Status and future of the River Market area??

[smh]

Those are great suggestions. I'd love to see a Gomer's-like selection with a tasting room upstairs that could also be rented out. My girlfriend is trying to find somewhere in the downtown area to hold a pre-bachelorette party wine tasting (and not a dinner), and Cellar and Loft was the best place for that. It is for a younger sister with friends just out of college, so they can't be expected to chip in a lot. Cellar and Loft was one of the few places we were aware of where you could get private or semi-private space and not pay a markup or a corkage fee on the wines purchased. Are there any other options downtown where you can BYO and not have to rent out an entire room for multiple hours? Our fall back is just doing it at our place.

Cellar Rat does tastings/classes. I'm sure with a group of sufficient size they could set something private up for you.

[loftguy]

Those are great suggestions. I'd love to see a Gomer's-like selection with a tasting room upstairs that could also be rented out. My girlfriend is trying to find somewhere in the downtown area to hold a pre-bachelorette party wine tasting (and not a dinner), and Cellar and Loft was the best place for that. It is for a younger sister with friends just out of college, so they can't be expected to chip in a lot. Cellar and Loft was one of the few places we were aware of where you could get private or semi-private space and not pay a markup or a corkage fee on the wines purchased. Are there any other options downtown where you can BYO and not have to rent out an entire room for multiple hours? Our fall back is just doing it at our place.

Have you checked in with Amigoni?

[zonk]

Also, River Market Event Space.

[bobbyhawks]

We checked Cellar Rat, and it is probably the best alternative, but you just end up standing in a liquor store with customers walking by. The tasting would be really great, I'm sure, and we completely realize it is generally more expensive to check all the boxes. Hence, why we are leaning doing it at home. Privacy and free, but not quite the fun atmosphere.

As for Amigoni, that is a good suggestion, but you can only taste Amigoni wines. This is a tasting for someone who is really getting into wines, and I think they would feel pretty limited by only sampling one brand.

I may check into River Market Event Space, but it looks like they are more oriented to very large events. My girlfriend was trying to have it be a tasting for more expensive wines that participants generally haven't been able to try. Thus, she would like to spend most of the money on getting some great wines. They aren't making an entire night of it and will just be in the tasting phase for a few hours.

Thus, the Cellar and Loft idea was perfect because they could pay per hour to have someone serve them, and the rest would be spent directly on wines without corkage fees. They would be fine with paying a bit for a room along with service, or even serving themselves, but I don't think they want to spend a thousand dollars before considering the wine or food. These are recent college grads, so my girlfriend expects to foot most of the bill. If they did a restaurant, a tasting of 5 wines averaging $50/piece x 2 bottles each ($500 retail) would cost them probably $1800 or more after tip.

[kboish]

Incentives for 531 Grand are on this week's PEIA docket.

KCDowntown

Did this get approved? Where can you check that? PIEA has almost zero presence on the web.

[smh]

We checked Cellar Rat, and it is probably the best alternative, but you just end up standing in a liquor store with customers walking by. The tasting would be really great, I'm sure, and we completely realize it is generally more expensive to check all the boxes. Hence, why we are leaning doing it at home. Privacy and free, but not quite the fun atmosphere.

As for Amigoni, that is a good suggestion, but you can only taste Amigoni wines. This is a tasting for someone who is really getting into wines, and I think they would feel pretty limited by only sampling one brand.

I may check into River Market Event Space, but it looks like they are more oriented to very large events. My girlfriend was trying to have it be a tasting for more expensive wines that participants generally haven't been able to try. Thus, she would like to spend most of the money on getting some great wines. They aren't making an entire night of it and will just be in the tasting phase for a few hours.

Thus, the Cellar and Loft idea was perfect because they could pay per hour to have someone serve them, and the rest would be spent directly on wines without corkage fees. They would be fine with paying a bit for a room along with service, or even serving themselves, but I don't think they want to spend a thousand dollars before considering the wine or food. These are recent college grads, so my girlfriend expects to foot most of the bill. If they did a restaurant, a tasting of 5 wines averaging $50/piece x 2 bottles each ($500 retail) would cost them probably $1800 or more after tip.

It sounds like you may have already look into it, but Cellar Rat does have that back room that's pretty comfortable.

[bobbyhawks]

Yeah. I think they are really busy that weekend and already have things booked up. Would be a great option, though.

[KCtonic]

Cellar and Loft at 525 Walnut is now closed. Owner had some medical issues that created a bad fiscal situation.

https://www.facebook.com/cellarandloft/?fref=ts

[grovester]

Finally made it to Il Lazzarone. If that's not the best pizza in town, please tell me who is. We had the carne, the pesto and the crepa. All fantastic!

[DaveKCMO]

Finally made it to Il Lazzarone. If that's not the best pizza in town, please tell me who is. We had the carne, the pesto and the crepa. All fantastic!

it's now my default recommendation for people asking where to eat in that neighborhood.

[bobbyhawks]

Finally made it to Il Lazzarone. If that's not the best pizza in town, please tell me who is. We had the carne, the pesto and the crepa. All fantastic!

it's now my default recommendation for people asking where to eat in that neighborhood.

I'd had a couple of bad experiences there a few months after it opened and was excluding it from the rotation. The service, which I don't generally like to complain about, was really spotty in the beginning, and we ordered some cocktails that ended up being way way too sweet even after requesting something in the dry range. The pizza has always been pretty good to great.

Recently went back and had an awesome experience. The bar is really amazing, and if you like herbal and rare liqueurs at all, I'm not aware of many other bars in town that are on this level (at least on the shelf). The pizza was fantastic, and from what I've heard from friends who keep it in the regular rotation, it sounds like my early experiences are not the norm. I'll definitely be headed back more often now.

[DaveKCMO]

interior demo going on at cellar and loft today. all of the signage is down. no permit activity.

[kboish]

I saw a sign today that said the River Market Cyclery was closing/possibly moving. Does anybody know if that building is being redeveloped or something?

[earthling]

Riverfront park may get dog park, coffee shop, bar...

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/n ... house.html

[ThorsteinVeblen]

I like that they plan on using the space under the bridge. I run that trail a lot and it should be a nice amenity, always lots of dog walkers, and hopefully a sign that developers expect a continued residential build out along the riverfront.

[loftguy]

Riverfront park may get dog park, coffee shop, bar...

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/n ... house.html

They probably had 500 people attend their introductory party last night.

I don't know when I've been in the midst of so many dogs and clueless owners, at least since the Plaza Art Fair...

It was a doggone huge success.

[zonk]

That was quite the dog-and-pony show....!

[KCPowercat]

Any word on the 5th Street market / liquor store / etc space by le frou?

Heard brown & loe should be having a soft opening soon... Was going to be this week but no liquor license yet

[smh]

Any word on the 5th Street market / liquor store / etc space by le frou?

Are you speaking of Muehlebach District, or something else?

[KCPowercat]

Chris Sally project at 5th and oak on the NW corner