FRIDAY
SEPT.
30 2 016
JAZZ SPEAKS FOR LIFE WITH
JONATHAN BUTLER SATURDAY
NOV.
19
2 016
BOBBY IM4TSON AND THE AMERICAN JAZZ OROISTRA WllH SPEGAl GUEST ERNE ANOOlWS FRIDAY
DEC.
09 2016
JAZZY CHRISTMAS
TIM IM4RFIELD SATURDAY
JAN.
ILl
2017
MLJ( CElEBRATION
WITH NEA JAZZ MASTm
RAMSEY LEWIS SATURDAY
FEB.
11
20 I 7
2016-2017 SEASON
~LENTINE'S DAY CElEBRATION WITH
PIECES OF A DREAM SATURDAY
MAR.
25 20 I 7
Four Easy Ways to Order Tickets: 1 . Call: 816-474-6262 2 . Fax: 816-474-0074
J.
JAZZ AT THE GEM · THE HISTORIC GEM THEATER Located at 1615 E 18th St. Kansas City. MO 64108
·Au the concerts start at 8:oopm with a public reception at 6:3opm.
Stop by the AMERICAN JAZZ MUSEUM. Also available at ticketmaster•
* Early Bird Specials Available until September 29, 2016
DIANNE REEVES SATURDAY
APRIL
22 2 017
1616 East 18th Street • Kansas City. MO 64108
4.
WOMEN IN JAZZ CElEBRATION WITH
AMERICAN JAZZ MUSEUM
CELEBRATING NATIONAL JAZZ APPRECIATION MONTH WITH
1616 East 18th Street • Kansas City. MO 64108
JACK DEJOHNETTE
americanjazzmuseum.org
e
1n 1 Cuba
Bound: Photographs by jesse A. Fernandez
I
Portraits that connect with the expressive essence of each person and place.
Surveillance
Nick Cave: Property
An exhibition examining photography's role in secretive looking, from the 186os to today.
Contemporary artist Nick Cave transforms found objects into a very personal, socially responsive sculpture.
The American ArtistThe Life and Times of George Caleb Bingham Oct. 27, 6 p.m. After the screening enjoy conversation about Bingham's legacy and importance for the region.
Museum of Art FREE Admission Open Wed-Sun Open late Thur & Fri
nelson-atki ns.org You ~eeA 1:1 'i~ f •~ lim
45th & Oak, Kansas City, Missouri
p itch.com
BEST OF KANSAS CITY 2 016
THE PITCH
3
POSTCARDS FROM THE HAPPY MIDDLE
very year, in The Pitch's Best of Kansas City issue, we compile your votes for the people, tastes, sounds, sights, businesses and entities you love in this town, and every year we also scout our own favorites in those and other categories. And you know what? The shocks on both sides of that ledger tend to be minimal. We Kansas Citians stay true to our loves, time after time. Still, you readers unhesitatingly tell us what we missed or got wrong - some of you more politely than others. Often these differences come from lapses owed to habit or haste. Occasionally our opinion and yours are subject to irreversible polarity. Honestly, this part of the cycle isn't our favorite. But it's always instructive. We always learn again that naming your favorite burnt ends isn't empty partisanship. It's love. Barbecue, by the way, is illustrative of our communal heart . Y'all basically agree with one another this year on meat matters, and we're obliged to nod along with our mouths full and our bibs dripping red. We are not holding out on you. We have no secrets here. We have not found a treehouse in Blue Springs occupied by five spice-fingered elves and a championship-grade smoker. We would tell you, really we would. So this 2016 Best of Kansas City issue is centered on how you see the metro. We're emphasizing our poll winners as never before. It's always a long list, spread among some half-dozen sections, and this year we've set out to do more photographic showing than small-type telling. After all, the views are pretty good right now. Between the streetcar and a World Series afterglow that even a brokedown Royals September failed to dim, we've had a memorable, souvenir-worthy 12 months since the last time we did this. Why argue? Of course, we still have a lot to say about the people, tastes, sounds, sights, businesses and entities that we at Pitch HQ love, the stuff we try to tell you about all year. If we were in charge of the postcard factory, beautiful photos of Betty Rae's ice cream would be crisscrossing the mailways (with a postage stamp picturing the Kauffman Center on each one). If we ran a T-shirt press and the airport gift shops, people would be flying back to Ohio wearing the Unicorn Theatre logo. And so on. We don't stamp refrigerator magnets or fashion beer koozies, though, and we're not stuffing a time capsule. We polled you, and we polled ourselves, and what you see in the pages that follow is an imperfectly cut cross-section of our shared good year. Feel the love for a minute before we look ahead to next year.
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CONTENTS 7
17 27 45 59 61 75
People & Places Sports & Recreation Goods & Services Arts & Entertainment Barbecue Food Drink
CONTRIBUTORS
Art Director and Production Director I Allyson Peck Photographers I Chris M ullins, Zach Bauman, Allyson Peck Art and Production Assistant I Casey Osburn Proofreader I Brent Shepherd Managing Editor I Just in Kendall Editor I Scott W ilson Publisher I Amy M ularski ABOUT THE COVER PHOTO
Photographer I Chris Mullins Models I Dwayne Snipes and Kelly Castor Photo taken at the Exchange at Lead Bank. To book the space, please contact: linda@inspiredoccasionskc.com Props provided by t he Bunker, Raygun KC, and W est side Storey
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VOTED KANSAS CITY'S BEST APARTMENTS IN 2015
Locally Owned and Operated
6 THE PITCH
BEST OF KANSAS CITY 2016
Opening in Union Hill
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Opening in Union Hill
BEST CIVIL SERVANT
BEST
Roger t he Mailman U.S. POSTAL SERVICE
QF
20
Much is made of the tenuous relationship between mail carriers and dogs, but it's a beautiful thing when you witness blue-uniformed human and tan-coated animal fall in love. So it happened for Roger (last name not relevant to canines), the friendly mailman who makes the rounds at Pitch HQ, and Dusty (last name Rhodes, relevant to wrestling fans), ice-cube-loving rescue mutt. Two gentle souls, one steady supply of treats, a daily demonstration ofPavlovian response cued by the elevator's noontime ding. Workers of every business at 1627 Main are glad to see Roger every day, but it's the building's surprisingly high proportion of four-legged office dwellers that appreciate him most. Woof.
KANSAS CITY
BEST MEME
Daniel Billen's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles take on Totally Nude Temptations Daniel Billen blew up a small portion of the Internet - and maybe confused a few parents - with his Photoshop recasting of Totally Nude Temptations as Totally, Dude Temptations, a Teenage Mut ant Ninja Turtles-themed pizza place. Thereactions ranged from awesome to a terrifyingly unaware "Let's take the kids there." Uh, please don't do that. Seeing Shredder in the Photoshop brought back night- - - - READERS ' CHOICES - - - -
BEST APARTMENTS Union Hill One Light Luxury Apartments Power & Light Apartments Mac Properties BEST AREA ATTRACTION Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Kansas City Royals National WWI Museum and Memorial BEST CATEGORY TO ADD NEXT YEAR Best Neighborhood Best After Party Best Comic Best Ballroom Dance Studio BEST STARTUP Crane Brewing Stockyards Brewing Co. Simple Science Juices BEST THING THAT'S CHANGED IN KC IN THE PAST YEAR The Royals winning the World Series The Streetcar New breweries in Kansas City
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Conqrald tu tlu! 2016 t/wardooJ!
www.WaysideWaifs.org
The Streetcar mares of seeing Street Fighter walking the streets ofKC. We're holding out hope that the pizza-loving force of Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo will someday toss New York-style pies behind a brand-new glass pane where today still dwells the unsightly part of Grand next to the Cigar Box. Until then, RecordBar pizzas will do fine. BEST NEIGHBORHOOD PARK
Colman-Livengood Park At 15 acres, Colman-Livengood Park in Raytown is not one of the largest parks in the metro. But what it lacks in size it makes up for in activity. The shelters are usually booked on weekends in the warm-weather months. Teenagers play pickup games on the basketball court. A senior softball league uses the ball diamond from April to October. The state of Missouri and the United States Tennis Association awarded grants enabling the parks department to renovate and reopen tennis courts that had 8
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BEST OF KANSAS CITY 2016
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BEST LOCAL RADIO SHOW Dana&Parks Church ofLazlo Afentra's Big Fat Morning Buzz Johnny Dare Morning Show BEST LOCAL TV NEWS STATION KMBC Channel9 (ABC) KSHB Channel41 (NBC Action News) WDAF Channel4 (Fox) BEST LOCAL TV NEWS PERSONALITY GaryLezak KrisKetz Mark Alford BEST RADIO PERSONALITY Scott Parks Lazlo Johnny Dare Afentra
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BEST OF KANSAS CITY 2016
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BEST DRAG PERFORMER Dirty Dorothy Daisy Bucket Ron Megee Melinda Ryder Widow Von'Du BEST LOCAL HERO Salvador Perez Guy who runs around in Superman costume George Brett BEST TWITTER PERSONALITY @TheFakeNed @Jeremy_Danner @mickshaffer
deteriorated. A trail cuts across the rolling land. Sitting comfortably within a residential neighborhood, Colman Park is a great example of a green space big enough to be interesting and small enough to feel cozy and safe. BEST PARKS GUIDE
}olie justus The Twitter account of Jolie Justus makes us want to put on our walking shoes and some bug spray. The Kansas City, Missouri, councilwoman is a great ambassador for city and state parks, tweeting pictures from the various walks, hikes and bike rides she takes. Justus makes a point to visit a range of locations. A few days after posting inviting pictures from Dunn Park, which is near the Paseo and Meyer Boulevard, she tweeted out tips for navigat ing the Anita Gorman Trail north of the river: "1M paved; connects w/ Vivion Trail. Trailhead is hidden. Don't give up."
BEST PARK Jacob L. Loose Park Shawnee Mission Park Swope Park BEST DOG PARK Shawnee Mission Dog Park Penn Valley Park LeawoofDog Park
BEST TWITTER ACCOUNT
@mickshaffer
BEST LAUNCH
A sports anchor at Time Warner Cable SportsChannel, Mick Shaffer tweets with the snap of a professional comedy writer. "School lunch with my son and I am owning this cafeteria with Deadpool quotes," he wrote at back-to-school time. When he is not microblogging dad material, Shaffer is usually tweeting about sports. Royals manager Ned Yost's usage of beleaguered relief pitcher Joakim Soria was a frequent topic this summer. Every once in a while, sports and parenting find their way into the same tweet. "I'm glad the Royals 'kept the line moving' but not glad when every mom says it every inning of every youth baseball game," he tweeted in June. People good-looking enough to be on television should not be this funny.
Kansas City Streetcar
Totally Dude
DANIEL BI LLEN
pitch.com
Cities across the United States are adding streetcar lines in an effort to jazz up their transportation options, with mixed results. Vox called a streetcar line in Washington, D.C., the "worst transit project in America." Kansas City's streetcar line, by cont rast, was hailed as an "immediate success" by Slate after it opened in May. Free to ride, the streetcar packed in passengers, prompting immediate talk of expansion. There were a few hiccups, including a derailment at the Union Station stop during the first month of operation. (No one was injured.) But the project has succeeded in measurable categories (835,878 riders in the first four months of operation) as well as less quantifiable ones (it's fun and looks cool!).
BEST OF KANSAS CITY 20 1 6
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•
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WARSAW. f-tlSSOUI I
Sat. Oct. 15 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. & Sun. Oct 16 9 a .m. - 4 p.m. 0\er 250 \endors selling hand crafted items. Fun Fair Food . entertainment and free admission .
1-800-WARSAW- 4 or check our website: www.warsawcha rnberofcornrnerce.corn
EVERYTHING LOCATED IN THE HEART OF KANSAS CITY, WALDO IS A WALKABLE, BIKEABLE NEIGHBORHOOD FILLED WITH THE C I TY ' S BEST- FROM BOUT I QUES T O BAKERIES AND DAY SPAS TO N I GHTLIFE.
12 THE PITCH
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ooe
waldomo.com
BEST UPWORTHY-TYPE STORY
Kansas City Community Kitchen For more than 35 years, the Kansas City Community Kitchen has served hot, nutritious meals to people who need them. Run by Episcopal Community Services, the kitchen began offering a restaurant-style service earlier this year. "It was really about dignity and respect and looking at how we serve," Beau Heyen, the president of Episcopal Community Services, told ABC News. "Instead of using the lines, we thought of other ways to be seated." In addition to extending dignity to those served, the kitchen's idea to start a table service reminded us of what's possible when we think beyond "good enough." BEST POLITICAL STUNT
Michael Barrett's Letter to}ayNixon
,,, ~
Sick of not having enough money to hire attorneys, Michael Barrett, the director of the Missouri State Public Defender's office, tried to conscript one. In August, Barrett sent a letter to Gov. Jay Nixon, appointing him as the counsel of record in a defense case, citing a statute that gives him the power to delegate such responsibility to "any member of the state bar of Missouri." Nixon, Barrett continued, was right for the job, given that he had cut funding for the public defender's office in a balance-budgeting move. "[I) t strikes me that I should begin with the one attorney in the state who not only created this problem, but is in a unique position to address it," Barrett wrote. Ajudge later ruled that Nixon could not be forced to represent an indigent client. But Barrett's stunt, which made national news, succeeded in raising awareness. In September, a Republican state senator wrote an opinion piece acknowledging the state's failure to fund the public defender's office. BEST CAMPAIGN
Dinah Sykes It's not often a statehouse race is featured on the front page of The New York Times. But policymaking in Kansas under Gov. Sam Brownback has devolved to the point that even people on Eastern time want to rubberneck. The Times story, published in June, featured Dinah Sykes, who was knocking on doors in the weeks leading up to Republican primary. A PTA president who previously walked from Merriam to Topeka to protest overcrowded classrooms and underfunded libraries, Sykes decided to challenge state Sen. Greg Smith, who had supported Brownback's reckless tax cuts. Sykes was among a group of moderates across Kansas who successfully argued that Brownback and his fellow conservatives were emperors with no clothes. Though her opponent was well-known for pitch.com
B EST OF I<ANSAS CITY 20 1 6
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THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH O F THE RESURRECTION
Ready to be part of something bigger than yourself? Discover worship that stirs the soul, messages that challenge the mind, relationships that last a lifetime, and people committed to making a real difference in our community.
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Resurrection is a church with a big heart and a deep commitment to our cit y and the world. Join us for worsh ip this weekend at one of our four locations, or check us out at cor.org .
' Leawood
West
13720 Roe Ave.
(K10 and K 7) 24000 W. Valley Parkway
Saturday: 5 pm Sunday: 7:45 am, 9 am, 10:45 am and 5 pm
Sunday: 9 am, 10:45 am and 5 pm
Downtown
Blue Springs
1522 McGee
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Saturday: 5:10pm Sunday: 9 am, 10:45 am and 5 pm 1508 Grand A ve.
