We're a The Knot Best of Weddings 2010 Pick!

Wedding season approaches, and we're getting ready to host many a blushing bride. Now we're blushing, too... because we won an award!

We are proud to announce that Pachamama's has been rated by local brides and voted The Knot Best of Weddings 2010 Pick. This is our second year in a row to receive this honor. You can see the 2010 winners here, and learn more about how we were selected here.

We've hosted some beautiful weddings in both our Blue Room (seats 50) and our Alton Ballroom (seats 200). We are happy to provide couples and their families with such great evenings.

Mother's Day Brunch Menu

A quick post: our Mom's Day Brunch menu is finished! It'll be served one day only: Sunday, May 9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (It's five courses, $35 per person.)

Sweet Crab and Mango Martini with Crushed Avocado, Lime Leaf Yogurt, & Caramelized Macadamia.

Asparagus and Sweet Pea Soup with Soft-Poached Egg & Truffled Bacon.

Farmers’ Sausage and Cheddar Crêpe with Granny Smith Apples & Cracked Pepper-Maple Drizzle.

Entrée: Choice of...

Lavender and Tomato Roasted Snapper with Fingerling Potatoes, Arugula, & Chive-Blossom Citronette,

Or,

Peppercorn Cullotte Steak with Spinach Stuffed Portabella, Fried Onions, & Tart Cherry Jus.

Dessert: Assortment of Pastries and Sweets.

Reservations strongly suggested; call 785.841.0990 to secure your spot!

Bienvenue, Monsieur Baptiste!

We are excited to welcome Jean Baptiste, winemaker at Moulin de la Gardette, to our restaurant for tomorrow’s Wine Dinner (Thursday, April 29, 6 p.m.) Pictured here is a scene from the beautiful Gigondas AOC.

Here is some information about Monsieur Baptiste, taken from the Moulin de la Gardette Web site:

“For five generations the Meunier family has devoted itself to caring for the vines on the upper garrigue slopes of Les Dentelles. The rich, full and complex Gigondas of Moulin de la Gardette that we enjoy today is the joyful culmination of that tradition. Since 1990, care of the estate has been in the capable hands of Jean Baptiste Meunier who marries sensitivity, respect for traditional values and the best winemaking technology to produce the remarkable Moulin de la Gardette Gigondas wines.”

Here’s our menu, with Chef Ken Baker’s wine pairings:

Reception, 6 p.m.
Green Dirt Farms Woolly Rind Cheese, with arugula-herb salad, apricot-orange blossom vinaigrette, and rye bread crumbs. Ch. De Montfaucon, Comtesse Madeleine, Cotes de Rhone 2005.

Dinner
Banyuls-Cured Pork Belly, with fava beans, charred spring onion, strawberry, and rhubarb. Moulin de la Gardette, Rose, Gigondas 2005.

Eggs En Concotte, with rosemary white beans, saucisson sec, toasted country bread, and aged boucheron. Ch. de Montfaucon, Baron Louis, Cotes de Rhone 2005.

Wood-Fired Duck Breast, with spring vegetable farro, honey-roquefort butter, raspberries, and duck jus. Ch. de Montfaucon, La Cuvee Tradition, Gigondas, 2005.
Fromage Blanc Sorbet

Grilled Spring Lamb Chops, fried ramp-stuffed morels, blackberries, and mint-tarragon lamb essence. Moulin de la Gardette, La Cuvee Ventabren, 2005.

Coffee and Tea Service, with an assortment of truffles and petit fours.

Cost is $75 per person. At the time this blog post was written, we have just a few spots left. Call 785.841.0990 if you're interested in joining the party.



Ici, le petit Jean et son pére.

LOLA Spring Show at Pachamama's

Art
Mommy's Day is around the corner... Pachamama's can help out with that in two ways. First, we're hosting the Ladies of Lawrence Artwork (LOLA) Spring show this Saturday, May 1. LOLA is a loose collective of artisans who make crafts from jewelry to soap, laptop bags to dog collars, greeting cards to headbands. All of these vendors will be at the show:

Early Jewelry
Glitter and Rust
Molly Murphy
Awava
KitMit
Ugly Mug
Little Bluestem Baby
Leslie Kay
Healing Moon

Come in this Saturday to the Blue Room and take a gander, anytime between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. You'll find something beautiful, hand-made, unique, and local for dear old Mum.

Then, on Mother's Day proper (Sunday, May 9), you can treat your mother to Pachamama's Mother's Day Brunch, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. We're serving a five-course menu. $35 per person. Menu details coming soon - we promise it'll be amazing. Reservations suggested; call 785.841.0990 to secure your spot.

