My heart is truly heavy. Due to health reasons and the loss of her lease, Trelle Osteen is closing our favorite little bistro on 17th in the Westside.

As the producer of Check, Please! KC, it is always sad to see any restaurant go out of business. And I usually don’t play favorites. However, the loss of Lill’s on 17th is especially heart-breaking because it was the very first restaurant we videotaped for CPKC back in 2008.

The quaint and charming dining areas, surrounded by local art on clapboard walls, bacon-wrapped dates, potatoes aioli, empanadas and every sweet little dessert, artisan sandwich and delicious steak will all be missed. But more than that, what will truly be missed is the personal touch provided by Trelle and her staff.

“Bryn (Hughes) and Matt (Chef Zedah) are outstanding. I truly have the best staff in Kansas City,” says Trelle. “But, I have to close. It hurts me.”

Rumor has it that the owner of the lease is going to bring in some iteration of an American restaurant and has offered to keep the staff on board. I’m sure the quality of service and food, along with Bryn’s personal touch will not go away, if they choose to stay. But the charm of Lill’s will be long gone without Trelle and her ready hugs.

Good luck to everyone involved and good health to Trelle.

With regard to Check, Please! KC , KCPT will continue to air each program in spite of the fact that one of the three restaurants is no longer a viable option.  Talking food is still interesting, and it’s nice to celebrate the restaurants still in business. We hope you understand and are sorry for the inconvenience.

More importantly, before going to a restaurant featured on Check, Please! KC , make sure they’re still open.  I’ve heard a couple of stories where people have driven all the way to Weston, Missouri to feast on the German fare at Charlemagne’s only to learn the restaurant moved to Leavenworth, and ultimately closed.

So, to be on the safe side, call ahead or visit the restaurant’s website before making that long trek across town.

Thanks again for being a fan of Check, Please! KC. We’re continually working on funding for more shows. And please, don’t stop dining and dishing on your own at the great eateries here in town!

THE WHITES

A Baron Philippe de Rothschild, Bordeaux, France
THE WINE: Mouton Cadet Blanc, 2007 – $12.99 retail

From one of France’s legendary and most well known winemakers, a white blend of Sauvignon Blanc (40%), Semillon (50%) and Muscadelle (10%)

Total Score: 10

B Belvoir Winery, Liberty, Missouri
THE WINE: Plumeria – a blend of Traminette, Vignoles and Seyval – $18 at the winery

The wine is named after the owner, Dr John Bean’s, late wife’s favorite flower. The winery is located in an impressive Jacobethan Revival style building that was a former orphanage for the International Order of Odd Fellows.

Total Score: 21

C Holy-Field Vineyard & Winery, Basehor, Kansas
THE WINE: Seyval, Kansas Table Wine – $12.95 at winery and retail (only available in Kansas)

Holy-Field is a father and daughter team – Les and Michelle Meyer – who pride themselves on their canine ambassadors who feature on some of the wine labels. The dogs are: Vinnie, Bacchus, Corkie and Sinbad

Total Score: 17

D Charles Shaw Winery, Napa and Sonoma, California
THE WINE: Chardonnay, 2010 – $2.99 at Trader Joe’s grocery store

The wine is affectionately known as ‘two buck chuck’

Total Score: 11

E Chateau Ste Michelle, Washington State
THE WINE: Chardonnay, 2010, – $12.99 retail

A respected wine making region of the US. This winemaker is often in grocery stores and on restaurant wine lists in Kansas City.

Total Score: 18

THE REDS

A Rodney Strong Vineyards, Sonoma County
THE WINE: Cabernet Sauvignon, 2006 – $17.99 retail

A California Sonoma red that is often seen in Kansas City grocery stores, liquor stores on on restaurant wine lists.

Total Score: 11

B Jowler Creek, Platte County, Missouri
THE WINE: Chambourcin, 2010 – $19 at the winery and retail

Jowler Creek emphasize their sustainable vineyard practices. They use Olde English Babydoll sheep to control grass and weed growth.

Total Score: 4

C Stone Hill Winery, Hermann, Missouri
THE WINE: Norton, 2008 – $18.99 at the winery and retail

Stone Hill is Missouri’s second biggest winemaker producing 260,000 gallons of wine in 2011. They’ve been making Norton for decades. A Stone Hill Norton is thought to have won the prestigious award for best red wine “of all nations” at an international competition in Vienna in 1873.

