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
KC Collaboration, caffeinated
Bo Nelson always envisioned Thou Mayest as a place where entrepreneurs could get together to hash out the details of their next project. But what Nelson didn’t anticipate when the coffee shop opened 11 months ago in the Crossroads was just how often those meetings would be about his own projects.
From farmers market to brick-and-mortar
Levi Holland adds another sealed black bag of coffee beans to the small pile that is accumulating on a set of distressed wood shelves only a few feet from the front door at Post Coffee Co. Behind him is the 5-kilogram drum roaster that he’s running on a Wednesday after a busy holiday weekend –…
A classic, revived: Donuts and dining at the Ladybird
On a recent Wednesday afternoon, Meg Heriford is busy making the rounds. The proprietor of the Ladybird Diner, which has been closed for smoke damage repairs since March, stands in front of a stainless steel prep table in the kitchen at Pachamama’s – the well-known Lawrence eatery that closed in February.
Lucky Ewe: Green Dirt Farm counts on sheep to make high-quality cheese and dairy products
Feast TV showcases the people and places that define the flavor of the Midwest with a monthly half hour tour of regional food culture. Green Dirt Farm is featured in this month’s episode, which airs on KCPT this Saturday at 2:20pm. This story by food trends writer and founder of The Recommended Daily, Jonathan Bender, was originally published by Feast Magazine. “I’m going…
American League Champs, let’s eat
There is no spring training for eaters. You – the hot dog aficianados and ice cream helmet-scooping public – will have to go in and not know exactly whether your appetite (and intestinal fortitude) is going to show up for Opening Day at Kauffman Stadium. The Kansas City Royals, the reigning American League Champions, will…
Art to taste and touch (and talk about)
Kernza is as close as we have to a local wheat celebrity. But if you’re not a baker, there’s a good chance you may not have heard of the perennial wheat that was developed by The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas. Now, the grain is part of a new exhibit combining science, baking, art, and...
Bringing new light to an underground speakeasy
It’s easy to miss John Brown’s Underground, and that’s kind of the point. The eight-month old speakeasy is just a block off Massachusetts Street in Lawrence, Kansas. But there’s no sign to point the way and the entrance is below sidewalk level. “Speakeasies were illegal. They brought in all different types of people. There’s no…
KC couple to open Brookside home for Heirloom Bakery & Hearth
As the City Market lunch crowd wanes on a recent Wednesday, Scott Meinke chops chives on a green cutting board while his wife Kate methodically cubes butter on a perpendicular stainless steel prep table. This is the Heirloom Bakery & Hearth two-step, where the couple preps and shifts and washes and mixes and watches and…
Blip Roasters aims to create community through coffee
Ian Davis needs a hot cup of coffee. It’s early on a Friday morning in the West Bottoms, but the 24-year-old owner of Blip Roasters is not tired. He’s just looking for a bit of warmth in the wood and brick space that winter keeps leaking into through a pair of garage doors. As a…
A Neapolitan transformation in a KC River Market space
Over the past several months, Erik Borger has fashioned rebar and reclaimed wood into chairs and put up hundreds of white subway tiles on the bar and pizza oven counter. As the whine of a drill on a door hinge competes with the rhythmic thumping of the streetcar project outside, Borger is busy measuring and...