justus is served

last night we ventured north up 169 highway to smithville, missouri. accompanied by our friends lynnis and larry, our destination was justus drugstore. it's a long way to go to fill a prescription, but we went to fill our stomachs! the historic drugstore has been renovated into an amazing restaurant where owners Jonathan Justus and his wife, Camille Eklof, use local ingredients to create sophisticated food.

one review we read criticized Justus's 'slow food' approach, but we thoroughly enjoyed our 4 hour dinner. between the 4 of us, we sampled the crawdad cakes, the foie gras terrine (wonderful!), the curly endive salad, maytag blue cheese salad (with green apple gelee!), goat cheese salad, vegetable risotto, roast chicken, american kobe flat iron steak and pork two ways. we finished the evening with gooey almond cake and creme brulee.

not only did we enjoy inspired food, we got to talk with both Jonathan and Camille. it's rare for a chef to leave his kitchen, kneal at your table and talk to you for fifteen minutes about his food and recent travels.

we'll be making frequent trips to this drugstore--we're addicted!