KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Restaurant Week kicks off Friday, Jan. 13, with more than 200 restaurants to choose from. Ten percent of each bill goes to charity.
One of the participants is Fannie's African & Tropical Cuisine. Fannie Gibson can’t wait for you to try her Restaurant Week menu!
“You try our cabbage and you’re never going back!” Gibson laughed.
Her fried cabbage, a newer item, is alongside some of her best sellers.
“Egusi soup, okra soup, that’s peanut butter [soup] still cookin', not quite ready yet,” Gibson said while pointing to all of her best sellers.
She and her crew spend hours cooking the menu from scratch using a mix of recipes Gibson learned from her grandmother as well as her own.
“Kansas City has been home, but growing up here, there wasn’t any West African cuisine,” she said. “I grew up in Liberia in West Africa, so I grew up during the civil war and all of that.
"My grandmother actually taught me a lot of those recipes and some of the ones that are not from my country — like the soups, like the egusi and other stuff that’s from a different country. So I taught myself those things. I learned it and mastered it.”
Gibson's restaurant has become a staple customers from across the country seek out.
“Chicago, Iowa, Oklahoma and Dallas, everywhere just to come try the food!” she said.
When she was approached to join KC Restaurant Week a few years ago, Gibson says she was nervous. But looking back, she’s glad she took the chance.
“I’m so grateful I did because it changed my life," Gibson said. "That changed the business, that changed everything. People literally drove for like six hours, people came from everywhere.”
But other food service businesses have experienced during the COVID era, staffing is a challenge.
For Restaurant Week, she buys three times the amount of food to meet the demand.
Her advice for Restaurant Week diners? Don’t forget the event is ten days long.
“Don’t come Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Come the following week because it is gonna be crazy — the first three days is crazy always," Gibson said.
Other participating restauranteurs tell KSHB 41 they agree with Gibson, urging the public to remember to have grace during an overwhelmingly busy time.
“I don’t want to rush during Restaurant Week, but you can imagine having 100 people [wanting to] try to eat all at once," said Chef Cherven Desauguste of Mesob. "So just be a little bit patient. I think that’s the key."
Reservations are encouraged. But once a time is booked, eaters are asked to show up.
“I think sometimes guests will make reservations, not show, not call, show up with significantly less people,” said Thomas Turner, director of food and beverage at Loews Hotel, which includes The Stillwell restaurant. “I would say on any given Friday, Saturday night, we can have a 15% to 20% wash from no show-no calls.”
Nevertheless, Gibson, Desauguste and Turner all say they are excited for diners to experience their food.
“I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of it,” Gibson said.
KC Restaurant week runs through Jan. 22. More information can be found HERE.
