QUESTION: My brother is an observant Jew in Chicago and has had a disagreement with his business partner who is not quite as religious as he but definitely a synagogue-going, somewhat observant Jew. My brother informed me that they are going to try to work out their differences in a Jewish court rather than an American civil court. Is that possible? What is this all about?

ANSWER: That is absolutely correct. A brief overview of the Jewish court system and its development over the centuries and millennia is in order to appropriately answer your question. In other words, 2,000 ago when we were really a Jewish Commonwealth and controlling our community (in Israel until the destruction of the Second Temple in the year 70 C.E., some 2,000 ago,) our courts dealt with everything, every area of Jewish Law.

The Talmud and the Code of Jewish Law deal with virtually every area of civil AND criminal law. In many countries where Jews resided over the centuries, the Jewish communities were forced by the secular society to run their own community. Jews were not allowed to testify in court in most countries just like blacks and other ethnic minorities. Even in the United States it was only shortly into the 19th century that Jews had full civil rights in all courts of our country. So often Jewish communities around the world for hundreds of years were forced, out of necessity, to deal with every area of legal life except for perhaps capital punishment in our Jewish world. We have many volumes that deal with every area you can imagine concerning both civil and criminal law. We are now Americans and live in an American democracy where civil and criminal laws are dealt with in the public court system.

Despite everything I have said until now, there is at least one area where Jewish courts function on a daily on-going basis and that is in the area of Jewish divorce. Even though we are required by law to obtain a divorce in our civil courts in Johnson or Jackson County, we are also mandated by Jewish Law to obtain a Jewish divorce. We have Jewish courts that deal with that area of our tradition. Similarly, one has the right in this country to settle civil matters without going into an American court in most cases.

For example, if there is a disagreement between partners, even if there are legal partnership documents drawn, they have the right to go to a Jewish court to settle whatever differences they may have. The Jewish court probably would require that those partners agree at the outset that whatever judgment is rendered by that court will not be appealed to a civil court or the whole trial process will have been in vain. Such a court (and there are a number of them functioning in major Jewish cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami) will adjudicate matters of civil laws brought before them according to Jewish Law. The process is quicker than in civil American courts and I will add that the civil courts of this country are all too happy not to have more cases come on their docket.

Several years ago, we saw the documentary, “The Case for Israel,” based on the Alan Dershowitz book. The film was produced by Gloria Z. Greenfield, president of Doc Emet Productions (founded in 2007) and Field Advocacy and Advancement Strategy Manager for the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education in the Greater Boston Area.

Once again, she has produced a winning documentary, “Unmasked: Judeophobia, The Threat to Civilization,” which was shown recently at the Jerusalem Cinemateque.

Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel opens the documentary stating, “Since 1945, I was not so afraid as I am now. I am afraid because anti-Semitism, which I had thought belonged to the past, has somehow survived. I was convinced in ’45 that anti-Semitism had died with its Jewish victims at Auschwitz and Treblinka, but I see now the Jews perished, but anti-Semitism in some parts of the world is flourishing.”

For 81 minutes, prominent writers, academics and leaders including Former Minister of Justice from Canada Irwin Cotler, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, human rights activist Natan Sharansky, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, Harvard professor Ruth Wisse, Wall Street Journal columnist Bret Stephens and 33 other experts discuss this political assault against Israel and the attempts to isolate and delegitimize the state of Israel.

Prior to its January 2012 premiere in Winnipeg, Greenfield was interviewed by Dr. Catherine Chatterley, director of the Canadian Institute for the Study of Anti-Semitism. Greenfield explained that she intentionally chose the term Judeophobia because “it is a more suitable term to convey the intellectualized and ideological hatred of Jews that is encompassed in the anti-Jewish phenomenon flourishing in many parts of the world today.”

What was Greenfield’s purpose in producing this film? To state the clear and impactful message “that all decent people — Jews as well as non-Jews — would muster the determination and commitment to both recognize the reality of the situation and to find ways to squash it.”

