Justus for Ronnie

Last night, we shared a delectable evening with Ronnie and Jeff celebrating Ronnie's birthday. We met at Ronnie's to start out the evening with a Kir, a traditional French apertif consisting of a splash of Creme de Cassis with a glass of white wine.











We moved on to one of our favorite KC-area food havens, Justus Drugstore, A Restaurant in Smithville. Ronnie teaches in Smithville, but this was he and Jeff's first visit to Justus. I've written about this den of deliciousness before (see Justus Drugstore post in 2009) so I'll try not to overly wax rhapsodic about it....but once again it was quite the experience. We started off with the Elixir of the Day (pictured above right)....an artisanal cocktail made of blueberry-infused gin, cucumber juice and other fresh ingredients topped off with an elderflower garnish. We were presented with an amuse-bouche (pictured below right)...chicken pate on crostini topped off with blueberry foam. Our starter course was the ever-popular Farmer's Platter (pictured at the top of the page). Some of the components of this dish were familiar from our last visit....the wild-persimmon spiced rabbit terrine with mustard, the pickled vegetables, the gaufrette potatoes (thin, mandolin sliced, lace-patterned chips). Some were new and audacious to boot....like bone marrow mousse with brioche toast points. This platter was and is utterly fascinating to me. Layers and layers of flavors.

Jeff tried the Goat Cheese Fritter salad and raved about it...local goat cheese and mixed greens with a white-wine shallot vinaigrette. Our entrees arrived and they were all amazing. Jeff chose the Special(pictured below left): Goose breast with a cherry-basil sauce. I went with the Majinola American Kobe Beef Brisket (pictured below right) cooked in a house-brewed root beer braise, celery root puree, greens in a honey-sassafras vinaigrette and these amazing carrots glazed in smoked vanilla butter. I went with the server's suggestion of a Catena Zapata Malbec to accompany this. Ronnie and Keith selected the Campo Lindo Roast Chicken (pictured above right), which is half a roasted chicken served over housemade duck egg pasta with a delicious black pepper lemon herbed creme fraiche mousse.

Between the four of us, we covered most of the bases on the dessert list. Ronnie chose the Berry Napoleon; blackberries and raspberries with vanilla wafers and white chocolate creme served with double-lemon ice cream. Keith got the Blueberry Crumble made with fresh blueberries, vanilla honey, cinnamon blueberry Chantilly cream and served with basil(!) ice cream. Jeff selected the Strawberry Trio (pictured above right) which looked like a sculpture from the Nelson-Atkins museum and actually required instructions on how to eat it. This dessert consisted of a strawberry marshmallow in a chocolate torte cup with basil poached strawberries, toasted almonds and strawberry ganache. I, of course, went with the chocolate selection...the Chocolate Mint Decadence (pictured above left) that consisted of chocolate ganache, chocolate rose-hip ice cream, Champagne mousse and a glass of mint milk topped with malted Chantilly cream. The server capped off our evening with an after-dinner drink she surprised us with that was a small glass of white wine with a touch of honey-black pepper syrup.

Whew. I'm as exhausted from writing about this as I was from eating it. But make no mistake....it was the most satisfying form of exhaustion. In summary, let me say again I am no critic and don't pretend to be. I'm not knowledgeable enough. I simply have a great appreciation and fascination with food. The four of us essentially swooned appreciatively throughout all of our courses. The main reason I really love Justus Drugstore is that it totally opens the guest up to the possibilities of food and it's abilities to not just satisfy us but to also fascinate us and even challenge us(like the bone marrow mousse). It's an absolute palate-teasing, mind-bender of a meal. They don't just use all local ingredients, they make magic with them. Check them out at http://www.drugstorerestaurant.com/justus.php?id=1.

The night concluded on a hilarious note. When we left, K and I wanted to show Ronnie and Jeff the bar area. The bartender is a wizard with fresh made cocktails and we wanted to show them his copious bottles of ingredients. As we admired the bottles and containers of fresh herbs, an older gentleman asked us what we were looking at. We told him we were looking at the bar's potions and herbs to which the man said the woman with him was a whiz with potions. She then wordlessly performed this weaving dance on her barstool while waving her hands at us. We were about to think she was casting a spell on us when those dancing hands found their way to Ronnie's shirt and started essentially feeling him up. By the time the gentleman barked "Goddammit, Karen.." we slipped out the door. The birthday boy got fed AND felt up for his big day.....and the night was complete as we were in hysterics all the way home.