Pizza Bianca with morels, Maggie's Farm purple asparagus, fresh spinach, Crescenza cheese and truffle oil was one of the May 14, 2013, lunch specials at Genovese. by Sara Shepherd

It’s the time of year when morels are popping up in Kansas woods and in the news feeds of those foraging-types you’re friends with on Facebook — not that that does us non-foraging-types any good.

Luckily, a few Lawrence restaurants have secured sources for the elusive mushrooms and are plating up the pungent (in a good way!) fungi in various forms.

I got my fix today at Genovese, where the lunch specials included a Pizza Bianca with morels, Maggie's Farm purple asparagus, fresh spinach, Crescenza cheese and truffle oil. In the past week I’ve also seen morel specials advertised at 715 — where they’ve offered the mushrooms at dinnertime, sauteed with pancetta and served over grilled WheatFields bread and Maytag polenta — and at Pachamama’s — where they showed them Friday on Facebook atop pan roasted walleye, along with roasted cauliflower and dill and onion bubble and squeak.

To buy morels to cook yourself, Pendleton’s Kaw Valley Country Market also has advertised morels in their newsletter, although in limited amounts. For availability call 843-1409.

Watch social media feeds and keep an eye on downtown sandwich boards to catch any remaining morel specials before what's left of the season is gone. And maybe it wouldn’t hurt to try and make more of those foraging types more than just Facebook friends — they're probably more likely to share than to give away their secret hunting spots.

The true morel (left) is distinguishable from false morels (right) by its hollow core. False morels have cottony or other weblike structures inside their stem and cap.

John Dean of Blind Tiger Brewery (left), Bryan "Bucky" Buckingham of 23rd Street Brewery and Geoff Deman of Free State Brewery after a day of brewing in Topeka. Photo from www.facebook.com/TheBlindTigerBreweryandRestaurant by Sara Shepherd

Lawrence brewers are ringing in American Craft Beer Week with two envelope-pushing creations I got to sneak-preview this morning. (Though neither one of these contains mint...)

For the second year, head brewers from Lawrence’s Free State and 23rd Street breweries and Topeka’s Blind Tiger Brewery collaborated to create a new beer in honor of the week, being celebrated nationwide Monday through May 19.

They named this year's concoction “Smoke on the Wheat." Light as straw and crisp as Perrier but with a roguish smoky overtone — and as 23rd Street head brewer Bryan “Bucky” Buckingham notes, a little baloney on the nose (...or maybe it sounds better to say charcuterie?) — Smoke on the Wheat is in the style of a 14th century Polish Grätzer ale. The beer, made with oak-smoked wheat and Polish yeast, is low-alcohol, high-carbonation and pours with a big, fluffy head.

A second collaborative brew, created by 23rd Street and members of the Lawrence Brewers Guild, will be tapped Monday at 23rd Street.

“LBG Collaboration No. 2” is a Belgian-style IPA. Or, if you want to get specific, an “amber-Belgian-wheat-IPA-Trappist-specialty-beer-kind-of-thing,” Buckingham says. “It’s got a lot going on.” Higher in alcohol, honey colored and slightly sweet smelling, Collaboration No. 2 surprises with a super-dry, hoppy finish.

These two brews and many others will be the focus of all kinds of activities next week. Here’s a rundown:

Monday

• Smoke on the Wheat tapped at 23rd Street, 3512 Clinton Parkway, Free State, 636 Massachusetts St., and Blind Tiger, 417 SW 37th St. in Topeka. (Each brewery held back a keg of Full Kimono, the result of last year's collaboration, to tap during the week, too.)

• LBG Collaboration No. 2 tapped at 23rd Street

Tuesday

• Five-course Free State beer dinner at so-hot-right-now Kansas City, Mo., restaurant Port Fonda, 4141 Pennsylvania St. Cost: $55. Reservations: 816-216-6462 or michaela@portfondakc.com.

Wednesday

• Beer Trivia Night at the Burger Stand, 803 Massachusetts St. With a Free State tap takeover on the lower level — and prizes!

Thursday

• Free State beer flowing (as usual) at Cottin’s Hardware Farmers Market, 4 to 6:30 p.m. at 1832 Massachusetts St.

(Firkin) Friday

• Firkin tapping for LBG Collaboration No. 2 with orange peel added, 6 p.m. at 23rd Street

Photo from feastofthefields.net by Sara Shepherd

Pachamama's executive chef and owner Ken Baker is preparing the menu for a four-course en plein air dinner next month on a Kansas farm.

The fourth-generation River Creek Farm, about nine miles east of Manhattan, will host its annual Feast of the Fields event June 8 in a growing cornfield. The event aims to promote awareness of agriculture by serving meats, produce and wines from the Flint Hills region in a natural setting. 

