Timeline of KC Lunch Spots reviewed at http://www.kclunchspots.com
Created by bilevader on Jul 21, 2008
Last updated: 11/18/09 at 02:53 PM
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When I first moved to this lovely city and started working downtown, Cupini's was on my regular rotation. It is a local establishment that serves up good food in the face of other options like Planet Sub, that horrible food court, and more pricey options like the now-closed Mango Room. This was when the Power & Light garbage was still being built. Honestly, even if it had been open I can't see myself going anywhere but chefBURGER for a lunch. But the downtown Cupini's bugged me. It was a little sterile, a little too crowded and the staff seemed more concerned with puckering up and kissing my ass than dishing out lunches.Well, I've since rectified a wrong and visited Cupini's on Westport road just east of State Line. While the menu is essentially this is a much more interesting physical space with a really comfortable vibe. Yes, I said "vibe."
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UPDATE! El Pollo Loco in Merriam is not the same as the California fast food chain! See Faith's post over at Frighteningly Uncommon Sense (Thanks Faith!)A couple of updates on this front, please comment if you know more.Pomegranate, local food maven, blogger and fellow Merriam Drive haunter tipped me that local tamale purveyors Coyoacan have closed. What's worse they have been replaced by El Pollo Loco, a truly horrendous looking chain restaurant a mysterious local restaurant specializing in that traditional, age old Mexican Grilled Chicken.Sigh.UPDATE: I visited Pollo Loco on Monday, 9/15/08.Another favorite of mine which I had yet to review was Max's Auto-Diner on 63rd near Holmes. They made very good little hamburgers, gyros and other deep fried delights. More importantly, they had really friendly ownership. It kept weird hours, though. I think they tried to subsist on the lunch trade alone and clearly it did not work out for them. As far as I know, there is still a Max's down on Wornall. The good news is a big sign on the window announcing the future arrival of a hot dog joint. I'll be first in line, and will report back faithfully in due course. This is a very cool little building (a former drive-in) and I'm glad it's being re-used.Lastly the blogosphere is all a-twitter (pun intended) about the closing of Bar Natasha. I only visited a couple times, but enjoyed the show and had a decent cocktail or three. Where will all the drag queens go now? This is a loss for Kansas City, hopefully something will step up to fill the void.UPDATE: be sure to check out Making of a Foodie for a more comprehensive overview restaurants that are closed, closing, changing or moving.
http://www.kclunchspots.com/feeds/9104574755519946145/comments/default
First spotted by Pomegranate, This place is now closed and has been replaced by "Pollo Loco."I have a problem with tamales.Every Mexican joint I visit, I have order at least one. There is something about the texture of the masa, aroma of the leaf wrapper and the succulent meat filling that is unparalleled when done correctly. It's typically the old people who get together and make them, usually for special occasions. It's a multi-hour process wherein kids can play with dough, grandmas can talk trash about their good for nothing kids, and lazy men can drink beer and watch sports. Like pierogies to the Polish, dumplings to the Chinese, and cucumber sandwiches to the WASPS, tamales are a simple but aspect of Mexican (and incidentally other Latin) cuisine. And I've tried to make them a few times before. It wasn't pretty, although one time they turned out well. It's really best done with some help, cold Mexican beer, and serious humility because the whole thing can take hours and still utterly fail. Too much cold Mexican beer will do that.At a delightful lunch a few weeks back with some fellow bloggers someone (Waldo?) brought up some kind of tamale place on Merriam drive. We discussed it for a minute or two then I sort of forgot about it.Until the hankering hit me. I decided to find it, having never seen it, not knowing the name or even really where Merriam Drive was. Turns out that this was a bad move. I'm not a JoCo boy, I only work out there, and Jesus it's easy to get lost. There's a perfectly good grid in place that gets ruined by streets like Merriam, Santa Fe, Shawnee Mission Parkway not to mention I-35. I'm also kind of an it turns out.So by the time I found Coyoacan nestled in what I discovered was "downtown" Merriam, I had to get my meal to go due to time restrictions. Some of us work you know. Anyhow, Coyoacan has two business enterprises going on here, a small and very cute looking dine-in establishment that shares a kitchen with a glorified take-out window next door. The carryout side has a sign that reads "Tamales To Go" so it almost seems like a different place altogether. It's not.I expected a simple menu, but it actually is a full, standard looking Mexican assortment: tacos, enchiladas, burritos, the whole nine yards. But I saw the "tamale dinner" for 6.95 and decided it was mine. After shouting my order to a nice couple preparing food behind the counter, I waited for approximately 3 minutes before a styrofoam container full of deliciousness was delivered into my hot little hands.I'm not gonna say that this is the best Mexican food in town because it ain't. But this place is pretty special. Nothing disappointed me, particularly the tamales which were not covered in cheese sauce, ground beef or any other gross variation I've seen at other KC establishments. Yes there was a small amount of red ranchero sauce, tomato-y and subtle. The rice was well-cooked but fairly bland. The refried beans were very good, not too thick and certainly made from scratch. The tamales themselves were small, which most authentic tamales are in fact. They were perfectly cooked but also not overly seasoned, but the filling of shredded pork was very nicely flavored, albeit subdued. Maybe my taste buds were having an off day. My brain does that some days too. In general I was very happy with the tamales, though it is disappointing (but much more convenient) not to unwrap them yourself.Anyway, I really want to go back and dine-in. It looks small, but cutely decorated. Kind of like your Mexican grandma's living room. Don't have a Mexican grandma? Neither do I, and I regret it every day because she'd make way better tamales than I do.
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Once again, thanks to Faith for keeping me honest (or at least marginally competent) about the difference between a sketchy local Mexican joint and a national restaurant chain.Pollo Loco has been open less than two weeks. I drove by on Monday and noticed that there were a couple cars in the lot so I figured what the hell. I walked into the dining room to find a clean but completely undecorated space. Essentially the room held four formica booths, two of which were occupied by Latino gentlemen who, judging from their clothing were definitely in the painting business. Though this was obviously a Mexican establishment, the smell of the place was unmistakably that of BBQ. They were obviously using a healthy dose of smoke in their cooking. I'd wager hickory if my taste buds are to be trusted (they're not). Before I sat down, a woman noticed my entrance and somewhat apologetically indicated that they were operating with a very limited menu. While I stood there she explained the primary offering: a half a smoked chicken with tortillas, salsa, rice and other stuff. That sounded damn good to me, having read Meesha's post about Super Pollo on Independence Ave a couple weeks ago. It sounded similar and in the end, it was.She delivered a can of coke from a cooler full of Jarritos fruit sodas and cans of domestic pop. My food arrived before I could even get out my phone to check twitter. Seriously, like 1 minute. Crazy Fast chicken is right people! The chicken arrived on a styrofoam plate and looked like a right mess.But damn it tasted good. Yep this is simply half a chicken cooked on a smoky grill, roughly hacked into pieces and thrown on a disposable plate with no garnish.So what.Grilled chicken is no great mystery, but it's definitely one of the most satisfying meals of all time. They managed to smoke it without giving the skin that rubbery texture of the "low & slow" method. So I'm guessing that they smoke it at a high temperature. It was juicy, flavorful, not overly smoky, had crunchy skin and was cooked well.The rice was very typical of Mexican restaurants: small exploded grains with a mild stock-ish flavor and pale red hue. The corn tortillas were not homemade but tasted fresh and good enough. And holy cow, marinated red onions, just like Meesha had at Super Pollo. Those things are perfect accompaniment to the chicken.So obviously this is a distinctive variety of Mexican or Mexican American cuisine. Grill-smoked chicken on a tortilla with salsa and pickled onions. I don't think I've ever noticed this trend before. But I got something else with my meal: macaroni salad! WTF? Seriously the plate came with a mayonnaise-dressed macaroni salad with chucks of ham in it. I'm sorry, did my aunt Rita sneak in the Pollo Loco kitchen when I wasn't looking?Okay, so the pasta salad was not the best thing ever, but it wasn't horribly executed and overall the meal was very good. Did I mention that this was a shit-ton of food? Easily enough for two people. And it cost me six bucks.However the best part was the service. The waitress only had a few tables to deal with, and the place is new so she was overly attentive if anything. But it was cool and I did ask her a few questions about the place; she was very accommodating and friendly. She said that last week was kind of a soft launch but they had no register and no change which was kind of a mess. Most of the customers were friends and family so it turned out alright. They will add things to the menu--but not too much, she said, because they want to keep it simple. I was very heartened to hear that. These days they have a cash register but no credit card machine yet (it's coming). You know what that means? Tax included baby!She also said Monday was their first day selling tamales. Excellent! The previous business in this location specialized in those little masa nuggets of heaven, and made pretty good ones to boot. I'll have to try Pollo Loco's version.So this place is still ironing out their menu, their workflow and their infrastructure. Judging from what I saw the other day, they have a bright future ahead. If I managed to have a good meal during their first real week of business,I can only imagine that things will get better. And seriously, just being able to chat with the waitress and thank the cook made all the difference. This is so obviously a labor of love for the owners, and honestly one that may not work out. But hopefully if they keep it simple, stay friendly, and maintain the good quality and value they will get along just fine.
http://www.kclunchspots.com/2008/09/pollo-loco-crazy-fast-chicken.html
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This visit lay to rest one of the rumors I've heard my entire adult life, but somehow never quite believed. It goes something like this:Chinese restaurants cater so much to their American clientele such that they dumb down the food on their menu. But, unbeknownst to non-Chinese, there is always a Chinese version of the menu that contains more authentic (and delicious) dishes intended for a more refined Chinese palate. Certainly I've been to these restaurants before and seen platters of completely unfamiliar and sometimes odd food being delivered to Chinese patrons. An alternate version of the theory proposes that native Chinese can just order "whole fish" or merely ask for what's good that day and get treated to a custom made feast.I tended to disbelieve these rumors because misconceptions about Chinese persons and their food run rampant. I can't tell you how many reviews I've read that insist that such and such restaurant serves dog or cat, or they practice highly unsanitary food handling, or they skimp on quality because they think Caucasian diners won't notice. The "secret menu" just seemed like a paranoid white person's way of saying "they only serve the good stuff to the Chinese."Well, I'm happy to say that Chinese menus are indeed real. Real credit for turning me on to this revelation goes to commenter Tze Yuin who encouraged me to try Lucky Wok, and the ever-respectable, eloquent and refined Ulterior Epicure who has an absolutely essential post on great, authentic Chinese dining in Kansas City. In fact, skip the rest of this post and just read his. He is much more knowledgeable than I am, though far less likely to bring up Knight Rider, Schlitz Malt Liquor, or Englebert Humperdink than me.So yeah, I walk inside Lucky Wok only to be greeted by the most pedestrian Chinese buffet I have ever seen. The usual assortment of beige, deep fried nuggets are on display accompanied by the requisite orange and red sauces that could double as dessert toppings. I realize these things have their appeal, but so does port wine cheese spread. The woman at the counter seated me, assuming I wanted the buffet. I asked to see a menu and she handed me a tome that offered the typical Amero-Chinese delights: Egg Foo-Yung, Sweet and Sour everything, Lo Mein, and various other things that are synonymous with "deep fried pieces of meat with sweet technicolor sauce."Then I asked if I could see the Chinese menu. She didn't bat an eye and immediately handed over an only slightly smaller booklet which offered a completely different set of dishes. Seriously I cannot overstate the disconnect between the regular menu and the Chinese menu. This was stuff that looked delicious, stuff I found vaguely disturbing, stuff I couldn't understand and most importantly, stuff I had never heard of.The menu was split into categories: soups, noodles, Hong Kong dishes, seafood, beef, pork, chicken--possibly a couple others. I ordered Hot & Spicy bean curd and Double Delight Soup.The soup ($2.25) was beautiful to behold and pleasing to the taste buds. Two varieties of ground fish cake floating in a mild chicken broth. It was delicious, though a tad on the fish-tastic side for most Western tastes I'll warrant. The broth was pleasantly greasy and not overpowering--clearly house made.The tofu dish ($6.95) was a little more run of the mill than I expected. I could have been more adventurous in my choice of dishes for sure. This was basically a stir fry with tofu, green peppers, pork, hot peppers and straw mushrooms. Yes, there was pork in the tofu dish, no one ever claimed it was vegetarian.So it wasn't an overwhelmingly unfamiliar flavor at all, just a simple stir fry with good, fresh ingredients (well, the mushrooms were likely canned) and I couldn't stop eating it. So sorry, no bizarre flavors here folks. In fact, many of the dishes on the Chinese menu seemed like they would appeal to many gringos. I say these restaurants should publicize these menus more and expand their client base. Or not. Personally I like the feeling of eating something really special while fat guys with mustaches are eating egg rolls from a Sysco bag and sweet & sour sauce squeezed out of a pouch. The portion was outstanding, easily enough to have leftovers the next day.The service was truly wonderful. It was absolutely no trouble to order from the menu during lunch buffet hours and didn't mind when I asked for the Chinese version. The food came out quickly and was so freaking hot that I could hardly eat for 5 minutes. The decor is pretty typical and unremarkable. Red vinyl booths, some gold-accentuated artwork. Nothing fancy, nothing particularly tasteful as far as I'm concerned, but this is a lunch joint. The taste needs to be on the plate, not on the wall.So overall, an outstanding experience. I can't thank Tze Yuin enough for his recommendation and encouragement to move into uncharted territory for me. Seriously, from now on, I'm asking for Chinese menus at Chinese restaurants. I don't care if I risk looking like a pompous douche or a creepy asiaphile. It really makes all the difference.
http://www.kclunchspots.com/2008/09/lucky-wok-15129-w-87th-st.html
This popular Chinese restaurant has some really appealing facets: good service, lightening fast cooks, and it's dirt cheap. Lunch specials run around 5 bucks, and include soup and egg roll. And the menu offers dozens of lunch specials, curiously including a number of meats stir fried with that staple of the Orient, asparagus. The place is really big, and it's never a problem getting a table, even when eating solo.Unfortunately, the food ain't so great. This is old school, fried rice and canned baby corn stuff here. The egg drop soup has the most perplexing and unpleasant texture--even for egg drop soup. It's kind of like curdled milk.For some reason my primary annoyance is that the line at the cash register is typically clogged with yuppies each throwing 4.95 on their credit card. You can wait longer to pay than you do to get your food.
