a single dish in Kansas City deliver the same rush of joy, nostalgia and relief that I felt during that first meal at Affäre.

The Heusers opened Affäre at 1911 Main St. in 2012. Martin found his passion for cooking as a child at “Im Steinhaus,” the restaurant in Bonn, Germany, that his family has owned for nearly 200 years. He’s worked as a chef throughout Europe and Canada, including two with Michelin stars. In 2013, he was nominated for a James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Midwest.

Katrin was born in Bavaria and moved with her family to Hong Kong, where she was introduced to a whole world of wines and cuisine. She worked for several fine dining establishments in Canada and completed her sommelier diploma through the International Sommelier Guild.

The Heusers moved with their four children to Kansas City in 2007. While eating at Affäre is absolutely fine dining, at its core it is a family-run restaurant, and the Heusers said they strive to make guests feel welcome, which means they are more than happy to make accommodations for any dietary or accessibility needs.

Dining alone there gave me the opportunity to reflect on how much my life had changed over the course of a few months. I thought back to that final dinner and the duck confit pasta. I thought about the friends I shared that night with. All of us across the country and around the world who rallied behind one another during the months of isolation. I thought of the loved ones we’d lost.

Another diner stopped me as I was finishing my meal to tell me how brave I was to eat at a fine dining restaurant alone. I didn’t quite have the words for it then, so I will say them now:

Don’t wait for the special occasion — life is too short. Take yourself out to dinner. Order the duck.

This story was originally published February 17, 2023 at 6:00 AM.

Hannah Wise

The Kansas City Star

Hannah Wise is The Kansas City Star’s Managing Editor. She oversees the newsroom’s digital strategy, content and audience engagement efforts. Previously, she worked at The New York Times and Dallas Morning News.