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Anna's Oven
1809 W 39th St.
comfort food restaurant, specializing in meat loaf, mac
and cheese, and
lasagna, is very good at what it does. Although they
have no
seafood, they do have a few very good vegetarian
dishes. The
vegetarian lasagna is excellent, as is their house salad,
and their
grilled vegetables. They also often have a
vegetarian soup of the
Their policy regarding wines is unusual, but interesting. If you want wine by the glass, you can choose from the open bottles displayed at the register at typical restaurant prices (currently $7/glass). But the bottle pricing is very unusual. The wine list includes many good choices, and the prices are the retail prices you would pay in a liquor store. They'll sell any of those bottles at those prices, if you do not open them in the restaurant and take them home, as if purchased in a liquor store. If you want the restaurant to open the bottle and serve the wine to you in the restaurant, they'll add a corkage charge (currently $8). I like that transparently open way of revealing the premium you pay for wine in a restaurant, and their corkage charge is less than implicit in most restaurant wine pricing.
They are open Mon-Sat from 11 am - 9 pm.
3404 Rainbow Blvd.
Kansas City, KS 66103
is far from fine dining and has the usual faults of chain
restaurants. Their salads and salad dressings are
ordinary. Instead I order sliced tomatoes with
vinegar and
oil. In the kitchen, they have both a
grill, which they use for steaks, and a flat top, which
they use with
burgers. If you want fish or shrimp cooked
separately from
meat, ask them to use a separate pan. They have one.
which they
rarely use, and won't unless you insist.
Recently I've been happy with the salmon. I have them substitute their whole grains for the potatoes. The whole granes usually are served only with the steak. But if you ask and explain what you want, they can provide them instead of the potatoes on any other entree. The wine list is a reasonable one, with the bottles priced slightly better than the glasses. But it is best to check what bottles they have, which are not on the wine list. For example, they often have a Merlot or Chardonnay bottle at a lower price than the ones on the wine list.
The tomato soup is vegetarian and very good, especially if you add tobasco. Also the small Ceasar salad is large enough for a meal, if you also get the soup.
They have an outstanding server. His name is Dele (pronounced Daylay). He is usually there on Thursday and Saturday evenings (and sometimes Wednesday evenings) and lunchtime on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
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900 Westport Road
Its web site
|Bluestem is "the talk of the
town." Bluestem
is in the Westport nightlife area of Kansas City, right on
Road. They have a small parking lot behind the
restaurant, and a
rather small
dining room. If you look at the reviews available on
restaurant's web site, you will find that this restaurant
has received
an astonishing number of rave reviews from local and
national critics
and publications, nearly from the day it opened. For
example, see
the 2005 review in Food
and Wine
Indeed the two chefs (a married couple) at this restaurant
have studied
at and worked at some of the best restaurants and chef
schools in the
United States. For example, Colby Garrelt has worked
at the 5
Star, 5 Diamonds TRU in Chicago as senior Sous Chef; and
his wife,
Megan Garrelts, has studied at this country's top chef
school, the
Culinary Institute of America in New York (as did Chef
Krause now in
Lawrence), and has worked at TRU in
Chicago. It is no surprise that this couple is
making a stir in
the Kansas City restaurant scene.
Bluestem is the first restaurant that this chef-couple has owned and run themselves. I tried it soon after it opened. Is it another TRU? No, it is not --- yet. Is it currently the best restaurant in the Kansas City/Lawrence area now? Good question. Might Colby Garrelt and Megan Garrelts one day be the owners and chefs at the first five star restaurant in Kansas City? Could be. When it first opened, I was surprised that Bluestem was so soon being expected to acquire a higher Mobil-Guide-rating than Kansas City's American Restaurant, 40 Sardines, Cafe Sebastienne, or Le Fou Frog, or Lawrence's Krause's. It did not seem to me that Bluestem would soon dominate those fine restaurants---but the beginnings of the best were there then.
Those who might believe that this restaurant already rates five Mobil Guide stars may never have been to a five star restaurant (or even to Tony's wonderful four star restaurant in St. Louis). Zagat's Guide rapidly rated this restaurant as having the best food in Kansas City. I agreed initially with the review by the Kansas City Star's eminent restaurant critic, Lauren Chapin, who ranked Bluestem as 3 1/2 stars in food, service, and atmosphere, as opposed to the best restaurants in the area, ranked by her as four stars. But she now has raised its rating to four stars, and I agree with that. Bluestem has improved and now merits four stars.
At the time I was first there for dinner, the Bluestem Wine Lounge next door had not yet opened. I've now more recently been to that lounge, and I was very impressed. For a glass of wine and some wonderful appetizers in a fine atmosphere, you won't do better anywhere in Kansas City.