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Now I like Grinders well enough, but it has a really stupid name. It almost sounds like a chain restaurant in a mall food court, only it should have an exclamation point:"Come join us at Grinders!"or maybe "Grynders!"This place definitely deserves a more interesting moniker.And Kansas City definitely needs more places like this--most cities are full of them: Casual, cheap, young-ish, inventive, locally-focused, open late. You can smoke, you can have some beers, they have good and fairly interesting food, albeit a little on the lowbrow side.It's also easy to pick on Grinders (idiotic name aside) and it usually has to do with Stretch. Yes, that Stretch dude has apparently burned a couple bridges, whatever, I don't know him at all. Certainly his art is not my cup of tea. Not because it's too wacky for me, but because he clearly thinks it's too wacky for someone like me. It's actually a lot like the stuff my cousin was making in the 60s and 70s, and it's just not that challenging. And that sculpture park is just plain bad. Anyway, there's some of that crap in Grinders, including a huge, twisting metal arch near the front door. Whatever, it's fine really.But the place is locally owned and operated, and the employees seem happy to be there. They certainly are friendly. I wouldn't call it the most efficient operation, but these kinds of joints rarely are. Anyway, go there, get the Philly cheesesteak with Cheez Whiz (!) and be glad you did.
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Tienda Casa Paloma: I'm afraid that this place is starting to disappoint me. I visit for lunch about once a month and have decided that most things on the menu are just average. I ordered the chiles rellenos last week and they were ice cold in the middle. Now, I won't get all uppity about the fact that these were clearly pre-made--they were inexpensive and I can;t expect a relatively complicated dish of this sort to be made from scratch. But the primary ingredient is cheese. It'a cheese-filled poblano pepper. It needs to be hot and melted. I took my plate to the counter and asked to have it warmed up. Two minutes (in the microwave) later she brought it back out: Still not hot. I figured life was too short, ate what I could and took my leave. I've also found the carne asada to be somewhat flavorless and tough. I won't even mention that crazy yellow cheese sauce that I witnessed at an impromptu blogger lunch earlier this year.Bates City BBQ: This place continues to impress. Never had a bad meal and the service is outstanding.I ate lunch at Cancun Fiesta Fresh yesterday and am happy to report that it still serves up some of the best quick and simple Mexican food in midtown. This place has been in business for well over a year and I hope it establishes itself as a Westport institution. Now if they could only get a liquor license...Red Dragon House downtown is undoubtedly the fastest place to get a freshly prepared hot meal on the face of the earth. While the food can be pedestrian, I've found the Hunan Chicken to be quite reliable. Here's a tip: Skip the mediocre soups that come with the lunch special and they will give you extra rice (which you'll need). The tuna sandwich is probably my favorite dish at Farm to Market Cafe. Lunch buffet at Waldo Pizza? Doesn't do it for me folks.
http://www.kclunchspots.com/2008/08/updates-repeat-visits.html
A couple of updates on this front, please comment if you know more.Pomegranate, local food maven, blogger and fellow Merriam Drive haunter tipped me that local tamale purveyors Coyoacan have closed. What's worse they have been replaced by El Pollo Loco a truly horrendous looking chain restaurant specializing in that traditional, age old Mexican Grilled Chicken.Sigh.Another favorite of mine which I had yet to review was Max's Auto-Diner on 63rd near Holmes. They made very good little hamburgers, gyros and other deep fried delights. More importantly, they had really friendly ownership. It kept weird hours, though. I think they tried to subsist on the lunch trade alone and clearly it did not work out for them. As far as I know, there is still a Max's down on Wornall. The good news is a big sign on the window announcing the future arrival of a hot dog joint. I'll be first in line, and will report back faithfully in due course. This is a very cool little building (a former drive-in) and I'm glad it's being re-used.Lastly the blogosphere is all a-twitter (pun intended) about the closing of Bar Natasha. I only visited a couple times, but enjoyed the show and had a decent cocktail or three. Where will all the drag queens go now? This is a loss for Kansas City, hopefully something will step up to fill the void.UPDATE: be sure to check out Making of a Foodie for a more comprehensive overview restaurants that are closed, closing, changing or moving.
http://www.kclunchspots.com/2008/08/closed-for-business.html
Closed. Don't know whyThe Phoenix features a lovely, inviting facade and daily lunch specials on a sandwich board outside. the place gives the impression of being fancier than it really is--good-looking spot, plenty of windows, lots of wood accents. My waiter was very cordial and seemed to know what he was doing.The place is pretty dead at the lunch hour, and I'm not sure why. Certainly the never-ending construction immediately outside the front door doesn't help. The past several months have seen scaffolding and tarps run up the entire front of the building, nearly obscuring a small sign at the corner which reads "yes, we're open!" or something to that effect. The chorus of power tools, cranes, and gruff workmen does little for the ambience at the Phoenix.I was disappointed with my cheeseburger, which was doubly disappointing because I thought it would be better than average fare for 8 bucks. Indeed the menu makes the food sound damn good. However the flaccid and unwashed piece of lettuce I received looked like it was rescued from the bottom of a Sysco carton before they tossed it out back. Speaking of Sysco, the burger had all the hallmarks of a pre-formed frozen patty, though the menu insists it is not. Unremarkable bread. They have special cole slaw with a stupid name that was pretty delicious--I think it's "Bayou cole slaw" or something.Indeed the Phoenix just tries too hard at times, sporting condiments like "chipotle raspberry bbq sauce." Ick. By all accounts this place is much better for dinner, and offers live jazz to boot of course. but that's not what this blog is all about now, is it?
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Closed because of Power & Light constructionThe Mango Room gets all sorts of laudatory reviews from the local press, and it's not entirely unwarranted. However, after reading both the Pitch and the Star's reference to their cocktail known as a "Bob Marleytini" I was ready to avoid this place forever.You see, I don't think that naming convention is the slightest bit cool.Is the Mango Room disneyworld? Am I a child? I'm the kind of person who doesn't order the "Biggie" anything at Wendy's because "Biggie" is a stupid, corporate, cutesy name for "large" and I'm not comfortable saying it out loud just because they want me too. Who decided to make booze drinks cute, anyway? How is that any better than candy-flavored cigarettes? A cocktail, like a cigarette, should taste like what it is. And it should hurt just a little.Oh, and if it's not clear liquor and vermouth, it's a not a goddamned martini. I don't care what every stupid bar in the Crossroads says.Moreover, while Mr. Marley was certainly one of the greatest musical artists of the 20th century, he would surely resent this co-opting of his legacy. his music is good, but I abhor everything that he has come to represent in popular American culture. Hippies were just the first annoying subculture to latch on to Marley, but certainly not the last or the most irritating. In high school it was the surfers and the rich kids who smoked pot and fancied themselves rebels while simultaneously driving SUVs and wearing Ralph Lauren shirts. Not long after, Marley's worst nightmare came to pass: the fratboys started to love him. Dave Matthews deserves the fratboys, but poor Marley doesn't. In the case of the Mango Room, I think Bob is appreciated for mostly the right reasons, but the ownership is just not savvy enough to express it in a way I can tolerate. I'm incredibly cool, you see.Stupid drink names aside, the Mango Room is worth a visit for lunch. In the evening I'm certain the place is riddled with intolerable after work dudes looking for ethnically-indeterminate girlfriends. But for lunch you can eat here for around 10-12 bucks, get waited on with great efficiency and taste some interesting food. The atmosphere is really very nice, but the place is populated mostly by suits.Oh, and no smoking Mr. Marley.
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There are three places in Kansas City called Smokestack and this is the only one I've been to. There's one in the northland, one in South KC and this one in Not-As-Far South KC on Wornall road. Anyone know if these are the same operation or just have the same name?Smokestack is not the best BBQ in the city but it is rather good, and there is something really appealing about the place. It's not a dive by any stretch but it is very old fashioned. If I recall correctly, it is carpeted and the walls are wood paneled. The "entryway" is defined by a handyman's wall made from unpainted lattice. My favorite part? The walls are covered with huge, blown-up family portraits taken circa 1973. God I really need to get my camera back, sorry folks, it was stolen by an Oregonian caterer last month. So I'll have to steal photos from the Smokestack web site.Looks good, eh?There is table service at Smokestack, which blows my mind every time I witness it at a BBQ joint. But here, it really fits. This is an old school family run business and I'd say most of the folks running the show are on the older side. I think Smokestack is intended to be a place for "regular folks" to have a nice meal out in KC. In other words, just go with it. They are great servers, all business, no bullshit, big hair.They aren't much for presentation at this place, but they certainly give you a nice portion of smoked meat. They have everything you could possibly want in a Kansas City BBQ joint and offer a number of combinations for folks like me who just can't decide what to try. Like most places they push the ribs in a lot of their combos, probably because they cost more than most other things. I also think ribs are a little more forgiving to the novice cook. I've smoked some good ribs in my day but have yet to make a brisket that's worthy of my mailing address. Oh, have I mentioned that I don't think the ribs are all that great at Smokestack? They are the "fall off the bone" variety which always reminds me of pot roast rather than BBQ. I like tender meat that still has some integrity and adheres to the bone. These are on the fatty side as well. They remind me of those at the Woodyard.The beans however, are particularly good. On the sweet side for sure very sweet but tomatoey, with nice chunks of smoked pork in them. The standard side portion is 4 oz, however, which is basically useless. Do yourself a favor and get the large side or you'll wind up with a veritable shot glass of a souffle cup full of beans. Speaking of beans, they have really good ones at McGonigles when they are out selling BBQ.The beef and pork are both very good. They have steak fries here which I just don't get. They don't have to fry fresh potatoes to make me happy, but I really dislike the mealy, heavy, limp-dick quality that pre-made steak fries usually have. I always find myself eating the smaller, crispier nuggets.Prices are fine. You'll eat your ass off for 10-12 bucks, including tip.There are a couple other BBQ spots that you could choose from in the general vicinity. That place Jake's up a ways on Wornall appears to be closed and replaced with something terrible. BB's is not far, same with the aforementioned McGonigles. But Smokestack is a nice easy stop if you work in Waldo, or are out buying random crap at Goodwill across the street (which is what I was doing). So, it's a decent place, probably much better for lunch than dinner Why? Well it has to do with my biggest complaint: No beer.
http://www.kclunchspots.com/2008/08/smokestack-bar-b-q-8920-wornall.html
A few months ago, I posted about the International Grocery at 80th and Metcalf. In the comments readers Goofy Girl, meesha v. and a blogless gentleman named Leonard mentioned a place nearby called Mediterranean Market. A Twitter shout-out from Bull E. Vard yesterday reminded me, so I was off to check it out.This is a small, clean market and deli on the East side of Metcalf just north of 75th street. It's the more spacious and inviting version of International Grocery, for it features at least five tables inside, a well organized series of shelves with various Middle Eastern foodstuffs, and a deli counter with a few meats and cheeses. The set-up is a little confusing. I ordered my food at the register, but I think I was supposed to go down to the deli counter to place the order. I ordered a chicken shish kebab only to discover that they were out of chicken. Oh well, I went with beef. The guy at the register was possibly the owner, and he was one of the friendliest people I've ever encountered in food service. He kept saying "thank you, I hope you like it!" The menu is small and rather typical: falafel, gyros, kefta, shish kebab, baba ghanoush, hummus, tabouleh, etc. Sure there is a lot to try here but I'm only one man on one day.After a 10 or 15 minute wait, the sandwich arrived much as you would expect, wrapped in a pita with lettuce, tomato, onion and, well, no sauce. It was a good enough sandwich w/o any sauce because the meat was marinated and fairly well seasoned. The meat was cut into large cubes and then grilled. The cut of beef was a little tough, possibly a sirloin so I wish it was chopped smaller or cooked more rare. The sandwich came with a generous spoonful of rice. I was really excited because it looked just like the rice pilaf I had at International Grocery which was so good. Alas, the it was simply not up to snuff. It was so salty that I couldn't finish it (that's sayin' somthing) and had been tossed with melted butter. Butter is not bad in and of itself, and can even be nice with rice, but this was far too rich for my taste. I really didn;t want to eat any of it, but unlike that candy-ass Gordon Ramsey I never spit anything out just cuz it ain't no good.The plate also had a couple small dill pickle spears and a handful of very good Greek olives, half of which were pitted. I heard some guys talking about how good the baklava was so I ordered some to take with me. I broke open the container later, veritably thrilled to indulge myself in this delicacy of which I am so fond. As accompaniment, I even splurged on what the machine in the staff room loosely calls a "cafe mocha." Unfortunately, the substance that they loosely call "hot chocolate-making syrup" had run out and I wound up with a gross, watery coffee.And a baklava that I did not care for. First, not crunchy. I will give them a break here because I did leave it in a plastic container for a good two hours. The relative heat and humidity probably took its toll. Secondly, it was not even a little sweet. At first, this intrigued me, but the gloppy pistachio filling simply didn't have any flavor of honey, which is the best thing about baklava. Lastly, it smelled weird, kind of like fried food. I suspect that they brushed it with oil, margarine or some piss-poor approximation of butter. The best part of my meal was a beverage I had seen but never tried: Vimto. It's basically a kind of red pop, but a little herbier. M.Toast thinks it tastes like cough syrup and I'll admit that there is some truth to that. But it didn't bother me, Vimto lives in that liminal space between medicine and candy much like Luden's Cherry Cough Drops. I spent my lunch hour thinking about what kind of liquor it would be good with. What did I come up with? Vimto & beer. I'm gonna try it, just you wait.The real attraction here I'm sure is the selection of imported foods. In addition to canned and boxed goods, they have several kinds of feta cheese for sale by the pound, a whole aisle of cookies and sweets and a nice selection of olive and grapeseed oils. This was a disappointing visit I'm afraid, but I still like the place. They don't use bad ingredients or cut corners. I've heard very good things about this place, so I suspect that they suffer from inconsistency rather than incompetence. It's certainly worth a repeat visit to see if they are going on the regular lunch rotation.
