When news broke that Bar Medici, an Italian small-plate hotspot, was closing last September, locals expressed their sorrow in comment sections across the social media stratosphere. The shuttering of the Crossroads restaurant was worthy of lamenting, but many seemed most concerned that chef Mitch Fetterling’s stellar crab bisque pasta would no longer be available for consumption. But there is good news: Fetterling is bringing his talents to a new kitchen, and pasta is definitely on the menu.
I reviewed Bar Medici, one of several bar restaurants under the Exit Strategy hospitality group, last year and fawned over much of Fetterling’s work. He had crafted a menu that was full of innovative dishes, such as tuna watermelon crudo and mushroom donuts, but still recognizable enough with handmade pastas and meatball appetizers. I praised the crab bisque pasta as nearly perfect, even noting it as “one of the best seafood pastas I’ve had in KC,” so needless to say, I found myself relating to the aforementioned despondent commenters.
Fetterling, a North KC native, cut his teeth at the Plaza’s Fogo de Chão and Room 39 before taking an internship at a restaurant in Copenhagen, which launched him into the fine dining sphere. He went on to work at the since-closed top-rated Westport restaurant Bluestem, then, most impressively, worked several years at the two-Michelin-starred Saison in San Francisco. What’s it like working in such a high pressure environment? “Intense,” Fetterling says, but also rewarding, if only for the ingredients he was able to work with, which he says are unlike anything found in most restaurants around the world. They are high-end, high-quality and high-priced. At Saison, most cooking methods were rooted in traditional Japanese culinary techniques, whether that’s fish preservation or vegetable fermentation, he says. Fetterling continues to use many of these methods in his cooking styles today…