I had not been back to the dining room for dinner in a long time, when a different chef (in Colorado) suggested that I "give Bluestem another chance." Based upon my experience at Bluestem's wonderful wine bar, I decided to do that, after a long delay. I was very impressed and more than a little surprised. Bluestem is now clearly a four star restaurant and is a match for the best of the best in Kansas City. I have sought out and been to many of the world's greatest restaurants, in Beijing, Paris, San Fancisco, Hong Kong, Buenos Aires, NY, Chicago, Brussels, LA, Florence, Lisbon, New Orleans, Syndey, Marseille, London, etc. I would not yet put Bluestem in the same league with the world's best, and I would not expect it to acquire Michelin three stars soon, but Bluestem already shows more of the signs of restaurants in that league than any other restaurant in the KC/Lawrence area --- and it keeps getting better. If you haven't been there recently, you should listen to the Colorado chef who told me to give it another try. He was right. It has been transformed from a promising restaurant into a wonderful restaurant.
If it remains on its dramatically uphill track, we may lose Bluestem, sooner or later, to a bigger city. I hope not.
Burgers & Bottles
4710 Jefferson St.
Country Club Plaza
web site
|Moved back to Westport. We haven't been there since they changed the location from the Plaza.
Best upscale burgers in KC, including mahi mahi burger and lentil burger, both excellent. Also reasonable choices of wine and outstanding list of beers. Their least expensive bottles of chardonnay and pinot noir are surprisingly good. Fixed price lunch is an especially good deal.
The lentil burger is fried, as is the portobella in its sandwich sandwich. But the mahi mahi is grilled on a separate area of the grill from meat. But if this concerns you, you can request that they use a skillet. The butter lettuce salad is excellent, as are the sweet potato fries. Both are large, and they are happy to split the salad for two into two separate bowls.
This restaurant has moved to the Plaza at 4710 Jefferson next to the Capital Grille. There is an excellent happy hour from 3 pm to 6 pm on weekdays, including half price wines and other good deals. But you may have to sit in the bar area, which has only high bar stools. The first time we were there, they would not honor the happy hour prices in the dining room. The second time, they did. The happy hour includes wine at $5 a glass, including any of the wines on the wine list.
They have no stemware for wine, so don't bother asking for it. They use glasses appropriate for red wine, but less appropriate for white wine with no stem. They have some wildly overpriced Kansas wines on the menu. Don't order them. If you have a groupon, be aware of the fact that their defintion of "dinner only" is after 5 pm. If you order from the dinner menu before 5 pm, they will not honor the coupon.
They have no whole grain bread. Even the unfiltered wheat bun is not whole grain, but all of their buns and bread are fresh and excellent anyway. They mostly play loud rock music, but the speakers are in the bar area. If you don't like the music, you'll like the dining room better than the bar area. The aircondition tends to be set at a low temperature, so you might want to bring a sweater or sport coat with you.
They do not accept reservations, except for large groups. It is usually easy to get a table before 5:30 pm. After 7 pm, there often is a long line waiting for a table.
1803 W 39th St
has difficult competition on the 39th St. Restaurant Row,
since a couple of blocks away is Po's. Both specialize
dumplings. Blue Koi has a larger dining room, with
booths. Po's has no booths. Both have good
choices of wine
and beer, and both have excellent dumplings. Blue Koi
particularly popular with vegetarians and vegans. But
some of the
non-dumpling dishes at Blue Koi are somewhat disappointing,
often with
unnecessarily sweet sauces, including the vegetarian lettuce
wraps and
the crispy tofu with spicy sauce. I was particularly
to find that the lettuce wraps are served with ordinary
iceberg lettuce
leafs. The eggplant pockets with vegan filling are
interesting, but
deep fried in a batter. Unfortunately they cannot
prepare them in
any other way.
There are four entrees that they can prepare without sugar: Ants on a Tree (comes with soybean noodles), Firebird (very spicy), Shrimp with Black Bean Sauce, and Almond Shrimp Asparagus. All are excellent. The Shrimp with Chinese Curry Sauce might a little sugar in the sauce, but if you ask them to add not sugar, it is not a sweet sauce. However, I was not too happy about it. Perhaps the Tofu with Chinese Curry Sauce might be better. I have not tried the Braised Tofu with Shitake Mushroom, but there is some sugar already in its sauce. With all of those, I request extra spicy (two peppers). Firebird is usually three peppers, but I ask for two. With any of them, you can ask to add mushrooms and carrots for an upcharge. Any entree including chicken, pork, or beef can be prepared with shrimp or tofu instead, and it is easy to avoid chicken stock, since many entrees are listed as vegan and are provided with vegetable stock (not just water base). But some include chicken powder, even if no chicken stock. All entrees are listed as served with noodles or rice. But the options include brown rice and soybean noodles along with the usual white rice, rice noodles, and flour noodles. Alternatively, they'll substitute fresh (uncooked) spinach for the rice or noodles.
Blue Koi has a pleasant counter that is popular with persons dining alone. If you don't want the white rice that comes with many dishes, be aware that there may be upcharges for substitutions. There is no upcharge for spinach, but a one dollar upcharge for brown rice, and a two dollar upcharge for soybean noodles.
There is a rear entrance from the parking lot behind it, and there are two handicapped spaces virtually at that entrance. If you have a handicapped sticker, Blue Koi is hard to beat on a rainy day.
The wines are priced reasonably, but are not a bargain. They are priced about the same as at the Indian restaurant, Taj Palace, across the street. But the entrees are so large that you can split one order between two persons or figure on take out for lunch the next day.
