Zoobilee, dinner at the Shamrock and more

The annual fundraiser at the Sedgwick County Zoo, 5555 Zoo Blvd., is such a big deal, it’s the only day of the year that the zoo closes to regular visitors. This year’s event happens from 6 p.m. until midnight on Saturday. Here’s what you need to know to enjoy it:

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A whole lot of eating and drinking: During Zoobilee, the grounds of the zoo are filled with tables of food and adult beverages, and attendees are free to roam and enjoy at will. The list of restaurants participating this year is long and includes Buffalo Wild Wings, Carlos O’Kelly’s, Deano’s Grill & Tapworks, Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Twelve Restaurant and Bar, and Wichita Brewing Company and Pizzeria.

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A whole lot of music and dancing: Live bands will perform throughout the event at different spots in the zoo. The lineup this year includes The Source, Infusion, Cory Angsten and the South 40 Band, DJ Carbon, Mumblin’ Jones and Blue Moon. At 9:30 p.m., headliners the Mudbugs Cajun & Zydeco Band will take the main stage.

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A whole lot of fundraising: The zoo raises money by selling tickets, which cost $150 each, and with silent and live auctions. (The live auction allows companies and individuals to “adopt” animals for a year with their bids, and they sometimes get to name their animals’ offspring.) Money raised goes toward operating the zoo, and a portion is used to support the zoo’s animal conservation initiatives in the wild. Tickets are available at the zoo’s website, www.scz.org.

For the first time since it began in June of 2010, the Dining with Denise blog has moved. It has been incorporated into the new-and-improved Kansas.com and now can be found at www.kansas.com/denise-neil/. I’m no longer updating the old site, but the new one has all the old features – including daily restaurant updates, a place to ask questions and more – just in a different format.

You also can find my dining updates daily at www.twitter.com/deniseneil and by liking https://www.facebook.com/diningwithdenise.

Throughout his career as a chef in Wichita, Ben George has always been game to participate in cook-offs for a cause. And he just keeps participating, win or lose. Last weekend, he won. George, the new head chef at the Ambassador Hotel and its restaurant, Siena Tuscan Steakhouse, was named the winner of the annual Iron Chef Competition at the Old Town Farmers’ Market on Saturday. He also has just launched his new menu at Siena Tuscan Steakhouse. He took over the job in April, after previous chef Marshall Roth left. And he’s been busy re-imagining the menu since.

He wanted to offer more Tuscan-style dishes, he said, and make the prices approachable for even casual diners. He said he plans to change the menus seasonally. The lunch menu includes a build-your-own mac and cheese for $9 plus extra for add-ins. Lunch also has several pastas, pizzas, salads, sandwiches and a burger. The new dinner menu has steak frites, several high-end steaks, lots of pastas and dishes, including honey-cured pork belly confit, coffee-braised short ribs and a cold smoked veal chop. Lunch dishes range from about $8 to $15. Several dinner entrees are available for less than $20. Customers who park in the hotel’s garage and dine at the restaurant can have their parking validated.

Peruse both new menus on the restaurant’s website, http://www.ambassadorhotelcollection.com/wichita/cuisine-en.html.

Dave Stough’s regular Shamrock customers, whom he calls the “Sham Fam,” know he’s a great cook. So do the people who pile in each St. Patrick’s Day for his annual corned beef feast. But Stough’s Delano bar, the Shamrock, at 1724 W. Douglas, doesn’t have a food menu. Now, Stough is responding to customer requests, he said, by testing whether adding dinner service for good would be practical. “We’ve just been trying to see if we have the commitment from customers,” he said. He’s started serving meals from 7 to 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. The focus is barbecue.

On Friday, for example, he’s serving smoked brisket with Guinness barbecue sauce, baked potatoes and Texas toast. On Saturday, Sough is cooking grilled Cornish game hens stuffed with savory wild rice, smoked mushrooms stuffed with sausage and cheese, and warm potato salad with bacon. Other items he will include in the weekend offerings are smoked ribs, hot links and more. Stough says he’ll decide in a few months whether the experiment worked. If it does, he said, he’ll begin serving dinner Mondays through Saturdays. For more information, call the Shamrock at 316-267-3100.

This story was originally published September 4, 2014 at 4:19 PM with the headline "Zoobilee, dinner at the Shamrock and more."