House-Made Smoked Mozzarella

When we say something is "house-made," we mean it. We make everything we can right here, from ketchup to salad dressing, burger buns to marshmallows, and infused vodkas to spiced simple syrups.

This includes our smoked mozzarella. First, our cooks make the mozzarella itself, from purchased whole curd. They put the curd into boiling salted water, shape it into balls, and then shock the cheese by putting it into ice water.

The process basically "remolds the protein strands in the milk; it elongates them," which gives the mozzarella its stretchy texture, explains cook Chetan Michie.

After the mozzarella is made, it's put into our smoker out back and smoked for about fifteen minutes. (The smoker gets filled with either apple- or cherry-wood.) We use this mozzarella on our Bondai Burger, but it makes cameo appearances in other dishes from time to time.

The above photo was taken today. That's our cook Jay, taking the mozzarella out of the smoker and beholding its awesomeness.

Salad Niçoise: An Ode

Guest written by manager Becca Evanhoe



For months, I've been trying to convince Chef Brian Strecker to put a salad niçoise on the menu. I suggested. I strongly suggested. I asked politely. I asked with authority. I pleaded. On occassion I demanded. (Brian put up with my hounding, but alas, no salad niçoise appeared on the new spring lunch or dinner menu.

What's the big deal about a salad niçoise? Why my obsession?

First, understand this: salad niçoise is the perfect salad. “Niçoise” refers to Nice, a coastal French city, where the salad originated. There are hundreds of variations, but a typical one contains greens, often tossed with fresh herbs; fresh haricots verts (thin green beans); sliced hard-boiled egg; boiled new potatoes; tuna, anchovies or sardines; black olives; sometimes finely chopped shallots, and occassionaly tomatoes. Tastewise, it's got fresh produce; rich, satisfying proteins; nice starchy potatoes; salty moments from anchovies and olives, and a refreshing salad dressing (a basic vinaigrette, usually). It's light and filling.

And the other contributing factor to my fascination with this salad has to do with nostalgia. Six years ago, I was lucky enough to spend three weeks traveling along the Mediterranean coast of France. While there, I tried enough of these salads to become an expert. Here is an excerpt from the journal that I kept on the trip:

"Lunch: Cassis white wine... the salad niçoise of my dreams: salty, black olives, fresh green lettuces, haricots verts, mealy boilet potatoes, briny anchovies, tomato wedges, fresh tuna, a star of perfect boiled egg on top, a subtle mustardy, vinegar-y dressing... so perfect. A eaten about 300 m from the beach, 10 ft from the harbor, palm trees, boats, clouds and sun peeking out, framed by mountains... best lunch I've ever had."

But back to the present. Yesterday, it finally happened. For a dinner special, Brian created a Pachamama's take on salad niçoise. He layered fried potatoes, caper aioli, asparagus (in lieu of haricots verts), egg, and tuna together. Not just any tuna, though. He used olive-oil poached tuna, which means it’s slowly cooked in lots of olive oil; the olive oil “simmers,” but doesn’t fry the fish. The result is incredibly moist, tender tuna. After you try olive-oil poached tuna, you won’t ever want to see a can of tuna again.

This is one of those meals that’s powerful recalling to me; eating a well-prepared salad niçoise takes back me to one of the most exciting times of my life.

Look at the beautiful pepper sprinkled across the eggs! Look at that shiny green aspsaragus (which, I assure you, was perfectly cooked. Done all the way through, and crisp.) The beautiful brown color and texture of the fried potato rounds.

In this photo, you can see the olive-oil poached tuna peeking out.



I call this shot Salad Niçoise in the Afternoon. (Photo taken by Stephanie Bell.)

Highlights from our Spring Dinner Menu

The image above is our kitchen's prep list for our new(ish) spring menu, which began on April 8. Each time we renew our menu, our employees get a study guide, prepared by Chefs Ken Baker and Brian Strecker, which describes all the new dishes in detail. (The servers eventually take a written test over the menu.)

We wanted to blog about the new dishes, and figured we ought to let customers get an inside look at our staff study guide. So, here’s some insight into Ken’s love affair with food, in his own words. We’ll start with two appetizers and one main dish, with more to follow in future posts.

Grilled Shrimp and Heirloom Roasted Corn Grits, with chorizo, peas, ramp vinaigrette, and tarragon.