On balance, I somewhat prefer Po's. But then there are the dumplings. The dumplings at Blue Koi are outstanding. An interesting combination is the seafood and vegetarian dumplings. One order of each makes a fine meal. The seafood dumplings are more delicate, without the spinach in the dumpling dough. You not only get a contrast in texture but also in color (the vegetable dumplings are green, while the seafood dumplings are white).
This restaurant has two locations, one on 39th St and one in Leawood. If you call in for takeout food, be careful to use the correct number. In Leawood, the phone number is 913-33-3330. On 39th St., the phone number is 816-561-5003.
Bob Wasabi Kitchen
1726 W 39th St.
Kansas City, MO 64111
|This restaurant is widely
viewed as having the best sushi in KC. That might be true.
But so far, it still does not have a liquor license and does not accept
American Express. They do accept Visa and Mastercard.
They open for dinner at 5 pm. If you arrive then, you should not have a problem parking in the small lot in front of the restaurant, despite the fact that many of the spaces are reserved only for the liquor store next door.
I especially liked the Baked Hamachi Roll and the Shrimp Gyoza. I also tried the Spicy Fish Bowl (too much rice), the Garden Roll, the Miso Soup, the Hamachi Kama, and the Poke. All were fine, but not outstanding. Cafe Beautiful in Lawrence is better.
The Boot
415 Westport Rd
Kansas City, MO 64111
|This excellent Italian restaurant, next door
to the also excellent Westport Cafe and Bar, is a big step
up from some of the old time Italian-American restaurants
that are more common in Kansas City. We ordered the
trout, skate, oysters, and the mozzarella and beets
appetizer. Everything was very enjoyable. Some
of the dishes on the menu include butter sauce, but we had
that changed to olive oil sauce. No problem.
Really good.
The restaurant had only been open for a couple of weeks, when we were there, and the inexperience showed. The server provided excellent fast service, but was clearly nervous and evidently had not been trained in wine etiquette. She could not open the bottle, so had to bring it to the bartender to open. She then picked up the glass, poured wine into it, and handed it to me without putting it down on the table. That would have been OK for beer, but all wrong for wine. I then told her to leave the pouring to me, since she clearly didn't know what she was doing. In a European style Italian restaurant, the servers should be better trained in how to serve wine. But I expect that in future weeks, those problems will be fixed.
Unlike many upscale new Italian restaurants, this one has no whole grain pasta. Perhaps they'll include one in the future. I assume the restaurant is named after the appearance of Italy on the map.
There are no booths, but the 4-top tables are fine. There is a long community dining table down the center of the restaurant. Along one wall, there is a wooden bench with 2-top tables lined up along it. The 4-tops along the other side are better.
Boozefish Wine Bar
1511 Westport Rd.
Kansas City, MO 64111
wine bar, often viewed as "European," has a good selection
of fine
wines. The prices are not a bargain, but all wines by
the glass
are at $1 off during the happy hours, which are 4:30
pm - 6:30 pm on
Tues - Fri, and 10 pm - midnight on Tues
- Thurs. They also have
food, but the menu does not fit their image as a European
bar. All of the entrees are sandwiches or
wraps. They also
have side salads, but not as serious entrees. The
sandwiches and
salads are very good, but I don't know where they got the
idea that a
menu featuring only sandwiches or wraps is
"European." What
country in Europe did they have in mind? I can't
think of a
European country that would view solely sandwiches to be
the entree
choices in a wine bar. That would be the case in
Buenos Aires,
Argentina, but their wine bars feature tiny sandwiches,
not intended as
meals --- and of course Argentina is in South America
I'd say that Boozefish is an American wine bar.
Parking is somewhat difficult in that area of Westport Rd., but Boozefish has its own small parking lot behind the building. That is a distinct plus. But neaby Rudy's Tenampa Tacqueria on that street has a more convenient parking lot next door on Westport Rd, and Rudy's offers more than sandwiches. I prefer Rudy's to Boozefish, although they are very different.
Krokstrom Klubb & Market
3601 Broadway
Kansas City, MO
|This Scandinavian restaurant is
in the location of the former Broadway Jazz Club in Old Hyde Park, with
a very convenient parking lot behind it. Ignore the no public
parking sign at the entrance to the lot. It applies only to
residents of the nearby apartment buildings. The food at Krokstrom
is authentic Swedish style. For example, the fresh pumpernickel
bread is whole grain. That is the real old time way to do it, but
rarely available in this country, where pumpernickel has been altered to
be more like the usual supermarket (factory made) breads. Indeed the food did remind me of restaurants in Stockholm.
All plates are small plates, so you will want to order a few. The prices of each are reasonable, but you easily could get carried away and order so many that you will end up with sticker shock, when the check arrives. Nevertheless, everything here is worth the price.
There is one conspicuous difference from restaurants in Sweden. Here you will not get stuck with the crazy high tax on alcohol in Sweden, that makes any full strength wine or beer a near luxury in that country. In fact a common joke in Denmark is that the people getting on the boats on the way to Sweden with carts full of beer are Swedes avoiding that tax. The alcohol tax in Denmark is much lower than in Sweden. The reason for the extreme alcohol tax in Sweden is the problem of alcoholism in the northern parts of Sweden, where the weather is very cold and there is not much daylight most of the year. Denmark does not extend that far north into the arctic.
