Take Me For A Ride
For what feels like years, I’ve been watching and waiting for the KC Wheel at Pennway Point to finally start spinning. A bit dramatic, perhaps, but I mean this literally. My office is directly across the street, and I’ve been eagerly monitoring the wheel’s progress as frequently as I bemoan the construction dust that daily blankets my car—a funny way of saying I’ve been getting excited.
By now, unless you’ve been hibernating, you’re aware that KC has recently joined the ranks of cities across the globe boasting new observation wheels. Unlike the small, open-air, seasonal, and transient Ferris wheels of pop-up carnivals past, these permanently situated modern observation wheels boast climate-controlled cabins and a host of other amenities.
If you hadn’t already guessed—yes, I was fortunate enough to take a spin before the wheel opened to the public. Gladly accepting the VIP treatment, my friends and I were plopped in that solitary black gondola you may have noticed, standing out amongst the other 35 white pods. The VIP gondola can be reserved in advance and features a glass bottom, luxe leather seats, special lighting, and cup holders for your free drink. Each cabin accommodates up to six persons, allowing you to glide in style for roughly 12-15 minutes, observing the city from a completely unique vantage point. And for that purpose, the wheel is in just the right spot with an expansive view of the downtown skyline.
While at Pennway, you can also putt around the 16-hole mini golf course, Pennway Putt. The course features numerous nods to KC, including Royals and Chiefs-themed holes and selfie-worthy mural backdrops throughout. I did a quick set and am happy to report I’ve still got the swing.
But wait—there’s more! Rather, there will be soon. A lot more. Ticking through the forthcoming list for this urban playground includes the TaleGate live entertainment venue and beer garden; Beef & Bottle, an elevated burger and beer spot brought by the folks at The Brooksider Sportsbar; Barrel Hall, the 6,000-square-foot nerve center for gathering and celebrating; Boulevard’s Barrel-Aged Tasting Experience; Chef J BBQ; Würstl, an Austrian street food concept brought by Grünauer; the Bull Creek Whiskey Bar; and Neon Alley by LUMI, which will feature many of the iconic, vintage KC neon signs rescued by the LUMI Neon Museum. While there’s no official opening date, I’d bet my money on a staggered ramp-up across the latter half of the year. Rest assured, I’ll be there to give it all a first run-through.
Despite the many fits and false starts, we finally have our wheel. Beyond taking the occasional joy ride after work with friends for happy hour, I’m most looking forward to watching it become a full-fledged icon of our skyline. Whether it’s television aerial shots for the Super Bowl, NFL Draft, World Cup, or beyond (perhaps a distant downtown World Series!), the KC Wheel provides perfect company for the Western Auto sign, Liberty Memorial, Kauffman Center, Bartle Hall pylon Sky Stations, and more. Returning from a long trip over the holidays, I was driving back downtown at night and saw the wheel lit for the first time. It seemed to say—welcome home.
Hot Gossip: Whose living room TV facing a prominent thoroughfare gave passersby a scandalous show?
Promise Me You’ll Survive
For its 5th annual (I can’t believe it’s been five years!) multi-course, live-theater spectacular, Corvino Supper Club & Tasting Room absolutely went for it. This year’s phenomenal theme: Titanic. The event was marketed as “the dinner of a lifetime,” and it was. It really was.
For this anniversary event, the owners Michael & Christina Corvino painstakingly recreated the first-class dinner from the fateful night the Titanic sank—April 15, 1912. Served to some of the wealthiest and most prominent people on the planet at the time, you already know the meal was extraordinary. And while the original dinner was spread across ten (!) courses, the Corvinos took some condensing and rearranging liberties to accommodate between-course live performances.
The dinner’s first course included confit salmon and cucumber, pork vol-au-a-vent, chicken-fried snail with parsley, trout roe and cream in brioche, foie gras mousse with toast and Amarena cherry, consommé Olga with scallop and root vegetables, and sourdough baguette with cultured butter. All this paired with French Chablis. Wow. Course number two consisted of simple, palate-cleansing, icy Punch Romaine. For the third course, we were treated to a filet mignon Lili with burgundy jus, accompanied by boiled rice, creamed carrots, chateau potatoes, and brussels sprouts, served alongside a French Bordeaux. Dessert included Waldorf pudding bonbons, peach pâte de fruit with chartreuse jelly, chocolate éclair, and vanilla ice cream. The food was incredible and very much lived up to the sort of dining experience I’ve come to love (and expect) at Corvino.
What’s a tasting menu without optional add-ons, you may ask? Upon booking my first class ticket (that I was so lucky to obtain, given the wait list), I got a little click-happy. I ended up adding the welcome Champagne, Kaluga caviar appetizer, Perigord black truffles atop baked Brie, the full wine pairing, and a very special glass of a 1912 D’Oliveira Malvasia Madeira (bottled the same year the Titanic sank). A first-class experience, indeed. Taking a submersible trip to see the ship wreckage may have proved less costly.