The cost is $100 per person. Event organizers say any proceeds will be reinvested into educational agrotourism programs and to assist local culinary students.

For more information or to reserve a seat, go online to feastofthefields.net.

There is a tequila world beyond “lick, shoot, suck” (and, inevitably, burn), and an upcoming event provides a good opportunity to foray into it.

Genovese’s annual Cinco de Mayo Tequila Tasting Dinner is planned for 6 p.m. Sunday at the restaurant, 941 Massachusetts St.

Genovese plans to serve a selection of Avión and Familia Camarena brand tequilas — silver, reposado and añejo, all produced in the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico — paired with a four-course dinner menu. Geneovese chef and co-owner Armando Paniagua’s Mexican heritage is reflected in his planned dishes: shrimp and octopus cocktail, grilled mahi mahi tacos, barbacoa and chocolate Kahlua panna cotta.

The cost of the dinner is $50 per person, not including tax and gratuity. For reservations, call Genovese at 842-0300.

Boulevard's Tripel Julep by Sara Shepherd

There’s only a handful of kegs (sixth-barrels at that) in town, but Boulevard Brewing Company’s Kentucky Derby-inspired Tripel Julep — a very limited, experimental release not planned for bottling — is on tap in Lawrence.

Mariscos has one keg, and Dempsey’s says they have two — one tapped and one backup. (There may be more, most likely bars that routinely serve Boulevard's Smokestack Series brews. Feel free to add sightings in the comments section below.)

This is easily the most unusual beer I’ve had. (Maybe the most unusual beer anyone has had?) Boulevard took some of its Long Strange Tripel, aged it in bourbon barrels and infused it with mint. You’ll taste a lot of mint, the banana and citrus notes Belgians are known for, a little bit of sweetness, plus a hint of oak and bourbon.

Boulevard used 15 first-use barrels from the Four Roses Bourbon distillery to age the Tripel for about three months, according to tasting notes from the distributor. Brewers then added mint and filled about 50 kegs by hand. For having an alcohol content of more than 11 percent, it’s deceivingly light and easy-drinking.

Naturally, Kansas City has the lion’s share of Tripel Julep. For those of you venturing that way, The Pitch today published a list of restaurants where it’s on tap in KC.

Troy Moth photo by Contributed Photo

Miscellanea from this week on the web, including links to read before hitting this weekend's three F's: Final Fridays, Free State Film Festival and Farmer's Ball Finals.

Final Fridays

There’s big things planned for this month’s Final Fridays, including the grand opening of the new Cider Gallery in the Warehouse Arts District. Here’s our Final Fridays preview, featuring stunning black and white nature photography by Troy Moth (former shooter for GQ and Rolling Stone) at the Invisible Hand and paper bathing suits at where else but Wonderfair. The Final Fridays blog has a nifty gallery map and more gallery event summaries.

Free State Film Festival

The annual Free State Film Festival is this weekend, and its going to be a film geek's dream. According to the event website, expect “films, short films, panel discussions, staged readings, live music performances, an experimental film and music video showcase and a revival of the multimedia stage production, 'On Screen Offspring' featuring new original short plays by area filmmakers.” Our film critic says there will be plenty of the kind of films that are sure to get people talking.

Farmer’s Ball Finals

Loud and Local has teasers from the four bands that made the cut to play in the finals on Saturday. Larryville Chronicles also has a Q&A with their “dark-horse” pick, Brain Food, the headline for which includes the phrase “like electronic angels giving birth to a dark velvet thundercloud."

Beer name-change

It seems Boulevard has changed the name of its Boulevard Pilsner to KC Pils. Here are photos of the new bottles. (I haven't heard the theory behind the name change, but the photo description says something about hometown love. Could there be more name changes on the way?)

Haskell fashion

A fashion show was part of Haskell Indian Nation University’s recent Indigenous Empowerment Summit. Mark & Tree photography took great photos of all the styles, bold jumpsuits and bustiers included. (Hat tip to Ditto Resale Boutique for sharing the link on their Facebook page)

Baby chicks

My Bit of Earth blogger Meryl let her new chicks out in the yard for the first time ... and kindly took pictures so the rest of us can see how adorable they are.

Photo courtesy of the Roost by Sara Shepherd

The lead story in today's new Going Out section — Rise and shine: Lunch and dinner spots give breakfast a shot — focused on some of the more unexpected places you can now have a morning meal. While I didn't include it in this article, talking about downtown breakfast spots made me wonder, "What's the latest on the Roost?"

The Roost is the new breakfast and lunch restaurant planning to open in the former Milton's location, 920 Massachusetts St. I checked with the owners this week, who said their current target opening date is May.