Cafe Sebastienne
4420 Warwick Blvd.
Kansas City, MO 64111
In the Kemper Museum
Its web site
there is any restaurant in Kansas City that you should not
miss ---
this is it. This restaurant is inside the Kemper
Museum of modern
art, near Country Club Plaza. The museum has a
small collection; but relative to its size, the collection
is well
chosen. However, the restaurant is a real stand
out. It has
two dining rooms: the courtyard and the cafe.
have very different ambiance. But if you really like
modern art,
choose the cafe. The food preparations tend to be
more spicy than at the city's other top restaurants, but
to my taste
the spice level could not be better. It is difficult
to compare
Cafe Sebastienne with 40 Sardines, the American
Restaurant, or
Le Fou Frog, which have excellent food. But all
Cafe Sebastienne provides a combination of art and
food that is hard to match anywhere in the Midwestern
United States.
In fact, if I were here from out of town, this restaurant might alter my choice of hotel. While I otherwise would prefer the upscale Fairmont at the Country Club Plaza, or the Hyatt at Crown Center, I would take seriously the modest Holiday Inn Country Club Plaza, located a block from Cafe Sebastienne. This marvelous restaurant is right down the street from the Holiday Inn, and the Country Club Plaza is a short walk down the hill. Unless you particularly value the luxury of the best hotels, you can save a lot of money and get better food by staying at the Holiday Inn, while dining at the Cafe Sebastienne and the restaurants at the Plaza. It doesn't get much better than that---anywhere.
This is not an inexpensive restaurant. But relative to the food and atmosphere, I'd rate Cafe Sebastienne as the city's "best buy" in fine dining. It is not difficult to spend 30% more for no better food or atmosphere at the city's other top tier restaurants. The chef uses the freshest ingredients available in the Kansas City area, and her preparations are masterful. But relative to my tastes, she has somewhat of a "sweet tooth." She often uses brown sugar, figs, and fruit sauces. But I am sure she would accommodate requests for different preparations.
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Cafe Trio
4558 Main
Kansas City MO
web site
you like the feeling of big city restaurants you will like
Trio. The
food preparations and quality are not among the very best
in KC, but
the mix of food, local art on the walls, service, and
marks this restaurant as a special place providing an
"experience" that
easily merits a try. The
location had long been in Midtown on Broadway somewhat
north of 36th
St. But the new location is on Main closer to the
Plaza. Unfortunately, they add bacon to almost
everything on the menu. That is usually the sign of a weak chef,
since good chefs do not want the strong flavor of bacon the detract from
the herbs and spices artfully added to sauces. But this
restaurant is usually happy to make any changes you request to the
preparations. In addition, there is a separate vegetarian menu
offering an admirably large number of choices. But be careful
about upcharges for substitutions. The restaurant's policies in
that regard can be very annoying.
The rest of the review will be about its new Main St. location, which includes much better parking behind the restaurant and an attractive outdoor patio. The wine bottles are half price on Tuesdays. During happy hour (2 pm - 6 pm weekdays), all wines by the glass are half price, but only in the bar area or patio, and they don't start serving dinner until 5 pm. The seafood here is usually very good and comes in frequently. Although open earlier for drinks, Trio does not begin starting dinner until 5 pm.
Regardinig parking, you technically should park in a "customer only" spot, rather than a Parkside Plaza Parking Only spot, since the latter spots are for the shops in that small strip mall. But you can use a Parkside Plaza spot for the restaurant, if the customer only spots are gone. This restaurant in its new location not only has an outside deck overlooking the Country Club Plaza, but also a substantial inside bar, if you should prefer to sit at a bar rather than at a table.
The restaurant admirably has a lot of coat hooks, so you don't need to take up space at your table with coats. But you might not know how to find the hooks. They are along the wall that faces the outside patio.
4124 Pennsylvania St.
web site
|This large and colorful facility is
perhaps better known for its special events in its private
dining rooms
that for its public restaurant. But the regular
restaurant is
very attractive, and the food, although from a rather
ordinary menu, is
good. If you like booths, you can ask for "the
booth." They
have only one. If you are not happy with the
described on the menu, do not hesitate to ask for
They do can accommodate many such requests.
In addition to special events in the private dining rooms, they have occasional public special events worth considering, such as the "opera supper" on 3rd Mondays from 6 pm - 9 pm from June through October. They also have happy hour from 4 - 6 pm on all weekdays, but they do not begin serving dinner until 5 pm. Their happy hour provides $2 discounts on all drinks from the bar, including wines by the glass. Of particular note is the Opera Suppers on 3rd Mondays from 6 pm - 10 pm. Reservations for those events are recommended.
While this is not a vegetarian restaurant, there is a vegetarian chef in the kitchen who is sensitive to vegetarian preferences. For example, they have separate pans they can use, if you don't want your vegetarian dish or fish cooked on a grill used with meat. Also they have really outstanding tofu. It evidently is fried with some sort of spices, and is a real winner. In addition, the asparagus is really good. In fact a meal consisting only of the asparagus and tofu, perhaps with a salad, would be hard to beat, if you are a vegetarian.
