Have you ever liked a meal so much that you can still taste it years later? Do you drive by an empty space where the restaurant used to be, secretly hoping that one day it will miraculously reopen? Do you still keep a now useless menu with the rest of your takeout menus at work or in your car? When you taste something similar, do you say: “This is pretty good, but not even close to what I used to eat at ….”?
Years ago a co-worker and I were walking past “Mad Tapper’s” restaurant on Admiral in downtown KC when a hippie-looking guy with a pony-tail invited us to try out their lunch specials. That’s how we met Chef John. Everything John cooked was just lick-your-plate delicious, from prime rib to mashed potatoes, from green beans to baked potato soup, I still remember the taste and never had better. John’s wife (or girlfriend) Angie worked there too. Then something happened and Mad Tapper’s closed despite pretty good lunch crowds, now it’s called Red Front and seems pretty empty at lunch.
After some time we found out that John managed the deli at Italian Gardens and were disappointed that he was making sandwiches and not using his talents. Then Italian Gardens closed and we lost track of John and Angie again. Few more years passed and I read a story in the Star about a place at 12th and Baltimore serving amazing soups. One day we walked to the Country Club Cafe to find John and Angie behind the counter. The small place was always crowded during lunch hour, they were serving two kinds of soup and a variety of sandwiches. Since then I tried soups from Soupman, Souperman few blocks away, and Happy Gillis, but nothing compares to John’s Hungarian Chicken soup or his Clam Chowder. The sandwiches they served tasted and looked so good and irresistible that at one point I think I was eating there every day. Then as now familiar story goes, the City dug up Baltimore St., you couldn’t drive up there anymore and one day we found the place empty with no sign. I just drove by yesterday hoping to see someone inside but no luck, it’s been a year.
I am not one of the annoying self-important “foodies” who just have to pester the chef but John and Angie were so open, nice and personable that it was hard not to meet and admire them. I am sure John and Angie are still in some food-related business. If anyone knows who they are and where they work please let me know for a valuable reward-free lunch.
I suggest if you find them again, that you give them your phone number and tell them to call you each time they start working at a different location.
I don’t know where to find John and Angie, but you can get a great bowl of Hungarian goulash on Monday night at Grinder’s downtown. George Detsios, Euro-born former proprietor of George’s Cheese and Sausage shop on Main St., does the cooking.