http://www.kclunchspots.com/2008/08/mediterranean-market.html
A few months ago, I posted about the International Grocery at 80th and Metcalf. In the comments readers Goofy Girl, meesha v. and a blogless gentleman named Leonard mentioned a place nearby called Mediterranean Market. A Twitter shout-out from Bull E. Vard yesterday reminded me, so I was off to check it out.VimtoThe rice looked similar to that served at Taste of Russia/Int'l Grocery but it was so salty I couldn't finish it. That's saying a lot because unlike that wuss Gordon Ramsey I never spit anything out just because it's not up to snuff.I heard some guys talking about how good the baklava was so I ordered some to take with me. I broke open the container later, veritably thrilled to indulge myself in this delicacy of which I am so fond. I even splurged on what the machine in the staff room loosely calls a "cafe mocha." Unfortunately, the substance that they loosely call "hot chocolate-making syrup" had run out and I wound up with a gross, watery coffee.And a baklava that I did not care for. First, not crunchy. I will give them a break here because I did leave it in a plastic container for a good two hours. Heat and humidity probably took its toll. Secondly, it was not sweet, even a little. At first, this intrigued me, but the gloppy pistachio filling simply didn't have any flavor of honey, which is the best thing about baklava. Lastly, it smelled weird, kind of like fried food. I suspect that they brushed it with oil, margarine or some piss-poor approximation of butter.
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The IdeaI eat lunch at restaurants and write about the experience. I'm not a restaurant critic and these are not reviews per se, but rather platforms for me to rant about any number of things. I'm also relatively new to Kansas City, so I'm immune to the suggestive power of silly traditions and mindsets regarding local food purveyors.Many of my posts are based on a single visit and thus not necessarily representative of everyone's experience. What makes a good lunch spot?Locally owned and operatedFast/EfficientInexpensiveTastyFriendlyUniqueEtiquettePeople get really worked up about restaurants. Please feel free to disagree with me or other commenters passionately and vociferously. But please refrain from name-calling and personal attacks. I will ceremoniously delete these sorts of comments while cackling and rubbing my hands together with glee. Of course if someone is just being a complete feel free to let him have it.Do I take suggestions?Yes I do. I actually keep a spreadsheet of these things you know.
http://www.kclunchspots.com/feeds/9077611254678799264/comments/default
Boy these people were smart. Owners Jason and Shannon Pryor have only been in business four years but, with new UMKC dorms opening up and a dearth of good food and drink options within walking distance, they seem like geniuses for opening up Pizza 51 at Oak and 51st.This stretch of 51st street (between Oak and Brookside Boulevard) is the only commercial "district" that caters to a college clientele in the slightest. Kin Lin is a few doors down, as is a Subway and Muddy's Coffee house. Main street has a few things to pique the interest of your average college student--Eggcetera (owner of the stupidest name in the metro, not counting hair salons), The Peanut, Minsky's and of course Planet Sub, who recently tore down their entire building in order to build a brand new one right next to it. Dumbasses. There is also a CVS pharmacy at which college students can procure much needed Bush light, hair dye and birth control products.Yet with the exception of Muddy's, Pizza 51 is the joint that feels most like a college neighborhood hangout. A lot of students work there, and certainly a lot of them eat there too. I always see younger professorial types hanging out as well, drinking pitchers of boulevard until 8:30pm when their kids need to be put to bed. The space is a converted gas station, but very bright in the interior thanks to a wall of overhead doors facing Oak Street. Like many rehabs, it tends to get noisy when crowded, which is most weekend evenings. For lunch, it's a much more casual affair.This place is open 7 days a week at least until 10 p.m. (9 p.m. in Winter). And believe it or not, their pizza is good. I wouldn't characterize it as gourmet, but it certainly is freshly prepared, has a nice crust and some high-quality toppings.At most places, pizza is hard to do for lunch. First, you have to be sure that a place sells slices. If not, you have to wrangle a coworker or two into splitting a pizza with you. So you are either going to eat a slice that has been sitting under a heat lamp or you are going to wait a while for a fresh pie. Even Whole Foods, who offers really good slices, pre-bakes them and re-heats upon ordering. Not at Pizza 51.Here's the deal. You can get a slice here any time of day, with any toppings you want. How do they do it? Well Each slice is made to order of course. Slices start at $3 but they are huge, like as big as your head huge. They arrive on metal trays designed for entire pizzas. These slices are so big that they cross-cut them into rectangular sub-slices. You know those crappy pennants you get for free at sporting events? Now you got the />So, think about these slices more like individual pizzas, even though they are decidedly triangular. Go ahead and spend a few bucks on toppings--you won't be hungry. You can get 5 toppings on a slice for 5.51 which seems like a decent deal. They also have daily lunch specials which is usually a modest break on price for a particular slice and drink. My only complaint is that the pizza tends to be slightly undercooked as a rule. Not in a disgusting, raw way, but the cheese is not sufficiently brown and the crust tends to be sloppy and limp, because it is a thinner crust than most. So when i go, I tend to order mine 'well done' and typically this solves the problem.\They have other stuff on the menu--subs, calzones, and (ugh) wraps--but I don't usually bother so ask someone else how they are. I know for a fact that the salads are typical pizza place affairs: iceberg lettuce, pre-made in a plastic container with shredded cheese and premade croutons as toppings. Add a healthy dollop of sysco salad dressing from a gallon jug and you're in business. Or not.Everything is ordered from the front counter and delivered to your table when it is ready. Pizza slices can take longer to come out to your table because they are not pre-baked, but you can get in and out of Pizza 51 in a half hour easily. The location of the counter is a little odd and can get cramped when there is a line. It would be nice if this place changed to table service for dinner, since most people are getting whole pies and drinks.There is a decent concrete patio enclosed by a cast iron fence. It feels a little like a cage since you can only enter and exit through the restaurant. But it can seat as many or more people than the interior. With the newly established smoking ban in full effect, expect it to be moderately stinky at certain hours. If it stays this hot, you won't want to be out there anyway. So kudos for the solid business plan, available slices and tasty pizza. Not the most remarkable place in the world, but a welcome addition to the neighborhood and one that I tend to visit with some regularity. I also like that they creatively re-purposed an interesting existing structure. Hear that Planet Sub?
http://www.kclunchspots.com/2008/08/pizza-51-5060-oak-st.html
Boy these people were smart. Owners Jason and Shannon Pryor have only been in business four years but, with new UMKC dorms opening up and a dearth of good food and drink options within walking distance, they seem like geniuses.The stretch of 51st street between Oak and Brookside Boulevard is the only commercial "district" that caters to a college clientele.
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The IdeaIt's really very simple. I like to eat lunch at restaurants and write about the experience. These are not reviews per se, but rather platforms for me to rant about any number of things. I'm also relatively new to Kansas City, so I'm immune to the suggestive power of silly traditions and mindsets regarding local food purveyors.Many of my posts are based on a single visit and thus not necessarily representative of everyone's experience. That's just the way it is. What makes a good lunch spot?Locally owned and operatedFast/EfficientInexpensiveTastyFriendlyUniqueDo I take suggestions?Yes I do.I actually keep a spreadsheet of these things you know.
http://www.kclunchspots.com/2007/07/about-kansas-city-lunch-spots.html
Alright, I'm the first to admit that I don't know everything. As I have mentioned before, I have not lived in KC super long, so a lot of lunch spots may be off my radar. So here's your chance to throw some favorites (or non-favorites) my way. I'm trying to stick to downtown. Why, you ask? Well, I work downtown so that's where I do the majority of my lunching. Also, downtown is perplexing because of its rather thin options. Eating lunch in Westport, 39th st or the Plaza is a hell of a lot easier than downtown and just not as interesting. This is more of a challenge. So maybe we can uncover some of the better places. Third, I like to complain, and downtown's lack of gastronomic amenities makes for some good clean mockery.I don't work downtown anymore so my world has opened up considerably.That being said, I'll take suggestions for places all across the city. I just can't promise I'll get off my lazy ass to go there on the weekend. I have more important things to do like drinking beer and playing with stray cats.Since I have lived in six different places in five different states over the last 15 years or so, I feel like I have some sort of well-rounded perspective to bring to the table. In fact, a relative outsider's opinion can sometimes be illuminating. You see everywhere I have lived, people have raved about their local favorites restaurants. Whether it's a hotdog stand in Chicago, pizza place in New York, or that diner in Iowa City where they will slide a piece of pie into the blender with your milkshake. Unfortunately, these places are not always good (gritty milkshake anyone?). Oftentimes they are excellent. But I'll be the judge of that.
http://www.kclunchspots.com/2007/06/suggestions.html
Imagine my surprise when I discovered this place was actually good. See, that's the nice thing about KC, a place like the City Market can have some crusty gems, even though it's basically a tourist trap. No, not the best bbq is the city, but a hell of a lot better than you would expect. Winslows offers a nice selection of the usual fare, chicken, ribs, and sandwiches of the usual varieties. The have a number of good sides as well. Their sauce is pretty boring, sweetish and thick, quite unlike the incredibly outrageous, overly spiced and utterly delicious Arthur Bryant's sauce or the balanced smokiness of Gates' noble condiment. But they do a nice job on sandwiches at least, and they also offer them in large, medium and smalls. Typical of bbq, the prices are higher than average grab and go lunch fare, but right in line with every other place in town. They also have a moderately seedy bar on one side where you can order a cold pale ale with your beef sandwich, an absolute necessity, particularly when a weekly staff meeting awaits your return to work. Most people know Winslow's as the place with all the outdoor seating. This is a really nice feature in the summer of course. Those of us consigned to cubicles in windowless nether regions of office buildings definitely need a daily injection of vitamin D whenever we can get it. This place isn;t crowded at lunch time either, which is starting to become a theme for City market establishments. They must make all their money on Saturdays. It also raises the appeal quite a bit for me, because I don;t like people very much. Especially not when they are waiting in front of me taking a long time to order a freakin sandwich. I'm also finding that the quickest way to eat lunch out is to go to a place with counter service, not waitstaff. When i am late getting back, it is without fail because I was waiting for some clueless server to bring my check, rather than waiting in line or actually waiting for my food.
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This is what I'm talking about. I've passed Tarantino's a time or two but never gave it much thought. Thanks to the suggestions by a couple readers of this blog I decided to check it out. Tarantino's is situated on 6th and McGee, basically overlooking the highway to the north and the buildings down by the river. It's a urban setting in which to enjoy a bit of lunch. Not too slick, not too gritty. It's basically across McGee from Gland Slam Liquors, in case you want to pick up a pint of Popov vodka on your way back to work. It's like a vestige of what KC looked like before 6th street was an actual city road and not a glorified highway feeder.I arrived shortly after the lunch rush proper, and as a result the staff failed to bring a menu or wipe the table for 5 minutes or so. Uh oh, I thought, we have another John's situation on our hands. But two waitresses noticed me eventually, and made up for the small wait with excessive quantities of friendliness. The primary waitress didn't make me wait to place my order. For that, I'll also forgive the short-shorts with "Team Pink" written across the butt. The restaurant is quite small, maybe seats 40-50 people andthey seem to do a nice business. The patrons were mostly a middle-aged, white bunch of people, though i saw a couple teenagers as well. This is the kind of place where you will find well-heeled businessmen, secretaries, construction workers, and housewives all having lunch together. At least half the people in the place were regulars whom the waitresses called by name. The bearded gentleman next to me wearing overalls and carrying a 64oz plastic coffee mug was one of them. They brought him an iced tea without him needing to ask.And jesus, the food came out in a hurry. The menu offered all sorts of Italian favorites--sandwiches, pizza, calzones, pasta, spiedini, sausages--and a number of daily specials as well. Except for pizza, I don't think anything on the menu was over $7. They also serve several kinds of beer. At least one lady was smoking. No one cared. I opted for a meatball sub. After all, any self-respecting italian joint worth its salt will know how to dish out a decent meatball. And decent it was.For 6 bucks I got a nice sized (but not outrageous) sandwich, a bag of chips, and a pile of dill pickles. Sodas were only a dollar, so I got out of there without spending more than $10. And the meatballs had all the hallmarks of being homemade. That's all I ask. Moreover, my check was brought promptly, and I was out of there about 15 minutes after I walked in! This is incredible for table service. Depending on where you are, it shouldn't take folks more than 10 minutes to walk there from Main Street, so a 1/2 lunch is a distinct possibility. Best of all, a friendly gent walked by everyone's table to make sure the food was ok. I assume he is the owner. This is a nice touch, though I have definitely seen it done badly. Sometimes overly attentive service can seem disingenuous. This place knows how to do it right: Good food, fast, friendly service, interesting clientele, good prices...I don't know what else to say. Tarantino's is going on the regular rotation.