This film exposes and vividly illustrates the increase in Jew hatred that is threatening Western civilization.

One sees how anti-Israel and anti-American is the Islamist Arab and Muslim world. The message about the history of this “lethal obsession” is vivid and those who view this film need to address the problem and articulate it. Andrea Levin, executive director of Camera (Committee or Accuracy in Middle East Reporting which monitors anti-Israel coverage) says: “The mainstream media does not cover the story of the resurgence of anti-Semitism. Many media outlets contribute to the problem.”

In an Arutz 7 (an Israel media network) op-ed article by Professor Phyllis Chesler, author of the book, “The New Anti-Semitism,” she writes, “Even if you are not Jewish, even if you do not support Israel, you should see Gloria Greenfield’s ‘Unmasked: Judeophobia.’ It directly concerns you. ... It is the visual antidote to this false hatred, which visually through the internet, in films, in the media, emblazoned on T-shirts and signs at every rally (no matter the topic) scapegoats Jews for the world’s every sorrow. ...”

“One cannot stop watching the film,” says Chesley. “The music engages us, the manuscripts, lithographs, film footage, stills, are shocking, tragic, illuminating, beautiful, important, haunting. We have not seen many of these images before. Taken all together, they are entered into evidence. The amount of information packed into this fast-paced documentary is astounding.”

These include Medieval images of the Crucifixion; covers of the forgery, “The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion,” Christian anti-Semitism through the ages; the Mufti of Jerusalem and Hitler; anti-Semitism in the Arab world including “Palestinian” cartoonists portraying Jews in vicious ways; hate speeches on American campuses; anti-Semitism in France; and the violations of international law by the Mavi Marmara heading for Gaza.

Professor Chesley adds, “Gloria Greenfield, her production company, Doc Emet, and her supporters are to be commended for bringing such eloquent voices together.”

This DVD can be purchased online from Doc Emet Productions for $14.95 and needs to be viewed by Christians and Jews alike, especially in view of the forthcoming Israel apartheid week activities.

Thanks to the Vaad

Over the past two weeks, Oakwood Country Club has had the privilege of hosting two kosher events —- one, a private celebration and one, a community fundraiser — at which more than 400 dinners were served. We were thrilled to meet the challenge and provide this service.

One of the key reasons we were able to successfully accomplish this to the great satisfaction of our guests is the positive and cooperative assistance of the Vaad HaKashruth. Rather than focusing on why things could not be done, the Vaad’s goal was to explore how the menus could be crafted creatively and the food prepared deliciously.

We are grateful to the Vaad’s leadership, and specifically to Rabbi Mendel Segal, Bruce Daniels and Binyomin Mazer for their onsite supervision. Who knows, soon Chicken Tikka Masala may replace chopped liver as a kosher staple!

Chef Mike Storm
Oakwood Country Club

“Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza” by Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole (Schocken Books, 2011) $26.95

In 1896 when Cambridge scholar Rabbi Solomon Schechter, who later became the president of the Jewish Theological Seminary, was shown a fragment of a Hebrew manuscript purchased in Cairo, his world tilted on its axis. The fragment was the first known Hebrew copy of a second century apocryphal text known as Ecclesiasticus, included in the Greek Orthodox and Catholic Bibles, but not in the Jewish canon. This discovery sent Schechter to Egypt where he managed to purchase and carry away a significant portion of the Cairo Geniza.

For those unfamiliar with the term geniza, it is a storage area, usually attached to a synagogue, in which damaged sacred texts are stored or buried. The discovery of the Cairo Geniza and the scholarly study of its contents restored to the Jewish people at least 1,000 years of lost history. The Cairo Geniza was a treasure trove, not just of damaged sacred texts, but also of lost poetry from the Jewish Golden Age of Spain, of history of the Jewish merchants who traded throughout the Mediterranean world and beyond, irrefutable proof of the existence of the mythical Kingdom of the Khazars, and even some Yiddish documents from the Middle Ages. One hundred twenty five years later, scholars are still piecing together fragments of history into a whole that astounds.