Chubby's On Broadway
3756 Broadway St.
Kansas City, MO 64111
does have one claim to distinction. It is open 24
hours a
day, 6 days a week; and on the other day, Monday, it is open
until 2
pm. But if
there were a prize for the worst food in the Midwest,
this place would
rank high.
Its coffee? Maybe the worst in the country. They do have some decent tea bags. So if I have to stop there very late some night when everyplace else is closed, I'll go for the tea.
To add insult to injury, they don't accept credit cards. This place is a throwback to the worst of the distant past. At least a Dunkin Donuts would have a decent cup of coffee.
Conroy's Public House
4730 Rainbow Blvd
Westwood, KS 66205
|This Irish Pub is a welcome
addition to the Westwood Midtown area. The design and atmosphere
of the pub are indeed very much that of a British - Irish pub, including
many traditional Irish preparations and of course lots of Irish beer
and whiskey options.
On weekdays, the happy hour is from 2 pm - 6 pm, and includes discounts on the house wines among other discounts. We were very happy with the service and management. In fact we offered one suggestion to the manager, and he immediately agreed without qualification. For a restaurant opened so recently, this one is on an excellent path. Of course the restaurant's experience with its other pub in Overland Park has surely helped.
We got the Caesar Salad with blackened salmon added and the Avocado Salad with blackened shrimp added. The blackening here is very mild, but worth a try. We were particularly impressed by the freshness of all of the ingredients.
They do not yet have veggie burgers on the menu, but they do have it available at their other location and soon will at this location.
We were happy. We will be back.
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Copa Room
3421 Broadway St.
Kansas City, MO
web site
|Unfortunately this restarant seems to be
closed, but perhaps is moving to another location.
Along with Cafe Trio and the Grille on Broadway, the Copa Room is in the Old Hyde Park area on Broadway. The Copa Room is a block north of Cafe Trio and two blocks north of the Grille on Broadway in a somewhat less crowded part of Broadway. The Copa Room is a take off on Rat Pack restaurants in Vegas. The singers in the evenings tend to have the style of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin and sing their songs. The style of food is Italian American. While that style often is not as good as the styles in newer, more innovative Italian restaurants, the Copa Room is an exception to that rule. The food here is excellent. Relative to that familar style, you won't find better in KC. Also the wine list is a good one, and includes some reasonably priced wines, such as Calina Chardonnay from Chile.
The basa fish is excellent. If you prefer to avoid the breading and the butter in the sauce, you can request that the basa be broiled with an olive oil sauce. The diablo shrimp also is excellent, and is in a wonderful marinara sauce with lots of garlic. Most dishes come with pasta, but you can substitute asparagus for the pasta with a small upcharge. I like the portobello appetizer, but would have preferred more portobello and less toast. If you like high quality olive oil as much as I do, you can get an extra dish of extra virgin olive oil at a charge. I have not yet tried the house red sauce (sugo), but will do so the next time I am there.
Unfortunately this restaurant has one very big problem for nonsmokers. There is no nonsmoking section. While this might fit the old time Rat Pack image, the second hand smoke can be a real problem to nonsmokers, especially in the lounge area in front, where the entertainers perform. We were told that the best ventilation is in the back, where there are three oval booths. We sat there and had no problems with second hand smoke. But we don't know whether there were smokers in that area, when we were there. Also you will not be able to see the entertainers from that area of the restaurant, although you will be able to hear them. Maybe KC will ban smoking in restaurants soon ....
There is a small parking lot behind the restaurant. But access is along a steep one lane driveway. There is no separate exit driveway. The restaurant rents spaces across the street (slightly north of the restaurant on the west side of the street) in the Missouri Gas and Energy lot. I haven't tried it, but the MGE lot may be a better choice than the lot behind the restaurant.
Cupini's Westport
1809 Westport Rd.
Kansas City, MO 64111
web site
|Located on the corner of Westport Rd. and
State Line Rd., Cupini's
which they make themselves. They also have
excellent sandwiches, salads, and soups. The Taste
of Italy
sandwich is outstanding. The roasted portobello
sandwich and tuna
salad, less so. The spinach salad is a healthy
choice, if you
skip the blue cheese, but not very interesting. The
sweet mustard
vinaigrette salad dressing is not to my liking. The
vinaigrette is better. The lemon garlic
vinaigrette dressing is best. The sandwiches are on
very fresh
They have no wine, beer, whole grain bread, whole grain
pizza crust, or whole grain pasta.
The tomato soup is excellent, but I add some crushed red
A large bowl would itself be a fine lunch. The
healthiest choice
is the large house salad, without the cheese, and with the
lemon garlic
vinaigrette dressing.
The pizza is surprisingly good. I got the Adriano. I had them delete the cheese but add tomatoes and onions. I got the 6 inch, and also got two of the salads from the deli counter. They were excellent, but one would have been enough with the pizza. I added crushed red pepper to the pizza.
