Drum Room's Eric Carter marches to his own beat

By Charles Ferruzza, The Pitch

Eric Carter is back in the hotel dining business.

The 33-year-old Carter was one of the younger hotel sous chefs in the city when he was assisting executive chef Scott Skomal in running the kitchen of the OP1906 restaurant in the Overland Park Sheraton Hotel four years ago. Carter didn't exactly endear himself to his corporate bosses back in 2008 when he left the Sheraton for a different job -- after the once upscale OP1906 was overhauled -- and he revealed to The Pitch that the menu was being redesigned to be "more like Applebee's." The Sheraton management was not amused.

 After stints at Bluebird Bistro and The Drop, Carter was hired seven months ago as executive chef for the President Hotel's Drum Room.

The Lincoln, Nebraska native replaced former executive chef Chris Hall when he left to take the executive chef position at the InterContinental Hotel on the Coutry Club Plaza. It's a challenging position, since the Drum Room -- one of the prettiest dining rooms in Kansas City -- has yet to establish its identity as a downtown dining destination, even though it's located right on the edge of the Power & Light District.

Carter has completely changed the menu at the restaurant, which now serves lunch and dinner; the old lunch venue, the second-floor Walnut Room, is currently a breakfast-only dining room. The Drum Room still offers live entertainment in the lounge on Friday and Saturday night, but the dining room attracts a mixed audience: "I thought the clientele might be younger, since the hotel is so close to the Power & Light District," said Carter. "But the President Hotel really attracts a diverse clientele, often depending on the conventions that are in town."

Working at The Drop for a year "let me recharge my batteries," says Carter. "It was a very uncorporate environment and it let me answer a question I needed to know after working for the Sheraton: 'What is my culinary style?' I went back to the flavors and the techniques that I grew up with in Nebraska. Simple, midwestern cooking."

That being said, would you call your current Drum Room menu home-style cooking?
"No, but there is a focus on fresh, regional ingredients prepared in familiar styles. Our current featured soup is made with leeks and grilled sweet corn and fresh basil. Our steaks are served with roasted garlic spun potatoes. It's a much more American, accessible menu now.

"We brine our pork for our osso bucco with Vermont maple syrup creating a sweet-savory tender meat. It's very much comfort food."

What are the biggest difference between an urban hotel like this and a suburban venue like the Sheraton?
"There were a lot more corporate demands from the Sheraton executives. Ron Jury (the owner of the President Hotel) and the management here have given me a lot of creative freedom. Sure, there are dishes that every hotel dining room needs to offer since we don't just offer three meals a day, but with room service, we're a 24-hour operation, so we need to offer a Cobb salad and a club sandwich -- those are hotel standbys."

What changes would you still like to make?
"Our lead cook, Alejandro Diaz, has a solid pastry background, and we're working on a more progressive dessert menu: really familiar favorites, but with an inventive spin. Right now we're offering a carrot cake with a chai pudding that customers really like."

Speaking of dessert, what are your own guilty pleasures when it comes to food?
"Less about sweets for me. I get cravings for salt-and-vinrgar potato chips. And I love bahn mi sandwiches. There's a place in the City Market that sells a very good version."

Where in Kansas City do you like to go out to eat?
"My wife and I don't eat out a lot anymore. We have a three-month-old daughter now, Monroe. So I get home, feed the baby, and go to bed."