Jonathan Bender

Jonathan Bender

Reporter

Jonathan Bender is a former KCPT Food Content Editor and the founder of the Recommended Daily. He is the author of "LEGO: A Love Story," "Cookies & Beer" and "Stock, Broth & Bowl." He lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where has judged the American Royal World Series of BBQ, eaten sandwiches for a month, and pitched grain as a brewer’s assistant — all in pursuit of learning more about what Kansas Citians eat and drink.

Stories by Jonathan Bender

catfish sandwich.

Order Up | Mad Jack’s on Troost’s Po Jack

Order up is a regular series that takes a layered look at drinks and eats across Kansas City. Got a dish you think we should feature? Drop us a note below or on Twitter @FlatlandKC. 

Hank Charcuterie

KC Nanobrew Festival & Other Weekend Possibilities

Kansas City’s next great brewery may very well be pouring beer in Berkley Riverfront Park this Saturday. The 2016 Kansas City Nanobrew Festival is from 2 to 6 p.m. and will feature more than 200 brews from area homebrewers. The festival, now in its seventh year, is a celebration of originality in brewing — as The…

Double Shift Brewing Co. beers.

Platte County Fair & Other Weekend Possibilities

It’s fair season. Now, let’s go ahead and see how much fried food we can eat. The Platte County Fair (15730 Fairgrounds Road, Tracy, Missouri) is open through Saturday. You can try your hand at milking a wooden cow, watch a tractor pull or visit the Overflow Saloon — opt for the Tallgrass Pub Ale. Tickets…

two reuben sandwiches

Food Fight | The Reuben Rumble

[FLEX-CONTENT] — Food Fight is a new series that pits two locally-available eats and drinks against each other. Anything you’d like to see in the ‘ring’? Drop us a note below or on Twitter @FlatlandKC.

Stockyards Brewing Company

Alamo’s Cereal Party & Other Weekend Possibilities

Tomorrow, you can go back in time at the Shoal Creek Living History Museum in Hodge Park (7000 Northeast Barry Road). Walk among reenactors in the village, see bison, and discover what life was like in the 19th century during the first Saturday celebration from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Brookside has a new juice bar. Simple…

s'mores

Cherry Bomb-A-Thon & Other Weekend Possibilities

The Cherry Pit Collective (604 E 31st St.) — a new communal artist studio space in the works — is holding the Cherry Bomb-A-Thon to raise funds and awareness from 6 to 11 p.m. tonight. There will be beer from the Cinder Block Brewery, cocktails from Urban Provisions and KC Canning Co., as well as a bonfire,…

Lemon cake

Order Up | Cafe Europa’s Lemon Cake

Order up is a regular series that takes a layered look at drinks and eats across Kansas City. Earlier this year, Cafe Europa announced that it would opening a second location in the Union Hill neighborhood this fall. Got a dish you think we should feature? Drop us a note below or on Twitter @FlatlandKC.

A cocktail on pavement

Party for America & Other Weekend Possibilities

Colony Espresso & Beer (312 Armour Road, North Kansas City) is hosting a free Party for America from 6 p.m. to midnight Saturday. There will be barbecue, Wiffle ball, yard games, and specials on good old-fashioned American beer. New beer is always exciting. Border Brewing (406 E 18th Street) tapped its Strawberry Blonde (made with 100…

Chef Michael Corvino

The American Restaurant sets a new course for 2017

The American Restaurant, one of Kansas City’s signature eateries, is changing course for 2017. The American, located in Crown Center, will host a series of guest chefs next year for what was termed “limited culinary engagements,” in a news release earlier this afternoon. The reinvention of the restaurant comes with the news that executive chef Michael Corvino…

A dish of chicken karahi

Recipe |Chicken Karahi and the Iftar Meal

For the past several weeks, Dr. Hibba Haider has awakened before dawn to have a small meal that will sustain her until sunset. Haider is fasting for Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which runs through July 5. Fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam, meant to both provide spiritual clarity…