To say that the vegetable soup is not vegetarian is an understatement. It contains bacon. Since when has bacon become a vegetable?
The Drop
409 E. 31st St.
Kansas City, MO 64108
web site
Drop has some of the best bar food in Kansas City, outside
of bars
connected to high end restaurants, such as The American
Restaurant and
Bluestem. For example, the house marinated olives
are among the
best I've ever had anywhere, and the bruschetta are
They also have various appetizers, salads, panini, and
sandwiches on
artisan bread.
The location is somewhat of a puzzle. It is in an area called "Martini Corner." Evidently there once was much going on here, but if you walk or drive east, all you will find is blight (i.e., boarded up windows on buildings with large parking lots where at one time there must have been much going on). It is sad to see. Evidently the new Power and Light District is taking its toll on this nightlife area. Martini Corner now is one block, with parking lots on both sides, and a total of four bar/restaurants: The Drop, Tower Taven next door, Velvet Dog across the street, and the Sol Cantina across the street. The other three places seem to have a real "edge" to them, especially the Sol Cantina that has an outdoor patio behind it and the appearance of probably a raucus nightlife (I haven't been there after dark). Well, there also is Mint, which has "bottle service," etc., if you are into that sort of thing. It is next to Velvet Dog.
But for food, The Drop is in another league. Its chef has worked at some excellent restaurants and has certainly done something very admirable by choosing this risky location for his excellent lounge. Evidently he has seen the potential for a bright future for this location. I hope he is right.
2932 Cherry Street
Kansas City, MO 64108
web site
restaurant is strictly vegan and has no liquor
license. Its
breakfasts and brunches are especially interesting.
The brunch
menu is available on both Saturday and Sunday from 10 am
to 3 pm.
The restaurant is about 2 blocks northeast of Martini
Corner, which is
on 31st St. Owners Diallo and Africka Kenyatta
previously ran a
bookstore that served vegan food in NY City. The
neighborhood is
not great, but there is much encouraging new construction
close to this
restaurant, so it is getting better.
This is not a place to go, if you are in a rush. The service and kitchen are amazingly slow.
Drunken Worm
1405 W 39th St.
Kansas City, MO 64111
|This new tequila bar has its own rather strange style and atmosphere.
When you walk in, you might be a bit puzzled by the masked heads,
strange looking topless masked manikin at entrance, and skeleton
figurines. The theme is a Mexican tequila bar with displays
representing Mexican professional wrestlers, who wear such masks. The menu emphasizes tacos,
and the bar drinks emphasize tequilas and Mexican beers. The selection
of wines is minimal.
I particularly liked the shrimp tacos. All of their tacos come with flour tortillas. You can request corn tortillas, if you wish, but they are like cardboard. Stick with the flour tortillas. I also tried the veggie tacos. They were good, but rather skimpy on their contents. The tilapia tacos have a sweet sauce containing honey. You could try to get them to change the sauce to the shrimp tacos sauce. But the shrimp tacos are so good, that they'd probably still be better than the tilapia tacos.
Two tacos with black beans are enough for lunch.
554 Westport Rd.
Kansas City, MO 64111
web site
|This restaurant is now closed at this
Yes, you know this chain. But as a franchise operation, the managements of the individual restaurants in the chain are not the same. This one is particularly good. This Chili's is willing to accommodate unusual requests. For example, the chain provides no olive oil or any other vegetable oil to its restaurants. Mostly they use butter. But they do have chimichurri sauce (cilantro, garlic, lime, and olive oil) that normally comes only with the southwest cedar plank tilapia. But if you ask for that sauce, they'll bring out as much as you want with no additional charge. Also if you are a pescatarian and do not want your fish or shrimp grilled on the same grill as meat, they'll do it on the individual wood planks normally used only for the tilapia.
They have good wines, such as Toasted Head chardonnay, at reasonable prices. But what is really amazing is the happy hour drinks at big discounts ALL DAY LONG on Sunday - Thursday, and until 6 pm on Friday and Saturday. For example, their house wines, which are good ones, are prices at $3.50 during their "happy hours." Meanwhile this chain is good about providing nutritional information about everything it serves and uses, including its sauces and sides.
Eddie Delahunt's Cafe &
4448 Bell Street (at 45th St).
web site
there were a prize for cafe quaintness in Kansas City,
this cafe would
win hands down. It is owned by Irish folk musician,
Lelahunt, who performs around KC regularly, and
occasionally at his
cafe. It is located in the "West Plaza" area, which
is around the
intersection of 45th St. and State Line Rd. The area
itself is
super-quaint. Every single store is an antique
store, without
exception. If you were to drive through it, you
would not likely
guess that there is a cafe there, since Eddie Delahunt's
is inside a
The decor, music, and atmosphere are Irish, perhaps intended to represent cafes outside Dublin. I cannot speak to its authenticity, since I've never been outside Dublin, when in Ireland; and never ordered coffee in Dublin, where I drink nothing but Guinness. This cafe does not serve wine or beer, but serves really excellent coffee and sandwiches. I got a skinny Macchiato. They know how to do it right here, unlike most other coffee shops in Kansas City, which seem to think it is supposed to contain some ridiculous syrup and often don't even foam the milk on top.