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Summer time is here, and so is people's seemingly undying lust for outdoor seating. Enter Harry's Country Club, an apparently beloved River Market area institution that features a large patio in addition to a decent sized dining/bar area. Because of this I was happy to see that Harry's is indeed open for lunch. I'm not sure that this has always been the case, since I have a vague memory of standing outside looking forlorn last summer. But that happens a lot, and could have been elsewhere.Anyway, the menu at Harry's features all sorts of glorified bar food, and pretty darn good food at that. Really my only complaint is that there is virtually nothing healthy on the menu, except for salads. Let's see Reuben, Burgers, Fish & chips, Fried Bologna, Patty Melt, Nachos--you see what I mean. That being said, you should just suck it up and get the glorious Reuben, because they do justice to this sandwich like few other establishments, in KC or anywhere. I've eaten a hell of a lot of Reubens (and have the LDL to prove it), and this, while not implemented in the uber-traditional fashion, is very taste-a-riffic. Their menu is online at http://www.kansascitymenus.com/harryscountryclub/menu.pdf Harry's does a nice lunch trade too, though most people, as expected, clamor for the outdoor seating. This is only problematic on sunny days, since there are far fewer umbrellas than tables. You can't always count on being in the shade, which is pretty important for the fair skinned, the bald, and the generally weak-natured. The patio manages to be a nice place to eat, for it could easily feel like you're eating in a parking lot. Or a monkey cage.The food will take a bit longer than a 1/2 hour lunch break allows for so keep that in mind--or at least prepare a decent excuse for your lateness before you leave. Prices are about what you would expect from a place like this: A drink and a sandwich will set you back about $10-12 with tip. For the wildly irresponsible among us, Harry's also offers a full bar and permits smoking. But even inside the place never struck me as particularly smoky during the lunch hour.And best of all, Baby Cakes is right next door so after lunch you can grab some dessert to enjoy on the walk back to work.
http://www.kclunchspots.com/feeds/9070026730346205620/comments/default
I had never been to the Drum Room and had heard nice things about it. Of course the Drum sign is an absolutely essential selling point, but I found the interior to be surprisingly modern, and completley lacking in old school charm. This was actually fine since the hotel itself offers plenty of that, including a cute archival display of old hotel relics like china, room keys and photos. Unfortunately, the service during my visit was absolutely abominable. I'm not a bad diner mind you. I typically give every server the benefit of the doubt. I;ve waited tables and I know it sucks. I know what it's like to be busy. But this shit was ridiculous. No one was rude, just oblivious and uncommunicative. My co-diner and I stood for about 15 minutes before anyone acknowledged that we were waiting for a table. Finally we were sat and given water and the made to wait at least 20 minutes for a server to pay attention to us. I was sucking ice cubes at that point and had changed my mind about what I wanted to order at least 5 times. The waitress was extremely friendly and apologetic when she finally noticed us, but the offenses continued. After bringing drinks and taking our orders, we never saw her again. I was hoping for a refill on my $2.50 coke in an 8oz glass full of ice, but was never offered one. The food was excellent and reasonably priced for a fancy joint. Sandwiches run from 7-12 bucks. Add in 2.50 for your drink and a small tip for shitty service and there you have it.I was very disappointed because when I go to a nice place, I am prepared to pay more. But for that money I expect better food and better service. The staff in the Drum Room had no what they were doing. A guy across from us got a free meal and an apology from the chef because they screwed something up pretty bad with him. I would have been happier if they completely ignored us so at least I wouldnt have to pay for such a mediocre experience. But oh well.
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This is the lower-rent cousin of the Hotel Phillips' esteemed Chop House restaurant. 12Baltimore is meant to be a casual bar/lunch/happy hour spot, and succeeds mightily at least in terms of visual appeal. The place is cozy, yet big enough to handle a sizable lunch rush. The dining areas are quite attractive with natural wood paneled columns, tasteful, sparse artwork and nice soaring bar filled with gleaming top shelf liquors. Mmmm, liquors.The menu itself seemed to offer a small but very appetizing number of options for diverse palettes. Several entree salads, a burger, crabcakes, fish & chips, shaved prime rib sandwich--all sounds like good stuff to me.Unfortunately, our dining experience was somewhat tarnished by strangely inattentive service, and food that should have been better for the price. I ordered a chopped salad--those of you familiar with the noble cobb salad know what I'm talking about. Basically a cobb for restaurants too cheap to spring for avocado. It featured romaine lettuce topped with chicken, crumbled bacon, blue cheese, hard boiled egg and tomato. Sounds great right? Well it would have been except that the chicken was deep fried. That's right a breaded and fried chicken breast, sliced expertly and placed upon this otherwise glorious mound. What should have been a very nice meal turned into a glorified Wendy's salad in a box. For the second meal this week, I was not offered a refill on my overpriced little glass of coca-cola. And worst of all, we must have waited 20 minutes for our check. I don't know why it is so hard for people to hand over the bill. true professional waitstaff do not commit this egregious error. Why? Because it gets you in and out quickly, and turn-over is the name of the game when you make a living waiting tables. But this is a problem I;ve run into at a bunch of lunch spots in Kansas City. Don't they get it? Lunch is about speed, people have to go back to work or school or masturbating or whatever charmed life they lead. Certainly many 12Baltimore diners come from the adjoining Hotel Phillips, and those folks may not have a tight time frame. But I'm sorry, if you serve lunch, don't make your customers wait for anything. Moreover, if you make your waitstaff wear stupid black business suit uniform-type things, at least train them how to deliver a damn bill in a timely fashion. And when they do, train them to at least acknowledge that they have made you wait.I wouldn't rant like this at a smaller restaurant, at least not with such vehemence. But if a restaurant is going to give off airs of being it has to deliver. Experiences like this make me remember why I started blogging here in the first place. Finding good restaurants is fun, but bitching about them is much more satisfying.
http://www.kclunchspots.com/feeds/2116271422488712382/comments/default
Nestled next to a small bluff at the intersection of 7th street and Grand Blvd ("of the Americas"), Anthony's is a Italian joint. I've been here for dinner, sampled manhattans and Campari on the rocks, listened to the roving crooner sing "Volare" and eaten linguini and meatballs served by teenage Italian kids in white and black. So, i really like this place because it feels like it should.I went in for lunch recently and had a decent experience. We were seated by a short, skinny, older woman with the largest hairdo I have ever seen. It looked like a huge, black football helmet. Very very impressive.The lunchtime waitstaff pretty much consists of middle aged italian ladies who have been around the block a time or two. Our server was very friendly and did everything right. The lunch menu is big and doesn;t really differ much from the dinner menu. You can get pastas, chicken parm sandwiches, meatball subs, spiedini, all that stuff. Prices are ok--anywhere from 7-12 bucks depending on what you order.The food here is not great: let's make that perfectly clear. I don't care what anyone says. The sauce is way too sweet, reminiscent of spaghetti-o's. There is nothing remarkable about the way things are prepared or the way they are plated. That being said, so what? I would be disappointed if this place was too good. The reason you like Anthony's has to do with the whole package: ambiance, music, decor, clientele, hairdos...The food is part of that certainly, just not a draw in and of itself.Oh yeah, before I forget: Sinatra was playing in the restaurant the whole time I was there. On your way out, be sure to stop by the Virgin Mary shrine nestled in the limestone wall in the parking lot. Pay your respects, people. In summation, I would't characterize Anthony's as overly fast, or overly fancy. As they say: It is what it is.
http://www.kclunchspots.com/feeds/6427493144166194677/comments/default
This place gets some serious traffic in every sense of the word. This is an extremely high-profile location near 17th and Broadway and anyone cruising toward or away from downtown, the westside or the crossroads is likely to notice it. I've been wanting to check it out ever since I moved here. I've noticed that they do a good business on First Fridays, which is what you would expect. It's not too easy to park around there, mostly because Broadway is a little wacky thereabouts. Southbound drivers are so relieved to take advantage of a little post-construction homestretch that a parking car in front of los tules is a prime target. And a northbound auto will have to make a left turn across aforementioned nut jobs to get to the place.But enough about parking, which is a seriously overrated, oft-discussed and less than interesting topic in this town. I mean the first time I parked on westport road I spent 5 minutes looking for a no parking sign because there was no parking meter. I assumed the spot was illegal. We got it lucky here, people. Hell, at Lawrence public library you get 4 hours for quarter. Oops I'm talking about parking again. Los Tules pretty much kicks ass. It has a bar and a dining room. The service is decent, and much of the food appears pretty authentic. The tacos are very cute--tiny little doubled up corn tortillas with finely chopped meat, cilantro and onions. This is good stuff. It took a little longer than I would have expected for the food to arrive after ordering, but compared to other places, it was just fine. I have a habit of ordering tamales everywhere I go. Sadly the offering at Los Tules was not among the best I've had, owing to a truly odd, meaty sauce and less than creamy texture. But I haven;t eaten very many good tamales anywhere. Best I've had was sold by a guy in Chicago who walks around from bar to bar at night with an insulated bag full of them. but maybe that was a beer-induced infatuation.The atmosphere at Los Tules is pretty nice too. They have a nice collection of potted plants in the front window, including one of the largest aloe plants I've ever seen. The staff should take a hint from the Succostash folks and start using leftover water from people's glasses to water the plants. I love that about Succotash, it makes me fall in love with the waitress every time, whoever it is.Anyhow, this place is solid--thanks to condoChiefs/muzak and a couple others for recommending it.
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This is probably the best bbq I've had in JoCo not counting the illustrious Oklahoma Joe's. It rivals Joe's in many ways, and surpasses it in atmosphere which is pure tavern. I know, I know, Oklahoma Joe's is in a friggin gas station what the hell is my problem? Well, simply put, the gas station gimmick just doesn't do it for me. Certainly it is an unusual situation and makes for a good story. But ultimately it gives old JoCo people the impression that they are slumming it when really it's a very boring and family-friendly place. I mean, the seating area itself looks like a Hardee's (don't get me started on Gates). They also have a very self-satisfied attitude about the gas station aspect, even selling cheesy t-shirts about it. Indeed, their whole sense of marketing is very cartoonish, gimmicky and dated. Remember the Far Side? Their shirts and packaging is in that vein. Only less funny. "Night of the Living Barbeque sauce!" OMG that's hilarious! Joe's reliance on oversized kaiser rolls and "specialty sandwiches" doesn't endear them to me either. I feel a BBQ place should have a simple, modestly sized menu. All that being said, OK Joe's has excellent barbeque and everything on the menu is tasty, but in other ways it's just not that interesting.Admittedly RJ's Bob-Be-Que Shack has a stupid name. But the place is about the size and shape of a double wide trailer-a shack, basically. It could easily turn into a drinking establishment in the evening. For all I know it does. The interior is super casual, quiet but not awkwardly so. Suprisingly they offer table service--and it's excellent service at that. I had absolutely no complaints about that--they were friendly, attentive, efficient, and no bullshit--everything you want in servers. RJ's advertises $2 PBR bottles and cheap draws as prominently as the daily specials, which makes it my kind of place. Their sauce however is...unusual. I hesitate to say that I don't like it because I do, but I think it may be a liability more than an asset to RJ's great smoked meats. I just don't like sauce to distract me and I fear that this one does. It is overly sweet, but also vinegary. It has a subtle flavor that I absolutely cannot I'll have to make a repeat visit or two to render absolute judgment on this one. Regardless, they offer regular and spicy versions which seem to have no discernable difference from one another. It bugs me when spicy is not spicy. Damn midwesterners.The pulled pork here was great. Both the pork and french fries were every bit as good as Oklahoma Joe's who I find overly salt their fries. The chicken however, is uninspired. I expected a kind of pulled chicken, but instead got thick slices of dry breast meat which did not fit comfortably on the bun. But that's what I get for ordering a chicken sandwich at a bbq place. I really wanted brisket, but was feeling particularly cholesterol-laden. It is interesting that I haven't heard much about RJ's before, perhaps it is a relatively new establishment? Regardless I will continue to make periodic visits to see if other visits measure up to the first one. Both times I have been there, the place was pretty dead--once I was the only customer at 1pm. Mr. Goodcents was hopping next door, though. What the hell is the matter with these people?