“This is a Mediterranean take on a Southern favorite, ‘Shrimp & Grits.’ Plump shrimp are marinated in lemon, garlic, spices, and herbs for grilling. Dried-corn grits made from roasted heirloom corn in the style of the 18th century have a deep, rich flavor. House-made spicy pork sausage with paprika is sautéed with young peas in the ramp vinaigrette. Ramps are wild leeks that have a pungent, garlicky flavor. A first sign of Spring. Fresh tarragon adds a mild anise flavor that compliments the components.”

Little Gem Lettuce Wedge, with apple-smoked bacon rumaki, chive crème fraiche, blue cheese, and pickled onion.

“Gem Lettuce is a compact type of Bibb lettuce. It is iceburg with flavor. Romaine with soul. Rumaki are bacon-wrapped water chestnuts broiled with soy and ginger (created at Trader Vic’s Tiki Bar). They have a timeless “wow” factor. Cultured cream flecked with chives, blue cheese crumbles, and spicy pickled onions round out the salad.”


Wood-Fired Local Lamb Sirloin, with turnip gratin, asparagus, fresh mint, and morel mushroom jus.

“Steve’s Meat Market will be providing the lamb for us, and they source from Kansas and Missouri lamb farmers. The sirloin will be roasted in the wood-fire oven to temperature, then served over a gratin of thin-sliced turnip and potatoes layered with gruyere cheese. Seasonal asparagus is blistered on the grill and the dish is finished with a pan sauce of veal stock, mirepoix, and morel mushrooms. Fresh mint will garnish the plate.”

It's pretty hard NOT to be inspired by the changing seasons around here.

Secret Shoppers go public...

This winter, we were secretly reviewed by three people for the local TV show Check, Please! Each episode of Check, Please! is hosted by Master of Wine Doug Frost, and three members of the Kansas City community, who act as secret agents, dining at restaurants in the greater KC area and reporting back on what they experience.

Pachamama's got a great review! You can stream the video of our episode. Our portion of the show starts about 9 minutes, 30 seconds in.

One reviewer said that Pachamama's "is everything I want in a restaurant." Another woman described our menu as "well-thought-out." There was much discussion of Chef Ken's innovative layering of flavors; one guest said, "The flavor combinations just... blow you away."

The public has spoken; people from Kansas City are willing to drive 40 minutes to see us. We're grateful for such a positive report.

Thursday: TGIF Wine Tasting Preview

Starting, well, now, this blog will feature information about our TGIF wine tasting selections.*

BUEHLER VINEYARDS | 2008 NAPA VALLEY ZINFANDEL
Our Zinfandel was aged for 11 months in a combination of French and American oak barrels, 20 percent of which were new. At this level of “new wood,” the up-front endearing quality of Zinfandel can assert itself. Aromas of a briar patch on a hot summer day carry over to the palate and are carried in a mouth-filling, flavorful, juicy package.

NEAL VINEYARDS | 2008 NAPA VALLEY ZINFANDEL
In this very true-to-character Zinfandel, you’ll find lovely aromas of raspberry liqueur, sweet vanilla oak, and spices. The wine is full of beautiful fruit: cherry candy, pomegranate and raspberry. The brambly fruit tones combined with the hints of pepper, spice and white chocolate provide complex layers of flavor as the acidity and tannin create a firm but pleasant structure (a result of the co-fermenting with a touch of Petite Syrah).

ROBERT BIALE | 2007 NAPA RANCHES ZINFANDEL
Blackish ruby in color, this Zinfandel exhibits plum and cherry preserves with lavender, pepper, allspice, vanilla and toast on its full-bodied, viscous and fleshy palate. Excellent balance and fine tannins. Napa Ranches is a top-notch Zinfandel blend sourced from Aldo's and Black Chicken in Napa, Old Crane in St. Helena, Stagnaro in Calistoga, and Priest Ranch above Chiles Valley. There's also a dollop of Petite Sirah, 18 percent, from Thomann Station in St. Helena.

*Our wine tastings are every Friday night, from 6 to 8 p.m. Cost is $25 to $35, depending on the number and type of wines we serve. The price always includes appetizers.

A classy kind of Party Bus comes a'callin'.

We had a visitor: a party bus from David Arthur vinyards in Napa Valley! David is touring the country in a giant van, stopping all over the United States and sharing tastes of his wines for free.

Pachamama's was lucky enough to be a stop on the tour; the bus pulled up outside the Star Bar at 4:45 p.m. Customers and passers-by clamored onto the bus to meet David and sample his wines (an often-mentioned favorite is his Elevation 1147, with its deep,deep red color, vanilla and coffee notes, and tastes of blackberries and blueberries.)