Sunday: 10:15 am 14 T HE PITC H
BEST OF I<ANSAS CITY 2016
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FRO NT DESK SUPERVISOR
BEST PLACE FOR A CHEAP DATE First Friday Nelson-Atkins Museum ofArt Up-DownKC
FRO NT DESK AGENT M AINTENANCE BELLMAN
BEST PLACE FOR A FIRST DATE Country Club Plaza Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Up-DownKC BEST PLACE TO MEET SINGLE MEN Westport Power & Light District MissieB's Up-DownKC BEST PLACE TO MEET SINGLE WOMEN Westport Power & Light District Westport Ale House BEST PLACE TO TAKE OUT-OF-TOWNERS Joe's Kansas City Barbecue Country Club Plaza National WWI Museum and Memorial BEST PLACE TO BREAK UP WITH SOMEONE At home Via text message Power & Light District
HO USEKEEPERS VALET ATTENDANT
HO TE L PH ILLI PS BENE FITS As a member of the Hotel Phillips team, our associat es can earn eligibility for:
The Plaza BEST LIFE COACH
Gretchen Rubin Kansas City native Gretchen Rubin is an expert in the pursuit of happiness. The author of The Happiness Project and two sequels, Rubin believes that our habits have a lot to say about where we stand on the misery-joy continuum. She dispenses practical advice ("If you're too tired to do anything except watch TV or cruise the internet, GO TO SLEEP") as well koans that will make you sound like a cocktail-party zen master ("The days are long, but the years are short"). Rubin records regular podcasts with her sister, Elizabeth Craft, a TV writer and producer who lives on an opposite coast. When they gathered for family time in Kansas City last December,
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the sisters recorded their podcast at a table a state lawmaker, Sykes cruised to an easy inside the Plaza Winstead's. They ordered victory, winning 58 percent of the vote. burgers, and the conversation began. Brownback should feel lucky he'll never BEST PATHFINDER face Sykes on a ballot. BEST POLITICIAN ON TWITTER
Quinton Lucas For many politicians, Twitter is little more than a place to dump news releases and photo opps. Tweeting at @QuintonLucasKC, Kansas City, Missouri, Councilman Quinton Lucas posts his share of photos from ribbon cuttings. But he also sees social media as a place for policy discussions. He posts news stories about affordable housing and other topics that interest him. He mixes it up with people who may have a different opinion ("Disagreement * dodge," he wrote in one recent reply) and acknowledges the instances when the city could do better. When former Kansas City Star writer Yael Abouhalkah criticized the council for rushing to find $7 million for the University of Missouri-Kansas City's downtown arts campus, Lucas shared the column and said he agreed the issue had not received proper discussion. He even makes a joke or two, at one point comparing testimony on a proposed project to the news-team fight scene in Anchorman.
Henry Fort unato For Henry Fortunato - the historian, former Kansas City Public Library public-affairs director and veteran Kansas trail walker June 4 marked a pioneering step. It was National Trails Day, and he had put up samples of the Indian Creek Trail Interpretive Signage Project's first four panels at the Roe Park Shelter, in Overland Park. The deeply researched and richly illustrated signs, kicking offan eventual series of18, detail the lineage of the area's land and its inhabitants, from long before statehood through the boom of recent generations. Reading one of them is like pausing for water on a hike, wondering for a moment what this area was like 100 years ago, and finding an encyclopedia open to just the right page - and then another volume, and another. Fortunato is assembling the signs in conjunction with the Johnson County Museum, and the project is backed by a who's-who of regional nonprofits and philanthropists. It's a big deal, in a quietly Kansan way, a much-needed ray of Sunflower State sunshine during the Total Brownback Eclipse. pitch.c om
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BEST QF
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BEST CHIEF
to a club that plays in the the second-high-
Marcus Peters
est tier of English soccer. In the end, the
Cornerback Marcus Peters intercepted a pass on the first play of his NFL career. This piece of trivia augured an unusual ability to put his gloves on passes that opposing quarterbacks intended for others. In his first 19 regular-season games, Peters collected 12 interceptions. (He also intercepted a pass in the Chiefs' win in the playoffs over the Houston Texans.) To get a sense of how bonkers this is, consider that the future Hall of Farner Charles Woodson did not intercept his 12th pass until his fifth year in the league. Peters is an emotional player - he gets flagged for penalties and gives up some big plays, suggesting porous concentration. But it's thrilling for the Chiefs to have a defensive player with such unique skills.
rocket launcher stayed put. One day after he scored in a home match against Houston, Dwye's wife, FC Kansas City striker Sydney Leroux, gave birth to their first child, a son, whom they named Cassius.
BEST SPORTING KANSAS CITY PLAYER
Dom Dwyer Forward Dom Dwyer is a dangerous striker who has reached double digits in goals for each of his three seasons in Kansas City. The Englishman's ability to find the back of the net makes him a target for clubs that play in fancier leagues. This summer, Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes turned down a team in Greece willing to pay a $3 million transfer offer; a few weeks later, Dwyer was linked
BEST HOMER
Steven St. John Steven St. John, the 810 WHB morning host, loves the hometown teams. He tells sweet and funny stories about his experiences attending Chiefs and Royals games as a kid. Now a husband and a father, he has an endearing, Clark Griswold-like enthusiasm for the local pro teams as well as for the Missouri Tigers. "That loss sucked as much as a loss could suck," he lamented after Mizzou's football team lost to Georgia in September. Optimistic that better days were ahead, St. John then tried to entice his producer to accompany him to a future game in Columbia. He lowered his voice to a papa-bear's hush: "I've got a ticket to the game against Kentucky with Jake Pounders' name on it," he said, identifying producer Jake Gutierrez by his alias. At that moment, it was easy to be jealous of Gutierrez for having such a big-hearted friend.
ofeight playoffdefeats had ended, and fans BEST FITNESS BOOT CAMP Freight House Fitness Fusion Fitness A Greater You BEST LOCAL GYM / FITNESS CLUB OneLife Fitness TheGYMkc Impact Gyms
BEST THROWBACK
Rapping Bret Saberhagen
BEST EX ORCISM
The Chiefs Win a Playoff Game The 1993 Kansas City Chiefs advanced to the AFC Championship game (losing to Buffalo). The next 21 seasons would end in either the Chiefs making a quick exit in the playoffs or missing them entirely. The 2015 Chiefs seemed unlikely to reverse the trend, winning only one of the season's first six games. Then, fortune turned, and the team won its remaining 11 games and qualified for the playoffs. The Chiefs faced the Houston Texans in the wild-card round. Led by the defense (Houston managed only 226 yards of offense) and special teams (Knile Davis scored a touchdown on the opening kickoff), the Chiefs soundly beat the Texans, 30-0. The following week, the Chiefs lost in New England. But at least the string pitch.com
no longer have to conjure Marcus Allen or Joe Montana to recall the last Chiefs team worth a damn in the postseason.
As the Royals marched to their title, writers at Uproxx posted a video of a Ford commercial that Bret Saberhagen made after being named the most valuable player of the 1985 World Series. It was the mid-1980s, so of course Saberhagen showed his appreciation for Ford trucks by rapping and performing a dance, the Saber hagen shuffle. Writers at The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon took notice of the clip and decided to resurrect rapping Saberhagen. After showing the vintage commercial to the audience, Fallon was joined onstage by "Bret Saberhagen," portrayed, skinny mustache and all, by A.D. Miles, the show's head writer. The Tonight Show team came up with new rhymes for fake Sabes, which Miles delivered in Saberhagen's adorably dopey manner as members of the Roots, Fallon's house band, howled. The character returned to rap and shuffle for Eric Hosmer and Salvador Perez, who appeared on the Tonight Show with the World Series trophy.
BEST OF KANSAS CITY 20 16
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BEST OLYMPIAN BEST CHIEFS PLAYER Eric Berry Jamaal Charles Travis Kelce
]ackSock Jack Sock, who graduated from Blue Valley North High School before becoming a professional tennis player, left Rio de Janeiro with two Olympic medals. First, he and Steve Johnson won the bronze in men's doubles. Two days later, he and Bethanie Mattek-Sands defeated fellow Americans Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram in the gold-medal match in mixed doubles. Upon his return to Kansas City, a triumphant Sock threw out the first pitch at Kauffman Stadium and led the "I believe that we will win" chant at a Sporting Kansas City game. Then it was off to New York for the U.S. Open, where Sock, who put a greater emphasis on singles play this year, was the last American standing when he lost in the fourth round.
BEST COLLEGE ATHLETE Perry Ellis (Kansas) Drew Lock (Missouri) Devonte' Graham (Kansas) BEST ROYALS PLAYER Salvador Perez Eric Hosmer Lorenzo Cain BEST SPORTING KC PLAYER Matt Besler GrahamZusi DomDwyer
BEST PLACE TO FINALLY GET INTO YOGA
BEST SPORTS BROADCASTER Denny Matthews Rex Hudler Ryan Lefebvre
Nella Yoga 5504 TROOST I MISSNELLAYOGA.COM
After moving to a new st udio near the UMKC campus, Nella Yoga has become the center of a friendly yoga-based community. Founded by Shanell Petersen, who came to Kansas City from the U.S. Virgin Islands, the intimate studio offers classes that serve up a relaxing yet challenging mixture of vinyasa and ashtanga, as well as "pi yo," a mixture of pilates and yoga. A mother to twin girls, Petersen quit her corporate job after giving birth to focus on doing something that, she says, "mattered to the community." She is a calming presence, smiling constantly as she leads her classes through their flow, occasionally pausing to offer gentle individual instruction and adjustments. The studio is a totally unintimidating (and amazingly affordable) beacon for beginners .It also offers a variety of activities such as meditation instruction, cooking classes, wine tastings, sugarfree challenges, and outdoor yoga in the warmer months. Nella Yoga is a great place to get in shape, physically and spiritually.
BEST SPORTSWRITER Sam Mellinger Blair Kerkhoff Rustin Dodd
structors select upbeat tunes to complement their classes, which are held in heated rooms and range from beginner-friendly vinyasa to the ass-kicking "power sculpt," a mixture of weights, cardio and yoga that remains challenging no matter how many times you do it. Then there's cardio barre, which combines traditional moves like rows and biceps curls with yoga and high-intensity exercises designed to keep the heart rate up. For new students, the first week of classes is free - but odds are you'll want to keep coming back for more, especially as the weather turns cold. BEST ROYALS ROOKIE BABE
Whit Merrifield
BEST PLACE TO SWEAT YOUR CARES AWAY
The name suggests that the Royals hired Bilbo Baggins' distant cousins from the Shire, but Whit Merrifield has a decidedly un-hobbit-y look: athletic, of course, with an easy smile. After joining the team when numerous injuries decimated the roster in the spring, he proved himself worthy of a starting spot. Rex Hudler sounded impressed, and at least one couple named their son after the 27-year-old rookie. Along with Brett Eibner and Chesler Cuthbert, Merrifield upped the Royals' rookie babe quotient, and held a batting average around .300 all season while demonstrating an uncanny ability to play any position on the field. Fingers crossed that Merrifield is somewhere in the lineup next spring
Power Life Yoga KANSAS CITY AND PRAIRIE VILLAGE POWERLIFEYOGA.COM
After opening its first area studio near the Plaza last summer, Des Moines-based Power Life Yoga installed itself in Corinth Square earlier this year, giving even more people the opportunity to turn off their brains and sweat for an hour a day. Power Life definitely attracts extroverts - the kind of people who smile and chat about gratitude after their workout, their cheeks red and their faces dripping with sweat. After a few classes, you 'II start to see where they're coming from. The perpetually positive in18 TH E PITC H
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September 1, 2016. •
20 THE PITCH
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Lauren Leduc BEST YOGA STUDIO Power Life Yoga Karma Tribe Yoga Hagoyah
BEST MMA DOJO KravMagaKC GloryMMA Brazil Academy
BEST BOXING CLUB/GYM Title Boxing Club 9 Round Glory MMA & Fitness
BEST YOGA INSTRUCTOR Lauren Leduc, Karma Tribe Yoga Jenny Anderson, Power Life Yoga Michelle Howe, Power Life Yoga
BEST FITNESS CLASS TEACHER Sean Van Horn, Freight House Fitness Sarah Buchanan, MOJO Cycling Studio Jamie Wolverton, MOJO Cycling Studio
BEST PERSONAL TRAINER JasonBelz Sean Van Horn Daniel Leakey
KC'S BEST
YOGA STUDIO
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1401 NW Park Road Blue Springs 816-228-3766 http://short.mdc.mo.gov/Z4K
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7337 Broadway I<CMO â&#x20AC;¢ (816) 268-1757 familybicycles-kc.co m 22 TH E PITCH
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BEST BIKE TRAIL Trolley Track Trail Little Blue Trace Trai Line Creek Trail BEST ORGANIZED BIKE RIDE Tour de Bier AIDS Bicycle Cruise Critical Mass BEST GOLF COURSE Swope Memorial Golf Course The National Golf Club Shoal Creek Golf Course BEST ORGANIZED FOOT RACE/RUN Hospital Hill Run Trolley Run Waddell & Reed Kansas City Marathon BEST LOCAL KICKBALL LEAGUE KCCrew BigBalls Kickball Kansas City Kickball Club BEST ROYAL
Salvador Perez Has anyone ever said a bad thing about Salvador Perez? The Royals' jovial catcher and 2015 World Series MVP is such a popular guy that he was the leading vote-getter for the All-Star Game, and T-shirts touting "Salvy for Perez-ident" have popped up at multiple boutiques around town. There's good reason for this, of course - Perez's amusing Instagram videos with teammate Lorenzo Cain have become legendary, as has his ability to throw out anyone ballsy enough to attempt to steal second while he's behind the plate. He is likely the best defensive catcher in the American League. His offense is just as valuable, with Perez hitting the most home runs of his career this season. Earlier this year, the Gold Glove catcher signed a contract that will keep him in town through at least 2021 - good for the Royals, and for t he city as a whole. BEST ROYAL NOT NAMED SALVADOR PEREZ
Danny Duffy Danny Duffy was pitching in relief when the Royals began their defense oflast season's World Series title. He stepped into the starting rotation in May and by August was being talked about as a contender for a Cy Young, the award for the best pitcher in each league. Wielding a new breaking pitch and working with simplified delivery, the left-hander stabilized the rotation, allowing three earned runs or less in all but two of the starts he made in June, July and pitch.com
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2-man speedball field set up year round . 4 outdoor fields; the
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9300 NE Underground Dr., Kansas City, MO 6416 • 816.452.6600 • jaegers.com
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016 RUN STARTS 9:00 A.M. I SHOAL CREEK LIVING HISTORY MUSEUM ROBERT H. HODGE PARK, 7000 N.E. BARRY RD., KCMO ABOUT THE EVENT The Wilclemess Run is a challenging cross-country run. Participants will run through the village, around fields, up ancl clown hills, over logs, through the woods, across creeks ancl more! Friends ancl family are welcome to come enjoy the museum the clay of the run.
ABOUT SHOAL CREEK LIVING HISTORY MUSEUM Shoal Creek Uving History Museum is a village of more than 17 authentic 19th century buildings covering 80 acres of beautiful rolling hills in Kansas City's Robert H. Hodge Park.