Poets Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole have written an exciting book that reads almost like a novel. In one chapter, they bring to life the development of secular Hebrew poetry in Medieval Spain. In another chapter, we meet the scholar S. D. Goitein whose monumental five-volume history of the Jews in the Medieval Mediterranean world is unmatched to this day. Another chapter explores palimpsests in which writers reused damaged parchments by writing over old texts. Then in the 20th century, scholars rediscovered what the original texts were.

As discovery follows discovery, readers not only are thrilled by the Geniza’s hidden treasures, but also develop an appreciation of their own genizas. What’s stored in your attic? Most of us tend to save our histories in trunks and cardboard boxes either in the basement or attic. After reading “Sacred Trash,” a reader develops a whole new appreciation for one’s trash — not to mention awe over the discoveries of the Cairo Geniza.

Andrea Kempf is a retired librarian who speaks throughout the community on various topics related to books and reading.

“Metamaus: A Look inside a Modern Classic” by Art Spiegelman (Pantheon, 2011) $35 (Book and DVD)

When Art Spiegelman began publishing “Maus” 25 years ago, reactions from the reading public ranged from praise to approbation. Imagine, telling the story of his father’s experiences in the Holocaust as a comic book and representing Jews as mice, the Poles as pigs, and the Nazis as cats? What was this avant-garde creator of comic literature trying to? In time, particularly after the author won the 1992 Special Pulitzer Prize Award, and numerous other prestigious honors, “Maus” became recognized as a 20th century classic. Spiegelman brought the graphic novel into the forefront of literature where today graphic literature is taken seriously by critics, educators and parents, as well as by readers of all ages.

Now he gives his readers “Metamaus.” This beautifully-produced book is an examination of the original “Maus” and the author’s attempt to explain why he created the book and why he used the techniques he did.

Part One, entitled “Why the Holocaust,” explains to the readers why Spiegelman had to, if not exorcise, then to understand the nightmares of his childhood growing up as the child of survivors. In creating “Maus,” the author exhaustively researched everything related to his parents’ lives. If he were going to draw the latrines at Auschwitz, he made certain that his toilets looked exactly like the ones his father Vladek used. The shoes on his father’s feet were replicas of those in an old Polish shoe repair manual. He read obsessively. He made several trips to Poland and visited Auschwitz/Birkenau. Nothing was taken for granted.

In Part Two, Spiegelman discusses why he used mice to represent the Jews. Among other things, he drew some of his inspiration from Nazi posters of the 1930s that vilified Jews. And later when “Maus” was translated in German and Polish, the Germans were more accepting of their depiction as murderous cats than were the Poles who strongly protested their depiction as pigs.

Part Three of “Metamaus” explains the artist’s techniques. Readers come to understand that the placement of every frame has significance. In addition, there are interviews with his wife and children and a complete transcript of the interviews he had with his father over the years. The text is interspersed with photographs of his family, other comics that inspired him, as well as the first, second and third attempts to draw a particular episode.

This monumental work is a breathtaking homage to Spiegelman’s parents and family. It is an elegant examination of the creative artist at work. And most of all it is a moving reminder of the Holocaust and its victims and a tribute to those who managed to survive.

Andrea Kempf is a retired librarian who speaks throughout the community on various topics related to books and reading.

The real threat to Israel

“Why do some Jews distrust Obama?” The question is off the mark. It is not Obama who is a threat to Israel, it is we Jews ourselves.

In the JTA article published last week (“Obama assassination column raises question: Why do some Jews see Obama as so sinister?” Jan. 26), some of the individuals (unnamed, but speaking out) who made outrageous comments show how racist their remarks are, and how sophomoric they are when it comes to President Obama.

Yes, the fact is the president is a black man and “people” do not like this fact since history always has shown Negroes to be inferior. But when blacks became sports figures, musicians and others who make tremendous dollars for the majority (the elite few), blacks are more valued and have brought good economic sense in their wake. President Obama is held in contempt by those who fear something he may say or do. But it is not President Obama who is destroying Israel. Jews are responsible because they think this way.

