This month, we published The Pitch‘s annual Best of Kansas City issue. You can browse the results of the readers’ poll here. The issue also included a list, compiled and written by our editorial staff, of some our current favorite things about Kansas City in 2018. We’ll be publishing these items online throughout October.

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It’s been a tough year for KC vegans. The sudden, strange demise of Füd last August and the equally sudden and strange shuttering of Eden Alley this September have left ethical eaters hungry for good options. The good news? Chef Calvin Davis of Freshwater is stepping in as a pinch plater.

Davis’s midtown restaurant was conceived, in part, as a more accessible strain of fine dining. A ten-course tasting menu here will cost you an extremely reasonable $55. But Freshwater’s vision of accessibility doesn’t stop at the check. With advance notice, Davis is happy to create a multi-course tasting menu for the vegan set, and those courses are just as careful and creative as the ones he creates for omnivores. (We’re still thinking about a perfectly crusted, potato-based “scallop” that looked indistinguishable from the genuine article.) The plating is gorgeous, the hospitality is genuine, and the structured courses take all the guesswork out of what can at times be a daunting menu search. Which means: more time enjoying a fancy night out, less time peppering your server with questions about chicken broth and butter. Everybody wins.

Freshwater. 3711 SW Trafficway, KCMO.