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www.raceentry.com/races/wilclemess-run/2016/register For more information, call Meredith Doyle at816·513·7624 or email Meredith.Doyle@kcmo.org
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August. He pitched one ofthe most brilliant games in team history on August 1, striking out 16 batters and allowing only one hit to Tampa Bay. He wobbled down the stretch, and the Cy Young talk faded. But the Royals would not have stayed in contention as long as they did in 2016 without Duffy's midsummer excellence.
his snack bags to and from practice. And in Week 3 this season, we saw "Andy Reid Carefully Consulting Chiefs Playcall Sheet Cake," featuring an image of Big Red holding a colorful slab of cake on the sideline, his cheek smeared with frosting. Look, fat shaming is wrong. But if there is a scenario where it's maybe, sorta OK, an acceptable target might look like a highly compensated BEST CALL FOR MATURITY fell a who works in an industry that has historically downplayed risks to worker safety Chris Conley, @_flight17_ This past winter, the Buffalo Bills hired Kath- while asking for taxpayers to subsidize the ryn Smith as a special-teams quality-control construction of its facilities. Pass the inspicoach, making her the first full-time woman rational burrito. coach in the NFL. Predictably, certai n men pouted about this, with ball-scratching caveman Kevin Kiley - a sports broadcaster then BEST BOWLING ALLEY working in Cleveland - grunting loudest. "She couldn't possibly be qualified to the Ward Parkway Lanes Pinstripes same level that a man could be qualified," Gladstone Bowl he farted on the air, having called Smith's hiring "absurd." Less predictably, Chiefs BEST CASINO wide receiver Chris Conley was among the many who objected to Kiley's idiocy, and he Ameristar casino nailed it on Twitter: "Sexist comments about Argosy Casino Hotel & Spa a female coach disgust me. Some men (boys) Harrah's North Kansas City are mad she knows and can coach football BEST PLACE TO SHOOT POOL better than them. #GrowUp." Kiley and his radio station parted company not long after Sidepockets (North Kansas City) that. Meanwhile, Conley is, for other reasons Brass Rail Sports Bar, Restaurant & Pool Hall as well, follow-worthy. Sharks Restaurant & Billiards
BEST RUNNING JOKE
Hungry Andy Reid in The Onion The satirical news publication The Onion has been having fun wit h Chiefs coach Andy Reid since his days in Philadelphia. "Andy Reid Grumbles Something About Rebuilding Mode As Sandwich Falls Apart in Hands" was the headline to a story during his last year with the Eagles. He continues to appear in Onion stories, and they just keep getting better. Since coming to KC, The Onion reports, Reid has been furious wit h himself for not properly managing the clock at the end of a 72-ounce-steak challenge. He has hazed rookies by making them tote
BEST PLACE TO THROW DARTS Sidepockets (North Kansas City) Brass Rail Sports Bar Chez Charlie
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BEST PUBLIC POOL Prairie Village Swimming Pool Summit Waves Black Bob Bay BEST ROLLER GIRL Mayhem Myers Xcelerator Rita Ploy
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PHOTO BY ALLYSON PECK
BEST OVEN WHISPERER Applian~e
Masters KC, Troy D. McKay 816·256·1477
Troy D. McKay, working under the banner Appliance Masters KC and known in professional kitchens around town, doesn't have much of a web presence, being the sort of fixer-doer-wizard whose card bills him as a "home advisor" and provides only his first name, a phone number and a Yahoo e-mail address. (He's on Facebook, too, with a lot of digits in the URL that we aren't going to retype. The man answers the phone.) Perhaps that spareness of profile concerns you. It shouldn't, for two reasons. One: Isn't that how MacGyver would do a business card? Two, and more important: At this writing, he's at our house, fixing an oven door that's been stubbornly off-kilter for a year and making a gruesome dungeon-chain sound with each use. (We are on record as not the most vigilant of homeowners and not the most Martha Stewart of home cooks.) He's at our house, fixing an appliance, at an agreed-upon time (in fact, he was early) and price (fair), and, wait, this just handed to us ... he's done. That was fast. Why didn't we do that sooner? McKay probably wonders this himselfbut is too polite to say it aloud, and for this, among his other qualities, we thank him again.
BEST CLEANING SERVICE
Kinkaid Cleaning KIN KAIDCLEANING.COM
Waldo-based Kinkaid Cleaning is a good choice for people who get an instant headache when they walk down the cleaningsupplies aisle. Kayli and Kevin Kinkaid run a green cleaning service. They wash reusable microfiber rags in an environmentally friendly detergent and use vacuums with high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters. When they leave a home, it smells like lavender rather than like a harsh compound under review by the Chemical Safety Product Commission. In addition to using green supplies, the wife-and-husband team makes customers feel their dwellings are in trustworthy hands. BEST PERSONAL STYLIST
Ladybird Styling lADYBIRDSTYUNG.COM
Trained in fine arts, Ladybird Styling founder Molly Bingaman shares her eye for styling with women and men who feel lost or dispirited when they shop or get ready in the morning. During the "closet audit," she helps clients see their wardrobes with a fresh set of eyes; she is quick to identify the pieces that flatter and fit a person's taste ... and those that belong in a thrift shop-bound Hefty sack. Bingaman
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T-S HI RT COURTESY OF THE B UNKER
----------------------- READERS ' CHOICES -----------------------
BEST BARBER SHOP Chop Tops Fifth Street Barber Shop Buffalo Mane Barbershop
BEST MANICURE/ PEDICURE Polished Bijin Salon & Spa Hoopla
BEST BODY PIERCING Freaks Tattoo Irezumi Tattoo Supernatural Body Piercing
BEST MASSAGE Massage Envy Spa Bijin Salon & Spa Spa on Penn Casey Leakey, LMT
BEST CHIROPRACTOR Crossroads Chiropractic & Wellness Center Kansas City Chiropractic Jensen Chiropractic & Acupuncture BEST HAIR REMOVAL Bijin Salon & Spa Sassy Face Esthetics (Summer Ambroz) Beyoutify at Lush Salon BEST HAIR SALON Chop Tops Bijin Salon & Spa Studio D Hair Salon
BEST SPA Bijin Salon &Spa Spa on Penn Sunlight Day Spa BEST TATTOO SHOP Mercy Seat Exile Tattoo Glory Bound Tattoo
BEST MANSCAPERS also provides a shopping service, guiding Standard Grooming Supply her clients through the racks or acting as a scout for the time-poor and the mall-averse. 719 MASSACHUSETTS, l AWRENCE Finding yourself a better look doesn't have STAN DARDGROOM INGSUPPLY.COM to be elusive - Ladybird can assist. One theory for t he beard trend is that it pitch.com
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started to take wiry shape as servicemen returned from Iraq and Afghanistan. Soldiers may have grown facial hair as they worked in counterinsurgency efforts in places where beards are a sign of manhood. Or, perhaps, a beard manifested freedom from the military's grooming standards. In any case, beards are everywhere: staff meetings, television shows, church pulpits. Standard Grooming Supply, in Lawrence, is a full-service salon specializing in men's haircuts, beard trims and beard and skin products. Open less than a year, the shop is attracting customers from Johnson County who appreciate owner Douglas Spradlin's skills and chairside manner.
BEST LOCAL ACCESSORIES DESIGNER Meierotto Jewelers Jennifer Janesko Opal&Gold BEST LOCAL CLOTHING DESIGNER Charlie Hustle The Bunker Baldwin BEST LOCAL EY EWEAR STORE Brookside Optical Fairway Eye Center Warby Parker Romanelli Optix
BEST LOCAL ADDITION TO ANTHROPOLOGIE
BEST LOCAL JEWELRY STORE Tivol Meierotto Jewelers Shane Co.
Mer-Sea MERSEACO.COM
Founded by Lina Dickinson, Melanie Bolin and Stephanie Lawrence-three Kansas City transplants who hail from coastal states Merriam-based Mer-Sea &Co. (pronounced like the French merci) offers soaps, lotions, candles, clothing and other lifestyle items in more than Boo stores across the country. Its summery scents will make you nostalgic for that tropical vacation you once managed to take - think citrus, salty air, crisp linens and fresh flowers. The products fit right in at Anthropologie, which also stocks several Mer-Sea offers fragrances. Despite this national exposure, Kansas City still provides a great home base, with strong local support helping the company establish a recognizable brand in just three years. "The gift of this town is people help each other," Bolin says. "If you make something, people buy it, and they encourage you."
BEST LOCAL MEN 'S CLOTHING STORE The Bunker BaldwinKC Houndstooth BEST LOCAL GOODS The Bunker Urban Provisions General Store Normal Human BEST LOCAL SHOE STORE Bob Jones Shoes The Bunker Garry Gribble's Running Sports BEST LOCAL WOMEN 'S CLOTHING BOUTIQUE Donna's Dress Shop The Bunker RetroVixen
BEST SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS UNDIES
MADI 1659 SUMM IT I MADIAPPAREL.COM
BEST VINTAGE CLOTHING STORE Donna's Dress Shop Boomerang Wonderland
For Hayley Besheer, underwear is about more than just feeling sexy. The creator of MADI Apparel knows an unrivaled pair of underpants should also boost a woman's confidence, like a good haircut or a signature shade of lipstick. "Making women feel great about themselves is one of the main things we support," Besheer says. "The MADI movement as a whole is about positivity and body awareness." To support that goal, MADI, which stands for "make a difference intimate," partners with several area women's shelters, donating a pair of underwear to a woman in need for each pair purchased. It also doesn't hurt that MADI is like the anti-Victoria's Secret, stripping away all the frills until we're left with no-bullshit underwear that feels as good as it looks.
BEST PRESERVATIONISTS KC Canning Co. KANSASCITYCANNINGCO.COM
The Bunker
ALLYSON PECK
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When Laura and Tim Tuohy lived in New York City, the couple had a cherry tree in their backyard. That might be no big deal in the Midwest, but in the city that never sleeps, it was an inspiring anomaly. "We were in New York, and something was bearing fruit that you could actually eat," Laura says. "It was bizarre." To make the most of it, the Tuohys started canning the fruit, using recipes passed down from their
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Best of Kansas City...,._ 5053 STATES AVE., KANSAS CITY, KS 913.283.9709 SUN-SAT 9AM- 1AM 500 HD CHANNEL ARCADE 8910 E US HWY 40, KANSAS CITY, KS 816.255.3431 SUN-SAT 1OAM -3AM 8801 E TRUMAN RD., KANSAS CITY, MO 816.214.5958 SUN-SAT 8AM- 12AM 4 732 SW TOPEKA BLVD TOPEKA, KS 785.783.8980 SUN-WED 9AM- 1AM & THURS-SAT 9AM-3AM 500 HD CHANNEL ARCADE
BEST HOOKAH LOUNGE Jerusalem Cafe Sinbad's Cafe & Hookah Lounge Sahara Sheesha Lounge
BEST WINE SHOP Gomer's Cellar Rat Wine Merchants Underdog Wine Co.
BEST LIQUOR STORE Gomer's Midtown Lukas Liquors Superstore Mike's Wine & Spirits
BEST CIGAR STORE Outlaw Cigar Co. Fidel's Cigar Shop Diebel's Sportsmens Gallery
BEST ADULT STORE Cirilla's 7th Heaven Moonlight Boutique
BEST AUTO DEALERSHIP Hendrick Automotive Group
BEST SMOKE SHOP 7th Heaven Fidel's Cigar Shop Cooper's Broadway Tobacco
BEST BICYCLE SHOP Volker Bicycles Family Bicycles Velo
BEST VAPE SHOP 7th Heaven KCVapes WaldoVapes
BEST MOTORCYCLE DEALER Gail's Harley Davidson Worth Harley-Davidson Donnell's Motorcycles
BEST HEAD SHOP It's a Beautiful Day 7th Heaven Cooper's Broadway Tobacco
BEST CAR WASH Waterway Carwash Green Lantern Car Wash Belfonte's Carwash & Detail Services
CarMax
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BEST AUCTION HOUSE/ KANSAS CITY AUCTION COMPANY Cates Auction Equip-Bid Auctions Kansas City Andrew Turner Auctions/Kansas City Estate Sales BEST ANTIQUE STORE River Market Antique Mall Bella Patina Antique Store Brass Armadillo Antique Mall BEST COMIC BOOK STORE Clint's Comics Vintage Stock Elite Comics
BEST CONSIGNMENT STORE Plato's Closet Arizona Trading Co. Mary Margaret's Home Clothz Minded BEST PLACE TO BUY A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Meyer Music Big Dude's Music City Guitar Center BEST RECORD STORE Mills Record Company Vinyl Renaissance Josey Records
BEST LOCAL PET GROOMING Brookside Barkery &Bath Simply Grooming by Gia Go Pet Go
BEST PLACE TO ADOPT A PET Wayside Waifs Kansas City Pet Project Great Plains SPCA
BEST PET BOARDING/ PET DAYCARE Dog Pawz Play and Stay Pete&Mac's Pooches Paradise Day Spa and Resort
BEST VETERINARIAN Great Plains SPCA Fairway Animal Hospital Noah's Ark Animal Clinic Allison Rank
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grandparents. Three years later, the couple
BEST NATURAL TOUCH
moved back to Kansas City and founded
Hand &Land
KC Canning Co., prompting the creation of some of the most inventive canned goods we've seen, such as Sriracha-pickled green beans, bourbon-peach preserves, and happy pickles (available at Boulevard's new visitors center). Their methods may be generations old, but these definitely aren't your grandmother's preserves.
11527 ASH, LEAWOOD
BEST CRYSTAL PALACE
Gigi Moon Gems GIGIMOON.COM
HANDANDLA N D.COM
Walking into Hand & Land, the charming home, body and health shop in Leawood's Park Place, feels a little like entering a spa. The clean, piney scent that hangs on the air is totally unlike the seasonal candles you throw into your basket at chain stores. Instead, the fragrances at Hand & Land are produced with all-natural essential oils, creating pure, inviting fragrances that the shop's owners, cousins Jessica Moler and Nicole Lobdell, love to show off. Hand & Land also offers some solace amid the overwhelming barrage of mass-marketed products designed to offer that elusive quick fix. Its skincare lines are about something deeper than just buffing away wrinkles and disguising imperfections. They are more of a lifestyle suggestion. "It's about the ritual of taking care of yourself," Moler says. "It feels luxurious."
Gamet Booth jokes that she should be a "gemstone therapist." Since founding Gigi Moon Gems, she has discovered that people are often drawn to specific stones based on what's going on in their lives. A recent heartbreak might call for something green, for instance, whereas rose quartz might boost confidence for an upcomingjob interview. "People often choose a certain stone, and when we look it up it's exactly what they need," Booth says. To that end, she has crystal necklaces that aim to empower, rings that inspire creativity, and BEST BIRTHDAY GIFT TO YOUR INNER DAREDEVIL moldavite pendants to encourage self-awareness. Ethereal and intriguing, many of Gigi iFLY Kansas City Moon's offerings are reminiscent of the des10975 METCALF, OVERLA N D PARK ert, the cosmos or ancient times- and there's IFLYWORLD.COM a good chance Booth tracked down or dug Inside the 14-foot-wide wind tunnel at iFLY, up each stone, fossil or cactus seed herself. in Overland Park, it's so loud that regular con-
816.333.2275
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KANSAS CITY REGIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS•
MY WORD IS MY DEED. AND IT'LL HELP YOU GET YOURS. Our Code of Ethics is at the core of everything we do. It's a Realtor®'s promise to treat everyone honestly, and to promote your best interests. So you can be sure we're helping you find the best home for you.
