Blue Grotto

The latest KC Foodie event occured at Blue Grotto, a nice pizza place

situated next door to The Brooksider on Brookside Plz, right off 63rd street.

The restaurant presents itself in an interesting way. When you walk

in you have to go through the bar to get to the hostess. I found this slightly confusing, but courageously moved forward with the evening. Black trim, steel accents, and a natural maple floor lend themselves nicely to the environment's modern organic feel.

I was meeting my party there, so after a brief verbal exchange with the pleasant hostess, I was directed to go upstairs and around a couple corners. The table we were seated at fit ten and we definitely filled that space. It was positioned alone on a catwalk that served as a visual transition for the bar and restaurant space below. This location had a very light open feel that surprisingly felt rather nice. I was expecting a cafeteria -esque feeling to the meal, but fortunately that never came.

When I got to the table I was treated to a barrage of greetings from my enthusiastic friends. This was gonna be a fun night, as long as the food and service were okay. As the night progressed and a couple Boulevard Smokestacks and a few dirt ies (foodie talk for a dirty martini) were consumed, the appetizers for our meal came.

Here's what we ordered: Sun Dried Tomato and Goat Cheese Torte, New Zealand Lamb Chops, Roasted Long Stemmed Artichoke Hearts, and P.E.I. mussels. Of these dishes, the highlights would be the cheese torte and the P.E.I. mussels. The mussels come in a chardonnay cream sauce that carries the richness one expects from something like an Alfredo sauce, but is still thin like mussel sauces should be. The cheese torte is like any cheese ball you might find at a decent party, except much less ball-ness and way more flavor goodness. Either of these are a must order.

After appetizers came the meal. (As one would expect.) We ordered the following pizzas: Margherita, Salsicca, Spicy Shrimp and Andouille Sausage, and the days special. Of these there is nothing particular to say about any one of them. In general though, they were all very good and larger than expected. My only complaint is that the crust got a little soggy in the middle and couldn't hold its shape.

We didn't order dessert and called dinner done after the pizzas. The server couldn't split our bill so we spent the next 25 minutes trying to figure out who owed what. Apparently math is hard after a drink or two.

The server herself did a fairly good job. She had to deal with a chaotic group of ten people and only forgot one thing. She didn't anticipate our needs, but was prompt when we voiced one.

Overall, Blue grotto is a good place to go. Between an appetizer and a pizza, you could probably feed 3 people and stay under $40 for the table, even with a drink or two. A great place to take a date and definitely worth a visit. The appetizers are where the restaurant sets itself apart, so a light meal and drinks is a great way to experience this modern Brookside pizzeria.

Overall it gets a 7.5 out of 10.