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Mission road in Leawood is becoming 39th street west.Part of the fun of Blue Koi is its 39th Street location. It gets busy as hell on weekends. I enjoy putting my name in, giving them my cell number and hopping across the way to DB Cooper's for a half hour of cigarettes, PBR and burn-out psychodrama. After some dumpling and noodles at Blue Koi you can stroll over to Fric n Frac or some other little joint and have a cocktail or coffee or whatever. It almost feels like a real city for a minute. But wait, I'm supposed to be talking about lunch.Now Blue Koi has a Leawood location, just south of 103rd on Mission road. Like its older sibling, it is very popular for lunch. Don't know about dinner. It is located in one of these weird semi-occupied mixed use developments. I think it is called "Mission Farms," probably because it used to be a farm before they sent the old guy away with a million dollar check for his land. Anyhow it's like storefronts with condos on the upper floors. But it basically feels like you are driving into a condo development, complete with a sign welcoming you to Mission Farms. And several of the storefronts seem like they have yet to be leased. Apart from the restaurant, it is eerily quiet in the parking lot. You know, because everyone who lives there is at work trying to pay for these places. Whoever developed this area probably had big about dwelling and retail coexisting, complete with platitudes about vibrant pedestrian orientated living. But basically, you live in a condo in the suburbs above an overpriced chinese restaurant and a no-count hair salon. I'd be surprised if Mission Road has an uninterrupted sidewalk down to the new Room 39, another transplant from 39th street.Back to basics: Blue Koi is very good at what they do. The menu at the Leawood location is pretty much to 39th street and the quality is similarly top-notch. For the uninitiated, Blue Koi is a noodle and dumpling house that focuses on quality ingredients and fresh, homemade preparation. For most menu items you can choose whether you want them in a noodle soup, or just with noodles (sans broth) or with rice. It's a nice way to offer choice without going crazy. I think that it's pretty safe to do anything on the menu, whatever you choose won't ruin the experience.As I said the food is very good in both locations, but the Leawood version is super business-lunch oriented in terms of clientele. The service at Leawood was also excellent. Just like 39th street, you can also sit at the bar and watch the chefs at work. While this would drive me crazy if I was one of the chefs, it's kind of cool for diners. It's like a people zoo.I think this location is kind of a destination spot for JoCo corporate types who wouldn't venture to 39th street to begin with. It's very interesting when KC places duplicates their efforts in Johnson County, I'm not sure how I feel about it. I understand the need to expand, but it feeds into the whole mentality that Kansans are unwilling to head over to this side of the border. While many rant about it, I'm not sure it's completely true. If there wasn't a Blue Koi or a Bo Lings or a Room 39 in JoCo -- if people were forced to come to KC to appreciate good food, would they come? I honestly don't know, but I do know that I head over to Kansas frequently to eat food. Think Oklahoma Joe's or Il Trullo or whatever floats your friggin boat.Anyhow, Blue Koi is great, everyone should eat there. Get the Chinese Pot Roast--it's subtle, delicately textured and delicious with noodles. Ants on a Tree is also delicious and very popular. The dumplings? also first-rate. But to be perfectly honest, I don't want to hang out in a Leawood condo development, even for lunch.
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This is a pretty high profile joint, located in the Crestwood shops at 55th and Brookside Blvd. I think that most people who live in KC proper know about Aixois, or have been there a time or two because its reputation is pretty airtight. Well, it's a well-deserved reputation because even though the clientele and the atmosphere don't do much for me, I keep going back.The menu is a nice assortment of french entrees, salads, soups, sandwiches and desserts with several contemporary American flavors for good measure. You can get a traditional french meal of mussels and pomme frittes (that's french fries for you simple folk) which is just about the prefect lunch, assuming you have nowhere to be. It's nice to linger a while with some company and one more glass of wine than is advisable. I'm also a huge fan of the trout, well-priced at $12 and the steak dishes are always first rate. Because of its Frenchtacular nature, there is always something interesting like frog legs or veal liver for the more adventurous diners. Basically everything I've had there has been well-prepared, simple in flavor and nicely presented. They have specials every day to complement the regular menu, so there is a lot of choice.For lunch there are plenty of less expensive options--a few sandwiches, a couple good salads as well as a soup of the day. The cheese plate pretty much rules. It is not as skimpy as those at other restaurants and never fails to make me slap my palm on the table with delight. Salad and a cheese plate = tasty lunch.The service borders on over-attentive. The waitstaff really milks the whole fake-friendliness schtick, and the rich brookside geezers eat it up with a spoon. Not my scene but they butt out when they need to. The wine list is extensive and the servers know their stuff. By the glass is not cheap (most glasses are $9 or so) but generally they have a house bottle for $20. Aixois has 2 dining rooms, one in the front and one in the back. The one in the front has a more intimate feel while the main room is a little noisier. It seems like they seat the old people in the front and the families with kids in the main room. Seriously, Aixois is chock full of old people. But strangely it is also kid-friendly and I always see families in there. Normally I far prefer old people over children, but the front dining room is a little stuffy for my taste. Best of all, there is a sizable outdoor patio that offers a view of sweaty yuppies and old folks puffing along the trolley track trail.So if you want to reward yourself for a job well-done or whatever and are ready to spend some cash, Aixois is not to be missed. I can attest to the fact that the more you go, the more you like it. And the dude who owns it is actually French which has to count for something.
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I couldn't believe it when people started telling me this place was good. You know why?The sign.Tell me this doesn't look like a pathetic Red Lobster rip-off joint. I mean, the font is even the same! Located just north of the Ward Parkway mall, Red Snapper sits in a newish, sterile and unappetizing strip mall that would be just as comfortable at College and Quivira. You know, the kind of place you might find, oh I don't know, one of these?But there I was this past week after a long hard morning looking futilely for a seersucker suit (guy at Dillard's: "I haven't seen one of those in 15 years!"). Since I don't patronize creepy Christian chains or partake in food court schmutz, I wound up at Red Snapper. Imagine my surprise when I walked in--no nautical themed murals, hanging fishnets or porthole-shaped windows. Instead I found a very place, tastefully decorated and airy. Two giant, round fishtanks sit right inside the front door which was a little alarming, but they are pretty cool.The lunch menu is small, well-priced and reasonably varied. I hesitate to use the term "pan-Asian" not because it isn't appropriate but more because I don't really know what it means. No really, this place is totally pan-Asian. The dinner menu is much more extensive and interesting than the lunch menu. There are dishes familiar to those who enjoy Chinese, Japanese, and Thai food. Maybe even a little whiff of Korea as well. Their specialty is, well, red snapper. They offer a crispy red snapper on the lunch menu and I went for it. There is also a panko fried halibut which looked appealing as well.The snapper was delicious. It came with a thin, light and crispy batter. Moreover it was the whole filet--plenty to eat. Unfortunately it came atop a rather pedestrian stir-fry. The assortment of vegetables was fine but the sauce was the usual nebulous brown gravy thickened with cornstarch that you find at any two-bit Chinese restaurant. Kudos for all the fresh ingredients, though. The only thing canned was the baby corn which, predictably I loathe. Landfills all over the USA are choked with decaying tons of baby corn, discarded uneaten from the plates of Chinese restaurant patrons.Red Snapper gets props for the full bar too, although I would prefer more Asian beers than Sapporo. So I had to settle for a Heineken, the BMW * of beers.My lunch companion had a more conventional stir-fry dish with tofu which was basically the exact same vegetables and sauce that I had under the snapper. My instinct here is that Red Snapper is probably a better place for dinner because the menu is so much bigger and the atmosphere lends itself better to evening forays. They probably do a decent lunch business from all the folks going to and from the mall, not to mention all the office buildings down that way. But they keep it very simple, which is fine. So overall a nice experience, decent but not overwhelming food, and a perfectly fine option if you find yourself hankering for pan-Asian grub down on Ward Parkway. * overrated, big in the 80s, purchased by assholes
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A little touch of Thailand right here in KC. This is a weird location, at least kind of weird to walk to. Maybe that makes me weird since I don't drive 3 blocks from work to lunch like everyone in KC seems to. Anyhow, for those who have been to any of the Thai Place spots in town know what to expect: Thai food.But something like this was sorely needed in the area, sometimes I feel like I'll explode if I eat one more goddamn turkey sandwich that someone pretends is special because there's aioli on it. Aioli is basically MAYONNAISE people. You could puree Hellman's with some pimentos and garlic and call it friggin aioli. God the 90's really ruined food while simultaneously making it ten times better.The 1990's gave us restaurants like Thai Place, where before Thai restaurants were more sparse, and tended to feature plastic covered booths, shiny patterned wallpaper, and giant prints of unknown buildings and landscapes. At least where I grew up, they were almost always empty, and I'd go there after school with girls who liked me but I didn;t realize it, where we would drink 2 cups of thai iced coffee and feel great because there was no chance of running into some jackass from our school.Thai Place is not like that. But they have a fully stocked bar, which is sweet.
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Some people are crazy about the wings here, personally I find them disturbing. For the uninitiated, they are whole wings, and quite large ones at that. They arrive at the table looking like a kind of satanic crown roast. The thought of drunken frat boys hunched over a table drunkenly eating these things is enough to make me puke. Regardless, it's not the kind of food I eat for lunch anyway, because I wind up looking like a mess. I also don't tend to eat BLTs for some reason, though a friend did describe the Peanut as serving "perhaps the best one I've ever had." They serve single and triple BLTs--don't even ask about a double. I overheard the waitress tell one lady, "there's no such thing as a double, you either got one layer or it's a triple decker, it's impossible!"Despite this curious inability to grasp the obvious, the food is pretty good here, service is typically friendly and super efficient. The Peanut ain't cheap though: A burger, fries and drink will easily set you back $12 with tip. Fairly steep for a bar food lunch. When I was there, the asylum was being run by the inmates. No one over thirty in sight, which means that the boss probably wasn;t around. There was a lot of howling and laughing coming from the kitchen as I waited for my food. At one point some dude yelled, "it makes me fart!" in reference to some comment that must have been truly hilarious. Normally I like a laid back atmosphere, and I certainly don't have any illusions about where my food comes from--but the thought of some guy farting on my plate had me a tad queasy.The burger was undeniably good, and huge. It was nice to be able to listen to the rolling stones instead of the droning of ESPN or 94.9. And you can smoke if that tickles your fancy. I like smoking establishments because they tend to keep the annoying customers (children & their parents) away.Of course an otherwise good experience was tainted. I had to wait forever for my check because all the employees went behind the bar to watch somebody's home video on the TV. Now, I'm totally in favor of the 20-something employees kicking back and having some fun when the cat's away, but you gotta take care of business. Every customer in the place was shaking their head in disbelief. The dude who had been my waiter was apparently now off work, smoking a cigarette at the bar. In total the meal took 41 minutes start to finish, which really is entirely too long.
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Holy cow the service sucks. Granted, this place is basically a bar that happens to serve food. And thus it really caters to an after-work, post-frat boy crowd more concerned with cheap and plentiful Bud-Lite drafts than prompt or efficient service. Not surprisingly the waitstaff is an all-female affair, and there are plenty of small-of-the-back tattoos and push-up bras to go around. I saw a woman there waiting tables in heels. These are almost certainly college-girls making a buck while in school, headed for illustrious careers somewhere between the real estate office and the stripping pole.There is not a heck of a lot else in the immediate vicinity however, and John's does a decent lunch trade. The menu is typical bar fare and not unreasonably priced. But for chrissakes every time I go in there I see people walk out because the waitresses ignore them for far too long. This is the kind of joint where you walk in and sit where you want. I witnessed a couple walk in and stand at the door, expecting to be seated. Two waitresses and one gloriously disaffected bartender didn;t notice them for about five minutes and they walked out. Unbelievably, they didn't even notice they had walked out. So I guess ignorance is bliss. The same meal, I saw two ladies sit down at a table and wait at least 15 minutes for menus, before they too, got up and left. That same day I waited forever for my bill, making me late getting back to work.Does KC have no what the weekday lunch trade is all about? We are talking cheap and fast here. That's why the friggin Planet Sub does better than John's.
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I was actually craving some mediocre Mexican food today. Thankfully Kansas City has plenty of that. Enter Dos Hombres, a relatively mundane, whitey-looking Mexican joint in the River Market area. I always see this place when I'm down there, and choose Harry's CC instead. Anyhow, Dos Hombres features a completely terrible name, but a decent menu of sanitized tex-mex delicasies. The place is really as much a bar as restaurant. I opted to sit at the bar, which proved to be a good call. In fact, it's always a better option when dining alone: the service is better and you don't feel like a loser for sitting by yourself.The staff is a crew of professional servers. What does that mean? Well, these people know what they are doing for sure, but they also exude that air of worldy crustiness that is unique to the service industry. Many restaurants in this town don't feature what I consider true food service personnel, but Dos Hombres has 'em. These people are used to moving fast, serving drinks, and talking shit with the best of them. No, it's not rough and tumble or anything, it just seems like these folks are truly making a living being waiters and waitresses and not just pulling extra cash for looking cute or screwing the owner.Anyhow, the food as I mentioned is not altogether authentic. The lunch menu is decent and affordable however, and I found the pork in particular to be very tasty--likely homemade and not dumped out of a cryo-vac Syco bag. My food did come topped with grated parmesan cheese--undoubtedly an effort to "class up" the entree. But really it was just disconcerting. I mean, freeze-dried cheese out of a shaker is hardly impressive, people. Anyway, I was served very quickly and the bartrendress was quite adept at making chatter. I was out of there in less than 1/2 hour, which is quite good for a sit-down joint.In short, this is a surprisingly good option simply because it is efficient. The food is fine and the portions are large.