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BEST BANK Commerce Bank Community America Credit Union UMBBank BEST BED AND BREAKFAST Southmoreland on the Plaza Jefferson House Innat425 BEST FARMERS MARKET City Market Farmers Market Overland Park Farmers Market Brookside Farmers Market BEST FLORIST Fiddly Fig Florist Trapp and Co. Studio Dan Meiners BEST GROCERY STORE Hy-Vee Cosentino's Price Chopper BEST HOTEL The Raphael Hotel Hotel Phillips Hotel Sorella 816Hotel
BEST LANDSCAPER Benjamin Lawn & Landscape The Greensman Laura Frank Sterling Industries BEST LOCAL BOOKSTORE Rainy Day Books HalfPrice Books Prospero's Books BEST LOCAL NURSERY AND GARDEN CENTER Family Tree Nursery Suburban Lawn & Garden Soil Service Garden Center BEST PLUMBER Bob Hamilton Plumbing, Heating & A/C ABMay Snyder's Plumbing & Heating BEST REAL- ESTATE AGENT Stacy Porto Sharon Aubuchon Allison Rank
Nicole Bissey Photography
Stacy Porto
versation becomes impossible. With high-efficiency axial fans creating a column of air powerful enough to suspend most humans in midair, it's as noisy as a plane taking off or a moving train. And the best part is, under the guidance of a trained instructor, you get to step inside this wind tunnel and, you know, fly. The only barrier is the price; at $69.95 for two 60-second flights, practicing dives and barrel rolls at iFLYwill probably not be a regular indulgence for most of us. But if you want to go skydiving without actually stepping out of a plane, those who have done the real thing say the iFLY experience is spot-on. Plus you get bragging rights and a colorful flight certificate to stick on your fridge.
push-pull ofbuying and trading, of new and used - the ouroboros ofmusic collecting, that dude's postpunk discovery becoming this dude's had-to-move-house discard becoming some kid's first lifetime-listening score. It is the stardust of the restless music fan and the serpent of Marie Kondo's nightmares, and it depends on a robust new-arrivals bin and the butterfly effect of imperfect alphabetization plus inattentive fellow shoppers. All of which are in play at Judy Mills' bigger, better Mills Record Company, a midtown LP wonderland that opened around the corner from its original incarnation in the record-melting height of summer. Musicians play here and shop here, the help is truly helpful, and for the first time in many Westport moons you find yourself not taking the stock for granted. That old Mobile Fidelity half-speed you see when you're passing a little time on Sunday might not be there when you go back on Wednesday. So now you're actually thinking about leaving the office to go buy a record. What year is it? What the hell is happening to us?
BEST PLACE TO SWING
Kansas City Sports Club 3610 W EST 95TH STREET, LEAWOOD KAN SASCITYSPORTSCLU B.COM
Midwest winters can be a long and sad affair, with desperate dreams of sunshine taking root before t he calendar has even turned to the next year - and to the next baseball season. Open since 2012, Kansas City Sports Club, located behind the Price Chopper on 95th Street and Mission Road, features four indoor batting cages. Each has baseball and softball settings and can be adjusted to accommodate a variety of speeds and skill levels, from slow-pitch softball to baseballs that whiz across the plate at 70 MPH. The building also houses indoor turf for practicing infield drills, a weights-andcardio area, and hitting tunnels. Even when it's snowing outside, you can practice your swing and dream ofwarmer days.
BEST BROADWAY DEBUT
Mills Record Company 4045 BROADWAY I MILLSRECORDCOMPANY.COM
Mark Reichle and Nancy MiUer Reichle, Southmoreland on theALLYSON Pla%4PECK
Whatever admixture of cynicism and earnestnessispumpingwarmnostalgiagasinto the it's-new-to-you-millennials vinyl bubble, there's one big net positive: Browsing is back. We don't mean the rainy battlements and Instagram victories of the surprise-free Record Store Day. We're talking about the pitch.com
BEST BOOKSTORE
Night Blooms 529 SOUTHWEST BOULEVARD FACEBOOK.COM/ NIGHTBLOOMSKC
Darkroom, exhibition space, Marxist speakeasy - whatever else you know or imagine Night Blooms to be, it's in these pages because of its pages. The last book someone presented us with to mark a milestone was a small-press art tome, manageable in dimensions but unruly in content. We didn't know the thing existed, though t he artist it chronicles is someone we admire. Where'd you find this?we asked. Night Blooms, our friend said, with the faintest, most kindhearted hint of a duh. Because once you go to Night Blooms yourself, having been told and retold about it, that's how you feel: duh. Shouldn't we have had a spot like this a long time ago? Or was t his the only moment it could have arrived? And will this supercool island ofmisfit ambitions sustain itselfwest ofthe increasingly un -weird Crossroads and under the punishing Amazon sun? (Yes. Probably. Please.)
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BEST THRILLER
bonanza Panic Fest. And now comes Shock Treatment, an interactive horror experience 1735 SWIFT, NORTH KANSAS CITY in North Kansas City's budding downtown. Shock Treatment is an immersive experiSHOCKTREATMENTKC.COM Adam Roberts and Brent Miller are among ence - it's like a real-life Resident Evil - so the upper echelon of creative forces in Kan- get ready to outwit zombies, hunt for ghosts sas City. This dynamic duo runs Screenland and fight for survival. Who doesn't want to Armour, Screenland Crossroads and Tapcade be the star of their own horror flick? Thanks and puts on one of the best beer fests in the for Roberts and Miller, we all can be. city, Arts & Crafts. There's also the horror-film
Shock Treat ment
BEST ACTRESS
"A capital-L Leading Lady," we called her, "a luminary," so taken were we by a transcendent performance in which she reset Kansas City Actors Theatre, kcactors.org the paramet ers of her already solid reput aCinnamon Schultz, a veteran KC actress tion. Surrounded by a skilled cast, Schultz's whose nameissynonymouswithgood work, Blanche anchored -no, dominated- Streetmanaged to turn us inside out with her deft car, realizing this primary character's comand heart-wrenching performance as the plexity with a dexterity and a pathos that tragic heroine Blanche DuBois in Tennessee made t he warhorse play newly touching. Williams' iconic A Streetcar Named Desire.
Cinnamon Schultz A Streetcar Named Desire
------------------------------------------------------- READERS' CHOICES -------------------------------------------------------
BEST BLUES VENUE Knuckleheads Saloon Green Lady Lounge BB's Lawnside BBQ
BEST LOCAL ALBUM Katy Guillen & the Girls: Heavy Days The Philistines: Backbone ofNight John Goolsby: The Midwest
BEST NEW MUSIC VENUE RecordBar Madrid Theatre Prohibition Hall
BEST JAZZ VENUE Green Lady Lounge The Phoenix Blue Room
BEST LOCAL BAND Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear The Greeting Committee Sterling Witt
BEST OPEN MIC Knuckleheads Saloon Uptown Arts Bar The Tank Room
BEST JUKEBOX Harry's Country Club Chez Charlie Gilhouly's
BEST LOCAL 7-INCH SINGLE The Greeting Committee: "Hands Down" Claire and the Classical Revolution: "In t he Blue" The Conquerors: "You Must Be Dreaming" The Uncouth: "KC United"
BEST OUTDOOR MUSIC VENUE Starlight Theatre Crossroads KC at Grinders Knuckleheads Saloon
BEST KARAOKE Offkey Karaoke Lounge & Suites Red Balloon Uptown Arts Bar
BEST PLACE TO HEAR LIVE MUSIC Crossroads KC at Grinders Knuckleheads Saloon The Midland Theatre
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BEST JAZZ ARTIST Mark Lowrey Molly Hammer Hermon Mehari Alex Abramovitz and His Swing'n Kansas City Jazz Band BEST JAZZ EVENT 18th & Vine Jazz and Blues Festival Saturday Jazz Brunch at the Phoenix Prairie Village JazzFest Solo Summerfest (formerly Jazz in the Woods) BEST LOCAL RECORD LABEL Strange Music The Record Machine Unlabeled Records
BEST OF KANSAS CITY 2016
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[XCII,\'ffi:D@Ils'
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BEST MUSICAL ABOUT A DISORDER
in primary roles - under Karen Paisley's adept direction, this Cat exerted a tight Next to Normal hold on the audience and touched a collective nerve. It was a night of excellent MUSICAL THEATER HERITAGE I MTHKC.COM Musical theater meets mental illness in theater, a highlight of the season. Next to Normal, a moving and sometimes BEST DELAYED DISCOVERY funny portrait of a woman's battle with bipolar disorder - her attempts at treatKansas Repertory Theatre, ment, its effects on her family. The proLawrence duction of the Pulitzer Prize-winning KUTHEATRE.COM musical at Musical Theater Heritage, We were late. Kansas Repertory Theatre, in directed by Sarah Crawford, was both Lawrence, debuted in 2014 with two sumintimate and powerful. In its typically mer productions, and we missed them. It semi-staged format, with few embel- produced two summer shows in 2015, and lishments, MTH extracted the show's es- we missed those, too. So we're grateful that sence, its intelligent lyrics and compelling we were educated in time for the 2016 sumcompositions, with a talented six-piece mer season, in which the company again band (led by Jeremy Watson) and a strong staged two plays - this time, Harvey and cast (Ashley Pankow, Ben Gulley, Corbin Angel Street - in exemplary, true repertory Williams, Robert Hingula, Paris Naster fashion. Though part of the Department of and Daniel Verschelden), revealing the Theatre at KU, Kansas Rep "operates as a ups and downs of the illness with humor, professional company,'' assistant professor gravitas and candor - and bringing the and director Peter Zazzali says. That means guest directors (including, this year, Kansas audience right along with them. City's John Rensenhouse), Equityand visiting BEST SHOWCASE OF actors (including, this year, Michael Samuel YOUNG TALENT Kaplan from New York and Jeanne Averill), alongside faculty and students. It's a rich mix, 13 SPINNING TREE THEATRE I SPINNINGTREETHEATRE.COM and it made an impression, one that will have Oh, those long-ago years in middle school to hold us till we visit again next year. and high school and all their travails. Who BEST ONE-MAN MARATHON wants to revisit all that? Turns out, we dowhen it's SpinningTree Theatre's painlessly Seth Golay entertaining and funny musical13. The Buyer & Cellar comedic drive down those years' bumpy THE UNICORN THEATRE I UNICORNTHEATRE.ORG and memorable lane was smoothed out con- The charismatic and, in this case, ensiderably by outstanding performances of ergetic Seth Golay ran the show in the 19 bona fide middle- and high-school stars 95-minute, one-man Buyer & Cellar, in of the future, who happen to be doing high- which his Alex, an actor with a backlevel singing, dancing and acting now. It ground in retail, gets a gig manning an undidn't hurt that they were under the direc- derground Main Street-like mall on Barbra tion of Spinning Tree co-founders Michael Streisand's estate (should she decide to Grayman and Andrew Parkhurst - been- go shopping for her own swag). It was the there, done-that theater pros themselves Unicorn's holiday show and it was funny, who are clearly able to ID new talent when a fast-moving, nonstop run of quips and they see it. dialogue that left this actor no time to let up. Golay kept apace, morphing into a BEST FAMILY NIGHT cast of characters throughout a physical, AT THE THEATER all-consuming enactment and bringing Cat on a Hot Tin Roof us wholly into Alex's world. He was sensitive, sarcastic, funny and vulnerable in METROPOLITAN ENSEMBLE THEATRE I METKC.ORG When we say a particular person loves an endurance test of a performance that's drama, we don't typically intend it as memorable still. a compliment. But a play by Tennessee BEST ORIGINAL ONE-MAN Williams is the kind of drama we can FRINGE FESTIVAL PLAY embrace, especially when it's produced with the skill and focus that Metropolitan Sam Wright Ensemble Theatre brought to bear on its Crazy Horse. a Dream revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. In this inof Thunder stance, the tumult involves a family in all FRINGE FESTIVAL I KCFRINGE.ORG its revelatory dysfunction - resentments, We recognize the name Crazy Horse, rivalries, self-interests, mistreatments but what do we know of the man? Playand, perhaps most sad of all, an inability wright and actor Sam Wright lent a view to connect. With an outstanding cast - in his one-man play Crazy Horse: a Dream Ellen Kirk, Matt Leonard, Scott Cordes, of Thunder, a vivid reimagining of the Kelly Main, Chris Roady and Nicole Green Oglala Lakota warrior - as a youth and
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BEST OF KANSAS CITY 2016
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BEST COMEDY CLUB ImprovKC Stanford & Sons KC Improv's Kick Comedy Theater
BEST LOCALLY MADE MOVIE The Stylist Mudjack'n On Sight
BEST FASHION EVENT Kansas City Fashion Week West 18th Street Fashion Show Adorn Style Show
BEST LOCAL THEATER COMPANY Kansas City Repertory Theatre The Living Room Kansas City Actors Theater
BEST IMPROV/ SKETCH TROUPE KC Improv/Kick Comedy Theater Lucha Raptor (Uptown Arts Bar) Ham Kitty
BEST MOVIE THEATER Alamo Drafthouse AMC Ward Parkway Screenland Armour
BEST LIVE THEATER Starlight Theatre Kansas City Repertory Theatre Unicorn Theatre
BEST PERFORMING ARTS GROUP Kansas City Symphony Quixotic Bohemian Cult Revival
BEST LOCAL ACTOR (LIVING IN KC) Ron Megee Rusty Sneary Victor Raider-Wexler
BEST PLACE TO DANCE Funky Town MissieB's Shark Bar
BEST LOCAL ACTRESS Katie Gilchrist Vanessa Severo Cathy Barnett
BEST PLAY Twelfth Night, Heart of America Shakespeare Festival Heathers: The Musical, Unicorn Theatre Cluelessness, Late Night Theatre The Gin Game, Kansas City Actors Theatre
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BEST OF KANSAS CITY 2016
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accents, an imposing silhouette - for The Ghosts ofLote Bravo chilled our blood each
as an adult - and his fight for the survival of his people. It's a personal story, delicate in details oftriballife - coming of age, hunting, courtship - and both heartbreaking and riveting in its depictions of betrayal and war. Wright did it all, solely portraying the famous tribal leader as well as a community of characters - family, elders, peers, enemies -through gesture, voice, movement and the simplest of props. Under the direction of British actor-director Nicholas Collett, Wright's Crazy Horse held us from the start, looking to his audiencehis ancestors, he thought - for help and guidance. We didn't have answers, but Wright, through his exceptional skill, rendered a sad part of U.S. history with a piece of poetic storytelling.
time the character entered. BEST ACTOR
Phil Fiorini The Whale Every now and then, an actor gives a performance so impeccably, compellingly detailed that the line between stage and seats disappears. This year, that was Phil Fiorini, whose marathon performance as Charlie, a 600-pound writing teacher with a heart as tender as it is swollen, anchored the Unicorn's production of The Whale. Fiorini's physical portrayal was masterful: He carried the weight with punishing accuracy, sweating like a triathlete and groaning like an Olympic power lifter. More impressive was the way he carried the part's emotional weight. Conversations with his cruel teenage daughter broke our hearts; conversations with his students buoyed them again as we saw him step into a more confident self. Now that's a heavyweight champ.
