word of mouth
by chris becicka

A (Mercifully) Brief History of Kansas City’s Epicurean Vote

People in Kansas City are particularly passionate about their food and where they eat it. Perhaps it’s because so many of us are overweight, we must take our food seriously. Perhaps it’s because everyone eats out now (in 2001, 60 percent of Ingram’s subscribers ate out nine times a week) and talking about where you ate and what you ate is an easy topic of mutual conversation. Perhaps it’s because we can at least understand food.

No matter the reason, Ingram’s Silver Ladle Awards continue to grow in popularity. All year long, we act as tasters for our readers with "Word of Mouth," but once an annum we let our readers tell us what they like about Kansas City cuisine. It’s not too complicated—we just count your votes and declare the winner (no dimples in our process, no hanging chads).
The 14-year-old Silver Ladle Awards have become a tradition in Kansas City, a tradition that has been often imitated but never matched. And along the way, the awards have come to offer an interesting introspective into dining, lunching, desserting, coffeeing, brunching, and wining in our city.

Back in 1988, when the Silver Ladle Awards began, they started off gold. In 1989, the Golden Spoon was awarded in eight categories, which are still mostly alive today. So are the restaurants mentioned with four exceptions—Costello’s Greenhouse under Sunday Brunch, La Mediterranee and Top of the Alameda under Intimate Dinner, and Michael Forbes under Bar& Grill, which is coming back in October, hurrah! That was the year, too, that Chubby’s replaced Sidney’s at 36th and Broadway, and two new restaurants made the New and Noteworthy column—Feathers and Cahoots in Blue Springs. It’s a tough business, as even the perennial winners will attest.

The number of categories steadily, if slowly, increased, based primarily on reader input. Ingram’s readers are seldom shy and since it was their contest, they wanted to vote on their own categories. In 1990, a new category was added—fast food, which Winstead’s won, but the category was replaced the following year with B.B.Q., which has remained, with different spellings, until today.

The Golden Spoon Awards turned to silver in 1993, with nary a word of explanation. (It was something about the trademarked name of another publication.) It didn’t much matter. 1993 also saw the increase by three to 16 categories, including such favorites as Best Place to Take Out of Town Guests (Plaza III), Best Service (Peppercorn), Most Unusual (Metropolis, alas), Best Carryout (Bo Ling’s), and Best Value (Stroud’s) while other categories disappeared.

In 1999, another change occurred when the Silver Ladle expanded into the "Best of Business Kansas City," as one of the four groups you’re now familiar with. With 22 different dining categories, one can see the progress of the sophisticated, I guess. Along came Best Martini Bar, Best Caterer, Best Microbrewery, Best Dining after 10 p.m., and we don’t mean Sonic, Best Dining with a Group and a few others. By 2000, three other indispensable categories had to be added, Most Eclectic, Best Wine List, and Best Seafood. In 2001, we added the Best Cigar Bar, a deservedly short-lived fad. And Best Overall Restaurant continued to seesaw among Plaza III, The American, Grand Street lately, Peppercorn Duck Club, Café Allegro, The Savoy, and the Bristol earlier. What’s your choice for 2002?

This year, another change—we’ve noticed that restaurants are also location-driven so we’re including different parts of town: JoCo, Eastern Jackson County, the Northland, and with a big reach, the Lake area. There’s 25 categories and if you have favorites, you’d better write us and tell us. The form is in this issue—along with the rules—so vote by June 28th. And remember, in choosing the deserving award winners, stuff your bellies, not your ballots. Bon appetit!!