The Crossroads

By Dayle Ringer

This is the place my boss recommend that I try. I gave Mitch the name so he could make a reservation for us. He waited until Saturday afternoon to make one, while planning out our day; the only one for that Saturday evening was at 5pm. This ended up working out for us in more ways, since our day was spent going to art stores since we both have been doing acyclic painting. Mitch is getting back into this, while I’m learning; talking to Bob Ross on TV, “My mountains don’t look like that, Bob!” Bob just smiles and says there is only “happy accidents”.

A little history on The Crossroads this was built in 1911, the Pabst Brewing Depot, back when they had Percheron horse drawn wagons loaded with beer parading the streets. During the prohibition a KC Political Boss Tom Pendergast bought both buildings; the legend is for an office and for bootlegging liquor. I have added a link at the bottom for some more history, it is an entertaining read.

The hotel by the website is phenomenal. It isn’t your typical hotel that you will find. They have different rooms; like the H.S. Truman Parlor, this room has downtown views, a 6-man poker table and a dining room table located in the room. This would be a wonderful place to have clients from out of town to stay, a honeymoon, or a relax retreat for the weekend.

We made our way up the Percheron Rooftop Bar- this has an indoor/outdoor space to relax with friends, clients, family, a group party. They have a full bar with special cocktails, craft beers with some lite bites to snack on. The views are absolutely stunning all around and if you like Bocce, they have that too. We didn’t eat anything there since we were headed to the restaurant very soon, however, if I was to order, the Drunken eggs sounded mighty fine to me. If anyone had these please feel free to comment and let me know. I did have a cocktail, Cool Hand Luca, this consisted of altos’ tequila, watermelon, cilantro, Cointreau, lime and agave. This was nice and tart, perfect for me. I imagine this on a warm beautiful afternoon full of people having a great time.

 

We arrived a few minutes early for opening time of the restaurant, Lazia, that was located on the first floor.  We sat on some comfy chairs/couches in the XR Café. They brought us water while we waited, very friendly, they have a lunch/dinner menu also, with another full bar.  I will be going back there to eat since they had woodfire pizza and it is next to an art and craft store that we like.

Once in Lazia restaurant, they accommodated us by changing our table without hesitation. The waitress we had, was very serious about her job, we didn’t need for anything during our time there, and even backed me up when I went from a sweet tea to a glass of wine. I know a leap, but a girl can change her mind. Right?  I did have a hard time ordering, not that anything wasn’t sounding bad, okay, the octopus is a stretch for me, no thank you.

We started with asparagus toast, we ordered this because Mitch was intrigued and he knew I would eat the asparagus. This consisted of toasted sourdough bread, with grilled asparagus and a sunny side egg with shaved pecorino cheese. This was divine; all the ingredient’s played very nicely, like a party in your mouth. The shaved pecorino cheese, Mitch stated, is a sharp, heavily aged and robust cheese; I would agree with this.

Asparagus Toast

Mitch ordered the Pomodoro, this is Maltagliati, san Marzano tomato, house ricotta, garlic, chili, and basil. The Pomodoro means tomato in Italian, the Maltagliati means “bad cut”. They make their own pasta and it’s literally the “bad cut” of the pasta.  Mitch let me have one bite, just one. Everything I would expect a true classic Italian dish to be. The type when you have that friend that has the Italian grandmother and everyone eats there all the time because no one else can cook like her? Yes, that good. Our left overs, I ate part of Mitch’s for lunch today; Mitch caught me; like, I need inspiration for the blog. Yea, he didn’t buy it. 

Pomodoro

I had the whole roasted Branzino, served with oregano aioli and herb salad. The Branzino is a European Sea Bass, a Mediterranean fish. This fish is a safe and healthy choice full of rich in omega 3-fatty acids. Usually I don’t like my dinner staring back at me, however, I was thrilled I tried this.

Whole Roasted Branzino

 If you like fish and never had this, you definitely need to try this; this had a mild flavor, almost sweet, and very flaky. The oregano aioli was a perfect combination for this, since the fish was so delicate. This fish has very few bones, so they are extremely easy to remove.

We thoroughly enjoyed our evening and dinning experience. We definitely will be back to eat at the XR Café. If you have an event coming up with a small group, make a reservation and make sure to ask for the “vault” they have a table for eight in a vault.

Table for Eight in the Vault. Photo courtesy of Lazia website

I’m impressed and thrilled that they tried to stick with all the original architecture from the old building that they could. 

This is a must try for anyone; they have three different locations after all; the Percheron Rooftop Bar, XR Café, and Lazia an old-world Italian restaurant.

Please feel free to leave any comments, we love to hear from everyone. Also, if you have any recommendations for us, please feel free to leave in the comments also. We just don’t do chain restaurants.

https://crossroadshotelkc.com/

https://www.kansascity.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/cityscape/article30397305.html