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I stopped by Tienda Casa Paloma yesterday on a whim. It really looks more like a market (which is what "tienda" implies) from the outside, but they I noticed some signs on the window advertising tacos, burritos, lunch specials, etc. In the end, I'm very glad I stopped in, for I found a place with a huge menu, lots of seating, and good food.The vibes in this place are super friendly and positive. I received an immediate greeting from the two people behind the counter, as well as some advice about what to order. I opted for green chili, the special of the day. I had heard about green chili before, but had never noticed it on Mexican menus. It always struck me as a southwest, ameri-mex kind of thing. Maybe it is, but I decided to give it a go on the brisk autumn afternoon.Green chili is basically a soup or stew, made with a base of tomatillos, the main ingredient in salsa verde which you see at many Mexican restaurants. I understand the dish is also infused with some roasted green chilis and lime juice. The protein kick is provided by shredded bits of roasted pork and chicken. This is not a spicy dish at all, and really is rather simple, hearty and fresh tasting. The whole thing was topped with fried tortilla chips and finely shredded cheese. I really need to start bringing a camera around with me, but maybe life is to short to start taking pictures of my lunch in order to spice up blog posts. The green chili was very good, but not the best thing I've ever had. I would have preferred more meat, but basically I'm not a soup guy, so it would have been hard to overwhelm me with this dish. However, the meal was rounded out with a fantastic bottle of coke imported from Mexico, which tastes so much better than the crap we get here due to the use of sugar instead of corn syrup as sweetener. Anyone who has not experienced a real coke, go out and spend 1.75 at your local Mexican market for one. I was also happy to see a wide assortment of Jarritos sodas which were a favorite of mine when i lived in Chicago. Mmmm, tamarindo. This place has counter service as I mentioned, which makes the whole experience very quick. My food came out to my table before I had taken off my coat and bag to sit down. Super fast. Unlike the Chartroose Caboose, the place was populated entirely by women, who i imagined were stay at home housewives in the midst of a typical day of working out, running errands, and conspicuous consumption. Entertainment was provided by two small children, who were dancing spontaneously to the jaunty mexican music being piped in, while being ignored by their parents. As the name implies, Tienda Casa Paloma features a small assortment of Mexican foodstuffs for sale, including an enviable selection of dried chilis. The whole room looks like it is in flux, they were doing some work at the front corner while I was there. I think in due time they will get their organizational scheme figured out, because the atmosphere is just a bit weird. I ate my lunch right next to a shelf full of styrofoam plates and boxes of plastic forks.In conclusion, I am very happy to have found this place-it's right next to Mr. Gyro, so next time you are in the area, opt for some good Mexican chow instead of greasy processed lamb meat. Mind you, I enjoy greasy processed lamb meat as much as the next guy.
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Everyone wants to love this place, and it's easy to see why. The owner works in the kitchen, the staff is very friendly. The space is cute, and the location is off-kilter enough to make it interesting. It's hard to argue with all that.I visited during lunch hour and found the place nearly devoid of customers, but I think Poco's does a better breakfast trade anyway. It's interesting to see such a combination of American and Latin cuisine, but not in the same dishes, just on the same menu. The menu features both American and gussied-up Mexican fare. For instance, at breakfast you can get huevos rancheros or pancakes with sausage. For lunch you can have fish tacos or a cheeseburger. Great, something for everyone, right? But as I sat there with my menu, I found myself wondering: Do I really want a reuben from a Mexican restaurant? Do I really want tacos at an American restaurant? I want to know what they do best, and that's my responsibility as a diner and a lackadaisical blogger. I figured, let's go with the mole. Mole is pure Mexico, and not every Mexican place has it on the menu. Not unlike barbeque sauce or marinara, there are different types and techniques with everyone claiming to have to best version of this revered sauce. And it is notoriously difficult to make from scratch. Now I've had mole in various incarnations at many Mexican restaurants. I have even foolishly attempted to make mole in my own home--the kitchen looked like a crime scene when it was all over. Alas the mole at Poco's had all the indications of being made from a commonly available paste, and I can't really blame them. Tasty, but pedestrian. It came atop chunks of poached chicken breast-certainly not a traditional implementation. It was satisfying but underwhelming. With decent corn tortillas, refried beans and excellent rice, it was nonetheless worth 7.95. Due to this, I think I might just try breakfast fare next time. It doesn't seem like they are trying too hard with that and other people's food looked tasty. Poco's does offer a nice selection of beer to take the edge off a morning's hard work. The place has windows all around the perimeter which invites great natural light and a vista of industrial KCK in all its glory. As a lunch spot, you can probably do better for Mexican on the Boulevard. But if you have a hankering for breakfast food, or just want a friendly change of pace, it's a bit of allright.Don't want to take my word for it? here are some other reviews fromCooking in KCThe Pitchand Noodletown
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UPDATE: DLC IS AN IDIOTIn the review below I display an apparently astonishing ignorance of Mexican cuisine when I complain about tacos al pastor having pineapple in it. Well, it turns out that tacos al pastor is supposed to have pineapple. I just didn't realize/notice/remember when I've had it in the past. So I've left the post intact as testimony to my unreliability as a food reviewer. Enjoy!In my continuing effort to leave no suburban strip mall cuisine unexplored, I paid an unanticipated visit to Fronteras, a tasteful little lunch spot in a thoroughly unremarkable part of Lenexa. As opposed to the truly remarkable parts.God there is a hell of a lot of Mexican food in Johnson County, I don;t know what's going on. Fronteras is across the street from another Mexican place, and down the street from yet another. Are they really all that different? One of them has to be good right?Well Fronteras started out in very promising fashion. I was seated hurriedly, the place was moderately busy, orders were taken quickly and efficiently. They have a lunch menu which I kind of like. Basically you get one thing (taco, enchilada, tamale, etc) with rice and beans for like 6 bucks. Doesn't seem like a lot but it is the perfect portion size for lunch. I don;t understand people who need to eat an entire plate of cheesy, beany, meaty-ness before heading back to a brisque afternoon in the cubicle. Get a grip, people. I went for the taco al pastor which is basically a seasoned pork, either roasted or braised slowly. The plate arrived very quickly, which was a good thing, since my neck hurt from watching two unknown soccer teams playing on the TV in the corner. Note: It's usually a good sign when mexican restaurants have soccer games going on two televisions. It means there might be real live Mexican people working there. It doesn;t matter if you like the sport or not. I don;t want to walk into a Thai restaurant and hear "eye of the tiger" over the stero system.Anyhow i was excited for my taco, but it was so damn hot I couldn;t eat it for like 10 minutes. I swear, it was unreal, but fine with me since I can;t stand cold food. Finally I was able to take a bite, and...well...what is that flavor I detect?Pineapple?yes there is friggin' pineapple in the pork at this place. Now, I can understand that complementary nature of certain fruits and the deliciousness of pork-ity in all its forms. I can understand the impulse or even the need to experiment, and come up with a special recipe that will distinguish you from the glut of Mexican-ity in JoCo. But please do not put pineapple in my tacos al pastor! I'm sure there are people who like this, they find it unusual, intriguing, or even Those people are wrong. No it wasn't disgusting, just wrong. I ate it all, ate my refried beans (excellent by the way!) and rice (boil in bag?). So, more Mexican disappointment in the JoCo hinterlands. I know that there are good places in the metro, I've tried them and just haven't blogged about it yet. But not everyone can get to the boulevard or wherever when they want. I keep thinking that with so many Mexican restaurants, there should be a few that stand out. La Paloma is one, but there are a few things that bug me about it. No refried beans is a big one, the offer only black beans. Mi Ranchito is OK, but i prefer a more authentic cuisine and there's hardly a corn tortilla to be found in the place. And their use of cheese is really beyond the pale. So I'll keep trucking and keep complaining. happy (or unhappy) eating!
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UPDATE: THE NOODLE SHOP HAS CLOSED AS OF 6/16/2008. READ MORE ABOUT IT.This new-ish neighborhood spot is nestled in a small string of shops just west of Rockhill road. I actually think the block-long strip mall is one of the early JC Nichols projects, but I could be mixing it up with someplace else. Anyhow, the location is great, mostly because this residential area between main and troost really needs some more interesting places to eat. Noodle Shop is just far enough away from UMKC that it will likely attract more professorial types who live in the area south of the campus, rather than students. But it might be a nice change of pace from Einstein's, Planet sub and Kin Lin which are the sad options for the struggling student.I was really pleased to see that this is a noodle shop in the purely asian I despise those places that specialize in all things noodles--spaghetti, asian, mac and cheese--it's just silly. Thankfully this place is a real restaurant, run by people who know what they are doing, and do it well. The menu is short and simple: Pickles and noodles. The pickles come in a variety of permutations, from cucumber pickles, to traditional kim chee, to daikon radish. They all have a distinctive appeal and are clearly homemade.As for noodles, you can concoct your own assemblage from the list of ingredients or choose a specialty. The menus are essentially checklists, you just check off what you want, hand it to the server and they put it together for you. The best part of the whole experience is sitting at the counter and watching the guys assemble the meals. The two giant vats in which they cook noodles are always in action, and the chef in constantly running around slicing and dicing various ingredients that seem exotic but probably aren't. As far as I can tell, Noodle Shop does not have a grill or an oven. I think all the cooked ingredients are steamed, boiled, poached or similarly prepared. This is somewhat of a downer since grilled meats go so well with noodle dishes. But the pot roast beef I had was delicious, almost the equal of the comparable noodle place Blue Koi. The pork and chicken have consistencies that may not be immediately pleasing to the palate, but if you just roll with it, you won;t be disappointed.The chalk board behind the counter lists a dizzying array of condiments available for your dining pleasure. Everything from sriracha to yellow mustard to fish sauce to stuff I've never heard of are represented. There must be 20 condiments. Wow.The best part of the whole experience is the laid-back and friendly atmosphere. The staff is extremely helpful and efficient. They are more than willing to explain various dishes, and food comes out quite quickly. The space is small and tasteful, certainly not over-pretentious. The clientele is the usual assortment of Brookside lame-o's. As the review over at Give in to Temptation put it "the place was peppered with 30-somethings that looked like they had money." I concur. I was the 30-something without money sitting at the counter.Anyhow, this formerly useless strip mall is now a place where I will actually go from time to time. It's the sort of spot that probably needs some help getting off the ground and staying viable, but if they get a liquor license any time soon, I can help them out with that.
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RIPI imagine this place is better for a nice dinner than it is for lunch. But rich people gotta go somewhere right? Welcome to 40 Sardines a truly beautiful restaurant right in the heart of JoCo's ridiculousness known as Town Center Plaza. Actually is at the edge of TCP but you know what I mean.40 Sardines is the kind of place you take a client out for lunch. If only I had clients in my line of work. Or perhaps a birthday lunch for a co-worker, if only I worked close to there. Or perhaps someplace to have a nice bite and a glass of wine after a hard morning having your nails done, shopping for the kids at Vera Bradley, and purchasing a $100 cheese grater for the maid at Williams-Sonoma. That's the lunchtime vibe here.Not that the food isn't delicious.The lunch menu is pretty small for a typical lunch place, but not for a fancy restaurant. If you are up for a nice lunch, there is plenty to be excited about, like wood-fired burger, crispy short rib sandwich, and the Gala apple, maytag blue cheese, confit chicken & bibb lettuce concoction. A few things, like the 'Olive oil poached ahi tuna melt panini' make it seem like they are trying too hard. It's like they are combining three trendy preparations in the hopes that ones of them sticks. The menu changes periodically--sometimes they have a delicious seared scallop dish that is not to be missed and a decent lettuce wrap plate with vietnamese dipping sauce. The of the restaurant gets a little lost, but it seems to lean toward the pan-asian I tend to be suspicious of places that don't have "specialties," but generally this chef is good enough to pull it off. You won;t have a bad meal here, but it won;t blow you away. The prices are very good for what you get, everything runs between 8 and 13 bucks, but the portions are not huge. But you'll live.The service is the usual 20-something kiss your ass bullshit that you get at nice restaurants. They are clearly trained to make small talk, suggest dishes, wines and so-forth which may appeal to some douche bags but not this one. I have had great service there once, and perfectly efficient but semi-annoying service the other few times.Though I'm not a big wine-drinker, it's easy to see why folks are impressed with the wine selection. They offer a number of items by the glass and the bottle, including the unbeatable "20 wines for 20 dollars!" Usually places will have maybe one $20 bottle, but this is pretty sweet. But for lunch? not the biggest draw.JoCo folks love this place because they feel that finally they have a really good locally owned restaurant to be proud of. No, Applebee's doesn't count. For my money, Il Trullo beats the pants off 40 Sardines, but it's kind of apples and oranges. Anyhow, check it out for a pompous good time and some decent eats. If you are the meat and potatoes kind of person, it's best to skip it.