BEST DEBUT
Vaughan Harrison The cast of Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre's Parade had already impressed us. Then Vaughan Harrison - in his MET debut - opened his mouth and brought down the house. Harrison's creamsmooth vocals and peerless musical precision (as janitor Jim Conley) stole the show in a cast full of titans. Frankly, it almost felt a little unfair to everybody else. Casting directors, take note.
BEST SOUND DESIGN
David Kiehl Sound designers rarely get the attention they deserve - mentions in reviews can be few and far between (and often only when something goes wrong). But David Kiehl owned our ears this season with a series of memorable soundscapes at different theaters. A string of cues for Santa Muerte's entrances in The Ghosts ofLote Bravo conditioned us to flinch at a dog's bark. Gentle whale song and soft transition music tugged at our heartstrings in The Whale. And perfectly balanced mics in Pontypool made John Rensenhouse's silken voice a little more luxurious.
BEST TRANSFORMATION
Matthew Schmidli, A Number KANSAS CITY ACTORS THEATRE I KCACTORS.ORG
Clones- they're all the same. Except when they're not, as we saw in A Number atKansas City Actors Theatre. The fascinating and chilling sci-fi drama starred two actors "at the top of their game," we said- Gary Neal Johnson and Matthew Schmidli -as a father and his son(s), respectively. In the quick-paced one-act, skillfully directed by Mark Robbins, Schmidli's three characters - the "original" son and two of his clones (the script alluded to yet more) - emerged in contiguous scenes with such distinct personalities and behavior that we might have suspected Schmidli clones. It was all Schmidli, of course - who, opposite his talented co-star, metamorphosed before us to lasting effect.
BEST FRINGE PRODUCTION DESIGN
Billy Blob Freak Up the Street
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Fringe Festival shows have tight budgets and even tighter rehearsal schedules. So we were all the more impressed by the polished, immersive production design of Billy Blob's Freak Up the Street. Blob's intricate creations included a curiously cuddly paper possum, a cartoon ish barbecue, and David Bowie albums enlarged to the size of their influence. The props and set pieces were wildly imaginative and enchantingly executed - a Fringegoer's (Technicolor) dream.
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Georgianna Londre Buchanan Whenever we see costume designer Georgianna Londre Buchanan's name on the program, we know we're in for a visual feast. This year was no exception: Londre Buchanan engineered two season show-stoppers. Her detailed fat suit for The Whale riveted and repelled, the rnicrobead rolls jiggling and jostling with uncanny verisimilitude. And her haunting Santa Muerte costume - vivid colors, sumptuous 50 THE PITCH
BEST THEATRICAL "TINY HOUSE"
]ackMagaw Roof of the World Knuckleheads Saloon
BEST OF KANSAS CITY 2016
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What do you do with a script set in multiple
Pops Series Begins
BOYZ II MEN with the
KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY
Friday and Saturday, Oct. 28-29 at 8 p.m. Sunday, October 30 at 7 p.m. Jason Seber, David T. Beals Ill Assistant Conductor
One of the most iconic R&B groups of all time debuts with the Kansas City Symphony. Enjoy favorites like "End of the Road," "I'll Make Love to You," "One Sweet Day,""Motownphilly" and many others. Tickets start at $60. ~~Saint Luke's
Free Symphony Happy Hour Concert
MAD ABOUT MOD Wednesday, Oct. 12 at 6 p.m.
Classical Choral Concert
Screenland at the Symphony:
STERN CONDUCTS MOZART'S REQUIEM
THE PHANTOM of the OPERA
Thursday, Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22 at 8 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 23 at 2 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m.
Musicians of the Kansas City Symphony perform a wonderful. one-hour program of chamber music that will add joy to the middle of your week. Enjoy Stravinsky's Ragtime and Janacek Quartet No. 1. Arrive early or stay late to enjoy drinks from our cash bar in the Kauffman Center's stunning Brandmeyer Great Hall lobby. Reserveyour free general admission tickets by visiting kcsymphony.org.
GUILMANT Symphony No. 1 for Organ and Orchestra W.A. MOZART Requiem
Leadft BA t:!_!$.
Experience the eloquence, beauty and power of Mozart's final composition. Tickets start at $30.
Dorothy Papadakos, organ
Michael Stern, conductor Paul Jacobs, organ Kansas City Symphony Chorus, Charles Bruffy, chorus director
With live organ accompaniment, this classic 1929 silent film starring Lon Chaney tells the creepy tale of a demented organist lurking in the catacombs beneath the opera house. The entire movie is shown on the giant Helzberg Hall screen, with acclaimed organist Dorothy Papadakos providing the spooky soundtrack on the Julia Irene Kauffman Casavant Organ. Tickets start at $25.
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r:=============:::;--, countries, climates and homes? If you're KCLiveArts.org feel alive with the arts p._edby
Pltt;/1
scenic designer Jack Magaw, you hit the road with a literal trunk show. Magaw's rotating set for the epic Roofofthe World packed multiple, richly detailed interiors into a compact cube fashioned after a steamer trunk. At times, the trunk itself became an elevated stage for rooftop chases and scenic mountain views. (A trapdoor allowed for rapid-fire scene changes.) Tiny houses are already making headlines. Props to Magaw for marrying form and function in his stylish "tiny set." BEST ONE-WOMAN SHOW
Marilyn vs. God
Katy Guillen S the Girls, Heavy Days
Alamo Drafthouse
Robert Bingaman
Melanie Johnson
Playing an icon (let alone one as beloved as Marilyn Monroe) can give even the most seasoned actors butterflies. It's easy to get bogged down in imitation and ignore that old Sanford Meisner saw about "living truthfully under imaginary circumlampedusa: Concerts For Refugees stances." Fortunately, Heidi Van mastered Enwnylou Harris. Patty Griffin. Buddy Miller, both. Her performance in the one-woman Steve Earle,and The Milk Carton Kids Saturday, October 8 at 8 p.m. Marilyn/God was an emotional endurance M..iel Kauffman Theatre, Kauffman Center (816) 994-7222 test, showing us Monroe at her most impetuous and vulnerable. Van's rocksolid vocal work - and Jeff Church's sensitive direction - made Marilyn a star all over again. BEST DIRECTION Tire lll'lisiiW Hand IOctober 14 - November 13 Copaken Stage, Downtown Kansas City, Mo. (816) 235-2700
Tire Way We Get By IOctober 19 - November 13 Jerome Stage, 3828 Main St. Kansas City, Mo. (816) 531-7529 ext 10 Mozart's Requiem with 011J1111st Paul Jac:obs October 20 - 23, various times Helzberg Hal, Kauffman Center (816) 471-0400
.:11 Follow KCLJVcArts on Faccbook and Sign up forE-Hews Alerts .... at KCloveArts org 52 THE PITCH
Cynthia Levin and Missy Koonce Heathers Hypothesis: Directors Cynthia Levin and Missy Koonce have as much fun collaborating as we do watching the result. Evidence: Heathers: the Musical, in which Levin and Koonce led a competent production team to moments of transcendent theatrical magic. Snappy choreography, slow-mo fight sequences and vividly witty tableaux kept us howling through the infectious late-1980s nostalgia. Every inch of the set was used, and every scene was blocked with microscopic detail to maximum effect. The result was nothing short of "Big Fun." BEST COMEDIC PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS
Cathy Barnett How to Steal a Picasso This season was full ofsharp comedic performances, but Cathy Barnett earned top honors thanks to her performance as Belle, the flaky matriarch in How to Steal a Picasso. Barnett held her own in a family of eccentric artists; she fussed, needled, cooed and squealed through each emotional hairpin turn. And despite the cartwheeling script, Barnett never stooped to mere zaniness. Her precision and commitment made even Belle's wackier schemes seem inevitable earning some of the show's biggest laughs along the way.
BEST OF J<ANSAS CITY 20 16
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Dylan Mortimer
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BEST COMEDIC PERFORMANCE BYAN ACTOR
Bob Linebarger Hand to God Sharp comedic timing is hard enough to master when you have only one character to worry about. Add a second, and you have your hands full- if you're Bob Linebarger, literally. In Hand to God, Linebarger portrayed both Jason, a sheepish Sundayschool acolyte, and Tyrone, a "possessed" hand puppet, often in the same scene. The jokes and physical gags always landed, thanks to Linebarger's light-switch vocal work and expert puppet control. Degree of difficulty: Simone Biles routine. But Linebarger made it all look easy.
BEST THIRD FRIDAY
Kiosk Gallery
BEST ART FESTIVAL Plaza Art Fair Brookside Art Annual Art Westport BEST LOCAL VISUAL ARTIST Ryan Wilks Sterling Witt Seth Jones BEST MUSEUM Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art The National WWI Museum and Memorial Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art BEST ART SPACE Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art Leedy-Voulkos Art Center
916 EAST FIFTH STREET
OPEII MICS: 9
Kiosk Gallery, in Columbus Park, isn't a big space, but it packs in some of the most interesting art in Kansas City. Relying on the ingenuity of local artists rather than banking on the commercial potential of the work, Kiosk feels like a place where you'll make a discovery. Better yet, it puts up its openings on third Fridays rather than at the chaotic start of the month. Programming like the Black House Collective - an experimental-music residency - gives the gallery a sense of freedom and variety that
PM
MOl. COMEDY: 'UES. MUSIC WED.POE,RY:,HURS.KARAOKE
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BEST POET/ SPOKEN-WORD ARTIST Jeanette Powers JenHarris JoseFaus BEST PUBLIC ART Shuttlecocks at Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Art Alley Mini Vinnie Bini by Blanket Undercover
frees itself, and you, from the typical arton-the-walls format.
BEST FIREWORKS DISPLAY KC Symphony Celebration at the Station KC Riverfest at Berkley Riverfront Park Corporate Woods
BEST SURPRISE FROM THE PAST
Hieronymus Bosch's "The Temptation of St Anthony"
BEST RADIO STATION 96.5 the Buzz 89.3KCUR 90.9 the Bridge
THE NELSON ¡ATKINS MUSEUM OF ART 4525 OAK I NELSON¡ATKINS.ORG
"The Temptation of St. Anthony" was long believed to have been painted by an admirer of Bosch rather than by the man himself, sometime between 1500 and 1510. It has the trademark surrealist religious humor for which Bosch is celebrated, including what looks like a funnel with legs attacking a bird-fish hybrid as the saint calmly gathers water in a jug. Recently, however, deeper examination of the piece, including an infrared reflectogram to study the underdrawing (no, seriously), revealed it as an original. Thus a piece at KC's biggest, most admired museum turns out to be a brand-newworldwide attraction, a surprise addition to the small body of work - about 25 paintings altogether - we know were truly Bosch's. This revelation brings the total count of Bosch works in the United States up to about seven, and further elevates the Nelson's prestige.
BEST TRIVIA NIGHT Westport Flea Market Flying Saucer KC Trivia Geeks at Bricks Pub & Grub Lee's Summit
BEST WTF MOVIE SERIES
Cannonball Roarers Psychotronic Films Occult weirdness, D-list erotica, obscure Hungarian animation - such is the what-the-fuck red meat of this low-flying monthly series. Curators Jaclyn Dalbey and Matt Lloyd have a reputation for taking the audience on whirlwind trips down hallucinogenic hidey-holes and into the murky minds of certain delusional filmmakers. Somehow, they know facts that should be unknowable about cinema familiar to only a tiny fraction of the brave, the curious and/ or the stoned. Most of the movies take place inside Holy Cow Market, at 31st Street and Cherry, but other events are shrouded in secrecy. It's worth asking around to join this cult.
jeanette Powers BEST IFFY-FOR-KIDS PUPPET SHOW
Shitty Guy Theater
When this troupe decides to be kid-friendly, the name switches to Shady Guy Theater, but make no mistake: Shitty Guy Theater, which made its first public appearance late last August and has since taken on gigs at Rabbit Hole and some children's parties, isn't clowns and cakes. The concept of the theater is inspired by Victorian parlor games: The players hang a white sheet in a doorway and light it from behind, projecting the shadows of bodies and props. Strobe lighting is as high-tech as things get, really - when, say, a sketch calls for the actors to contain a rapidly growing ball BEST HIDDEN GEM of energy. That requires imagination on Cerbera Gallery both sides of the curtain, which sounds 2011 BALTIMORE I CERBERAGALLERY.COM more illuminating than, you know, more Bringing hard-to-come-by art to the pub- video games. lic is no easy task, but the Crossroads' CerBEST AUTHOR bera Gallery delivers. The shotgun room is packed with unexpected treasures - an unWhitney Terrell usual Tara Donovan here, a palm-sized Beth In his moving and complex third novel, Cavnerthere. Thatthe space is so small only The Good Lieutenant, Whitney Terrell, asadds to the allure; you're seeing things you sistant professor of English and creative don't expect to see, in a context that is it- writing at the University of Missouri-Kanself unexpected. Bonus: The curation feels sas City, uses an ingenious story strucirreverent, refusing to stick to any single ture and multifaceted characters to give aesthetic. Why should Cerbera, after all? us what has been called "the Bush wars' best novel." Following Lt. Emma Fowler Why should any gallery?
from the moment a doomed rescue mission goes awry, the story's chronology moves backward, explicating Fowler's motives and her romantic relationship with a fellow lieutenant, Dixon Pulowski. Terrell uses his book to raise numerous ethical questions that don't have easy answers, especially with regard to wartime decision-making and complicity. Still, the novel never loses sight of its characters' essential humanity, making its conclusion all the more powerful. BEST BITTERSWEET CHANGE
Paul Tyler's retirement Former ArtsKC Grants Director Paul Tyler is the kind of person who can recognize you from 20 feet away whether you are tromping out of the grocery store or "in context" at an opening or a performance. You think you hear your name. You pause, then hear your name again. And when you turn around, ah, the warmest greeting and in-public hug ever, outside the grocery store. Tyler is so dedicated to his job- even though he retired with much fanfare and deeply sincere feelings of pre-loss in May, after 14 years as a grants administrator that he can pick out KC's artists and artminded figures years and years after he last encountered them. He worked at ArtsKC before it acquired its streamlined current pitch.com
name, lending knowledge of what other cities had done and were doing to bolster their arts communities. Then he helped make it happen here. Under Tyler, the community-wide ArtsKC Fund campaign did more than the measure that failed twice at the ballot box (bi-state cultural tax) - more for our artists, museums and midsized arts organizations than perhaps many people know. Is it vulgar that making art takes money and not just time? Time is money, right? Tyler will reassure you that every artist can use some help. And he steered the grants program with integrity and with an alacrity that made all those long hours (reviewing applications, attending interview sessions) seem as joyous as the performances and exhibitions he seemed never to miss. The best function of art is to bring about pure feeling and new thought, and we want to acknowledge publicly and in this very small way our gratitude for how much Paul Tyler has made this possible for so many of us. BEST REASON TO QUIT YOUR DAMN JOB AND LOOK AT ART ALL THE TIME
The NCECA Conference Kansas City got to host the 50th-anniversary Conference of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts t his past spring. It was a big deal. You can still download the 23-page gallery guide to the exhibitions, if only to reminisce about what you saw and kick yourself about what you missed, presumably because you were busy working. Of note was The Garden Party, at the Belger Arts Center (2100 Walnut), which featured stunning works by Kim Dickey, Rain Harris, Jessica Knapp, Kyle Triplett and Casey Whittier and stayed on view into the summer. We also fell in love with Emily Connell, whose "petrified" books in Vade Mecum at the Kiosk Gallery (916 East Fifth Street) captivated with their delicate-seeming solidity.
