ventures
by chris becicka

On The Waterfront

Perhaps because I grew up in Kansas, I prefer bodies of water to plateaus of prairie. Vacations are usually near a beach and meals there, as frequently as possible, are partaken with a water vista. Alas, there’s just not much on-water dining in KC. But on a quiet Monday night recently, we trekked to Lake Lotawana to dine by boats and a dimming sky in view at the Marina Grog and Galley.

The trek is not that far. We arrived in about 40 minutes from north Overland Park during rush hour—well worth the food and view. Lotawana means sparkling water and the lake is the largest in the Kansas City metropolitan area—from our table inside the original marina, looking out upon the lake, it’s big enough. The restaurant has a feeling of comfortable permanency that belongs to the wood and stone interior, the sailing pictures, the dark blue tablecloths and white dinnerware.

A large aquarium runs nearly the length of the cozy bar with the lion, trigger, yellow tang, squirrel and other fish providing the entertainment (the friendly bartender, the names). It is a well-stocked bar, too—18 wines by the glass and whatever else you want. There are even "signature" wines by the bottle—the Marina Grog and Galley chardonnay, blush, merlot, and cabernets ran between $16 and $20. Of course, there are plenty of more expensive wines to choose from and on Wednesday nights, all wines are half price.

We didn’t opt for one of the eight appetizers, which ranged from calamari at $6.95 to Jonah stone crab claws at $12.95. We were told the hot crab and artichoke hearts dip ($6.95) is very popular and delicious and the phyllo baked brie with lavosh crackers and fruit ($9.95) certainly looked good.

The four of us did make every effort to eat all of our four entrees. They each came with choice of soup (thick clam chowder with a bacony flavor) or salad (house or Caesar). Both salads were tasty and crisply cold. There is quite a selection of entrees whose descriptions are unflowery but tell you how the dish is cooked. Steaks begin with six-ounce portions and go to 12. The bartender’s-recommended Delmar steak, topped with shrimp, scallops, crab meat and mushrooms in a garlic cream sauce ($24 to $39), was cooked admirably to my portly friend’s medium-rare taste. The "Jack’s Kansas City Strip," apparent tribute to co-owner Jack Schwindler, with sweet glaze, mesquite grilled, came with an order: "It will not be cooked above medium." I say hurrah.

Michelle paid careful attention to her fried lobster, heavy on the oregano, which for $34 was a large breaded tail placed on onion rings. I tried one of the four Hawaiian seafood specialties, Opakapaka, which I thought sounded like an incantation but turned out to be a mild pink snapper. It was the most inventive of what we sampled and one of the least expensive as well ($17.00) and was layered between potato "tiles" and a shitake mushroom-corn risotto which was delicious. A mango puree and citrus vinaigrette added a boost of flavor. Happy with his combo steak and lobster, Joe had before tried the "Taste of Two," which were the priciest items on the menu, from $32 to $48. The menu also includes ribs, chicken or seafood pasta, a chicken and lobster roulade, Alaskan king crab, and other seafood as well.

We capped off dinner with one of two desserts offered—the chocolate cake with a liquid center of drizzly rich chocolate topped off with a scoop of vanilla had to be better than the crème brulée we thought—and chocoholics all, we dug in . . . hmmmmmmm.

The Marina Grog and Galley made me feel like I’d traveled a very small distance to a different little nautical world. I liked that a lot.”