If you have not been to this French restaurant---you should go here.  This is what a French restaurant in America should be.  Kansas City has an unjustified reputation for not being a good place for French restaurants.  Perhaps that stereotype comes from people in cities where you would have to pay much more for a comparable French meal.  Cafe Provence would not get two or three stars from Michelin in Aix en Provence, but you would not find this restaurant's food at the same prices in France (at the current exchange rate with the euro)---or in Boston, New York, San Francisco, Chicago.....

As in most of the wonderful Michelin one-star restaurants in France, Cafe Provence offers a house wine by the carafe, along with a wine list including reasonably priced bottles.  The failure of most French restaurants in the United States to offer wine by the carafe does not reflect well on their authenticity.  Everything we ordered at Cafe Provence was excellent.  The one puzzle is the name of the restaurant.  I had anticipated a menu more like restaurant menus in Provence in the south of France.  It is common to find some Mediterranean style dishes on menus on the Cafe d'Azur, as well as in the areas of Provence in the hills just north of the French Riviera, such as Arles.  For example, salad Nicoise, which is on the lunch menu at Cafe Provence is also on many dinner menus in the South of France, but not on the dinner menu at Cafe Provence.  Of course, it would be particularly difficult to find a restaurant in Nice that does not have salad Nicoise on its dinner menu.  Also bouillabaisse is very common in Provence, but is not on the menu at this restaurant.  Since the bouillabaisse in Marseille is so much better than at any French restaurant in the United States, I usually do not order it in this country anyway.  Nevertheless, the menu at Cafe Provence leans more towards the classical Parisian style than the Mediterranean style of Provence.  In fact, Cafe Provence makes heavier use of cream, goat cheese, and butter than most of the other French restaurants in Kansas City.  Perhaps this preference refects the heritage of chef Daniel Quillec, who originally is from Brittany in the north of France and then Paris.

This restaurant has a rather small dining room, and late in the evening, it can get crowded.  A few of the tables are close together in the center of the room.  But if you get there early, you can be seated in one of the restaurant's four booths.  You won't be disappointed.  You think that Kansas City is all about cigars, steaks, and barbecue?  Go here and learn the truth.  But  don't tell too many people.  The prices might go up. 

Also make sure not to tell too many people about the affiliated restaurant, Cassis, operated by restaurateur and chef, Patrick Quillec.  He is Chef Daniel Quillec's brother. 

Cassis
4821 W. 117th St
Town Center Plaza
(north side, within Plaza)
Leawood, KS 66211
913-383-1000
www.cassiskc.com

EBT stands for Kansas City's former elegant downtown department store, Emery, Bird, and Thayer.  Elements of that store's noteworthy achitectural heritage, including two of its old-time brass elevators, are housed in this restaurant.   To get there, take the State Line Road exit (exit 75b) from I435, and enter the UMB Bank's parking lot from State Line Road, just south of 110th St. 

This wonderful place is oddly underrated and underappreciated by some in the Kansas City area.  To enjoy this restaurant, you should recognize that it is more than the sum of its parts.  Relative to its food, it is not the best in the Kansas City/Lawrence area (but is very fine).  Relative to its live jazz, it is not the best in Kansas City (but is very good).  Relative to its dining room atmosphere, it is not the best in the area (but is elegant).  Relative to its impressive service, it is not the best (but is excellent).  In terms of food value per dollar, you can do better (but EBT dining is worth its high cost).  Nevertheless, if you value the combination of very good live jazz, very fine food, excellent service, elegant atmosphere, and historic surroundings --- EBT provides that combination better than any other restaurant in the Kansas City/Lawrence area.  For that combination of excellence in jazz, food, service, atmosphere, and history, I would rank EBT the best in the Kansas City/Lawrence area.  This assumes that you have no prejudices against suburban restaurants or restaurants in existence for more than 25 years. 

In terms of individual dishes, their crab cakes appetizer is excellent, and they admirably have diver scallops (acquired by human divers, not farm raised) every day as appetizers, a good wine list including excellent Arrowhead Grand Archer chardonnay at a reasonable price, extra virgin olive oil at no upcharge, and a Caesar salad that they prepare at the table and will accommodate to your preferences.  Their halibut is somewhat better than their sea bass, but all seafood, includuing sea bass, is dependable here.  There are no vegetarian dishes among their entrees.  This is not a trivial matter for an upscale restaurant.  The most eminent restaurant in St. Louis, Tony's, lost its fifth star in the Mobil Guide for that reason.  Oddly the owner, Vince Bommarito, refused to compromise, and to this day Tony's remains a four star.

