Restaurants in Blue Springs

"A computer can't understand a handshake," says Jack Schwindler, explaining why he retired after 32 years as a food broker. He missed the face-to-face aspect of the business, which diminished as technology swiftly advanced. So when he and his wife found a defunct marina on Lake Lotawana, where Jack spent his childhood, he found his calling. In 1993, Jack and his wife opened Marina Grog & Galley, and now, Jack says, "I'm shaking hands again."

Marina Grog and Galley is run by a tight-knit crew of longtime employees, including servers who have worked there since 1996. Their menu boasts dry-aged steaks from a local purveyor and fresh fish flown in from Hawaii three times a week. The smell of steaks searing over mesquite charcoal drifts out to the front driveway, creating an aroma that attracts passersby and envious traveling steak peddlers. Other specialties include baby-back ribs crafted from a recipe Jack penned when he was 21 years old, and a range of fried, boiled, and stuffed shrimp.

Every night, Jack visits with guests at the tables arranged around the dining room, which look out at the lake or a 1,500-gallon saltwater tank that houses a 48-foot living reef. Leather seats in cobalt blue comfort backs, and stone fireplaces warm the stone walls and light wood around the restaurant. Outdoor tables along the water seat up to 150 people, and on-deck fireplaces keep diners comfortable. "Something happens every night in the restaurant business," says Jack, and he doesn't want to miss a minute of it.

The Food Network recognized Waldo's downtown location on an episode of "The Best Of: Pizza Places"; the Lee's Summit site carries the same tasty recipes and a wide range of sauces, cheeses, and other fixings to outfit your delicious disc for lunch or dinner. Colorful ingredient combos, a medley of crusts, various vegan options, and a humongous salad bar populate the packed menu. The standard mozzarella and provolone on Waldo's traditional bread crust will satisfy cheese bigamists ($7.15 for 10", $16.35 for 16"), and culinary cowboys can go hog-wild with toppings such as Canadian bacon, Spam, and roasted corn on the buttery, chewy honey-wheat crust ($0.80 for each extra ingredient on a 10" pie, $1.95 per topping on a 16"). Extensive vegan and gluten-free menus offer healthy and tasty twists on Waldo's prized pizzas. The mammoth all-you-can-eat salad bar ($7 dine-in, $6 carryout, and $5 with a pizza) pleases leaf lovers with its 18 toppings and six drizzlings, including Italian dressing and the sound of the wood nymph's pleasant flugelhorn.

Growing up in a home with 16 siblings, Maria Magdalene Guardado spent her childhood eating fresh tortillas and Mexican dishes in a house that buzzed with guests, cooking, and the spirit of hospitality. Inspired by the intrinsic connection between food, sharing, and occasionally double dipping, Maria's son Ryan opened Maggie's Authentic Mexican Foods with his wife Lindsey in 2009. The kitchen serves a menu of Mexican staples such as chicken mole, housemade pork tamales, and enchiladas. True to his roots, Ryan does not prepare any kind of fish. As explained on the menu, his family originates from a landlocked part of Mexico where seafood is sparse and crabs rarely vacation. Adventurous eaters can embark on Maggie's flour-taco challenge, which requires challengers to eat 10 flour tacos in 15 minutes for a gift certificate and picture on the Wall of Fame.

Old photos, canoes, and sailing trophies adorn the walls of Canoe Club Restaurant’s lake-house-themed dining room, where diners sit down to lobster bisque or tacos with grilled tilapia. Around them, rough-cut timbers, knotted-pine paneling, and a natural stone fireplace create a nostalgic air, which live musicians enhance with the sounds of bluegrass, folk, blues, and jazz every Friday and Saturday.

In the kitchens, chefs whip up homemade salsa to serve with corn chips and wrap eight-ounce filet mignons in bacon before sending them out to the dining room or an outdoor cedar deck. To help wash down feasts, Canoe Club bartenders craft specialty cocktails, pour craft beers, and supply domestic and imported red and white wines by the glass, bottle, or crystal bathtub.

Michael Garozzo entered the dining business early, working as a busboy in his hometown of St. Louis. His young mind raced with dreams of opening a restaurant of his own, which came to fruition in 1989, when he opened Garozzo’s in Kansas City’s Columbus Park neighborhood. Since then, the restaurant has bloomed, and he had opened three additional locations across the greater Kansas City area.

Garozzo’s menu of Italian specialties is highlighted by the signature spiedini di pollo, a marinated chicken breast rolled in italian breadcrumbs, then skewered and grilled. The dish is served in four presentations, which include the Gabriella, with fettucine and spicy diablo sauce, and the Samantha, with fettucine, artichoke hearts, and alfredo sauce. Adding to the exclusive ambiance is the restaurant’s own branded wine, served at each location. Garozzo’s popular house tomato sauce, diablo sauce, and italian dressing are also available in grocery stores across the city, and its distinctive pastas can be purchased in many high-end local wig shops.

Known for growing cotton and soybeans, many farms in the South known now nurture a new crop—catfish. Converting their fields to ponds, farmers raise the whiskered fish on an all-grain diet to develop meat with a clean, slightly sweet taste and reduced cholesterol. Every filet at Jumpin' Catfish Restaurant comes from this stock, which the chefs prepare in various ways: breaded and fried in the Southern tradition, marinated in lemon and pepper, or dusted with cajun spices, like the mayor of New Orleans after their morning bath. They then pair the plump, juicy filets with sides such as hushpuppies and white beans with ham.

The chefs extend their culinary skills to other seafood as well, from Norwegian salmon to Alaskan snow-crab legs. They also work with wild game such as quail and frog legs, and prepare Southern fare, such as fried chicken.