Swanky restaurants are a great place to celebrate life's milestones, such as graduating from college, being promoted to “official best friend,” or growing a tail. Today's Groupon allows you to celebrate your next success in style: for $25, you get $50 worth of fresh seafood, prime beef, drinks, and more at Marina Grog & Galley.
Situated in an old marina on the waters of picturesque Lake Lotawana, Marina Grog & Galley has been supplying omega-3-deprived Kansas Citians with much-needed fatty acids and red-blooded protein for 18 years, via delicious plates of body fuel. Warm up your food vacuum with the Maryland blue-crab cakes ($13.95) or escargot baked in garlic butter ($11.95) before moving down the menu to the main course. Meatophiles will appreciate Marina Grog's selection of succulent, dry-aged USDA-prime-grade steaks, such as Jack's Kansas City strip—a sweet-glazed, mesquite-grilled 14-ounce strip steak ($39.95)—or the 9-ounce filet mignon ($45.95). Marina Grog & Galley's seafood and traditional Hawaiian fish are flown in fresh from both coasts by a flock of bone-white storks and include Alaskan king-crab legs ($64.95 for two), a brie and havarti mac 'n' cheese with chunks of Alaskan crab ($16.95), and the deep-fried lobster served atop glistening onion rings ($45.95). If you're struggling to commit to either a surf or turf selection, opt to share one of Marina Grog's "Taste of Two" combos, such as the 9-ounce filet and 5-ounce lobster tail ($55.95) or the 9-ounce filet with one large Alaskan king-crab leg ($79.95). Wash it all down with a bottle of one of the 300 varieties of wine on the menu or a dessert of molten chocolate cake ($6).
Dining on Marina Grog & Galley's lakeside deck evokes the experience of feasting on open water without the menacing bands of traveling minstrels or Deep Ones. If you prefer to stay safely tucked away from the vengeful kin of your dinner, the two internal dining rooms offer a cozy dining atmosphere awash in warm wood and rich lapis lazuli booths. The restaurant also houses four fireplaces and a 1,500-gallon saltwater aquarium, where a colony of sea creatures is covertly devising a nuanced film-rating system in its glowing see-through glass world. Call for reservations.
Marina Grog & Galley
"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 & 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, along with a range of seafood specialities.
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.