Mission

Recent discussions about protecting LGBTQ residents from discrimination in Prairie Village and Mission, Kansas, recall a similar, highly controversial effort a few years ago in Roeland Park — and a quiet development in Wyandotte County earlier this year.

Kansas City's coffee shop scene has really blossomed over the past few years.

In addition to coffee and tea drinks, a number of shops have also been serving great food: pastries made in-house, breakfast, light lunches and grab-and-go snacks.

From quiet spots to linger to more convivial spaces to meet up with friends, KCUR's food critics searched out the best coffee shops in and around Kansas City.

Here are their recommendations:

Italian food. Those two words may bring up images of a pasta dish with red sauce, or perhaps a thick square of lasagna. Throw in a glass of wine, and you're set for a cold winter night.

Some local chefs are also putting a creative spin on the cuisine. From old-school favorites to some new takes, our food critics on KCUR’s Central Standard searched out the best Italian food in and around Kansas City.

Here are their recommendations:

Restaurants come and go. On KCUR’s Central Standard, our Food Critics — Charles Ferruzza, Mary Bloch and Jenny Vergara — have kept up with the latest goings-on in our local dining scene from over the past several months.

We’ve been eating out of bowls for thousands of years.

However, the idea of serving meals in bowls has become trendy in the United States. And it's not for people who don't like their food to touch.

“I think the bowl trend comes out of an idea of more healthy, mindful eating,” Jenny Vergara told host Gina Kaufmann on KCUR’s Central Standard.

Bowl meals are also portable and convenient — and they’re also Instagrammable.

There once was a time when "sausage" meant links or patties served with pancakes.

Not anymore, especially in Kansas City. We’ve seen a lot more sausage variety over the past few years.

“I think it’s part of the butchery trend,” Jenny Vergara told host Gina Kaufmann on KCUR’s Central Standard. “We have more and more chefs who are opening great butcher shops. With this return to artisan do-it-yourself butchery, sausage is a really incredible way to use up all the pieces and parts.”

Brunch can take on many different forms.

There’s the all-you-can-eat buffet, complete with waffle and omelet stations.

And don’t forget the boozy brunch — quite possibly the only time of the week where one could have a drink in the morning without feeling too guilty.

On Friday's Central Standard, KCUR's Food Critics took their annual look at the best brunch dishes in and around Kansas City.

Here are their recommendations:

Co-working is a growing trend for freelancers, small businesses, and startups. It provides a place to work, interact with others and share expenses. But artists, and makers of all kinds, often have specialized needs, when it comes to light, space, or tools. 

For almost a year, orange cones, torn up sidewalks, and road closures were a daily fact of life for businesses and their customers along Johnson Drive in Mission, Kansas. After months of dealing with restricted access, the road is officially re-opened and traffic is once again moving smoothly. 

On this edition of Up to Date, we look at the effect of the project on local shops, how these retailers coped, and what both they and the city hope the new and improved Johnson Drive brings to the area. 

Massive street and sidewalk work has been going on for six months along Johnson Drive in Mission, and the mom and pop businesses on that street are feeling the pain of lost business. The work has shut off front-door access for many of them.

On Wednesday's Up to Date, we talk about how much the construction has changed these businesses, how they're coping and what the city is doing about the situation.

Guests:

  If you're driving through Mission, Kan., make sure that your seatbelt is fastened, you're not talking on your cell phone and you come to a complete stop. This suburb hands out more traffic tickets than they have residents. You've been warned. 

On Tuesday's Up to Date, Steve Kraske talks with Mayor Laura McConwell about why the traffic ticket count is so high and why traffic enforcement is such a priority in the town. 

At the corner of Roe Avenue and Johnson Drive facing Shawnee Mission Parkway, if you look to north side of the street, you see Roeland Park. There are sparsely inhabited businesses, including a cremation center and weight loss store, facing a weed- and dirt-filled lot on the Mission side of Johnson Drive.  This empty lot will be the new Walmart and Gateway Development expected to open in 2014. It will close the Roeland Park Walmart store located 8/10 of a mile away down Roe Avenue.   Walmart is the number one sales tax generator in Roeland Park.