Oh, and I really liked the sandwich I got there.
El Patron Cocina
2905 Southwest Blvd.
Kansas City, MO 64108
is very popular. If you arrive at noon for lunch, you
likely will have to sit at the bar, and you may have
difficulty parking
in their lot. At off hours, you can sit at one of the
booths that
are along one of the walls. Virtually everything comes
with rice
and refried beans. Although their refried beans are
made with
vegetable oil instead of lard, refried beans are much higher
in fat
than regular black beans, which they do not have.
While the
prices are modest, this is basically a Tex-Mex restaurant
with a few
unusual additions, such as oysters.
I much prefer the nearby Taqueria Mexico.
Friends Sushi and Bento Place
1808 W 39th St.
Kansas City, MO
is a very pleasant Japanese restaurant in all ways ---
except for
one. The atmosphere is very pleasant, the service is
and the food is good. But except for a few high
stools along the
counter facing the window, all of the chairs are unpadded
While the black painted wood chairs go well with the
decor, they are
not particularly comfortable.
On the other hand, their sushi chef really knows what he is doing and has some unique specials, such as his daikon roll, which is rapped in a daikon (radish) without rice. My preference is to have him omit the masago fish eggs. Two daikon rolls and the agedashi tofu appetizer make an excellent meal. The Vegetarian Heaven roll also is unusual, but is a meal in itself. No, it is not just one roll.
Genghis Khan
3906 Bell Street (just off 39th)
web site
known for its Mongolian Barbecue, that is not all that
they have
here. If you order from the menu, you will find that
restaurant has some excellent Oriental dishes. This
restaurant is particularly good at preparing oriental "hot
The seafood hot pot has an excellent clam base broth, but
most of the
seafood is in the shell and a nuisance to pick out.
most of the entrees, including the hot pots, come with
rice, you can
request substitution of
cellophane rice noodles or vegetables (usually
broccoli). I have been consistently disappointed by
the fish at this restaurant, most recently the mackerel teriyaki. I
no longer get fish here.
Unfortunately Oriental restaurants in Kansas City seem to be including more and more sugar and salt in their sauces. In fact I was told be a waiter in one such restaurant that Americans seem to have a sweet tooth and are happiest with sauces containing much more sugar than would be normal in the authentic Asian preparation. They won't mind, if you order from the menu and ask for no sugar, MSG, and chicken stock to be added, since they don't use much anyway. But if you want the most basic preparation, ask for "white sauce" on any dish or on any combination of vegetables and meats that you prefer, although it also contains sugar, salt, chicken stock, and MSG, unless you tell them to omit it. Also ask for the chili sauce with oil to perk it up, since the white sauce is very mild. A particularly good choice is the shrimp with broccoli and mushrooms. If you prefer you can ask them to substitute tofu in place of the shrimp, and you can ask them to omit the sugar, MSG, and chicken stock for a surprisingly good vegetarian dish, especially if you add some of the hot sauce with oil. Our most recent good experience was with the Curry Tofu Delight. It was excellent.
You would be surprise by what you can do with the various sauces and spices on the buffet here. The buffet includes soup and is not limited to the ones that are out on the tables. For example, they have a vegetarian soup, but you will have to ask the waitperson to get it from the kitchen. It is nevertheless included in the fixed price of the buffet. The buffet table is often closed down between about 3:30 pm and 4:15 pm, for the transition between lunch and dinner.
They have a full bar. Their house white and red wines are fine by the glass. The house red is a cabernet and the house white is a riesling. But if you want something more upscale, you can order a bottle of the chardonnay or pinot noir. Neither is a bargain, but they are substantially better than the house wines.
Green Room Burgers & Beer
4010 Pennsylvania Ave
Kansas City, MO 64111
|The Green Room has among the best veggie
burgers in the KC area. They are on whole wheat
buns. Salads are very good, with clearly fresh
ingredients. The hummus preparation is spicy.
The fries are very good, but they do not have sweet potato
fries. The service was slow, but it was not the
fault of the server, who was excellent. The delays
were in the kitchen.
The restaurant is next to a comedy club, which is below a coffee shop in a large strip mall area, including Westport's supermarket, so has lots of parking space
Although they have more beer selections than wine choices, the wines by the glass are good ones at reasonable prices.
The Grille on Broadway
3605 Broadway St.
Kansas City, MO 64111
web site
upscale, expensive restaurant is in the Old Hyde Park area
on Broadway
near 36th St, about a block away from Cafe Trio. The
Grille on
Broadway has easy parking in an outdoor lot just behind
restaurant. You can get to the lot from 36th
St. The best
table in the restaurant is table #5 (by the mirrors),
although the
table next to the front window also is pleasant.
Since the
restaurant is rather small, getting a good table is a
plus. But
for the price, you are likely to be far happier at Cafe
The mahi mahi had the consistency of frozen fish, but the halibut was much better. I was particularly astonished with the "wine list." There was no written wine list. The waitress said she was the wine list, and rattled off wines without mentioning prices. When I started asking about prices, it became evident to me that the prices were negotiable. I've never before encountered negotiable wine bottle prices at any restaurant anywhere. Even in the Third World, restaurants have fixed prices for wine bottles. The Grille on Broadway is in the process of producing a real wine list, and perhaps the negotiable prices will soon end. But meanwhile, I must say I was not at all impressed by this restaurant,which hopefully will improve.