Look how we are behaving. When one observes Jewish assimilation into mainstream Christian living, away from Jewish life — messianic Jews, conversions to other religions, non-practicing Jews and intermarriage — we find we are diminishing our numbers.  Christians appear to love their god more than Jews love our G-d. Christian churches command large membership numbers and often have multiple services. In Kansas City where approximately 20,000 Jews live, only a few hundred attend our  local synagogues each Shabbat. As Pogo would say, “…The enemy is us!”

It is a shame that Jews have allowed themselves to run away from their culture that has — and is still — changed the whole world since Egypt. It is so sad that they cannot see these facts. The United States needs to increase its number of Jews in communities who are knowledgeable and in love with their culture and literature (past and present), which garners much greater support for Israel and its importance.

So I repeat, President Barak Hussein Obama is not our problem. It. Is. Us.

Jesse Newman
Overland Park, Kan.

What do our youth know about Auschwitz?

Perhaps it is true that the only people who remember wars are the men who fought them and their children who remember their father’s sacrifices.

Some news is odd for what is says, some for where it came from. Printed in the Jan. 25 edition of Istanbul-based Hürriyet Daily News is this article:

“One in five young Germans unaware of Auschwitz: Poll”

“One in five young Germans has no idea that Auschwitz was a Nazi death camp, a poll released Wednesday [Jan. 25] showed, two days ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day.”

“Although 90 percent of those asked did know it was a concentration camp, the poll for Thursday’s edition of Stern news magazine revealed that Auschwitz meant nothing to 21 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds.”

“And nearly a third of the 1,002 people questioned last Thursday and Friday [Jan.19-20] for the poll were unaware that Auschwitz was in today’s Poland.”

“The poll comes ahead of the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops on Jan.27, 1945, which Germany has marked since 1996 with official memorial ceremonies for Holocaust victims.”

“According to a report by independent experts commissioned by the German parliament and published earlier this week, about one in five Germans is latently anti-Semitic.”

The brief article cited in the Hürriyet Daily News appears in the Hamburg-based magazine, Der Stern (“The Star”), in German. It can be found at http://www.stern.de/news2/aktuell/jeder-fuenfte-juengere-deutsche-kennt-auschwitz-nicht-1778115.html
One wonders how today’s American youth and indeed those of other countries would fare if asked the same questions.

Scott Brown
Leawood, Kan.

Thank you all for coming!

I have been on Cloud Nine since last Sunday afternoon, Jan. 22, when we all gathered to watch the first of the “Matinees at the Heritage Center.” It’s hard to describe what it’s like to have an idea and to see that idea sprout into a happening. The fact that more than 100 people attended that first matinee made it the very best experience of my life.

During every Saturday morning service, we read about the commandments G-d asks us to keep, and over the past number of years I have read the one asking us to “Honor thy father and thy mother.” Every Saturday, I would think about a way to do that for my mother, of blessed memory for 56 years, and for my father, of blessed memory for 47 years. And since the day you all helped me to launch the “Circle for Yiddish Learning — the language and the culture” and now with the addition of the movies, I know my prayers have been answered.

May G-d bless you all.

Ray Davidson
Overland Park, Kan.

I took piano lessons growing up. For years, it seemed. And while I was largely ambivalent to the formal recitals, I remember vividly playing for my nana despite her living three states away. During our Sunday night conversations I often stretched the coiled, yellow kitchen phone cord through the living room to the piano. I would struggle through a bit of whatever I was practicing that week and at the end ask breathlessly, “Did you hear that, Nana?!” Her inevitable compliment left me feeling proud, warm, loved.

A few weeks ago, my husband and I purchased a new digital piano. Of its many bells and whistles, it includes a USB port that allows us to record a song, upload it to a computer and email it to family. It is a feature I hope to one day use with our children and my mom. A lot has changed in 30 years.