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Pretty much everyone loves this place, there are accolades all over the web, extolling the virtues of its ambience, uniqueness and mostly its hamburgers. Without question, the Flea Market is one of Kansas City's most interesting lunch spots, and well worth a visit for those who have not been there. It's also a decent place for happy hour, dinner and late nite carousing.But it's not perfect, people.For first-timers, the following is an important aspect of the dining experience to be aware of. While the tables have menus on them and there are plenty of waitresses about, food must be ordered from the register at the end of the bar. Unless you happen to arrive at a slow time, you'll see the line. You pay for your food at the register, and pick it up from a window when they call your name over the annoying loudspeaker. Waitresses operate only to serve drinks, and these must be paid for in cash on the spot, like any self-respecting bar. The beer selection in excellent, and they offer upwards of 20 on tap if I'm not mistaken. It is basically a bar that allows an external vendor to sell its wares within the confines. In fact, I think that is exactly the situation. The wait for food can be lengthy but not unreasonable for a lunch spot. The menu (pdf) has lots of stuff to offer, but it's the burgers that are their bread and butter.Anyone who says the flea market offers the "best burger ever" is just fooling himself, and probably doesn't get out of town a whole hell of a lot. Let's talk burgers for a moment. Burgers are about the whole package--the glorious assemblage of perfect meat, bun, toppings and condiments. There is also the very important notion of how it is cooked. Burgers can be grilled, fried, steamed, barbequed, oven-roasted, submerged in boiling oil, poached, oven-roasted and baked. Well, maybe not poached, that's gross. Anyhow, this is just to say that even the simplest of foods carries a lot of complicated decisions about ingredients and preparation. Anyone who watches the goddamn food network with any regularity knows that, in order to create the "perfect" anything, you need to consider every last detail. And in the end, the overly perky host always chalks it up to something hokey like "heart," "love," or the ubiquitous "it's in his blood."While the burgers at WFM are excellent and I crave them periodically, they lack the complete package. The meat is excellent, freshly ground from McGonigles and has a texture and a flavor that is hard to parallel. But condiments and toppings are a do it yourself affair; the Flea Market has a fixins bar with the usual assortment of toppings: tomatoes, lettuce, onions, pickles, etc. But the bar pretty much sucks in terms of quality. It features shredded iceberg lettuce (ever try keeping that on a bun?), and the lamest pale, thin-cut tomato slices ever. The whole bar is vaguely unappetizing, with the contents of the tomato container veritably disintegrating into a mass of disjointed, flaccid flesh. Thick cut, yellow onion slices don't really do it for me either. I usually just get some pickles and make my way back to the table. Likewise the bun is unremarkable, slightly undersized and doesn;t seem up to the task of delivering this wonderful meat slab into your mouth. The 'flea market burger' is quite large, and difficult to finish even for someone of my appetite and ever-increasing girth. I typically go with the mini-burger and some onion rings. The rings are excellent, not overly breaded, very crispy and taste like they didn;t come frozen out of a brown paper bag. The curly fries are what they are. Kind of boring, but with all the hallmarks of being homemade. Definitely try the deep fried pickles--the best I've had.Oh, did I mention that there is a flea market? yeah, and quite a sizable one at that. I don't know the history of the place, but it definitely is incredibly original as a concept. It's neat to have a few beers and a burger, then walk around the stalls looking at old stuff for a while. Also a great way to kill time while yer food is cooking. Like most flea markets, the booths are slightly overpriced, and the proprietors seem lacking in most social graces, but it's fun nonetheless.A few years ago, the Westport Flea Market was in danger of going away, subsumed by the onslaught of westport gentrification. But apparently some kind gent bought the place and pledged to keep it going in the same vein as before. By all accounts, this effort has been successful. So even if the burger isn;t perfect, it's still damn good and worthy of your discerning little mouths.
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Oh man, this place is pretty damn good. I was really, really, really surprised because from the road it looks like pure suburban douchebaggery. It's in a pretty nondescript strip mall on Quivira south of Shawnee Mission parkway. Now, whenever I see BBQ in the KC area, I go. And to be frank, I had not heard of Bates City BBQ before, though i think there is a Bates City, Missouri out east of here somewhere. This place has tremendous character. Yes, they try kinda hard, but they succeed. The first thing I noticed driving up was a sign advertising gennesee beer. You just don;t see Genny in these parts, and it was a legendary quaff among me and my associates in college. Of course, so were a dozen other cheap ass beers. Anyhow, the sign was cool, and the outside of the restaurant featured enormous stacks of wood piled high next to the entrance. I knew that they were doing some serious smoking in this place.Inside, the service counter was basically a testament to the homespun wisdom of some guy named Tom. Probably the owner of the establishment. Anyhow, the walls and columns around the counter line are riddled with sayings written on torn pieces of brown paper bag. There were so many it's hard to remember, but here are a couple:"If at first you don't succeed,You're average" -- Tom"Remember that half the people you know are below average" --TomI recall these particular sayings because I was enamored with Tom's obsession with putting people in their place. Tom is saying 'get over it people, you're not so great, you're just friggin' average! Deal with it!' This resonates with me because it's one of the unofficial themes of my life. Not that I'm average, just every one else is.Anyway, I got a real kick out of these sayings although many of them flirted with redneckery ("The smartest thing a man ever said: 'Yes Dear'"). The places just oozes with a sense of humor. The styrofoam cups picture a steer and a pig, arm-in-arm around a fire, smiling like sonabitches. The places smells delicious and is quite affordable. I purchased a nice sized sandwich, fries and soft srink for 7 bucks and change. The beef was very well flavored, featuring a mighty impressive smoke ring. I could have done without the sesame roll it came on. Where's the white bread, Tom? They are very liberal with the sauce on the sandwich, so be sure to ask for it dry if that's the way you roll. The fries were short little crunchy nuggets, kind of like the ass-end of the fryolator. But they were surprisingly delicious and I think this is deliberate. They are a pain to eat w/o a fork though.The sauce was pretty solid. Typical KC stuff here: sweet, thick, tangy, well-flavored. Not in the pantheon of sauces, but very pleasant. The place really advertises its ribs a lot, they must be a favorite. The guy next to me in line got them, and they looked a little overcooked, and again, definitely oversauced. Contrary to popular belief, rib meat should not fall off the bone. That usually means it was finished in tin foil or (*shudder*) par-boiled before smoking. But I'll reserve ultimate judgment until I actually eat the damn things. And I will, because I'll be back.The clientele is kind of what you'd expect for a Shawnee, Kansas BBQ joint. I think my nondescript Toyota was having serious inadequacy issues parked in between two cocktacular pickup trucks the size of humpbacked whales. There were no women to be found in the place, just middle aged guys with mustaches. Let's just say that Bates City is not a place where I'm inclined to talk politics.
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In the food world Chicago is mostly known for thisBut my favorite part of living (and eating) there was this monstrosityA big shout-out here to a reader and ex-Chicagoan who turned me on to Pizza Man and its truly delicious Italian Beef! Just up the road a touch from Lenexa's hilariously named Stonewall Inn, lies an unpretentious lunch spot that serves up some of the best humble lunch in true Chicago fashion and its beef is good enough to sate those unmistakable meat cravings associated with this glorious nugget of beefosity.For the uninitiated, an italian beef is a sandwich consisting of shaved roast beef that has been cooked with italian spices. It is invariably accompanied by a thin, beefy jus infused with oregano, and topped with sauteed peppers and/or onions and/or giardiniera. Giardiniera itself is worthy of its own post, no-its own blog, but suffice it to say that it consists of pickled peppers and other vegetables. It can be hot or mild and often contains oddballs like cauliflower, carrots, green olives, capers...really anything.An italian beef can be served dry or wet (topped with a ladleful of jus) or dipped (dipped in the jus). Pizza Man serves the gravy on the side which works just fine for me. I know, wet bread? Sounds gross, but lemme tell ya people, it isn't. It's really really good. A lot of that has to do with the dense, spongy roll that is the carrier of all this deliciousness. It just works.Pizza Man is a cool little place too. You order at the counter and Mr. Crusty at the counter (who really really really likes KU basketball) brings it out to you. The place was only a little busy but my beef did take a while to come out. And I got mine before the dude who was in front of me in line. Whatever, they got italian beef, man, they could tell me to fuck off and I'd still go back. Anyway, there are a few arcade games in the joint too which you just don't see enough of anymore. Oh, did I mention they sell beer? yeah I'm thinking about knocking back a few, eating italian beefs and playing galaga all weekend.So Pizza Man gets a big thumbs up from me. And the menu is very sizable--lots of pizza as you can imagine, and chicago hot dogs to boot. They also have meatball sandwiches and some other heart clogging cravables. If you are hankering for more check out this web page of italian beef photos!Or the Wikipedia Entry
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All I can say is that the Mixx is one of those places I will go to only grudgingly. Are you one of those people who enjoys:going to popular movies on opening night?the chaos of the Apple Store?Oklahoma Joe's on Saturday afternoon?Disney World/Land?You see, I'm not a people person. And when aforementioned "people" involve JoCo baby shower attendees, a plethora of three-year-old children and people eating lunch before seeing yet another boring white guy speak at the Plaza Library, well I get a little bit grumpy.But the Mixx is totally good for those all too infrequent healthy/fresh cravings I get, particularly on weekend afternoons after a week of BBQ, Mexican food, brown-bag sandwiches, and deep fried delicasies. Well, at least I don't eat snack cakes any more, unlike some other people.This is one of those build-your-own salads places. This is something that is done to reasonably good effect at grocery store salad bars, but the Mixx takes it to the next level. They have some very nice ingredients that cannot be found in the average salad bar, not even the highly-praised whole foods variety. Yeah I eat at whole foods once in a while, so what? So basically you can go into the Mixx and order mixed greens, romaine or spinach; topped with a protein like grilled salmon or chicken, and your choice of any number of cheeses, nuts, fruits, and vegetables. It's an airtight gimmick, it's delicious and it works.There is always a line at this place, they do a very good business. You have to order at the counter and your salad is made to order. But it can be slow-going. As my co-diner noted "they always act like they are so surprised to be busy." And it's true, it's always a barely controlled mayhem behind the counter, but fortunately the staff is exceedingly kind, which almost makes up for paying $12 for a friggin salad. Yeah, it ain't cheap and you will spend that kind of money easily if you're planning on drinking anything other than water. The desserts are a frequent temptation as well. I believe their cupcakes received one of those ubiquitous "best of" awards from the pitch a year or so back, and the cookies are excellent. But bring your goddamn wallet.After recieving food from the counter you pay and navigate Kansas City's most cacophonous dining room to find a place to sit. Seriously it's so loud mostly becuase there are always tons of kids in there. And the table are, like 1 foot closer together than they should be so it's always dicey keeping your salad bowl upright while squeezing past some oblivious, no-job-having aging beauty queen and her brood. Seriously the seating area is loud, which normally would be fine, but I just wish that a place so close to the library would be a little mellower. For instance, they sell beer, but I can;t imagine kicking back and having a few at the Mixx for chrissakes. It's just not a fun place to hang out.Being situated so close to the Plaza branch of the KC Public Library is great--it's almost the default restaurant for the institution. I personally think it's nice to be able to check out some books and read them over lunch at the Mixx. Or you have someplace to eat before/after a program at the Library. But the whole vibe there sort of bugs me. If they waited on me or had a salad bar, I might like it more. Yeah, crazy right?
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After parking, walking up and inside the Woodyard BBQ I was ready to declare it the King of all Kansas City Lunch Spots. I had heard about this place for a long time, but only recently figured out what the actual name was and where it was located. Well, it turns out to be right down Merriam Lane a bit from Grandstand in that interesting semi-industrial area where Wyandotte and Johnson Counties run together.Basically the Woodyard is a humble barbecue operation run out of the bottom floor of a semi-dilapidated house on the South side of Merriam Lane. The place doubles as a literal woodyard, and the parking lot is basically a big gravel pit surrounded by piles of various kinds of chopped wood. The owner waved at us as we drove in. People were parked every which way, redneck />As we walked up the steps to a good sized wooden deck we were greeted by the owner who was fiddling around with some wood or something. We were also greeted by a gigantic brick smoker, puffing out great clouds of deliciosity right there next to the seating, which is on the deck. There is a small room with a counter through the front door. That's where the ordering and condimenting happens. There is a cooler where you can grab the beverage of your choice and a small selection of cheap domestic beers (and corona) available cheaply. My meal came with my choice of drink, and apparently, that includes beer. Gotta love that. The prices are excellent, two of us got out for less than $18 and the portions are large.The staff brings out your food to you on the deck or wherever you happen to be. The lady at the counter told us we could wander around, hang out, sit wherever and they would find us. There is a separate large pavilion with seating a stone's throw away from the deck proper, complete with a roof and ceiling fans but it was empty at the time I visited. The Woodyard could throw a serious party with a lot of people if they were so inclined.So there we were, with our car parked awkwardly in a gravel lot, drinking budweiser from a can, sitting on a deck watching a dude who looks like an ex-con flip ribs on the smoker. In other words, it's a lot like how I spend the rest of my free time. No really, it was like going to a friends summer BBQ, or more like the summer BBQ of someone who you don't really know that well. There was a even a set of horseshoes sitting on top of the trash can--I was tempted to set up shop there all afternoon. On to the food:Let's get this out of the way first. Woodyard is NOT the best barbecue in Kansas City. It just ain't. I've read and heard glowing things about it all over the place but the truth is that it does not compare favorably to Oklahoma Joe's, Bryant's, Jack Stack or (insert your fave bbq place here). But the food is prepared well and the experience is thoroughly enjoyable. Beans were very good but almost certainly dressed up canned beans. The potato salad was run of the mill. The cole slaw was average. The pulled pork, however, was extremely interesting. It lacked the bite that hickory smoked woods give to meat, and was most likely cooked with some sort of fruit wood. But it had an amazing, buttery consistency and very good flavor. The ribs were similarly smoked but a little fatty for my taste. I think they could have used another hour on the smoker, because the texture of the meat was a little too...real. not that I didn't eat them all. I liked the brisket but it was shaved so thin that it dried out quickly. Plus, I just like a thicker slice of beef, akin to that at Bryants or LC's. But I have to say, these are some of the most friendly and easygoing people I have ever encountered in a lunch spot. And the atmosphere is quite compelling. This is a very special place to have in KC and would be really fun to hang out at for a long while with friends. But as a lunch spot? I don't know if it works. It seems like a place much better savored over a long time than quickly before your 1:30 meeting. It's a destination place, and everyone should try it.
