A cozy Midwestern staple + Slow-cooked African stew
Happy Friday, and welcome back to Let’s Dish — your one-stop shop for all things eats in Kansas City.
This week, it’s all about comfort food: My colleague Natalie tastes sweet and savory casseroles at You Say Tomato, and Mará dips into the peanut butter and goat meat stew at Fannie’s West African Cuisine.
Plus, stick around for a mouthwatering suggestion from one of our readers.
Casseroles at You Say Tomato
Until she moved to KC, Star service reporter Natalie Wallington had never had a casserole. But she’s since learned the true meaning of the Midwestern dish at You Say Tomato, an eclectic brunch spot and corner store in the Longfellow neighborhood of midtown.
At around $15 each, or $9 for a triangular half-portion, one order is plenty for one person — but Natalie couldn’t resist ordering both sweet and savory versions.
The first, a savory breakfast casserole, is a hearty medley of cubed bread, sauteed mushrooms, cheese and egg custard baked and smothered with mushroom or sausage gravy (or both).
The other, a sweet French toast casserole, combines the same bread and custard with sugar, cinnamon and orange zest, served with candied pecans and real maple syrup — not the fake stuff.
Read more about Natalie’s love of You Say Tomato’s casseroles here.
Peanut Butter Stew at Fannie’s West African Cuisine
There’s a lot of deliciousness crafted in Fannie’s kitchen on Troost Avenue, but Mará Rose Williams, The Star’s assistant managing editor for race and equity, goes there for the joy of her rich peanut butter stew with goat meat.
The peanut butter-based soup cooks slowly for more than an hour with onions, red bell peppers and a combination of secret spices. You can choose your protein add-in — beef and chicken are options too, but Mará suggests goat. And for $18.99, it’s worth it considering how satisfying it is.
Don’t forget the fufu, a starchy mild-flavored staple served with many West African meals. In fact, it’s the fufu — which looks like a ball of mashed potatoes but is made from ground cassava root — that sets the experience apart.
Silverware lies on each table, but ignore it. This fabulous stew is best eaten with your fingers, Mará says, using pulled and pressed pieces of fufu as the vessel for sopping up the spicy soup juices. That’s the way it’s eaten in West Africa, and experiencing the meal as authentically as possible is exactly why Fannie Gibson, the owner, opened the restaurant.
Read more about Fannie’s and its delectable menu here.
My standout dish of the week
This week, I ate a meal I find myself coming back to just about every other week, because it’s really that good: the KC Burrito at Tiki Taco.
It might seem a little counterintuitive to order a burrito at a taco spot, but trust me on this.
The ingredients are simple enough, with a catch: your choice of protein (I like carne asada), guacamole, sour cream, cheese and curly fries, all wrapped up tightly in a flour tortilla.
I know — curly fries in a burrito? I was skeptical at first, too. They replace the rice (although you can opt for rice instead) and add a distinctive texture that blends flawlessly with each bite. Throw in some chips and queso and a filled churro for dessert, and you’ve got yourself the ideal meal for a night in.
Your top eats
A reader recently submitted a rave review of the Chinese Pot Roast at Blue Koi, a noodles and dumpling restaurant in Leawood.
The dish, according to reader Kara Breit, is “unbelievably tender,” with a blend of spices and flavors that are unexpected, but delightful. She suggests getting it served over the restaurant’s handmade noodles, “for the ultimate home-style experience.”
What’s your fave?
As we prepare for another weekend of Chiefs football, I’m curious: Do you have a favorite game time meal at a local restaurant that keeps your team lucky? Email me, abooth@kcstar.com, to let us know.
À la carte
✴️ Looking for a new restaurant to spice up your routine? Check out my colleague Joyce Smith’s comprehensive list of restaurants, coffee shops and bars that opened around the metro recently, plus what’s closed and what’s coming soon.
✴️ Everyone say thank you, Patrick Mahomes: Another Whataburger owned by our favorite QB1 opened in KC this week. Here’s where.
✴️ An iconic local distillery was recently named an international bucket list spot — and touted for its “young at heart” energy — by a popular magazine.
✴️ A hearty Cajun-inspired restaurant opened by New Orleans natives in summer 2020 will close before the end of March. The reason? Inflation, the owners say.
Hungry for more?
We want your opinion: Do you have a favorite dish at a KC restaurant you think we should try? Let us know here, or email Sharon Hoffmann, our editor coordinating this series: shoffmann@kcstar.com.
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Happy eating! We’ll see you next week.
