I base my menus off the season, what's available, and what I feel like eating.  I am inspired by Kansas, by my upbringing, and by the many great women in my family who fed me all these years.  You always find a taste of where I am from in my cooking.  If you are new to RowHouse, the menu is always the same set up, meaning the number of courses.   There is always a Salad, Soup, 3 Entrees (one is always vegetarian), and 3 desserts.  We are always happy to work with dietary restrictions.

Our menu Feb 22 - 25, 2012...  

• Salad:  Winter Lettuces, Beets, Red Grapefruit, Feta, Pistachios, Sherry Vinaigrette
• Soup:  Butternut Squash
• Vegetarian Entree:  Fennel al Forno (Roasted Fennel, Parmesan, and Breadcrumbs)
• Entree 2:  Mahi Mahi, Blood Orange Sauce, Radish and Cilantro Salad
• Entree 3:  Beef Tenderloin, Portobello Mushrooms and Red Wine Demi, Asparagus Risotto
• Dessert:  Peanut Butter Cream Pie
• Dessert:  Pineapple Upside Down Cake
• Dessert:  Cherry Crumble
•  

 Food highlights from my time away.

It's part of my job to eat a lot.  Sometimes I don't make enough time to do it, so for my vacation this January, my mission was to EAT.  I succeeded.  Maybe even over did it, but it all left me content, excited, and filled with ideas. 

Los Angeles was a blast.  My friend from Nashville, Rick met us there, and we also got to spend lots of time with my neice Whitney and good friend Lillian who both live out there. L.A. is so big, but when you are with folks who know their way around it's fantastic.  Lillian graciously had us to dinner at her house our first night in town.  We grilled, and looked over the city from her amazing deck on the hill.  She has a gorgeious kitchen and we ate and drank hard. 

We made it too a couple hip and trendy spots in West Hollywood.  Marix is a great place for margaritas and tex mex.  You also are likely to spot a celebrity or someone in the know.  Hugo's was brilliant for brunch.  They do a sort of fusion that totally inspired me and brunch was terrific.  Yes, there were some celebs there too. We drank a bar called Barneys, very fun, and had the strange and surreal experience of Dimples in Burbank.  I don't know quite what to say about it, but it is Karoke at it's finest....if that's possible.  We stayed at the Universal City Hilton and had such an amazing view, even room service meals were special.

Kansas City has so many great places to eat.  We spent a couple nights up there just eating.  My favorite new find is FarmHouse.  It's outstanding.  Local everything, and the place is quaint and hip.  The salad I had there will be the salad I compare all others too from this day forward.  Fo Thai was a curious, but very delicious find in Leawood.  I loved the bathroom so much I was ready to move in, and it paled to the food.  You got to see it to understand.  Ate with friends a La Bodega, also in Leawood.  Tapas is the specialty and they do them well.  Another great find was Tannin Wine Bar and Kitchen. We had an amazing red that unfortunately we can't get in Kansas from Sicily, and the food was good too.  As is my case often, I ordered too much, but who can resist blue cheese and bacon nachos?  My nephew is going to KU Med, so our final stop in Kansas City, was for munchies and margaritas at Ponak's on Southwest Trafficway.  We love their food and margaritas.

If you still haven't tried them, you need to get to our local spots, the Flying Monkey and the BurgerStand. Flying Monkey is so cool and trendy.  The food is simple and delicious, I love the place.  Burger Stand is another spot you have to try.  I tried the corndog this past time and am now an addict. Yum...