GorMehta, 60 North Gore Avenue A, Webster Groves, MO (2026)

09/02/2026

Verbena at The Market: Near the Kansas ocean, lobsters are known to thrive. The Prairie Village bourgeoisie hellhole I found myself brunching at was perfectly adapted to its environment. Serving the elite unemployed masses who the money trickles up to, they can afford, literally, to loaf around all day like the loiterers they are in a picturesque, sanitized flat utopia. Call it Kansas. The England team definitely ate here. So maybe I shouldn’t have ordered a market price lobster roll, but how am i to know it was $45 dollars. The menu had nothing else over $20, and I had already had a delicious Kansas oyster, tasting just like the sea with just hint of the finest Kansas sand, washed down with some ichor, as Reon was making a hard sell to keep me in Kansas for another night. I will say the roll was stuffed: a half pound to a whole pound of tender, slighly sweet seabug tail. Lightly seasoned, with a juicy bounce leading into each tender bite. The mayo dressing and chives were muted enough to add a little accent to the lobster without overpowering it, with the toasted bread provided the real contrast in flavor. The bland buttered corn on the side was so kansas, but the fries made for quite the munch; much needed filler for the very expensive plate. These impulsive purchases is why I do this s**t. Was it worth it, probably not, but who else can say they ate the famous frivolous Kansas lobster, and hell maybe I’ll get a lunch with client write-off like the rest of the phony out there that day - - 7.5/10

08/29/2026

Sichuan Dynasty: In deep suburban Overland Park, there lies allegedly the best Chinese food in the Kansas City area. Guided by my dear leader Yong, I sampled a variety of homestyle chinese dishes: dan dan noodles, mapo tofu, bean and meat salad, dumplings, scallion pancake, and pork cooked in fish. The noodles came first, and I have learned to not expect much from Dan Dan noodles, as the large quantity of noodles is almost lacking its accompanying spicy chili sauce, tasting more like buttered spaghetti noodles. Yet, the best chinese vegetable dish I have ever had: stirfried green beans, okra, and pork was next. Not spicy, rather a savory mix of porkfat and crisp vegetable, this dish was superb, taking me to umami heaven. On otherhand, the huge portion of mapo tofu was also light on spice, numbing, and I would say flavor overall. To contrast, the pork with fish is a traditional chinese classic, reminding Yong of his childhood. I thought it was delicious as well, but it reminded more of the sweetened American style chinese, with maybe a mushroom hit at the end rather than fish. Either way, it was another delicious savory dish offered up. The dumpling were as expected, served hot a bursting with juicy meaty goodness, similar to the allium infused, crisp pancake. The affordability was astounding, feeding 5 for under $90 dollars. Can’t say the spice was as expected when I heard the Sichuan, but the homestyle classics are hard to beat. I also shoulda noticed the sign was also in Mandarin. - - 8.5/10

08/26/2026

Niecie’s: Sunday morning is church time and the feasting that follows. Not a churchgoer myself, I suddenly had an immense craving for fried shrimp, despite Kansas being thousands of miles from the nearest Ocean. I knew only a soul food spot could fry shrimp to my liking while still offering the other fixings like greens and cornbread that I needed. I beat the rush and got my 6 jumbo shrimp with sides of greens, macaroni, mashed potatoes, black eyed peas, and cornbread. Now the lightly battered shrimp were fried to juicy, mouth-singeing perfection. I drenched them in hot sauce and pepper, spending the rest of my time savoring the veritable spread of sides. The collard greens came with small pieces of bone in smoked meat, which provided smokiness to cut the inherent bitterness of greens, while its savory stew was delectable, maybe some vinegar for brightness may have helped. The macaroni was amazing, invoking the sweet, cheesiness of Sweet Tomatoes macaroni, a piece of nostalgia from my childhood. The white gravy that came with the homestyle, slightly chunky potatoes was wonderful, yet the black eyed peas were dissimilar: bland and unflavored. It was as if they were stewed out of the can with little else added, and I needed to drown them in hot sauce to make them palatable. The cornbread was solid, moist and sweet but did nothing to stand out. Overall, I did vanquish shrimp craving, but the food was so good I probably should have got more but damn was it heavy. - - 9/10

