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I can be reached by e-mail at barnett@ku.edu |
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you are an uncompromising gourmet, and would be willing to pay the
price for a really excellent six course dinner in the classical style, this
is the place. You
will need to make reservations in advance (sometimes far in advance). The price will be higher than at any other Lawrence
restaurant, but of course for a different meal than you would encounter
at any other Lawrence restaurant. This restaurant became famous among goumets in this part of the Midwest, when it was being operated out of the home of the master chef, Robert Krause, and his wife, Molly Krause. There was no menu. Each evening that the Krauses served dinner, they decided on their fixed menu. As a result of a zoning problem, the Krauses moved their wonderful restaurant to part of the location of the former BleuJacket Restaurant in downtown Lawrence. But the zoning problem has been resolved, and they are again serving in their home. For example, the meal might include wild asparagus or foie gras flown in from the high end food vendor D'Artagnan in New York, or lobster flown in from Maine. Clearly the Krause's cannot offer a large number of options requiring such ingredients, along with the chef's sophisticated preparations. In addition, if you order from the the prix fixe dinners, you can order the chef's wine "matching" for the evening. There is a fixed price for the wine pairings each evening. The food and the wine, relative to what Robert Krause serves, are not at all overpriced. But if you are not accustomed to ordering at this level of quality, you might want to find out about the prices in advance. If you have dietary restrictions, however, he will accommodate. For example, if you are a pesco vegetarian, he will alter what he serves for you to include only seafood and vegetables in the prix fixe dinner. If you are a vegetarian, he will exclude all meat, including seafood. But conditional upon your dietary restrictions, he will choose his substitutes for you. Of course, you must explain these requirements when you make the reservations. Chef Robert Krause was trained at the Culinary Institute of America in New York (the best in this country), worked for many years for some of the top chefs in San Francisco, and knows what he is doing. The location of his home, that includes his restaurant, is in an industrial working-class area of East Lawrence, near Hobbs Park, not far from the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe railroad line. You would not likely expect to find a gourmet restaurant, or the home of a great chef, in that location. But if you have heard about renowned University of Kansas architecture professor, Dan Rockhill, you will understand. While Rockhill lived there himself, Dan Rockhill extensively remodeled the house. It is among the oldest in Lawrence, and reputedly once was a brothel. Since the house was purchased by the Krauses, Dan Rockhill has further improved on it by adding a garden room, which serves as the restaurant. In short, the Krause's Rockhill-renovated home is far from typical for East Lawrence. Robert Krause is unquestionably the best chef in Laurence, and I could not be happier that we have him here, after the losses of the BleuJacket and Fifi's. In fact, he is far better than the chefs who were at either of those now-closed restaurants. The January 2008 issue of Food and Wine magazine listed Krause's as no 11 on the list of "tastes to try" in 2008 when traveling. No. 1 was the new Shangri-La Abu Dahbi in the Persian Gulf. The article makes clear that Krause's is the best restaurant in the state of Kansas. Lawrence needs Robert Krause. His arrival is the best thing that has happened to Lawrence since the opening of Pachamama's, and Robert Krause is in the process of elevating the dining scene in Lawrence to another level, rarely seen in a city of this size. In fact, I see more potential in Krause's than I ever saw in the overrated five star (now closed) La Maisonette in Cincinnati. Relative to the prices at other restaurants in Lawrence, Krause's might seem expensive. But if you compare with comparable restaurants in Europe and factor in the exchange between the dollar and the euro or between the dollar and the British pound, you will find something very different. |
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I can be reached by e-mail at barnett@ku.edu |