And now in 2012, a changed process yet the same end goal: a grandchild and grandparent sharing a special moment.

Super Sunday 2012 is a week away. In my second year as co-chair, I continue to thoroughly enjoy the thought and planning that culminates in one of the largest fundraising efforts of our Jewish community. For me, volunteering for Super Sunday has not only allowed me to learn about the breadth of the Federation’s impact, it has served as a quasi-history lesson about past fundraising efforts. Before the days of email campaigns, blog posts and Facebook updates; before Super Sunday even existed, there were dedicated volunteers who knocked on doors, wrote letters and picked up the phone.

This year’s Super Sunday, no longer on Super Bowl Sunday, has a new look and feel. It will be Sunday night rather than the morning and early afternoon. We will be using Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to share updates. We will have only one Sunday calling session. Some volunteers will be using personal mobile phones to facilitate donor and thank you calls.

Yes, a changed process, but with the same end goal: dedicated volunteers giving their time to raise funds that will sustain and enhance Jewish life at home and around the world.

Super Sunday is not the only thing evolving to meet the needs of our community. The newly rebranded Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City has realigned many of its marketing activities to better communicate with the community and to better meet its needs. As Todd Stettner detailed in his Jan. 6, 2012, blog post, “50 percent of the Jewish Federation donors don’t know what we do.”

Over the past year, to improve that nagging statistic, we have seen a new logo, website and mission statement. The logo, now used by almost all Jewish Federations across the United States, represents the Federation’s cohesion despite geographic separation. An enhanced website launched this week aims to improve the flow of information. The refocused mission statement, “To sustain and enhance Jewish life at home and around the world,” has been integrated into Federation marketing material. Each of these marketing activities allows donors to better see how their contributions impact the Jewish community, as well as which groups or services might fit their current needs or life stages.

In the simplest of terms, your donations go to one of five areas of service: Safety Net, Youth & Family, Senior Adult, Jewish Identity & Education, Israel and Overseas. Approximately two-thirds of donations stay right here in Kansas City. Each and every gift to the Annual Community Campaign serves the Jewish Federation’s mission, to sustain and enhance Jewish life at home and around the world. Everywhere. Everyday.

It is through all these changes that the Jewish Federation can remain the same. And it is an honor to be part of it.

Karen Loggia is co-chairing this year’s Super Sunday with Neal Schwartz.

Last night and today (Jan. 25 and 26), we are commemorating the shloshim, the 30-day period since the burial of a very beloved member of our Jewish community, Michael Wajcman. Traditionally, the 30th day in the mourning process is a time to comfort surviving relatives, learn Torah in the merit of the deceased and reflect upon all of their wonderful contributions to the world.

I had the distinct pleasure of becoming friends with Michael over the past four years. I remember the first time I met him and his beloved wife, Shira, at a Jewish Community Center open house. He walked up to me and introduced himself. When I told him I was a rabbi, he got really excited and since that day they were very involved in almost all of the young professional programming that our organization, the Kollel, organized.

Michael was at our very first group Shabbat dinner, and I remember him so clearly singing along, dancing with us in a circle, smiling away, and asking when the next one was going to be. I remember the first time he told me they were expecting a baby. They were eating a meal at our house, and he was asking my wife what was in everything because he wanted to be careful that there weren’t any of the foods that his wife was to avoid during pregnancy.

I remember his beautiful smile at his son Jeremiah’s bris, beaming from ear to ear with such a glowing pride. I remember the first time they came to our house with the new baby. Michael put the little one in his car seat with such care, held him in such a delicate, loving way and so joyful as he fed him a bottle and boasted what a good eater he was. I remember him singing so many different Shabbat songs, taking such a pride in being Jewish and rejoicing with friends. I remember him telling us the exciting news that they were expecting twins, a boy and a girl! And as Rabbi Scott White said so well at his funeral, he loved parenting so much, he was so eager to start it again.

