This HAS to be on the top of the list for best restaurant with the best bang for your buck!!!!!

No need to be intimidated by adventurous ingredients or fancy tastings! This restaurants brings all of that packaged in a cool trendy/hipster joint. Walking up to the restaurant you get the first impression you are at a cool new bar with bright lights and brightly painted walls. What you get is the best of both worlds!!! You get the menu of an amazingly talented James Beard Award Winning chef, Michael Smith, with the feel of a jeans, tee shirt and ball cap vibe.

Last nights dinner BLEW. US. AWAY!  The concept of the menu is tapas so they suggest 2-3 items per person but the second we sat down and were greeted by Big Ben (our server) we were all on the same page of more is more and we want to try everything!! We gave him an idea of what we like and don’t like and he took the reins and guided us through an epic tasting! After 10 ridiculous plates between Scott and I, Big Ben did not disappoint!

Here’s a list of what we ate:

Heirloom tomato caprese salad with house made mozzarella

(Left to right: Califlower, Caprese, Ceviche Tacos)

Ceviche Tacos with a Taro Root “taco” shell. I can eat 10 of these the taro root shell keeps it super light!

Pork Belly Steam Buns. I want a ziplock bag full of the tamarind glazed pork belly and I want to snack on them while watching the baseball game.

(One lonely duck tongue taco because Scott had already grabbed the other one)

Duck Tongue Tacos. Okay, before you freak out and say “Ew. Duck tongue! No thanks!” Don’t knock it until you try it. Celebrity Chef Curtis Stone has claimed on the Food Network that this was “The Best Thing I Ever Ate”. And he is absolutely right! I could eat 10 of these after housing 10 of the ceviche tacos.

Roasted Curry Califlower with onions. Amazing flavor and I believe he told us that the chef had brought the spices back from Turkey, if I’m not mistakened, and that’s where the idea of this dish came about.

Wood oven roasted shitake mushrooms (I forgot to take a picture because I was trying not to miss out on the Bone marrow I saw Scott scarfing down)

Braised Goat Stew with chickpeas served with house made pita. Do it. Do it. Seriously do it.

Roasted Bone Marrow. This is your bread and butter course. A must!!!!

Sea Urchin pasta. I want this dish on a rainy day. I want this dish as I binge watch every episode of Real Housewives of Blah Blah. I want this twice a week. Maybe three. The perfect balance of flavors from the sea. Soooooo good!

Chorizo and Fig Stuffed Chicken Thighs. This is what they would call their signature dish and they had me at chorizo. This is the perfect combo of sweet and savory. Just a touch of sweetness. The tender chicken thighs and the bold flavor from the chorizo is a perfect marriage.

Okay I lied we had eleven plates! We finished the meal with a small cheese plate with a cherry mostarda and house made crackers. The perfect end to a mind blowingly good meal!

If someone were to put a gun to my head and say pick your favorites I would have spouted off every dish we had. One dish I would have loved to try was the Shrimp and Pork Belly Kimchi fried rice. And I would do this all over again!!!

Big Ben was a super cool bonus to this more than memorable experience at Extra Virgin and please ask for him, praise him, high five him! He’s good peeps!

Ben did explain we had a couple dishes that they were able to do half portions for us but at the end of the day we walk out with a bill less than $150 just for food! We had a smorgasbord of food and left full to the brim. This chef could easily charge an extra $5 a plate and fancy up the joint and get away with insane price points but he doesn’t. This is food for the people!!! You are getting a high caliber chef for reasonable prices AND you can ditch the “business casual” attire!

Extra Virgin is a Kansas City must!!!!

If you don’t believe me, just google the restaurant and read the write ups. Do some research on Michael Smith and I’m telling you you will not be disappointed.

This has to be one of my favorite finds thus far on the road. Super chill atmosphere with a reasonable price point. This is a no brainier in my books!

What are you waiting for?!? Book your flight to KC and check this place out! Sit on the patio if it’s gorgeous out! It’s what all the cool kids are doing.

Mabuhay!