What is your favorite River Market restaurant?

There are so many great restaurants in the River Market, and I think that each has its own special time and place. For example, Sunday brunch and Wednesday night are definitely Succotash-worthy. Cafe Al Dente is a great for those nights when you just can't cook. Vivace is a nicer restaurant and the perfect place to take out-of-town guests so you can impress with the ice bar.

I haven't included all of the restaurants in the River Market, just the ones we frequent on a weekly basis. Let me know your favorite. Obviously, not limited to Kansas Citians, even if you've visited (family), what has been your favorite?

Succotash + Yalumba = A Perfect Pair

Last night we did the only thing you should do on a Wednesday night in the River Market...the Succotash weekly prix fixe dinner. It has been about a month since we've been and we weren't disappointed. (Of course we ran into our UK friends at dinner and made an evening out of it.) Everything is homemade in their kitchen and Beth really puts a lot of thought into her menus.

We called ahead to find out what they were serving, then popped into the Wine Cellar to pick up a bottle to go with dinner.

$12 Dinner menu (really...only $12)
Seasonal vegetable soup
Mixed greens with succotash
Vegetarian and mean epanadas, black bean tostadas and Spanish rice
Lemon cake with sauteed apples and pears

Its so nice having the wine shop next door, they really go out of their way to help you pick out the perfect pairing for the dinner. They insisted we try Yalumba's Hand Picked Shiraz + Viognier. Every since visiting Hunter Valley last year we regularly buy Australian wine, so it wasn't a hard sell. We often buy the Y Series of the same wine, it is about $15 cheaper and an always good, everyday red.

The "Hand Picked" version was a different wine all together. This word is probably overused, but I'm not a wine snob so I will say it was "jammy" and very intense. Deep plum color, dark berry flavors, spicy almost anise notes. An absolutely great find and it paired nicely with the smoky meat, roasted vegetables and black beans. You could easily put it down for a few years if you were married to someone who wouldn't pull it from the back of the wine refrigerator....but, ahem, that would not be me.

I think we'll be going back to get a couple more bottles.