There are so many wonderful memories, and they all represent the kind of person Michael was. A beautiful Jewish soul dedicated to building a family and excited to be part of the community growing around him. We are all overwhelmed by the sadness and pain of his sudden passing, but we will always look back at his qualities of kindness, dedication, joy, and eagerness to be engaged in life. Michael was known for the endearing smile that he offered to his patients, his teammates, his friends, and his peers. The Talmud praises such a person for bringing more happiness into the world.

The Book of Proverbs (11:30) says, “The fruit of a righteous man is a tree of life.” The Torah is also compared to a Tree of Life, and Michael’s children are his beautiful fruits.

Unfortunately, the Wajcman family has lost their righteous root, but we in the Jewish community are looking forward to seeing his blossoms flourish, his darling children Jeremiah, Eitan and Samantha. May G-d send them comfort.

QUESTION: I am sure this is going to be an unusual question. We are Conservative Jews. Furthermore, I would say we are not especially observant but certainly respect the holidays and the basic values of Traditional/Conservative Judaism. Our son is engaged to a young lady from New York City. Their wedding is going to take place this coming June. My son and future daughter-in-law always wanted a June wedding. The problem is in New York City where thousands of Jewish brides and grooms marry in the month of June. There were no Sundays available for their wedding. Sundays are booked very quickly. They are now thinking of getting married on a Saturday night and the rabbi tells them that he is available at 8 p.m. I know by just checking sundown that that is a good hour or slightly more before Shabbat concludes. I have always been told that weddings cannot be performed on Shabbat or a major Jewish holiday. Is that true and if so, why?

RESPONSE: I do not want my response to create any kind of  family friction. It is wonderful that your son is marrying a Jewish girl in a Jewish wedding ceremony.

It is a major violation of Jewish law, biblical law, to get married on Shabbat or a major Jewish festival. If you think about it, there are numerous ingredients in a Jewish wedding ceremony that violate Shabbat or a festival. There is the signing of the Ketubah and one cannot write on Shabbat. There is the breaking of the glass and breaking any object is forbidden on Shabbat. The wedding ceremony itself is a contract between bride and groom. One cannot enter into a contract on Shabbat or Yom Tov.

Shabbat does not end until dark, which is about 40 minutes after sunset. Whether one does a wedding at 10 in the morning, 2 in the afternoon or 8 in the evening in the month of June, it is all the same. It is not like “Shabbat winds down.” Having lived in New York as a young man in rabbinical school, I attended weddings that began at 10 at night. That city “rocks.” It is not unusual for people to go out to dinner at 10 or 11 p.m., and then activities following. If your kids are determined to have their wedding on a Saturday night, there is no reason they could not start at 9:30 or 9:45 p.m. and do very well in New York City.

Your feelings about the severity of the violation of Jewish law in doing this before Shabbat is over are totally correct and I hope this issue gets resolved for the good.

Say this for one of Leawood’s trendiest new eateries, Fo Thai, 4331 W. 119th Street (913-322-3636). Its approach, in notably conservative, suburban Johnson County, is bold. Profoundly bold. Walking from a strip mall parking lot, through the restaurant’s dramatic dungeon-like doors, diners surely sense that they are in for something big. After a few moments beyond those doors, it becomes difficult to even conjure the suburban world left behind. But no matter the decor, in these parts it will always be about the food. And in that regard, Fo Thai’s approach has the potential to alter the area’s culinary landscape.

To some, it will seem like Fo Thai is trying just a little too hard. Its decor is more suited for a Vegas resort or a trendy New York eatery than a Midwestern destination spot. A gigantic Buddha the size of Godzilla — sitting atop water with a wry smirk on his face — overlooks the high-ceilinged dining room. Bathrooms are oddly shaped and memorably elegant. A stream of water flows under spacious booths (and under the ornate bathrooms). A spectacular bar is partitioned from the dining room, turning the place into a trendy, after hours drinking spot. It was for that reason, presumably, that the music one night gradually transitioned from soft holiday music to pounding, industrial dance music. Our waiter, pouring a glass of wine at our table one night with the help of a strange apparatus, could not help but share that Fo Thai is only one of two restaurants in the entire country that uses this quirky decanter for its wine. And why even bother, after all, if as many as three or more other places use it?