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Well, the tamales here blow the lid off any I've had anywhere else in Kansas City. It's clear just from driving through this small stretch of Kansas City, Kansas that this is the area to go for the real deal.I've always known that, but I just never got off my ass and went to KCK explicitly to eat Mexican food. This will change as of today.An esteemed colleague of mine introduced me to Ninfa's under the assumption that everyone knew about the place and their fantastic homemade flour tortillas."Where?" I asked, "Ninja's? Who eats flour tortillas at a Mexican place?"This widespread ignorance among my coworkers and me was soon rectified with a departmental outing to Ninfa's under the tutelage of this wise, wise man. Ninfa's is small and simply decorated. Bright orange walls, large ceramic tile, a semi-open kitchen at one end and some decent-sized windows looking on to the street create a homey atmosphere that offsets the small size and relative cacophony of the dining area. I hesitate to call Ninfa's a "dive" because the word is vaguely insulting unless1. You are referring to a bar, in which case it is a badge of honor.2. It's really, undeniably true."Dive" is not a word to be thrown around lightly. Some jackass on Yelp or somewhere referred to Oklahoma Joe's as a dive. Right...the gas station thing, I get it. You know they have Subways and Pizza Huts and other places in gas stations nowadays too? Ever been to, I don't know, a REST AREA? Seriously OK Joe's looks like a Mall food court with really delicious food and a lot of white people.Anyway, Ninfa's is shacky but delightful. The menu is pretty large, but not the usual multipage tome you see at other Mexican places of dubious quality. This place is all about their homemade tortillas. Before your meal, a container of freshly made flour tortillas are brought to the table. Apparently that is what the bright blue bottle of squeezable Parkay is on the table for. This makes sense; in Chicago Mexican street vendors would put margarine on corn they sold from carts. That or mayonnaise (I think I just vomited a little, sorry).These tortillas bear little resemblance to the dry, flaky discs that come in the Old El Paso package at the Price Chopper. Ninfa's tortillas are moist, a little chewy and warm. I like the margarine option well enough, but a squirt or two of their salsa seems to be the better option.A lot of menu items at Ninfa's are fried. This isn't unusual for Kansas City, but here it's a much different affair. The meats are tender, flavorful and well-seasoned. Most of the food appears to be on the greasy side, but don't let that stop you from ordering up a fried corn taco plate or whatever grabs your fancy. I opted for tamales spread, which was covered with cheese and stewed pork.It was porktacular in the best possible way.The flavor was not subtle but also not pedestrian in any way. You can tell a lot of care went into the preparation of these delights. Do yourself a favor and get a dozen to-go sometime, a bargain at $14.The rice was odd--very short grain, and mixed with a tomato-y sauce. This gave it a somewhat mushy texture but I didn't mind the flavor. I do prefer a simply, nuttier Mexican rice.The service is great, Ninfa's has the appearance of being a family-run business though I don't know if it actually is. To add to the home-spun mystique, there is a truly charming, friendly and vaguely unintelligible older woman (Abuela Ninfa?) who seats people, gets drink refills, wipes down tables, cracks jokes; Basically she makes the place work. Our waitress was a 14-ish year old girl who, despite her age was nonetheless quite adept.Apart from a couple places on Southwest Boulevard, this is my first foray into Mexican food in KCK proper. It won;t be my last. Ninfa's is truly unique for cranking out those really good fresh tortillas everyday. It really raises the quality and fun of the food and the experience.
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I've been putting this review off for a couple of days because I've been thinking of a creative way to make fun of the name.photo by Mike HaneyI got nothing.Yeah, it's actually a pretty good name isn't it? I'm pretty sure they picked the name just because the domain name was available. It is fun to say "BIG BAM'S" - even fun to write it in my own inimitable hamhanded Kind of like CANCUN FIESTA FRESH! This one's a little more dangerous since I'm overwhelmed with the urge to execute an unskilled but highly performative karate chop whenever I say it: BIG BAM'S!Moreover the items on the kids menu are called Li'l Bam's burger and Li'l Bam's chicken tenders. Preface anything with "Li'l" and it's guaranteed to be cute. Of course, if the name in any way refers to Emeril Lagasse, it immediately becomes the worst name of all time.From the exterior, this place looks a little rough around the edges doesn't it? The building and bones of the place are pretty low-brow, but they have done a great job sprucing up the place. Walls are painted a subdued purple, the drop ceiling is painted black to lessen the cheap, institutional feel it can lend. There is some artwork on the walls which, despite having no connection to burgers or KC, is better than nothing. The tables and booths are typical formica fast food furniture, but look clean and new and are (if memory serves) a pleasant orange. Yeah, a lot of color going on here no?It's a reasonably efficient operation. Order at a counter, your food is made to order, and someone brings it out to you. The menu is posted on the wall above the counter so ordering involves a lot of staring upwards and squinting. It would make more sense to make printed menus available at the counter and leave the staring for the people waiting in line.On to the burgers. They remind me a little of the Burger Joint. I ordered the "Basic" because this seems like the true test of a place that claims to have great burgers. The Basic came with a single tomato slice, some flaccid leaf lettuce, sliced white onion, and a nice melted piece of American cheese.The burger is cooked well, the beef is very flavorful, the bun is unremarkable but fine as are the toppings. Next time I can rectify the toppings situation--I ordered the Basic, did I expect a can o' corn on top of my burger? They have several varieties of specialty burgers a few of which sound intriguing. For instance the "Cowboy Up" burger features ham, cheddar cheese and BBQ sauce. Hmmmm, ham. A couple of their burgers come with sour cream as a condiment. I'm not sure how I feel about this but it can't be worse than mayonnaise. There are some typical permutations like bacon & cheese, grilled onions, chili cheese (!) and sauteed mushrooms.In addition to burgers, Big Bam's does a lot with chicken. It's nice that they don't offer breaded and fried chicken exclusively--there are a few grilled options. Big Bam's has a commitment to high quality ingredients--their beef is never frozen and food is made to order. So I wonder if they hand-bread their fried chicken items or pull them out of a paper Sysco bag? This is a serious question, and I intend to order chicken next time I'm there. Or better yet, someone else go there, spend your own money, then tell me how it is. Check out the menu, there is a lot to choose from. I also had a small but inexpensive side of onion rings that were delicious and perfectly cooked. Doesn't it drive you crazy when fries cost like 1.50 and onion rings cost 5 bucks? You know why? Because the restaurant is buying them frozen and there is a lot more processing and production that goes into a batter-dipped frozen onion than a bag-o-taters. Breading and onions are not expensive, so personally I find it a good sign that the rings at Big Bam's are the same price as athe fries! Kudos on the rings Big Bam's!I did enjoy myself at Big Bam's and am convinced they do burgers and other things quite well. In terms of taste, this lunch spot is comparable to most of the other competent, humble little burger places in town. I think it could probably use the business more than wacko right wing Jesus-freaks Grandstand, and it is larger and nicer inside than Burger Joint. It's all about a quick meal here, so I genuinely like the place and will return.
http://www.kclunchspots.com/2008/07/big-bams-burgers-5930-nieman-rd.html
I first heard about this place over at the fine local food blog Noodletown back in March. Columbus park is an interesting neighborhood, and I wish I spent more time there. It has characteristics of the River Market and Northeast/Independence Ave. areas that surround it, but physically it feels different--smaller, older, quieter.Historically Italian and increasingly populated by Vietnamese, Columbus Park is delineated by highways on three sides and the river on the fourth. This makes for some interesting navigation for those unfamiliar with the streets. Like the River Market, the streets are laid out according to the position of the river and not true north/south like downtown proper. That means it's old, people. It's home to several good restaurants as well, notably Vietnam Cafe, La Salla's and Garozzo's.As Charles Ferruzza pointed out in his excellent piece about Happy Gillis, this building has a long history of being a comfortable neighborhood meeting and gathering place. The best part about Happy Gillis is that it maintains its connection to the neighborhood. The owners did not swoop in, totally revamp the place and produce food in an environment that appealed to people who don't live there. That's also why it's called a "hangout."They left the sign from the original Gillis Sundries market out front, something a lot of restaurant owners wouldn't do. To boot, the menu has a few homages to the ethnic character of Columbus Park--notably a Bánh mì and a few Italian sandwiches. The food is very good, not spectacular. Sandwiches and salads are freshly prepared with high quality ingredients. I feel fairly confident that all varieties are tasty, probably some a little more than others. It's a good sign that I have confidence in this place only having visited once. You can just tell they know what they are doing. My Italian sandwich floored me with the pure power of a good salami and some killer homemade giardiniera but I didn't care for the ciabatta-type bread it came on. An Italian sandwich craves Italian bread, people.Soups are the bread and butter here. The owners have operated a home soup delivery service for a few years and apparently have done well enough to open the storefront to complement their trade. Personally I can't get excited about soup, particularly on a 95 degree day which have been all too common lately. My lovely lunching companion did however offer me a taste of a cold corn vichyssoise (wow, did I spell that right on first try?), served with a dollop of fresh pesto. Sounds great, but I found it underwhelming. As my companion pointed out, there's no reason to puree corn in the middle of summer. Plus, I don't want to drink my lunch anyway (unless we're talking alcohol).The atmosphere here is charming and the service is friendly and attentive. I don't have anything bad to say about the decor or the vibe or the staff. Really laid-back.I'm not sure this is a destination-spot, but it's a really good option for those who live or work nearby. Or stop by after the oppressive crush of the City Market on a Saturday, it's a good place to decompress.More about Happy Gillis:Check out photos of this charming space on flickr.Goofy Girl gives her take and gets the Bánh mì.Everything else you need to know is on Yelp
http://www.kclunchspots.com/2008/07/happy-gillis-549-gillis-street.html
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Well, the tamales here blow the lid off any I've had anywhere else in Kansas City. It's clear just from driving through this small stretch of Kansas City, Kansas that this is the area to go for the real deal.I've always known that, but I just never got off my ass and went to KCK explicitly to eat Mexican food. This will change as of today.An esteemed colleague of mine introduced me to Ninfa's under the assumption that everyone knew about the place and their fantastic homemade flour tortillas."Where?" I asked, "Ninja's? Who eats flour tortillas at a Mexican place?"This widespread ignorance among my coworkers and me was soon rectified with a departmental outing to Ninfa's under the tutelage of this wise, wise man. Ninfa's is small and simply decorated. Bright orange walls, large ceramic tile, a semi-open kitchen at one end and some decent-sized windows looking on to the street create a homey atmosphere that offsets the small size and relative cacophony of the dining area. I hesitate to call Ninfa's a "dive" because the word is vaguely insulting unless1. You are referring to a bar, in which case it is a badge of honor.2. It's really, undeniably true."Dive" is not a word to be thrown around lightly. Some jackass on Yelp or somewhere referred to Oklahoma Joe's as a dive. Right...the gas station thing, I get it. You know they have Subways and Pizza Huts and other places in gas stations nowadays too? Ever been to, I don't know, a REST AREA? Seriously OK Joe's looks like a Mall food court with really delicious food and a lot of white people.Anyway, Ninfa's is shacky but delightful. The menu is pretty large, but not the usual multipage tome you see at other Mexican places of dubious quality. This place is all about their homemade tortillas. Before your meal, a container of freshly made flour tortillas are brought to the table. Apparently that is what the bright blue bottle of squeezable Parkay is on the table for. This makes sense; in Chicago Mexican street vendors would put margarine on corn they sold from carts. That or mayonnaise (I think I just vomited a little, sorry).These tortillas bear little resemblance to the dry, flaky discs that come in the Old El Paso package at the Price Chopper. Ninfa's tortillas are moist, a little chewy and warm. I like the margarine option well enough, but a squirt or two of their salsa seems to be the better option.A lot of menu items at Ninfa's are fried. This isn't unusual for Kansas City, but here it's a much different affair. The meats are tender, flavorful and well-seasoned. Most of the food appears to be on the greasy side, but don't let that stop you from ordering up a fried corn taco plate or whatever grabs your fancy. I opted for tamales spread, which was covered with cheese and stewed pork.It was porktacular in the best possible way.The flavor was not subtle but also not pedestrian in any way. You can tell a lot of care went into the preparation of these delights. Do yourself a favor and get a dozen to-go sometime, a bargain at $14.The rice was odd--very short grain, and mixed with a tomato-y sauce. This gave it a somewhat mushy texture but I didn't mind the flavor. I do prefer a simply, nuttier Mexican rice.The service is great, Ninfa's has the appearance of being a family-run business though I don't know if it actually is. To add to the home-spun mystique, there is a truly charming, friendly and vaguely unintelligible older woman (Abuela Ninfa?) who seats people, gets drink refills, wipes down tables, cracks jokes; Basically she makes the place work. Our waitress was a 14-ish year old girl who, despite her age was nonetheless quite adept.Apart from a couple places on Southwest Boulevard, this is my first foray into Mexican food in KCK proper. It won;t be my last. Ninfa's is truly unique for cranking out those really good fresh tortillas everyday. It really raises the quality and fun of the food and the experience.
http://www.kclunchspots.com/2008/07/ninfas-taqueria-964-kansas-ave-kck.html
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