For entertainment, scattered throughout the dinner, the focus was not on the 1997 record-setting blockbuster film’s fictitious Rose and Jack characters. Instead, the spotlight was on actual passengers—with upper and lower classes colliding. More artistic liberties were taken here, including the “unsinkable” Molly Brown performing Cole Porter’s Anything Goes—a few decades ahead of its time. It was a lively rendition and felt just right. So did the silver-sequin-clad “iceberg” gentleman channeling Judy Garland in a rendition of Broadway Rhythm until he was hit by a Titanic replica in a campy reenactment of the night’s woeful events. As a more graceful counterpoint, an aerialist then dangled and spun to The Music of the Night from Phantom of the Opera. Naturally, there was a Celine Dion My Heart Will Go On moment. How could there not be?? And for a chilling finale, a solo violinist performed Hymn to the Sea alongside now-ghostlike passengers.
With its white-dinner-jacketed waiters, exceptional meal, wonderful wines, and both hilarious and touching performances, the evening lived up to its promise—dinner of a lifetime.
Overheard: “This is why my Instagram is private. I prefer to maintain the impression that I am poor.”
It Was All A Dream
I was so delighted to once again be invited to attend the annual Nutcracker Ball, benefiting the Kansas City Ballet. After all, having one more occasion to toss on some holiday finery makes me feel rather merry. Held at the Westin Kansas City in Crown Center, we gathered to celebrate the holiday season and the ballet. And with a coat-check room that appeared to be generously sponsored by Alaskan Fur, it became immediately apparent that people came decked out and ready to party. Thankfully, I got the fur memo.
Ball chairman and honorary chairmen, Jo Ann Dondlinger and Dennis & Susan Lordi Marker, respectively, greeted guests prior to a special ballet presentation. The Kansas City Ballet School students—darling sugarplums in their own right—hopped and bopped about to Tchaikovsky’s memorable Nutcracker melodies.
We dined on salad with pistachio brittle and poached cranberry, herb-crusted filet, cedar plank-roasted salmon, and chocolate cremeux for dessert. Cyndi James, KCB Guild president, and David Gray, KCB executive director, presented the Pirouette Award to Angela Walker. The award recognizes a person who has contributed extraordinary amounts of time, talent, and energy in a voluntary capacity to benefit the Kansas City Ballet and the performing arts community. Following the dinner and program, we grooved to Kokomo while visions of mouse kings and fairies danced in our heads.
Spotted: Julia Irene Kauffman, Bonne Illig, Nancy Lee & Jonathan Kemper, Karen & John Yungmeyer, Jon & Walter Porter, Dan DeLeon & Jerry Katlin, Lauren DeLeon, Don Loncasty, Lisa & Charles Schellhorn, Julie Anderson Clark & Vince Clark, Nicole & Myron Wang, Linda & Topper Johntz, Charlotte Kemper Black, Mary Leonida, Sidonie Garrett, Taylor Smith, Amy McAnarney, Kurt Knapstein, Angela & Troy Moore, Craig Sole, Devon Carney
Hot Gossip: Come summertime, who’s moving the whole fam to Italy?
The Lowest Ferns
Last summer, atop the Crossroads Hotel Percheron rooftop, I had the pleasure of meeting Jason Eubanks, who was telling me about a new bar he and partners Dante Walton and Austin Goldberg—all of Nomada—were planning to open in the West Bottoms. The future bar’s name: In the Lowest Ferns. It took me a half minute, but I soon plucked from my dense memory where I’d heard that phrase before.
In mid-2019, a radically hidden speakeasy social club, beneath the future Fox & Pearl restaurant on the Westside, was known by a loyal and tight-lipped few. I was one of them. Regrettably, a local media publication (not this one!) eventually mentioned the spot—to the angst of many insiders—ultimately forcing the club to close. Or, so the story goes . . . . The covert club’s name was El Pozo. But its mysterious and illogical Instagram handle was: inthelowestferns. My face lit up on the rooftop. Wait, that was you?
Fast forward roughly four years, and I found myself walking through a different back-alley door—this time in the West Bottoms to preview a more public-facing (and gently more polished) iteration of the beloved El Pozo. In the Lowest Ferns is the perfect blend of sky-lit and shadowy, rough-hewn and elevated, superlative and unassuming, that I’ve stumbled across in a long while. Still the most apt adjective that comes to mind for this space is sultry. The plant-dense, Persian-rug-swathed warehouse is cloaked in just the right amount of fog, antiquity, and incense. You’re not sure whether you dropped through a rabbit hole into the nighttime Amazon or an ancient opium den.
Tribal-like metalwork cocoons the DJ booth where the moody HiFi beats are born. There’s space for both vibing on the dance floor or sinking into dark corners, with lounge seating for furtive encounters. Without a doubt, the guys at Nomada have their fingers so squarely on the pulse of cool that they have adroitly manifested exactly the nighttime spot we wanted—before we even knew. It’s no wonder A$AP Rocky put his latest music video’s production in their hands.
Carefully metering their flex, the lounge is currently open only on Friday and Saturday evenings, with reserved tickets required. The bar offerings are considered and include a tight offering of house cocktails. I appreciated the Life After Sundown, with mezcal, grapefruit soda, agave, and lime. On future weekends, you may spot me sipping one amongst the fronds. If you can find me.
Overheard: “That’s the new guy? Isn’t that a dog’s name?”
So, KC—where do you want to go? XO
email: dlair@inkansascity.com | Instagram: @damianlair #OurManINKC