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BEST SHOW YOU DIDN'T KNOW YOU NEEDED
Alone & Together. Colette &Jeff Bangert KANSAS CITY ARTISTS COALITION
When the Kansas City Artists Coalition (201 Wyandotte) mounted its expansive exhibition of the so-year career of Colette and Jeff Bangert - who produced "computer art" when that term was new and needed to be enclosed in quotation marks - most of us probably had never heard of the artist and her mathematician husband. All this time later, though, Colette Bangert, a KCAC founding member, has thousands of works in her Lawrence studio. So it's no surprise that KCAC director Janet Simpson found the task of selecting the works for this retrospective daunting and inspiring. Collette, in her 80s, is still working, and she has been a master at self-documentation along the way: The binder of press clips, gallery guides and other retro-fonted material that was on a pedestal during the exhibition was a delightful slice of local art history. BEST PLACE TO INSTA-CULTURE YOURSELF
The Folly Theater 300 W EST 12TH STREET I FOLLYTHEATER.ORG
Sometime during the Christian McBride Trio's Folly Theater finale, a slyly unironic reading of Rose Royce's Bicentennial classic, "Car Wash," it occurred to us that live music doesn't get any better than this. Wait, isn't that what Bill Shapiro says on KCUR whenever he books one of his Cyprus Avenue Live shows at the Folly? Pretty sure that's just how he puts it. Well, he's rightas long as we're talking about the full Folly calendar (not limited to the stately events connected to Shapiro's boomer-magnet radio show). McBride, the bass genius and superconnected jazz ambassador, was here in April, playing to a full house not too long after we'd had all kinds of elbow and leg room at a piano recital lightly attended by eager music students and a couple of dozen folks who clearly see their names printed in all the glossy programs at all the venues, somewhere between "thank you" and a dollar sign. Tell you what, people: Keep writing those checks to the Folly and the entities that keep us dressing up and strolling into this classic old burlesque house. The Folly Jazz Series, the Kansas City Friends of Chamber Music, those Cyprus Avenue nights, the Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey - like the song goes, ain't no tellin' who you might meet at the Folly. We love all of these series enough to wish we were big-checkbook types and not cashand-carry English majors (You might not everget rich/But let me tell ya it's better than diggin' a ditch). 56
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AT KANSAS CITY'S FAVORITE EATERIES
ONE WEEK ONL Yl PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS:
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Two locations: Blue Springs & Downtown KCMO
Our downtown location is moving to the corner of 12th and Main St. (formerly The Ingredient)
58 THE PITCH
BEST OF KANSAS CITY 2016
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- - - READERS ' CHOICES - - -
BEST BARBECUE Joe's Kansas City 039 Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue BEST BARBECUE EVENT American Royal Great Lenexa BBQBattle Ribs for Kids KC BEST RIBS Joe's Kansas City Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue 039 BEST BURNT ENDS Joe's Kansas City Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue 039 BEST BARBECUE PORK Joe's Kansas City 039 Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue BEST BARBECUE BEEF Joe's Kansas City Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue 039 BEST BARBECUE CHICKEN Joe's Kansas City Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue 039 BEST BARBECUE SIDE DISH Cheesy Corn Bake, Jack Stack Hickory Pit Beans, Jack Stack Mac and Cheese, 039 BEST ONLY-IN-KC DISH Z-Man, Joe's Kansas City Burn Ends, Joe's Kansas City Crown Beef ribs, Jack Stack BEST SANDWICH The Z-Man - Joe's Kansas City The Pigwich- Pigwich Senor Chang - The Bite The Bay Boy - Bay Boy Specialty Sandwiches BEST FRENCH FRIES Joe's Kansas City Beer Kitchen Westside Local
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816.765.4707 I BrancatosCatering .com
LEADING CATERERS of AMERICA 2016
60 THE PITCH
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BEST SPECIAL
$2 burritos on Thursdays
woodsy notes as well, revealing new layers of flavor with every hearty slurp.
RICO'S TACOS LUPE 802 SOUTHWEST BOU LEVARD
We defy you to find a better deal in town than the $2 burritos all day every Thursday at Rico's Tacos Lupe. The burritos, stuffed with your choice of meat and the usual fillings (beans or rice, cheese, lettuce), make a tasty and filling meal at an almost guilt-inducing price. Almost. We've even witnessed a certain kickball team with an obscene name (Boner Patrol) order 30 and feast on them at Penn Valley Park after a game. Get it to go or BYOB and chow down on burritos and chips and salsa in the restaurant. BEST RAMEN DISH
Shoyubowl SHIO RAMEN SHOP 3605 BROADWAY I SHIORAMEN SHOP.COM
Well, here's something t hat would have shocked us a couple of years ago: After a long drought, there's no shortage of good ramen in KC. The seven-month-old Shio Ramen Shop, which makes the best noodles in the city, also gets top broth honors for its Shoyu bowl. It blends four kinds of soy sauce and tamari with chicken and dashi broth to achieve a tangy, impossibly addictive umami-thon. The broth has subtle,
BEST FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY
Meshuggah Bagels 1208 WEST 39TH STREET I MESHUGGAHBAGELS.COM
When it comes to authentic New York-style bagels, Kansas Citians have long lacked a genuine frame of reference. But with the opening this past winter of Meshuggah Bagels (the name means "crazy" in Yiddish), those days are over. We now understand that bagels are not sad, stale rings sold in chain operations. Real bagels are really good. The creation of Pete Linde, a descendant of Jewish immigrants who has baking in his blood, and his wife, Janna, a food-industry executive, Meshuggah makes certified-Kosher bagels that are crusty outside and light inside, thanks to a secret mix of yeast, malt, sugar and salt. The cream cheese is rich and utterly worth the calories, especially when paired with the fresh-tasting nova lox, a sandwich that also comes loaded with tomatoes, capers and onions. And the creamy, savory whitefish salad is a flavor so immersive you won't even pause to rave about it on Instagram until after you're done. With a second location headed for Overland Park, there's finally a way to make up for all those years you spent eating inferior bagels.
BEST LAWRENCE RESTAURANT Free State Brewing Co. Burger Stand at the Casbah 715 Restaurant
BEST BUTCHER SHOP The Local Pig McGonagle's Family Butcher Broadway Butcher Shop
BEST BAKERY McLain's Bakery Heirloom Bakery & Hearth Sasha's Baking Co.
BEST CAJUN FOOD Jazz- A Louisiana Kitchen Beignet Danny's Big Easy
BEST BAR FOOD The Peanut Beer Kitchen The Brick
BEST CATERER Brancato's Catering Moxie Catering Lon Lane's Inspired Occasions
BEST BREAKFAST First Watch Succotash Eggcetra Restaurant & Deli BEST BRUNCH The Corner Restaurant Beer Kitchen Bristol Seafood Grill Succotash BEST BURGER Westport Flea Market BRGR Kitchen Town Topic pitch.com
BEST CHEAP EATS Grinders Town Topic The Brick BEST CHEF Michael Smith Celina Tio Howard Hanna BEST CHILl Dixon's Famous Chili Fritz's Hayes Hamburger & Chili BEST OF KANSAS CITY 2016
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Hank Charcuterie 62 THE PITCH
BEST OF KANSAS CITY 2016
ZACH BAUMAN
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Lunch Menu Available Monday-Friday 11AM-3PM Happy Hour Menu Available Monday-Friday 3PM-6PM CATERING AVAILABLE & CARRY-OUTS WELCO~E!
. ... DW
1859 Village West Parkway, Kansas City, KS • 913-328-0003 1823 West 39th Street, Kansas City, MO • 816-531 -5556 1012 Massachusetts St, Lawrence, KS 66044 • (785) 838-3228 pitch.com
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~ ZZ&W[[ZY CONFEC T IONS
Thank You Kansas City! You put us in the Best of KC our first year open. We can not express our gratitude.
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BEST OF KANSAS CITY 2016
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BEST FOOD TRUCK Jerusalem Cafe Pie Hole Detroit Coney Food Truck BEST FRIED CHICKEN Stroud's Restaurant & Bar RyeKC The North End KC BEST HANGOVER BREAKFAST Chubby's on Broadway Town Topic Beer Kitchen The Brick BEST HOT DOG / BRATWURST Werner's Fine Sausages Detroit Coney Mobile Food Truck Affare
BEST PLACE TO GLADLY FORK OVER $20
Unbakery S }uicery 634 EAST 63RD STREET
BEST HOTEL RESTAURANT Chaz on the Plaza - Raphael Hotel The Reserve - The Ambassador Hotel Bar Rosso - Hotel Sorella Providence New American Kitchen Hilton Hotel President BEST PASTRIES McLain's Bakery Heirloom Bakery & Hearth Le Monde Bakery BEST SUB SHOP Planet Sub Firehouse Subs Jimmy John's Mr. Goodcents BEST SUB/ HOAGIE South Philly Cheese Steak at Grinders Bell Street Bomb at D'Bronx No. 1 at Carollo's Italian Deli universe. But one Thursday there was no box, and darkness did descend and the unintended cruelty of the Murray's present was revealed, and the two people who loved each other wept bitterly and hurled canisters of Kraft grated parmesan at the empty sky. And lo, their $2.99 sacrifice and the force of the cheese love between the two cottage dwellers caused a brick-andmortar-ish Murray's Cheese Shop outpost to materialize in the attainable west of deep suburban Lawrence, and it was run by a magical expert named Sara Knickerbocker. The couple filled their hands with fine stinky cheese that was competitively priced, and bought crackers that couldn't be had elsewhere. And they vowed to return often, and they lived cheesily ever after.
By offering a healthy, primarily vegan graband-go lunch stop - there's even a drivethru if you're really in a hurry- Unbakery is contributing to the revival of that particularly vintage Brookside corridor along 63rd Street between Main and Troost. Owned and operated by Robin Krause, formerly of the Filling Station, and her husband, Danny, Unbakery is helping turn East Brookside into a lunchtime destination by offering raw meals that are uniquely delicious, such as pad Thai with seaweed noodles, or a falafel wrap bursting with kimchi and colorful veggies. The cafe also offers a variety of fresh-pressed juices, with multiple varieties BEST GIVING THE PEOPLE of green, citrus and root-vegetable-based WHAT THEY WANT options, as well as a series of tonics. And Hank Charcuterie whatever you do, don't skip dessert. The 1900 MASSACHUSETTS STREET, LAWRENCE macaroons here are among the best we've HANKMEATS.COM tried, and the ginger bar - as well as its drool-worthy cousin, the chai bar- are not Hank Charcuterie owner and chef Vaughn available anywhere else and are absolutely Good opened his flesh-centric storefront in worth the price of admission. 2014, to almost instant high demand and hushed acclaim. Soon, he was collaboratBEST SUPERMAN COMING TO ing with other beloved businesses (Port THE SUPERMARKET Fonda, Green Dirt Farms) and putting together cocktail and brunch menus. Hank Murray's Cheese Shop DILLON$, 4701 WEST SIXTH STREET, LAWRENCE was now so popular that there was no lon785¡838¡0100 ger room for the butcher counter. So away Once upon a time, there was a cottage. And the counter went, in favor of a bar - and a in the cottage Jived two people who loved full-time, full-service operation. Good exeach other and who also loved cheese, ecuted the change this past July, adhering sometimes not in that order. And to that to his promised tight schedule and thus cottage came boxes, every third Thursday ensuring that the hip did not go hungry for a year, from Murray's, the revered New very long. Along with 715 and Limestone York cheese purveyor and high-gravity cen- and Port Fonda, Hank is part of a wave of ter of the food-of-the-month-gift-package restaurants in the 785 that justify driving in pi tc h.com
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BEST ASIAN RESTAURANT Lulu's Thai Noodle Shop Blue Koi Noodles & Dumplings Bo Lings Chinese Restaurant BEST CHOCOLATE SHOP Christopher Elbow Chocolatier Andre's Confiserie Suisse Bizz & Weezy Confections BEST CULINARY EVENT Kansas City Restaurant Week Taste of Kansas City Forks & Corks
1713 Summit St. KCMO (816) 471 -2616
ChezElleKC.com - H 0 URSMon: 11a-2p ITu-Th: 7:30a-3p Fri: 7:30a-9p I Sat: 8a-9p Sun: 8a-3p
Meshuggah BagelsALLYSON PECK
BEST CUPCAKES Smallcakes Cupcake ala Mode BabyCakes BEST DELICATESSEN D'Bronx Milwaukee Deli Carollo's Grocery & Deli BEST DESSERT MENU Andre's Confiserie Suisse Bluestem Cafe Europa BEST DOUGHNUTS LaMar's Donuts Doughnut Lounge Donut King
Andre's Confiserie Suisse ALLYSON PECK
and out for one damn good meal. And like his fellow LFK restaurateurs, Good keeps calmly challenging himself, knowing that his win is our win.
BEST PIZZA
Providence Pizza 12925 U.S. HIGHWAY 71, GRANDVIEW PROVID ENCEPIZZA.COM
" The WestSJde Local combmes the lively soc1al settmg of a tavern w1th the flavors and serv1ce of upscale dmmg. • •
RESERVE ONLINE AT: www.thewestsidelocal.com 1663 SUMMIT, KC, MO 64108 816.997.9089 66 THE PITCH
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It's closed on Sundays, doesn't keep the ovens going past the local newscasts, and occupies an old Long John Silver's in churchy, blue-pajama-collar Grandview. For Yelp types, it is neither convenient nor conducive to braggy filtered iPhone photos. Yet each of these seeming deficits somehow compounds Providence's undeniable virtues. The two-year-old restaurant serves what's easily the best New York-st yle pie in t he met ro these days, makes a more-thantasty Sicilian pizza, and turns out Neapolitan 10-inchers t hat are wit hin a fresh mozz ball's throw of authentic without the chinscratching fuss (and with a more generous portion of toppings). The menu, which surrounds its destination-worthy pizzas with good salads, better garlic knots and desserts that don't come off a truck, is also a straight-up bargain. Lucky you, Grandview.