They're working on renovations, getting all the proper permits, kicking off a Kickstarter project to raise money for a new hood system and testing and tweaking recipes for the menu. Once they do open, the plan is to serve from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. seven days a week. When they have a firm opening date, I'm sure they'll share it on their Facebook page, where, in the meantime you can get a glimpse of those aforementioned recipe tests — morning-appropriate cocktails included!

"Granite Flats," featuring Lawrence native Annie Tedesco by Sara Shepherd

Lawrence native and Kansas University grad Annie Tedesco landed a lead role in the new BYUtv series “Granite Flats.”

After earning a degree in psychology with an emphasis in cognitive neuroscience, Tedesco made her way to Los Angeles, where she successfully auditioned for the comedy troupe the Groundlings, and has appeared in print ads, TV commercials and shows. In the past few years, Tedesco has had cameo appearances on shows including “Modern Family,” “The Mentalist” and “Bones.”

“Granite Flats” — set in 1962 and described as a family-friendly period drama with a sci-fi twist — premieres April 7 on Dish Network, DirecTV and select cable systems, and will be available online at byutv.org.

Here’s what viewers have in store, according to producers:

Granite Flats tells the story of a recently widowed single mom, Beth Milligan (Tedesco), and her 10 year old son Arthur, who move from California to the rural town of Granite Flats, Colorado to start a new life after the untimely and mysterious death of their Air Force pilot husband and father. From the moment of their arrival at the military base where Beth will be employed as a hospital nurse and Arthur will get a post-tragedy restart on life, the wholesome community is quickly revealed to be much more complex than at first glance. Standing alone outside on his first night in Granite Flats, Arthur is the sole witness to a fiery object hurdling across the sky, landing in the nearby hills. Is it a comet, like the budding young scientist believes, or something far more complicated? The spiraling consequences of what Arthur sees and the subsequent explosion that sets the stage for the plot to unfold propels Granite Flats into motion. Under the town’s wholesome surface, a sinister element is brewing that will challenge the faith and humanity of the show’s quirky characters, threaten to shatter any residual innocence left from the past decade and reveal the ubiquitous fear of nuclear attack which defined that era.

Here's a teaser:

Brenna McKedy, a Kansas University junior from Garden City, left, works on homework near the cereal bar at Java Break, 17 E. Seventh St. Sarina Geist, right, store manager, says cereal bars are popular on the coasts and suit Java Break’s college-age clientele. by Mike Yoder

For the second time in two weeks, Lawrence has landed a spot on a Zagat list.

Our very own Java Break, 17 E. Seventh St., is representing Kansas on Zagat’s latest online roundup, “The United States of Caffeine: 50 States, 50 Must-Try Coffee Shops.” It's No. 16 on the slideshow list, revealed Wednesday on the Zagat blog.

Here’s what caught the judges' attention:

“Lawrence has no shortage of cool-kid coffee shops, but Java Break is unique thanks to the 24-hour coffee-flowing-though-your-veins service. The ultra-kitschy decor is loved by hipster college kids sticking Starbucks to the man, and their drinks, like the cult-ish Hazelnut Chai, are made from scratch without preservatives or corn syrup. Bonus: there’s a cereal bar with a slew of toppings.”

I'm an almond milk latte gal myself and haven't tried the chai, but I'll vouch for the rest of this writeup. If you missed our recent Off The Beaten Plate feature on their Cereal Bar, check it out here.

The other Zagat mention? That would be Burger Stand making its "Best Burgers in 25 Cities" list.

Java Break’s Minty Hot Chocolate. by Nick Krug

Mike Davis, sous chef for Lawrence's Oread Hotel, carves a watermelon during the 2012 Edible Book Festival at the Shawnee County Public Library in Topeka. Contributed photo. by Sara Shepherd

Mike Davis, sous-chef at Lawrence’s Oread hotel, will conduct a free food carving demonstration next week.

The demonstration will be from 6-8 p.m. March 7 in the All Seasons Den at the Oread, 1200 Oread Ave. The event is free and open to the public.

Davis previously has conducted similar demonstrations for county libraries in Topeka and Salina, but this will be his first such demonstration in Lawrence, according to the Oread.

There is a tequila world beyond “lick, shoot, suck” (and, inevitably, burn), and an upcoming event provides a good opportunity to foray into it.

Genovese’s annual Cinco de Mayo Tequila Tasting Dinner is planned for 6 p.m. Sunday at the restaurant, 941 Massachusetts St.

Genovese plans to serve a selection of Avión and Familia Camarena brand tequilas — silver, reposado and añejo, all produced in the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico — paired with a four-course dinner menu. Geneovese chef and co-owner Armando Paniagua’s Mexican heritage is reflected in his planned dishes: shrimp and octopus cocktail, grilled mahi mahi tacos, barbacoa and chocolate Kahlua panna cotta.

The cost of the dinner is $50 per person, not including tax and gratuity. For reservations, call Genovese at 842-0300.