Restaurants in Jefferson City

Cafe Berlin fills its kitchen with vegetables, coffee, dairy, free-range eggs, and other natural and organic foods from local farms, including Patchwork Family Farms, Green Hills Harvest Dairy, and Lakota Coffee Company. Breakfast, which is served all day, includes dishes such as Turkish-style eggs, french toast, and pancake burritos—a large pancake that enfolds two scrambled eggs and Patchwork bacon, served with maple syrup. Black-bean quesadillas, burgers with local, organic beef, and housemade soups crown the lunch menu and pair with an array of alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks.

Plastic dinosaurs and Godzilla figures dot the sunny dining room, where they hang from the rafters, sit on the counter, and gnaw on table legs. Patrons can gaze at the eclectic decor while listening to live music or tales from the Porch Light storytelling series.

Kostaki’s Pizzeria’s cooks hand-toss their dough, lending it an airy texture before stuffing it with mozzarella and cutting it into St. Louis-style squares within its Cherry Hill kitchen. They can customize pizzas with gyro meat, banana peppers, and the piquant sauces that also flavor their chicken wings. They also whip up a 14 specialty pies, such as a BBQ Chicken, Hawaiian, and the Flagstone, which hoists hefty toppings of peppers, mushrooms, pepperoni, ham, and italian sausage. The restaurant rounds out its menu with chicken wings, half-pound Angus beef burgers, gyros, and beers from Boulevard and Leinenkugel.

Seated among framed photos and wood wainscoting, visitors to The Gathering Place Café munch on hearty servings of daily specials that range from beef burritos to chicken-fried steaks. Serving up kansas city strip steaks every Saturday night and biscuits and gravy each morning, The Gathering Place continuously satiates diners with all local beef and farm-fresh, free-range eggs that wander into the kitchen.

The blue flicker of Japanese movies playing on three televisions illuminates diners in the dimly lit Geisha Sushi Bar, giving it an intimate glow. From behind the sushi bar, chefs slice fresh fish and veggies into bite-sized morsels to wrap into rolls. They create house-special rolls with human monikers, such as the Jennifer with layers of salmon, cream cheese, and spicy mayo. Cooked rolls include smoked eel and steamed shrimp, as well as deep-fried rolls drizzled with ponzu sauce. In sushi bowls, seafood and veggies lie atop a bed of sushi rice, far tastier than memory foam, and bento boxes transport shrimp or chicken marinated in housemade teriyaki alongside tempura and salad.

Though shoji screens, wall-mounted Japanese fans, and natural-wood tones lend a calming simplicity to the decor, Geisha Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar doesn't lack for spectacle. At hibachi stations, chefs entertain diners with witty banter and flashy knife skills as they sear orders of filet mignon, scallops, or lobster tail on the tables' hot-grill surfaces. Behind a wooden bar, sushi chefs adopt a more reserved stance, quietly accessorizing maki with premium ingredients, including shitake mushrooms, spicy sesame oil, and pickled radish.

Working within a lofty stone structure, Geisha Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar’s chefs sear Asian entrees on hibachi grills and tuck French-inspired tidbits into specialty sushi. Across the chic, plum-hued dining room, they’ll sizzle succulent hibachi meats, fresh vegetables, and incriminating tax documents atop slick grill tables. Otherwise, they can pull from a dinner menu filled with fusion entrees such as shrimp and lobster risotto, and Jekyll-and-Hyde pad thai.