“I feel like this journey you are taking is going to lead to a lot of stomach aches.” - Emily Hahn

Growing up, it seemed to me that everyone in popular culture found two food items universally disgusting: Brussels sprouts and liver. I remember several TV shows and movies portraying these meals as the ultimate disgusting options and even as punishments, and I spent many years fearing them both. On my 21st birthday, I tried Brussels sprouts for the first time, and I was shocked at how delicious (not to mention nutritious) they were. 

If you know me, or are getting to know me through this blog, you will find that I have never met a food I do not like. Sure, foods can be prepared terribly, and I will not force myself to eat something that has been soured, but when it comes to foods at large — in one form or another — I have enjoyed every single food I have ever tried. Experiencing various combinations of flavors and textures delights me to no end. After my eye-opening run-in with Brussels sprouts, I developed a theory that if someone, somewhere, eats a food as a matter of course, no matter how peculiar that food is, it must have some merit. Since then, I have made it my mission to explore as many foods as possible. Now I want to bring my takeaways to you, right here in Wichita. And thus this blog is born - The Road Less Eaten!

There is a certain age range, usually referred to as “Boomers,” who grew up eating liver and onions. Liver was (and still is) cheap and full of minerals, so it only makes sense that the parents and grandparents of these “Boomers” cooked them up often. Liver is a nutrient-dense organ meat that is a powerful source of vitamin A, iron, and the vitamin B group. It also has high protein levels and can help keep you feeling full. While this sounds promising, I know many people who were “forced” to eat liver and onions at least once a week during their childhood. And as we know, too much of something, even a good thing, can be detrimental in the long term. Plus, I imagine not everyone knew how to prepare this delicacy properly. Mix in some onions, which are not for everyone, and you had yourself quite the dish to hate as a kid. 

I did not grow up eating liver and onions, nor liver at all for that matter. I remember my mom talking about how much she loved eating chicken livers, but I was with the rest of the skeptics early on. Surely my mom was delusional, right? Who could possibly like liver? But then again, as my earlier theory will tell you, since there is a large population of people who eat liver often there must be some merit to it. No way all of these people are lunatics!

My mom really likes Nando’s, a South African multinational fast food chain that specializes in flame-grilled peri-peri style chicken. No, we do not have one in Wichita, but there is one in the Washington D. C. area. Every time my mom went to D. C. for work, she made sure to eat at Nando’s and order the chicken livers. Her brother lives in the D. C. area and we sometimes visited for Thanksgiving. In 2016, I finished up school at Syracuse University and drove down to the D. C. metro area to meet my parents as they flew out for the holiday. Of course we stopped at Nando’s for a bite, and here it was! My chance to try chicken livers after hearing my mom go on and on about them for years. And let me tell you...I was HOOKED. 

If you have never tried liver, or really any organ meat, the consistency and texture are difficult to explain. Liver is very soft, way more soft than a typical piece of meat, yet also very thick. In consistency, it is almost like eating hardened butter, which you also do not experience in regular meat. From what I can tell, all liver has a similar after-taste. I personally like the after-taste, but some might not agree with me on that. It is almost...chalky? Like I said, difficult to explain to those who have not tried it.

But there I was, hooked on liver, and from then on I had to get chicken liver as often as possible. There are not a lot of places you can find locally that serve liver. You can go to a place like La Tapatia Market and try your hand at cooking liver yourself, but I would typically go to places like Stroud’s Restaurant & Bar or Town & Country (both excellent options) to get my fix. If I was feeling a little desperate, I would hit up the hot bar from Dillon’s. And honestly, Dillon’s chicken livers are halfway decent and fairly cheap. But it wasn’t until I realized that they served chicken livers at the Candle Club’s Monday night fried chicken buffet that it really became a problem for me. All you can eat chicken livers? Consider me there!

We have done a whole episode on the Candle Club on the Wichita Podcast where we interviewed the managing partner, Judah Craig, which you can find here. Besides hearing about how it miiiiight be because of me that chicken livers remain on the menu after they reworked it recently, you can learn all about why the club started and how it has changed (or sometimes not changed) over the years. My grandparents became members of the Candle Club in 1967 and my current member (P-24) can be directly traced back to the same time. When I moved back to Wichita a few years ago, I hopped on my Great Aunt Vivianne’s membership as a junior member, and when she decided she did not want to keep it open any longer, I took over as the full member and never looked back. Below is a picture of the original Membership Application from 1967.

So that became my monthly liver fix — going to Candle Club for fried chicken buffet, warming up the appetite with a light salad and maybe some mac ‘n cheese and mashed potatoes, and then going to town on chicken livers. Oh, and my dessert of course was a heaping plate of beets from the salad bar. I soon realized, however, that I wanted to continue exploring my new found love for liver, and the perfect place to investigate this hankering was already right on the Candle Club’s menu - liver and onions. 

I usually order the liver and onions when I go to the Candle Club, but I went one particular night before Lent started in anticipation of this blog. The liver and onions at the Candle Club is a full plate of freshly sliced veal liver, breaded and gently sautéed. It comes with sweet onions piled high on top, garlic mashed potatoes, and Au Poivre sauce (more on the sauce below). That is an incredible amount of food that will surely fill you up, all for $16. And this particular evening when my wife, Emily, and I were dining at the Candle Club, but a short walk from our house, was no different. I could barely find the beautiful liver under the pile of onions. I found the way to do it right is to get a bit of onion with every bite of liver, so it worked out perfectly. And the liver itself was very tender and well done — it was cooked so well it was almost crispy, which I really enjoyed. You can cut the liver easily with a simple butter knife and it melts in your mouth with every bite. I made sure to enjoy my liver and onions with a couple of glasses of Jameson on the rocks. 

As alluded to above, the Au Poivre sauce at the Candle Club is maybe one of the greatest sauces I have ever tasted. It is very dark in color, and I typically dip both my mashed potatoes and the liver and onions into it until the sauce is completely gone. I probably need to start ordering extra sauce so I can make sure I can adequately lather every bite with it. It has a sweet flavor without being overly sugary. It pairs well with the mashed potatoes and also goes nicely with all the meat dishes the Candle Club offers. I would probably even cover a salad in it! For those readers that have made it this far and want to see a more likely meal option they might order, here is the Prime Rib (Norma’s Cut 12oz, $30) that my wife ordered, and she made sure to get the Au Poivre sauce on the side.

Besides the liver and onions and prime rib, we started our meal with the pretzel & beer cheese, which is, really, a ton of pretzels and a good size bowl of beer cheese. We were shocked at how much food it was for only $12, it would easily feed a group of four. That beer cheese is very tasty, and the pretzels are very soft and delicious when coated in the dip. We had to take leftovers home.

And of course, we (and by “we” I mean “me” because my wife is pregnant) had to finish the night with a Tumbleweed. You can hear all about the Tumbleweed and its history in Wichita on our Candle Club episode of the Wichita Podcast as well. This alcoholic dessert is really the perfect way to end any evening at the Candle Club, and is basically a spiked milkshake. I am not at liberty to discuss the recipe, as Judah would have my head (and I also do not know it) but I highly recommend getting one…or three.

All in all, if you have a membership at the Candle Club or know someone who is a member, go check out the liver and onions for yourself, you will not be disappointed! To find out more about the Candle Club and becoming a member you can check out their website here. Once you get hooked on liver, you will start wondering what other foods are out there to be tried, and it will have you second guessing the phrase, “what am I? Chopped liver?”