In some restaurants, decor and facade are employed in an almost sinister manner to draw attention away from the food. A cynic might be quick to point an accusing finger at Fo Thai, in this sense. But at Fo Thai, the scenery is merely a prelude to the real show. Fo Thai’s food is actually commensurate to the restaurant’s lofty decor. Chef Chee Meng So has, among other impressive credentials, served a notable stint at the Four Seasons Regent Hotel in Malaysia.

Everything is served “family-style” — from appetizers through entrees —-though the limited size of some offerings creates an odd sharing dynamic. What’s more, Fo Thai seems to sport some control issues. Our waiter made it clear, at the outset, that the food would come out of the kitchen in staggered (unpredictable) fashion as the kitchen saw fit. We were left without the feeling that we could, in any manner, dictate the order of the food’s arrival. On the other hand, did we really need to interfere with the process? Maybe we had control issues. As it turned out, the flow of food worked quite well. And control issues aside, we were otherwise the beneficiaries of rather informed and congenial service.

This is “fusion” cuisine — rooted in Thai (and other Asian) food, but spinning off into a number of erratic but interesting directions. We started with the fairly whimsical Lazy Crepes ($8) — a large, crispy swath of flatbread folded like a napkin on a plate, resting alongside a dish of perfect, robust curry chicken sauce loaded with new potatoes. The flatbread was a bit thin to hold up for dipping into the sauce, but that was a minor point. The stellar curry sauce could easily have been eaten with a spoon right out of the bowl, like soup. Chicken Lettuce Wraps ($15) were an example of Fo Thai taking a Chinese restaurant mainstay to the next level. Small, butter lettuce cups were used for wrapping the crunchy, superior blend of water chestnuts, chicken and other vegetables drenched in a well-balanced Hoisin-lime sauce. Herb Crusted Beef Skewers ($12) were made with tender, garlic-flavored beef and served with a nice, complementary, sweet pickled salad with cabbage and vegetables. The amazing peanut sauce served alongside elevated the dish. We even tried some soup, Oven Roasted Butternut Squash Soup ($7), and found it was of nearly perfect quality and texture, with its infused coconut curry. The soup was perfectly smooth, not unpleasantly grainy, like some versions. Only the Edamame ($3), which was surely adequate, failed to inspire.

The entrees truly demonstrated the chef’s uncanny skill, particularly through two rather simple offerings. The Broiled Saikyo Miso Chilean Sea Bass ($32) was a generous portion of the saltwater fish, with a sublime orange miso glaze. Chilean sea bass, highly oily and decadent, is actually Patagonian toothfish, but is never called that on American menus. Who would order it? Fo Thai’s sea bass had a soft buttery texture and nearly melted in our mouths. It was served atop a delicious and slightly sweet black, sticky rice that married well with the fish.

The USDA Prime Angus Beef Tenderloin ($32) was perfectly cooked to the requested medium rare, and underscored the profound difference between great (deeply marbled) prime meat and its inferior brethren. The texture and taste were superb, with a brushing of soy glaze that in no way detracted from the quality beef.

Thai Tom Yum Fried Rice (with vegetables) ($10) was beautifully presented in a picturesque mound, with perfectly cooked rice and an interesting array of crunchy (not overcooked) vegetables. Wok Thai Basil Soy Glaze Chicken ($20), included mushrooms, red peppers, green beans, a slow burn, and the intriguing flavor of anise (licorice). That is where Chef Chee Meng So excels: putting flavors that would seem to be oddities in unusual places, and making them somehow work perfectly.

Fo Thai will undoubtedly push willing Kansas Citians outside of their culinary comfort zones. And maybe it’s about time.

Food:  *** 1/2
Service:  *** 1/2
Atmosphere:  ****
Out of Four Stars