BEST OF KANSAS CITY 2016
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Betty Rae's Ice Cream
Christopher ElbowZACH BAUMAN
CLASSIC MEETS CONTEMPORARY
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BEST OF J<ANSAS CITY 2016
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tnort Flea 1\1a~lr ,,.,,
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Bar & Grill
et
23 e. 3rd street KCMO / mon-fri 10:30-4;sat-sun 9:30-4 IN THE HISTORIC CITY MARKET
Westport Flea Market 1667 SUMMIT KANSAS CITY, MISSOURII816-471-0450
JUST
68 THE PITCH
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BEST OF KANSAS CITY 2016
CI~OS t2_
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BEST ICE CREAM Murray's Ice Creams &Cookies Betty Rae's Ice Cream Glace Artisan Ice Cream
BEST MEXICAN RESTAURANT E1Patr6n Ponak's Mexican Kitchen &Bar Port Fonda
BEST INDIAN RESTAURANT KormaSutra Taj Mahal Authentic Cuisine of India Swagat Fine Indian Cuisine
BEST NEW RESTAURANT Blvd Tavern Third Street Social Krokstrom Klubb &Market
BEST ITALIAN RESTAURANT Garozzo's Ristorante Cascone's Grill The North End KC
BEST OUTDOOR DINING Char Bar Gram&Dun McCoy's Public House
BEST LATE-NIGHT EATS Town Topic Chubby's on Broadway Westport Cafe and Bar
BEST PIZZA Minsky's Waldo Pizza Spin Neapolitan Pizza
BEST LOCAL BREAD Farm to Market Fervere Ibis Bakery
BEST RESTAURANT/BAR FOR A FIRST DATE The Rieger Extra Virgin
BEST MEDITERRANEAN RESTAURANT Jerusalem Bakery Aladdin Cafe Papu'sCafe
PotPie
~ava
BEST PLACE FOR A ROMANTIC DINNER Bluestem LeFouFrog Novel
BEST PLACE TO EAT AT THE BAR Extra Virgin Bluestem The North End KC
BEST STEAKHOUSE The capital Grille Anton's Hereford House
BEST RESTAURANT The Rieger Bluestem Novel Restaurant
BEST SUSHI Nara Bob Wasabi Kitchen Friends Sushi & Bento Place
BEST SEAFOOD Bristol Seafood Grill Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar Jarocho Pescados y Mariscos
BEST VEGETARIAN MENU Cafe Gratitude Eden Alley Ftid
BEST SERVER Cassie Neimeyer - the Rieger Constance Tinoco - Rudy's Tenampa Taqueria Madison Foster - Brick's Pub & Grub Mary Ann Hueschen - Rudy's Tenampa Taqueria
BEST WINGS The Peanut Buffalo Wild Wings Wings cafe
BEST SERVICE The Capital Grille The Rieger Michael Smith
BEST PIE The Corner Cafe Upper Crust Rye BEST COOKIES McClain's Bakery Blue Chip Cookies Insomnia Cookies
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307 MAIN STREET KCMO 64105 • 816- 472-0777 • BEIGNETKC.COM
A fa ll favorite is back! Come in today for a Pumpkin Pie Concrete! Fresh van illa frozen custard blended with a whole slice of pumpki n pie!
IBIS B AKE R Y
12817 W. 87TH ST PKWY LENEXA, KS 66215
t.ll.-'oC.llt"'C:O., o l(lo~·t(A0
913 669 9883
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FEAST magazine BEST PIZZA •
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thank you KC for voting us "BEST PIZZA"
••
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Beautiful Dowtttown Waldo 816-363-52 42 • 7433 Broadway St. (75th & Wornall)
70
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Let's Spoon!
Lovely Suburban Lee's Summit 1543 NE Douglas • 816-875 -2121 (Douglas & Mulberry)
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BEARD ESSENTIALS AT WILD ABOUT HARRY
PIE BAKING DISHES AT GILBERT WHITNEY & CO.
72 THE PITCH
WARM CHOWDER AT COURTHOUSE EXCHANGE
FALL DECOR
PUMPKIN LATTES
AT BE HERE NOW
AT MAIN ST. COFFEE HOUSE
BEST OF KANSAS CITY 2016
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a...
Cirque du Sucre
BEST RECONNECTION WITH 5-YEAR-OLD YOU
or swooning under hot fudge or sprinkled toppings - of shareable selfish abandon. It Anything that fits in a waffle cone would be altogether right to pedal our Big at Betty Rae's Ice Cream Wheels right up to the counter to order, and we'd do it if we could. 7140 WORNALL ROAD I BETTYRAES.COM One early summer evening in what we BEST 10-AND-2 DESSERT will always remember as Year Zero for the overnight Waldo sensation Betty Cirque du Sucre's FrenchRae's, one of us suggested driving to the macaron ice cream sandwich ice cream shop, standing in line, ordering CIRQUEDUSUCRE.COM a couple of cones and eating the shit out "It's too big, really," Natasha Goellner of them. Eagerness was in evidence, but told us over the summer when we asked geography prevailed; we were 15 minutes the Mulberry & Mott founder about her out and would have arrived there within latest sweet venture, Cirque du Sucre. 10 minutes of closing time. This would The French phrase means "circus of have appeared desperate. One of us did in sugar," and Goellner was talking about fact feel desperate - for the ice cream, all the rehabbed Faultless Linen truck that of it made on site and looking and feeling her fat her, George Goellner, helped on the lips and the tongue the way your her find. But you'd be excused if you kindergarten self imagined a cumulus thought she meant Cirque's monolithic cloud must, and for the waffle cone, it ice cream sandwiches, which involve too house-concocted and smelling and steering-wheel-sized macarons and a tasting like the first day of some forever, wedge of giddily flavored ice cream big pre-global-warning summer. We trudged enough to use as an ottoman. Suddenly to bed and then to work the next day and it makes sense why she'd need a 20-foottried to forget. The next evening, Betty long vehicle. She says it's hard to back Rae's Instagrammed a new s'mores ice into a space, but you're the one who has cream. Now it was on, and would have to figure out how to park - your own been on no matter the drive or the prox- satisfied ass - after you take down one imity to lights-out. Because this isn't the of these le bad boys. (We're part ial to ice cream of clocks and rules or even ba- picking up one of them after a meal at sic household politeness. This is the ice Columbus Park Ramen Shop, on one of cream - overrunning a cone or melting the evenings the Cirque cooler shows up slowly in espresso or dissolving in booze there. Check Facebook.)
Complement of the Chef Jenn Tosatto has served up competition-level drinks in Kansas City bars, pubs and speakeasies for nearly ten years. Now she's bringing that bartending expertise to 039. She's developed a craft-cocktail bar menu from the bottom up, featuring exclusive drinks and well-known throwbacks to complement the aroma and flavors of the 039 kitchen . Chef Rob Magee created one of the most innovative barbeque kitchens in Kansas City in 039. With Jenn Tosatto, as the new bar manager, 0 39 is creating one of the most innovative bars in town. Stop in to 039 for a drink- and be sure to say hello to Jenn.
Learn more about Jenn and her approach to mixology at
Q39KC.COM
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blue bi'fd bistro MidAmerican Roots are reflected 1n the d 1vers1ty of what grounds us in our cuisine . Th i s reg i on is generations of farmers who made their way here from around the world Not one commun 1ty was large enough to dictate their ancestors' cuisine. thus allowmg us to pull 1deas from around the world that enhance the f l avor of the food grown 1n our region to shi ne
breakfast. lunch. dmner. bar
816-221-7559 www. bluebirdb1stro .com
Steaks, Seafood & American Classics CASUAL NEIGHBORHOOD DINING
3901 Prall'ic L&nel Prairie Village. KS 166208 LcM;•tt<t .-.~toe PrliiM v -.go ~ng C•m.r (913) 5~9-~2~9 www.urvemlnthevi11.6gc.com
74 THE PITCH
10681Mlslson Rd I leawood, KS 166206 l oc-'td .-. MI$Skln F•rms
Pllooe: (913) 213-6588 www.tavematmlssionf¥ ms.com
BEST OF I<ANSAS CITY 2016
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BEST LIQUOR STORE OASIS
Plaza Liquor 4500 BELLEVIEW I PLAZALIQUORKC.COM
Sure, there are easier ways than negotiating the West Plaza's zippy strip of Belleview to get take-home booze. But the selection at Plaza Liquor more than justifies this minor hassle, and beer manager Thomas Woodward is one ofthe most knowledgeable guys you'll find in the city when it comes to brews (and is also the inspiration for Torn Label's Magic Magic, one ofthe year's best beers). Whether you're looking for the latest Boulevard release or Fantome - or wine or whiskey or tequila, etc. - Plaza Liquor has what you crave.
BEST SPECIAL-RELEASE BEER
Rye-on-Rye-on-Rye BOU LEVARD BREWING CO.
Damn, Boulevard. We love Rye-on-Rye-onRye ... maybe a little too much. The beer, aged in first-use rye-whiskey barrels and then transferred to another set of first-use rye whiskey barrels for a second round of aging, is a commitment. Are we drinking it if it's on tap? Yes. Are we doing anything else productive that day? Other than Ubering home and going directly to bed, no. No we're not. With a beer that's 14.6 percent ABV, that's the responsible thing to do. We last saw this draft-only beer in the wild in
BEST BAR TO MEET PEOPLE Up-DownKC Westport Ale House Tom's Town Distilling Co. Buzzard Beach BEST NEIGHBORHOOD BAR Charlie Hooper's Hi-Dive Lounge Brick's Pub & Grub BEST NEW BAR OR CLUB Tom's Town Distilling Co. No Other Pub Throwback
BEST HOTEL BAR The Drum Room (Hotel President) Chaz (Raphael Hotel) Rosso (Hotel Sorella) BEST PATIO Char Bar McCoy's Public House The Well BEST ROOFTOP The Well John's Big Deck Westport Ale House
BEST BARTENDER Jenn Tosatto, 039 JT Koenig-Riley, Tom's Town Philip Gastl, Rudy's Tenampa Taqueria
BEST SPORTS BAR Johnny's Tavern Westport Ale House No Other Pub The Blue Line
BEST DIVE BAR Buzzard Beach The Hi-Dive Lounge Chez Charlie
BEST 3 A .M . BAR Harry's Bar and Tables Kelly's Westport Inn Buzzard Beach
BEST GAY BAR MissieB's Hamburger Mary's Bistro303
BEST IRISH PUB Kelly's Westport Inn O'Dowd's Little Dublin O'Malley's Pub pi t ch.com
the beer hall at the Boulevard Tours and Recreation Center. In January 2017, you'll be able to get it in 750-ml bottles. What a time to be alive.
BEST SECOND ROUND
Boulevard Tours and Recreation Center 2534 MADISON AVEN UE I BOULEVARD.COM
Since July, we've found ourselves saying the same thing repeatedly to our beer-loving friends: Have you been to the Boulevard beer hall? We don't really care about the answer, because we're going to say the same thing we always say after posing that question: Wanna go? The answer better be yes, because we're going anyway. We're going to d rink the beer-hall exclusives. We're going to sample the test beers. We're going to walk onto t he deck and witness the revelatory view of Kansas City. The beers are all great . The photo booth helps us remember the good times. Just one suggestion for the Boulevard gods. Stay open a little bit later (9 p.m.?) for us working stiffs.
BEST ADDITION
Bier Station's pat io 120 EAST GREGORY BOULEVARD I BIERSTATION.COM
Bier Station could have stayed the same, and we'd have loved it the same. But give BEST OF KANSAS CITY 20 16
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Best Spot in KC to ~atch all your fa'\orite games Only 5 minutes from the Stadiums
19203 O LD US 40 ~ I GGINSVILU: , MO 64037 660·584·6661 · ARCAD I ANMOON.COM
Just 45 minutes from downtown Kansas City, at t-70 and M0-13
THANK YOU KANSAS CITY 6 ''BEST OF KC'' NOMINATIONS -BEST CHEAP DATE -BEST PLACE FOR A FIRST DATE -BEST PLACE TO MEET MEN -BEST BAR TO MEET PEOPLE -BEST PLACE FOR GUYS NIGHT OUT -BEST PLACE FOR GIRLS NIGHT OUT
UP-
201 5 READERS' CHOICE WINNER:
DOWN
BEST NEW BAR
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pitch.com
101 SOUTHWEST BLVD. KCMO UPDOWNKC.COM
BEST BEER FESTIVAL Boulevardia Taps & Tastes Parkville Microwbrew Festival KC Nanobrew Festival BEST BEER SELECTION (TAPS) Bier Station Flying Saucer Tapcade at Screenland Crossroads BEST BREW PUB KCBierCo. McCoy's Public House Martin City Brewing Co.
the old-time-whimsy meter. But the point isn't to read about Hugo Tea - the point is to drink the satisfying brews its leaves yield. And more and more, that's easy to do. The company's tea has become a staple at area indie coffeehouses. Iced, it's a quaffable alternative to summer coffee toddies that can come out bitter. Hot, the complexities in each variety emerge. Either way, the stuff complements our deep java scene as naturally as the lighter skin around a dark, dark hickey. BEST SHOW OF LIQUIDITY
Simple Science Juices VARIOUS LOCATIONS I SIMPLESCIENCEJU ICES.COM
BEST LOCAL BREWERY Boulevard Brewing Co. KCBierCo. Crane Brewing BEST NEW BREWERY Crane Brewing Torn Label Brewing Co. Stockyards Brewing Co. BEST LOCAL SPECIALTY BEER RELEASE Orange Gose (Crane Brewing) Long Time Comin' Imperial Stout (Torn Label) Small Ball Saison (Crane Brewing) BEST BOULEVARD RELEASE Ginger-Lemon Radler Tropical Pale Ale Saison-Brett
If the growth of Simple Science Juices is any indicator, a lot of people are ready to get serious about at least seeming serious about their health. According to owner Steve Spangler, Simple Science's sales averaged so bottles of cold-pressed juice a week last March- and 1,500 a week by November. The numbers keep improving, he adds, and real estate seems to back up that report: Following its original downtown Overland Park location, Simple Science has opened shops this year in Brookside and the Crossroads. Spangler is bullish on juicing as more than a trend because it has worked for him; he says drinking cold-pressed juice has given him more energy and allowed him to leave behind
.,
John Couture credit for seeking out the opinions of his customers and then fol lowing through. He asked fans of his bottle shop and bar what Bier Station could do better. Not only did Couture listen he acted. The reward is a 30-seat patio with retractable, waterproof canopies and gas-powered heat lamps. Yeah, East Gre- 'gory Boulevard isn't the most charming drag in the city, but patio beers at Bier Station, with its eclectic lineup of great beers and the bar's expanded menu, make for a great time. BEST TEA PARTY
Hugo Tea HUGOTEA.COM
Though the website is included above to indicate that we've performed our due diligence on t he does-it-really-exist front, it's with zero hesitation that we advise against clicking very far into hugotea. com. The part that attempts to describe the company's origins and mission is to the far right of millennia! preciousness, somewhere between straw boaters and your great-grandparents' wallpaper on
--...-.!
FRANK NORTON
pitch.com
B EST OF KANSAS CITY 20 16
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KANSAS CITY PARTY
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THURSDAY, OCT. 6, 2016 • 6PM VIP/7PM GA Join us for an evening of celebration, networking & making memories.
•
ANNOUNCING PERFORMANCES BY SELECT MEMBERS OF THE KC SYMPHONY, JAMES WARD BAND & YES YOU ARE!
MADRID T H E A TRE
KANSAS CITY 3810 MAIN
FOR TICKETS: PITCH.COM OR CALL 816.561.6061 Limited tickets available. Tickets may not be available at door. Must be 21+ w/ valid 10 .
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SPONSORED BY: FOOD & DRINK SAMPLES FROM:
AMtDICAN
JAZZ MUHUM
78 TH E PITC H
BEST OF KA NSAS CITY 2 016
pit ch.co m
Aladdin
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MIKEâ&#x20AC;¢s wine and spirits MIKESKC.COM
Open 7 Days a week Waldo I Brookside I Westport I
BEST BLOODY MARY
BEST PLACE FOR CRAFT COCKTAILS
Beer Kitchen Port Fonda Rye
Manifesto Julep Tom's Town Distilling Co.