08/19/2026

Bamboo Grove Hawaiian Grill: More familiar with Hawaiian food in the context of food trucks and quick fast food, the West coast’s proximity to the protectorate of Hawaiian Isles has brought waves of islanders to the mainland, pushed out by climate genocide and being priced out of their homeland. They have brought with them the unique creole mix of Indigenous, East Asian, and American cuisine, which I have had the opportunity to sample in a sit down setting. I thought about an appetizer but the vegan lumpia put me off. The mains were largely smoked barbeque meats, as Polynesia is notorious for its smoke meat culture. What caught my eye was the wide variety of shortrib, and I opted for the Kihei ribs. This was a teryaki marinade with some unspecified fruity sweetness and maybe a hint of fish sauce based umami. There were three size option for portions, allowing one to mix and match with your companions, as you desire. My medium sized order came out extra charred, just how I like it, with a macaroni salad and rice. The time in the grill muted some of the ribs sweetness, but the provided condiments of a spicy chili sauce and a sweet and sour sauce really elevated the fat-oozing ribs. The perfectly seasoned macaroni salad, mayo heavy and laden with onion. The creamy, cooling effect of the macaroni perfectly balanced the rich, sweet, and smoky flavors of the ribs. Hawaiian barbecue is the only regional iteration of the worldwide smoking phenomenon, but if all of it is as good as this, the world is really missing out on a unique and delicious process of preparing meat. - - 9/10

08/14/2026

Hunker Down: It’s burger week in Portland. And the usually massively overpriced $20 dollar burger has given way to the still overpriced $10
dollar promotional burger are round the city. I found myself ina foot cart squatting camp, common to this land as squatters themselves. This food carts so called “Burger Week Burger” was described as ranch, pickled onion, smash patty, jalapeño cream cheese bacon croquette, pickled jalapeño and cheddar cheese. In reality, it was an arms race between a the flavor of a under-seasoned burger patty, particularly smashed and the quasi-jalapeño popper flavor contained from the pressed “croquette” and the sparse pickled jalapeño. The cream cheese was far too abundant, overpowering the rest of the components like a warm cheesecake. I could barely perceive any bacon, let alone ranch, or onion. It looked pretty I guess, but the eyes don’t have taste buds. And with such a fancy burger, would it kill you to be heavier on the salt. I take that bat, as their french fries, which did not come with this, were actually over-salted. Incredible- - 6.25/10

08/09/2026

Otto & Anita’s Schnitzelhause: With quite an exquisite reputation, I found myself downriver eating schnitzel. Or should I say Poulet Suisse. The meal started off with a schwartz, a refreshing Black b**r. like refreshing rather than creamy Guinness. They are famous for dill soup and what awaited me was a rich, umami-filled cup of warmth. A sharp dill note on first impression, this gave away to a decadent warmth with just some slight salinity, really more of an amuse bouche, with small bits of tender cucumber interspersed within. The crusty homemade roll with butter was great for dipping, albeit small in size and portion, with a decent amount of chew. My main was chicken wienerschnitzel Suisse, basically a chicken cutlet downed in a fondue sauce with sides of spätzle, swiss chard, and carrot. The chicken potion was impressively large for a single piece and incredibly juicy. The thick chicken breasts light layer of breading held-up the liquified goodness of a delicious fondue, which was closer to a light béchamel rather anything cheese forward, seasoned to perfection. The spätzle allowed me to soak up all this goodness, while the slightly bitter chard and carrot sides were more there for nutrition than flavor but did help cut the richness. I also sampled the Zigeunerschnitzel, which was somehow thinner than my chicken. I appreciated the bright red paprika and w**e sauce, but it was more for color than flavor. I should have got a homemade desert, but I don’t indulge in those games. The portions were mo gargantuan, but overall, it’s real homestyle country cooking and you can tell the love is there. - - 9/10

08/01/2026

Tin Shed: Somewhere in Portland, there is a brekkie. Even at 7:30 AM there is somehow a wait. Another win for the brunch hater. I don’t know what these hippies do with their lives, but it appears they wakeup early to get their daily slop for masses, aka overpriced restaurant breakfast. Not understanding the difference between anything on the menu, as all had the same basic ingredients of eggs, some pork product, and potato, I opted for a “stacked scramble” called Good Dog. I love being talked down to. They were nice enough to allow me to have both a potato cake and under-seasoned cheezy grits, which they hid under a mountain of mostly bell pepper with a little jalapeño, as well as the heavily pushed local Tillamook cheddar. It was an odd mix of American and Tex-Mex, with their weakly flavored pork sausage, which I could no discern in the egg scramble, being masked by a sweet and smoky chipotle, and apparently a salsa fresca, which I did not notice. I will say, their biscuit was superb: flakey, just oozing butter with a hint of sweetness and the perfect crumbly bite. Yet they priced it at $5 per piece, which is why I got the unseasoned scramble in the first place, as it came with it. I mentioned the lack of salt, but there was also a lack of spice, especially in their housemade “habanero” hot sauce, which was more sweet than spicy, almost the same as the chipotle on my dish. Their french toast was decent; its creamy texture perfect for absorbing the maple syrup it needed for sweetness. I forgot about West Coast pricing, and I thought the coffee was complimentary given the $20+ pricetag. I was wrong. I will say though, good biscuits. - - 6.5/10