Two of their tables are in private elevators acquired from the former downtown department store of the same name.  Request one of the elevator tables to appreciate the history of this unique landmark restaurant and enjoy the privacy of an elevator room.  EBT is better in most ways than the more renowned and overrated (but more historic) Savoy Grill downtown.  If you are into electronic reservations, use the email address to the left, and not the reservation page on the restaurant's web site. The reservation upload from the web site passes through a "middle man" company that may delay or lose your reservation request.

I very much like the EBT Restaurant, which is well worth the drive from Lawrence.

This restaurant has closed.  Its closing is a serious loss to Johnson County.  But the chef has now opened a new restaurant, named after the chef/owner, Michael Smith, in the Crossroads Art District downtown KC.

This highly regarded restaurant was opened by co-executive chefs and owners, Debbie Gold and Michael Smith.  They previously worked for seven years as chefs at Kansas City's best restaurant, the American Restaurant, and have traveled widely, as is evidenced by their sophisticated preparations reflecting many continental bistro approaches.  If I were to attach a label to the style of this restaurant, I'd call it Southern California, although that style long ago spread across the country to as far away as New York City, and has its earlier origins in Europe.  The restaurant is somewhat noisy, but if you get there early enough to acquire a good table, you won't mind.  Although I usually prefer quieter restaurants, this restaurant design grows on you, if you give it a chance.

I especially appreciate their seafood, which arrives fresh each morning.  But I was disappointed to find that the salmon on their menu is farm raised.  The service, although informal in a manner befitting the decor of the restaurant, is exceptionally efficient and knowledgeable.  Unlike the waitpersons in many Kansas City restaurants, the waitpersons here can be very helpful and genuinely informative. In this restaurant, it pays to ask for recommendations and for the details of the preparations. 

In 1999, the two chefs at this restaurant won the James Beard award for Best Chef-Midwest.  If you like the "Southern California style" of restaurant or the related European bistro style, you will like 40 Sardines.   In addition, if you happen to be at Town Square Plaza, you will find this restaurant to be very conveniently located just southeast of the plaza in the Hawthorne Plaza Shopping Center, which is on Roe just south of 119th St on the west side of the street.

Clearly many diners appreciate the merits of this restaurant, which can be very crowded.  Reservations are a must, unless you arrive just as they open.

Sadly this very pleasant restaurant has closed.  But the same owners run Cafe Provence and Cassis, listed above. 

This restaurant, which has been at this location for over two decades, emphasizes classical French cuisine, executed flawlessly, starting with some of the best fresh-made French bread in Kansas City.  If your preferences lean towards "trendy" nouvelle cuisine (originated near Lyon, France by the great chef Fernand Point in the 1970s and actually no longer "trendy" at all), you may not be happy at
Tatsu's.  But if you request a change or modification to the usual preparations (for example, the use of olive oil or teriyaki sauce instead of cream or butter), the chef at Tatsu's will be happy to accommodate.  In addition, this chef's preparations tend to be reasonably light on butter and cream, as opposed to the heavy use common in some less enlightened northern-style French restaurants.  As old-school French restaurants go, this is a very fine restaurant, and I enjoyed the dinner very much.  The prices, the quality, and the preparations are excellent.  The only slight disappointment was the sorbet dessert, which, although very good, was not a match for the really excellent sorbet now available at such restaurants as Pachamama's in Lawrence.

But there was one misstep during my experience at Tatsu's.  When we were handed the check by the waitperson, it contained three conspicuous errors:  two entrées that we had not ordered were added on to those we had ordered and the wine we ordered was replaced by a different wine priced at twice the price.  The waitperson corrected the errors immediately, when I mentioned them, and apologized.  In all other ways, the service was genuinely excellent, and I am certain that the conspicuously obvious billing errors were intentional. 

Having been to Tatsu's only once, I have no reason to assume that I would encounter a server error, if I returned.  A fine restaurant (which this most definitely is) is undoubtedly careful to avoid such errors.

Thai Place Grill
Northwest corner of
119th and Quivira
South Overland Park
913-451-THAI

Other locations at:

7th and Walnut
Downtown
(closed Sundays)

9359 W 87th St.
(Louisburg Square)
Central Overland Park

4131 Pennsylvania
Westport

Web site

Yahooz
4701 Town Center Dr.
Leawood
web page
913-451-8888

Restaurants at the Legends of Village West