BEST COCKTAIL MENU
BEST PLACE FOR GIRLS NIGHT OUT
Manifesto Juelp Tom's Town Distilling Co.
Up-DownKC Tom's Town Distilling Co.
BEST HAPPY HOUR La Bodega
KonaGrill Summit Grill & Bar BEST LOCAL DISTILLERY J. Rieger & Co.
Tom's Town Distilling Co. Union Horse Distilling Co.
c;ava BEST PLACE FOR GUYS NIGHT OUT
Up-DownKC Tom's Town Distilling Co. Tapcade at Screenland Crossroads BEST WHISKEY SELECTION
Julep Harry's Country Club Barrel
BEST MARGARITA
BEST CHEAP DRINKS
ElPatron Ponak's Mexican Kitchen & Bar Port Fonda
Buzzard Beach Rudy's Tenampa Taqueria Chez Charlie
Paint, Drink, & Have Fun! Bring your friends. open a bottle. and experience painting in a fun. no-pressure environment w ith guidance from local artists. Whether you're looking for that perfect place for your next Team Builder. Holiday Party, Bachelorette or any type of party, contact us and we'll be happy to assist you!
BEST MARTINI
Harry's Bar & Tables The Capital Grille Tom's Town Distilling Co.
www.pinotspalette.com/briarcliff pitch.com
BEST OF KANSAS CITY 2016
THE PITCH
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BEST OF
KANSAS CITY
t6
ZACH BAUMAN
several medications. "It's a lifestyle," is how he puts it. It's an indulgence, is how we put it- a super-tasty one that does indeed feel healthy. BEST CURE FOR SLUSH -SHAMING
Hi-Hat's E-Crush 5012 STATE LIN E ROAD, W ESTWOOD HILLS
It's not as though we've never told you about the E-Crush. The chocolate, the milk, the ice. The shot. The proprietary cocoa-powder-y mix you'd go full Scarface to protect from rival forces or economic BEST LOCAL WINERY Arnigoni Urban Winery Pirtle Winery KC Wineworks
To Do= P I~Y TriVi~/
Win Pnzes ~nd
BEST WINE BAR Tannin Wine Bar & Kitchen Louie's Wine Dive
Internet GlorY!
9lVa
downturn (yeah, right; it's Westwood Hills). And really, it's not as though everybody else doesn't already know, doesn't already plan his or her Saturday errands around this frappe fix. In fact, there are hot days - and tepid days and crunchy late-winter days - when this happy hobbit's rain barrel of a caffeine emporium seems to pour little else. You press yourself inside, share a kind nod with your fellow addicts, exchange oddly heartfelt salutations with the barista, and hear the blender blades whir, stop, whir, stop, whir, stop, like the fastest airboat on an Everglades gator hunt, as the customers ahead of you get the goods, punch out their straws and go. Then it's your turn, and you've already paid (the Hi-Hat is efficient), and you hustle your cold plastic cup to the car and sip your first dessert of the day in absolutely satisfied privacy. BEST PLACE TO FEEL LIKE A BROOKSIDER
Underdog Wine Co. 319 EAST 55TH STREET I UNDERDOGWINEKC.COM
BEST WINE LIST IN A RESTAURANT JJ's Restaurant Tannin Wine Bar & Kitchen Cooper's Hawk Bluestem
80
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BEST OF KANSAS CITY 20 16
pitc h.com
This is hard to admit, but here goes: We recently used the C-word and totally meant it. Someone asked where we liked to buy wine, and we found ourselves describing Underdog, the handsome, narrow storefront in the Crestwood Shops, as ... as ...
FEATURING A
NEW EXPANDED MENU
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1515 WESTPORT RD. â&#x20AC;˘ 816-931-941
120 E. Gregory Blvd. Kansas City. MO 64114 816-548-3870
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oh, god ... c-c-curated. And so it is. Ryan and Jenny Sciara, Underdog's husbandand-wife owners (Ryan is always there, and he remembers your name and your weakness for Priorat and that expensive Scotch you've been eyeing), named their business with that notion in mind: The store's wines are familiar enough in their origins and styles, yet the emphasis here is on labels you don't run across elsewhere, from makers who end up inspiring new loyalty. Unembarrassing bargains abound, and there are splurges to be made as well, but even the good-wine-for-any-budget aspect of Underdog isn't what keeps us corning back. No, it's the sense that there might not be any bottles on these shelves we wouldn't like. (Name another retail operation where you're confident you won't make a mistake.) Which is what attracts certain of the KC kitchen illuminati, along with Brookside denizens who can walk to and from the shop on a roughly per-meal basis. We don't usually go in for cellar lust or zip-code envy, but something about shopping at Underdog uncorks a little aspirational thinking, one $20 discovery at a time.
I
BIERSTATION.COM
BEST BARGAIN COCKTAIL F ric & Frac's Lavender Fizz 1700 WEST 39TH STREET
A well-balanced cocktail is a worthy splurge, but the $10-$12 price tag can smart if you plan on sampling more than one. At $6.75, Fric & Frac's Lavender Fizz isn't what you'd call a budget drink. But the smoothsipping refresher, featuring lavender and hibiscus-infused gin, is proof you can still get a damn fine cocktail without paying the mustache-wax markup. Our grandparents used to boast about 25-cent movies; we'll tell our grandchildren about the halcyon days when you could get a cheap craft cocktail at a bar with vinyl tablecloths. BEST COFFEE The Roasterie ThouMayest Oddly Correct BEST MILKSHAKE Winstead's BRGR Town Topic pitch.com
BEST OF J<ANSAS CITY 2016
T HE PITCH
81
10/6
CRAIG CAMPBELL
11/ 17
PHIL VASSAR
12/ 8
SCOTTY MCCREERY
12/14
QUEENSRYCHE
WE HAND CRAFT AWARD WINNING WlNE RIGHT HERE IN KANSAS ClTY.
1\.9
WINEWORKS 1829 MCGEE STREET, KANSAS CITY, MO 64108 KCWINEWORKS.COM
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@kcwineworks
82 T HE PITC H
BEST OF KANSAS CITY 2016
p itch.com
816.303.7777 KANSAS
OTHER CITIES
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BEST OF KANSAS CITY 2016
THE PITCH
83
CROWD SYSTEMS NOW HIRING PART-TIME EVENT STAFF
SECURITY OFFICERS ARMED & UNARMED
0 QUINTILES.
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Participate in Study 5099
KCPI Security is looking for Armed and Unarmed officers. We have openings for both full and part time positions
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follow on Twitter: @Phillips_Jobs Like on facebook: Hotel Phillips Employment Opportunities
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StudyForChange.com
913.894.5533
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~
0 QUINTILES. $11.10-12.60/hr. to start Olathe· $11.10/hr Shawnee· $11.60 • $12.60/hr KCMO • $11.60- $12.60/hr
Be a Research Hero
Participate in Study 5084 Do you have Parkinson's Disease?
QUALIRCATIONS: 18 years or older • Must be able to load, unload and sort packages, as well as perform other related duties.
Apply online at GroundWarehouseJobs.fedex.com or visit our In-House Job fairs weekly at all our locations Call for more information!
LOCATIONS:
8000 Cole Parkway, Shawnee, KS 66227 I Hotline: 913.441.7580 22161 W167th St., Olathe, KS 660621 Hotline: 913.856.2135 12501 NE 40th Street, Kansas City, MO 641611 Hotline: 816.413.1123
Ground 84 THE PITCH
®
Fed Ex Ground is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer Minorities/Females/Disability/ Veterans committed to a diverse workforce.
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€tloretto
APARTMENTS ~ ~ ,_. !11/TiW fJ.JJ;.g"' It/ J 9r!. STUDIOS, 1&2 BEDROOMS • All utilities included • Off Street Parking • Laundry Facilities 816-531·3lll • Huge W indows 1111 W. 39th St. • High Ceilings KCMO
500
2034
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legal
$99 DIVORCE $99 Simple, Uncontested+ Filing Fee. Don Davis. 816·531·1330
2046
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FED EX NOW HIRING Interested in a fast-paced job with career advancement opportunities? Join the FedEx® Ground teamas apackage handler. Starting Pay$10.70·$11.70/hr. NEW Pay Rates starting October 2nd: Olathe· Sf1.10/hr Shawnee· $1 1.60 • $12.60/hr KCMO • $11.60- $12.60/hr Qualifications: 18 years or older. Must be able to load. unload and sort packages. as well as perform other related duties. All interested candidates must allend asort observation at our lacility prior to applying for the position. Schedule a sort observation at www.watchasort.com or visit our In-House Job lairs weekly at all our locations Call for more information! LOCATIONS: 8000 Cole Parkway. Shawnee. KS 66227 1Hotline: 913.441.7580 22161 W 1671h St., Olathe. KS 660621 Holline: 913.856.2135 12501 NE 40th Street, Kansas Ci1y, MO 641611 Holline:816.413.1t23 FedEx Ground employer (Minori· ties/Females/Disabilily/Velerans) commillaed to a diverse work· force.Where: 22 161Westt67thSI, Olathe, KS 66062
HilTON PRESIDENT IS NOW HIRING Restaurant Sales Coordinator • PT Banquet Server · On Call Door Person • FT Guest Service Representative· FT Bell Person • PT or FT Valet Driver • PT or FT Room Attendant· FT AM Breakfast Cook • FT Grill Cook· FT Kitchen Supervisor • FT Steward·FT PM Server· FT AM/PM Room Service Server· PT AM/PM Server Assistant· PT To apply please send resume to: Erika.Kozlowski2@hitton. com The Hilton President Kansas City 1329 Balli more
HOTEL PHilliPS 1sseeking: Vale1 Drivers Line Cook Housekeepers AM Servers Host Maintenance Apply In person: 12th & Baltimore or at www.hotelphillips.com
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KCPI Security is looking tor Armed and Unarmed officers. We have openings for both full and part time positions lhroughout the Kansas City metro area. We oiler flexible hours and inleresting as· signments. Bring your career to the next level. Veterans encouraged to apply. Please submit a resume to kcpisecurity@hotmail.com
3000 3034
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AUTO INSURANCE STARTING @ $40 Auto & SR22, Renters, Homeowners, Motorcycle, Business
MO&KS DeMasters Ins. llC
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4000 1100 1000 BUY,SELL, TRADE, MARKETPLACE REAl ESTATE HOUSING/RENTAlS 4028
Miscellaneous
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Kratom
Powders, liquids & capsules in stock now! Bali, Maeng Da, Green Malay, Indo White, & Borneo Red Vein . Volume discounts available. Don't set lie for the other guys' fillers! Available at Main Street Tobacco @4307 Main Slreet816·531·4441 AND KC Smoke & Vape @ 1605 Westport Road 816·931·4434. KCKratom.com
7000
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available for special and holiday events. Pianist has 14+ years ol experience. For more into. please contact Kathleen (913)206·2151 or email: Klmamuric@yahoo.com .
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Homes lor Sale
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1114 Olfice/tommercial For Renl
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Wendy Hawkins Licensed Social Worker In Missouri & Kansas • LGBT Allirmfng Therapy •Individual, Family Therapy • Couples Therapy • Grief and Loss • EMDR Trauma Therapy • Depression • Anxiety/Stress EDUCATE· EMPOWER· EVOLVE 816·729·6122 holislicmental heallhservices@ gmail.com wendyhawkins.net For more inlo: therapists.psychotogytoday.com
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FINO
THE PITCH
To place a classified advertisement, call Steven Suarez at 816.218.6732 or email steven.suarez@pitch.com.
ON
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$400-$850 Rent1 & 2 Bedroom Apartments & 3 Bedroom HOMES.
816-753-5576 CALL TODAY!
Colliers lnterna1ional. EHO
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•
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GREAT lOCATION on beautiful Armour Blvd. in a recently updated building. Directly on the bus line . Gas, water and trash paid.
$425 and $525 Call816-560-0715 for an appt. 1106
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HOUSE FOR RENT 39th & Myrtle Area $735/Month
VERY Clean, Newly Repainted 2Bedroom, t Bath Home. Hardwood Floors. Ceiling Fans. All Appliances Included. Fenced in Backyard & Otl Street Parking For More Information Please Call
NOW HIRING •Laborers •Cashiers • Phone Operators •Equipment Operators •Drivers- Class A& B •COL and Non COL • Plant Sales •l andscape Maintenance (Trimmers and Mow Crews) • Harclgood Sales
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Full & Part Time Positions Available Work hours for some positions will vary depending on the time of year. More hours will be required during our spring season. Positions available in our 3 Retail Store, Service Divisions and our Growing Fann. Entry level posilons available, will train. APPLY IN PERSON Suburban Lawn & Garden Corporate Office 13635 Wyandotte, Kansas City, Mo 64145 FAX: 816.941 .3838 EMAIL RESUM~; suburban@suburbanlg.com contact our Human Resources Department with any Suburban Lawn & Garden at816.941.4700
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BES T OF I< A NS A S CITY 2 0 16
THE PITCH
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PERSONAL LOANS ••• .. .WITH 15 MINUTE APPROVAL WE WANT TO MAKE YOU A LOAN!
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AUTO INSURANCE STARTING @ $40
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Am Breakfast Cook - FT PM Lobb Attendant - FT AM Server - PT PM Room Service Server - PT AM Server Asststant - PT PM Server - FT Banquet Server - FT. On-Call/Seasonal PM Server Assistant - PT Bell Person - PT. FT ReservatiOns/Rooms Ambassador- FT Door Person - FT' - = = = = Restaurant Sales Coordinator - PT Grtll Cook - FT Room Attendant- FT Guest Service Representative - FT
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Main Street Tobacco @4307 Main Street (43rd & Main) 816-531-4441 AND KC Smoke & Vape @ 1605 Westport Road (Just East of Stateline) 816-931-4434.
Maintenance/Engineering Technician- FT
To apply please visit hi~on.applicantstack.com/xlopenings or sendresumeto erika.kozlowski2@hilton.com
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NEED SHOES? loafers. com
Attorney since 1976: 913-345-41 00,
KS/MO. Injuries, workerscomp, criminal, divorce, DUI, traffic, andmore. Lowfees, Call Greg Bangs.
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HOTEL ROOMS
A-1 Motel 816-765-6300 Capital Inn 816-765-4331 6101 E. 87th St./Hillcrest Rd. HBO, Phone, Banquet Hall $39.99 Day/ $169 Week/ $499 Month + Tax
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Available at Main Street Tobacco @4307 Main Street (43rd & Main) 816-531-4441 ANO KC Smoke & Vape @ 1605 Westport Road Just East of Stateline 816-931-4434.
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Four area locations: Lenexa, Overland Park and Prairie Village I Visit us online or in the clubs!
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ORIGINAL "GAS STATION" LOCATION 3002 West 47th Ave. Kansas City, Kansas 66103 913-722-3366
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OLATHE 11950 S. Strang Line Road Olathe, Kansas 66062 913-782-6858
www. ioeskc.com
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LEAWOOD 11723 Roe Avenue Leawood, Kansas 66211 913-338-5151