Total Score: 21.5

D Gerard Bertrand, Languedoc Pic Saint Loup, Narbonne (Languedoc-Roussillon region, on the coast, south of Marseille) France
THE WINE: Grand Terroir, 2005 – $16.99

European Winery of the Year for 2012 in Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s annual Wine Star Awards. Wine Spectator magazine’s ‘Best Value Winery From France’ in 2008.

Total Score: 14

E Charles Shaw Winery, Napa and Sonoma, California
THE WINE: Cabernet Sauvignon, 2011 – $2.99 at Trader Joe’s grocery store

The wine is affectionately known as ‘two buck chuck’

Total Score: 20

Learn more about the festival

Learn more about the special room rate at The Westin Crown Center for Paris of the Plains guests

With more than 150 wineries in Kansas and Missouri, why do so few local restaurants still refuse to carry area wines on their menus, especially as they advocate so strongly for locally sourced produce on their menus?

The Kansas City based wine website Regional Wine Taster pulls no punches regarding the lack of local wines being served at Kansas City’s top restaurants.

In its Wine Lists of Shame, it singles out esteemed local eateries like Blue Stem, the Bristol, EBT, Lydias, Grand Street Cafe and YaYa’s. The website’s author, Danny Wood, and Colleen Gerke, Owner of Jowler Creek Vineyard & Winery in Platte City, Missouri, join Nick Haines to discuss the challenges that local wine producers face.

Learn more about Kansas City’s Amigoni Urban Winery:

Harvest 2010 from Michael Amigoni on Vimeo.

                     The Blind Taste Challenge

Our resident wine expert Doug Frost along with Randy Mason are the referees for our blind taste test. The rating system, based on the wine rating system created by British wine expert Michael Broadbent and a similar system used by the British wine magazine Decanter, rates wines from one to five with five being the highest score and one being the lowest.

The Tasters:

Stretch: Artist, TV Personality, Restaurateur, Visionary and Sculptor whose works have been on display in private and corporate collections throughout the world. The sculptures vary in scale from small approachable pieces to environmentally dominating. The choice of materials Stretch uses in his pieces-glass & steel-work against each other, causing tension while maintaining a high level of dialogue. Stretch is a graduate of the Kansas City Art Institute. He owns a restaurant called Grinders, and a deli, Grinders West. He developed the sculpture park behind Grinders into a live music venue known as Crossroads KC @ Grinders, which promotes artists, musicians, and benefits for non-profit organizations. He has appeared on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and the Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives.

Eddie Kennison: Former wide receiver for the KC Chiefs. He established “Quick Start–The Eddie Kennison Foundation” whose “Festival of Food and Fun” is coming up June 25th where folks can test some great wines and help support Lupus research efforts. An owner of Cellar and Loft wine store in the City Market. Because of his continued charitable and civic activities, Eddie was nominated for the prestigious 2006 Walter Payton NFL “Man of the Year” award by an esteemed blue-ribbon panel from the NFL.

Katie Van Luchene: Katie brings an unmatched passion and depth of experience in writing about her hometown. She was a columnist for Kansas City Magazine and KC Home Design before launching KC Magazine where she now serves as executive editor. She’s also written about Kansas City for Midwest Living and Budget Travel.

Stephen Molloy: Stephen is the wine manager at the Classic Cup restaurant on the Plaza. He came to the States from Ireland where whiskey and brew are mainstays. His career began at Starker’s, in Kansas City, another established restaurant with a reputation for fine foods and wine. He worked in every position at the restaurant and eventually became the maitre’d. It was here he was “forced” to learn about wines and the maintenance of a wine list. He developed the Starker’s wine list from 600-1300 selections – eventually earning the restaurant the Grand Award in 1992 from the Wine Spectator, the highest award from the wine industry’s foremost publication.

Lucinda Kreifel: Lucinda is regular customer and fan of wine at Belvoir Winery in Liberty. In fact, she is such a fan of Belvoir that she chose the winery as the location of her upcoming wedding.

Check back after we air the show for a complete list of wines and results.

Here are this week’s upcoming shows of Check, Please! KC

Saturday May 19 at 2pm  - Reviewers revel in the fine cuisine from Rieger Hotel Grill & Exchange, baked good from 3 Women and a Bakery and the now revamped restaurant Esquina in Lawrence, Kansas.

Monday, May 21 at  10:30p and midnight-Reviewers take in the atmosphere at The Majestic Restaurant in downtown KCMO, the barbecue at K&M BBQ in Spring Hill, Kansas and the homestyle cooking at the Rock Inn Homestyle Cafe in Kearney, Missouri.