07/27/2026

Al-Hawr: The closest restaurant to my new pad is fitting of the neighborhood: well to-do and slightly ethnic, perfect for lying in the shadow of the medical industrial complex. I started off with a soujok hummus and warak enab, wrapped grape leaves. The silky smooth hummus was luxuriously creamy, absorbing the ground sausage’s rendered fat. The mild soujok was enhanced with h crunch of some pine nuts, but it lacked intensity of flavor. The grape-leaves were slightly bitter on the tongue, with enhanced acidity from their delicate olive oil and citrus brushed. The rice stuffing was dense but less herbal than expected, with weak notes of parsley and almost none of mint, which ai had expected to be overpowering at first. The tender pita, still slightly dusted with flour came with seasamed olive oil and labneh for dipping. The mezze was quite heavy, but I made room for the chicken shish tawook. Coming atop a bed of rice, with vegetables and garlic sauce, it was quite the decent portion. With a hint of fruity sweetness atop a savory spice, it evoked its not so distant cousin, al pastor, while still remaining tender, remarkable for breast meat. The muted garlic sauce did accentuate the juicy of the meat, and the meal wash down with an old world tasting Lebanese b**r, complete with the slightly rubbery aftertaste. Overall, this meal was astonishingly good, yet at the same time priced exorbitantly, missing some fine details. - - 8.5/10

06/29/2026

Tacos Burritos Stand: After spotting a shawarma spit while driving through MLK street in Southeast Portland, I ended up surprised that this shawarma was actually al pastor. Like the post-Ottoman refugee’s that brought the spit to the new world, the trompe-l’oeil of skewered meat brought me into the parking lot of two Mexican restaurants for some street meat. Not understanding who the proprietor was, I just stuck to the stand and got what had drawn me in, al pastor tacos. They were sliced and diced in front of me and put onto minuscule corn tortillas, with a diameter of no more than 3 inches. Heavy oiled with a staining achiote infusion but exceedingly sweet from the pineapple marinade, these had a nice chew to them but not too much flavor complexity besides a heavy emphasis on the fruity. I garnished them myself with heavy onion, cilantro, and both an acidic salsa verde and a spicy, smokey salsa roja. At $3.50 a pop for tacos of this size, I definitely will consider tacoflation in my evaluation, but I do note the sizeable amount of meat on the tiny taco. Overall, not bad, but I was more impressed by the garnishes and the speed of service than the overall food, despite my enjoyment of the sucralicuous pineappled kebab. - - 7.25/10

06/25/2026

Akadi: Portland, known for its strong culinary culture balanced with a lack of diversity, is the perfect place to try generic “Pan-African” cuisine. After elucidating the Sierra Leonean identity of the proprietors, I decided to play the maritime game and go with fried whole fish especially with the proximity to the coast. Pompano was a fish du jour, a bit pricey at $30 bucks for whole thing, but it came with jollof rise á la Leonaise, slaw, and some fried plantains. Much to my Naija compatriots dismay, the objectify mediocre jollof had a strong gingeresque fragrance but was weak on flavor. The texture and color of Mexican rice, it took the label of jollof rice to even evoke what it was supposed to be. The fish was perfectly tender and flakey, complete with delicious dark cheek meat but despite a quick swim in oil, the skin wasn’t crisped to its potential and peeled pretty easy. It was topped with sweet mayonnaise like sauce, when I expected something fried in spicy palm oil. The peppery and acidic slaw was a nice cut and the fried plantains tasted as they should, but overall, mediocre at best. The best morsel of the meal was the spicy okra stew, reminding me of the original Ngombo from Africa that inspired our gumbo. Despite the hefty portion of goat with unrendered marrow, the pepper stew ran sweet with a strong metallic tomato taste and thickness like it was from a can. Overall, I need a butcher, cause I’m not paying these goat prices. - - 7/10

GorMehta

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