Like any party involving free wine, the bus filled up with folks and, magically, a table full of food appeared. A culinary school class even stopped by; David gave an impromptu lecture on wine and food pairings and brought the crew on the bus to watch a video.

Here's a big about David's philosophy, from his Web site: "The David Arthur wines are produced with a dedication to crafting dynamic, complex vintages. With every bottling comes a commitment to producing distinctive wines with a focus on vineyard site-expression and structure, a benchmark of David Arthur Vineyards’ winemaking philosophy."

Thank you, David and company! We all had a great time. Safe travels.

Here's a photo of David's vinyard:

A busy, busy spring for us!

We have an incredible line-up of events over the next few months. Whip out your calendar, because no matter your personal interests or your budget, there'll be at least a couple you'll want to catch.

Dinner & a Movie Night
Wednesday, April 21, 6 p.m.
We're showing the film Big Night and serving a three-course Italian meal for $25 per person.

Wine Dinner with Jean Baptiste
Thursday, April 29, 6 p.m.
Meet John Baptiste of Moulin de Gardette vinyards and enjoy a six-course meal with wine pairings for $75 per person.

Sons of Brasil Live Concert
Friday, April 30, 8 p.m.
The Sons of Brasil are a Kansas City-based quintet, playing samba & bossa nova music. Get your $15 ticket at the Kansas Public Radio Web site.

LOLA Art Show
Saturday, May 1
Ladies of Lawrence Artwork are having a spring show in Pachamama's Blue Room.


Mother's Day Brunch
Sunday, May 9, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Make your reservations for an amazing Mom's Day meal!

River City Cook-Off
Saturday, June 6, 6 p.m.
Come to Abe & Jake's Landing to see Chef Ken Baker face off with three other local Lawrence chefs. Live music and free organic kids' buffet. $20 per adult.







Cordley Elementary Farm-to-School Lunch
Friday, May 21
Local farmers and restaurants collaborate to bring an all-local lunch to Cordley Elementary School.


Latin Music Festival
Saturday, June 25, 6 - 9 p.m.
Enjoy Latin music and a four-course tapas meal for $30 per person. Cash bar serving sangria, mojitos, and margaritas.

All this in addition to our regular events: Thursday Night jazz with Floyd the Barber, and TGIF wine tastings from 6 to 8 pm every Friday.

Dinner and a Movie: Italian Feasts

"Big Night" is a 1996 flick about a failing Italian restaurant run by two brothers. To save the business, the brothers decide to put all of their efforts into one last big meal, inviting all their friends -- as well as the press. A big part of the movie is spent making Timpano, the celebrated main course of the big night – and the star of Pachamama’s three-course menu to be served before a screening of the film.

The meal starts with an amuse-bouche of arancini, small fried rice balls coated with breadcrumbs. The amuse-bouche is followed by a baby omelet topped with taleggio cheese, candied walnuts, and a Chianti vinaigrette. The Timpano serves as the main course. Dessert is tiramisu.

This Dinner & a Movie night has a great new addition: after dinner and just before the film, Chuck Berg, beloved KU professor of film and media studies, will give a short introduction to the movie. We're lucky to have him -- thank you, Professor Berg!

This whole "Big Night" plus Italian food" theme has been done before... but it's such a great film and such great food we thought "eh, why be original when you can be classic?"

Interested in joining us? Dinner is $25 per person (excludes tax, gratuity, and alcohol.) Call 785.841.0990 to reserve your spot!



These photos can be found on the Internet Movie Database (IMBD).

Spring Cocktail Menu starts today!

Our team of six bartenders has been busy, infusing vodkas, muddling leaves, puréeing peaches and watermelons, and "taste-testing" variations of cocktails. It's tough work, but we're happy to do it.

This is no April Fool's joke: we've finally finished and we'll start slinging these new cocktails at 5 p.m. this evening.

For a sweet after-dinner drink, try Sweet Peach Pie. Adri, our lady bartender, made a fresh batch of peach purée this morning (her "secret" ingredients are ginger, cinnamon, and apple juice). The purée is mixed with vanilla vodka and topped with hand-shaken cream.

Bye Bye Becky is an up-drink made with gin, chartreuse, and muddled cucumber and lemon. It's crazily refreshing and a beautiful spring green color (named in honor of a server who's moving to Florida at the end of the summer.)

The Zombie Walk is a pretty classic Zombie, made with four kinds of rum (Bacardi, Bacardi 151, Goslings, and Mount Gay), combined with the power of pineapple juice that completely masks the booze taste. Our bartenders add orgeat syrup (an almond and sugar combo) and... to make sure the Zombie works its magic on you... a dash of absinthe. Wowzah!