Harry's Bar & Tables
501 Westport Rd.
Kansas City, MO 64111
are Harry's bars all over the world, including Jerusalem,
Louis, Venice, Montreux (Switzerland), Paris, Rome,
Florence, London,
Singapore, Amsterdam, the KC River Market, and San
Francisco. The
name was first made
famous by Hemingway, when he wrote about the one in a
famous hotel in
(which bar, incidentally, is fabulous, but incredibly
Since the name is not franchised, any bar can use the
name. But
traditionally they tend to be innovative and sophiticated
bars. The Harry's Country Club in the River Market
does not fit
that image. While that one has an outstanding
selection of beers,
including some of the world's best Belgian beers, the
atmosphere is
country and the food pleasant but average and not
innovative. In
addition the Harry's Country Club in the River Market has
no upscale
wines, only a few very modestly priced house wines.
But the Harry's Bar in Westport does fit the image. I have so far tried the red bean hummus, Sato's guacamole, and the crab and shrimp cakes. All were unusually interesting and innovative in style. Also, as is fitting for a Harry's Bar, this one has some excellent wines by the glass, and they are priced at half price from opening to 7 pm each day (they open at 3 pm on weekdays and 5 pm on weekends). While this bar is not comparable to the awesome one that Hemingway loved, it does resemble some of the others. It most reminds me the one in Jerusalem. But while the Westport one is above ground with a great view of Westport Rd and a deck in back for outdoor dining and drinking, the one in Jerusalem (favored by Western media in the Middle East) is below ground with no sign and no way to know that it is there, unless someone has given you the address and you know where to go down the stairs to find the bar.
Now if they could come up with the Jerusalem Harry's famous navy bean soup....
Hamburger Mary's
101 SW Blvd.
Kansas City, MO 64108
of gay theme restaurants.
It is a lot of fun for everyone, and its customers are not
gays, although many of the waiters are. There are
even families
children who come to that restaurant. The novelty
may wear off,
as the chain spreads throughout the country, but the food
is good
enough to keep customers coming back. For example,
the falafel
patty in the Med burger was so large, that there is no way
to wrap the
pita bread around it. The bean burger also is very
large, so
easily can be served "naked" (without a bun), and still be
more than
enough. But if you are a vegan, you should not order
the bean
burger, which contains cheese. The tomato basil soup
is almost a
marinara sauce, so you
can order it as a dipping sauce. It does contain
some heavy
cream, but if you add Tobasco, it is really an excellent
sauce. The tuna is sushi grade. I ordered it
medium done here. To me, their medium-rare is more
like rare.
It's very good anyway. I got it
blackened with salad, but there are other choices with
that tuna,
including the sweet potato fries, that I'd probably
usually prefer
(without salt). Also they have a very good salad
avocado, sauteed mushrooms, and sauteed onions. They
also can
just double the amount of sauteed
vegetables that are already included with it, if you don't
want the
rice that usually is served with it. In fact the
vegetables are better than the sauteed mushrooms or
onions, so the
double portion is a better idea. They provide
with the tuna, and it is excellent.
There is a small amount of parking in a lot next to it and in front of it. The spots in front are very convenient, if you back into one, so you will not have to back out onto that street in traffic. The small lot just to the south of the restaurant also is fine. But since it is in the Crossroads area, parking sometimes can be somewhat difficult later in the evening. They previously offered wines by the glass at half price during happy hour. No more. In fact the cheap wines by the glass are overpriced. But the bottles are priced right. The house chardonnay and cabernet are better than the merlot (I like their cabernet better than their chardonnay). Some appetizers are half price during happy hour, including the fried green beans and fried pickles, which are surprisingly good (perhaps fried in a light oil). The cole slaw also is better than average, with a light sauce. The music tends to be loud, but it is part of that atmosphere.
There is entertainment on some evenings, beginning at 8 pm. The service is excellent, but we especially were impressed by the service from Melissa. The most comfortable seating is the booths, but on nights when there is entertainment, they remove the booths.
Hi-Dive Lounge
1411 W 39th St.
Kansas City, MO 64111
web site
|In the location of a
closed dive pizza joint, this place does not use the word
"dive" in that sense. In fact it is far from a dive
bar, as was immediately evident, when I walked in and saw
the bottles of quality wine and beer behind the bar.
Got a glass of Poggio Anima Asmodeus Italian red wine
blend. Any of the wines are available by the bottle
at four times the price of the price by the glass; but you
may have to explain that to the servers, who are not
always aware that they can sell bottles at four times the
price of a glass. Then I got a bowl of the soup of
the day, which was tomato basil. After I had added
some crushed red pepper to spice it up, the soup was
excellent. Another outstanding appetizer is the tofu
egg rolls, but the entrees are large enough so you can
skip the appetizers. Also got the shrimp salad,
which was really good, with surprisingly good
shrimp. But they have replaced that salad with an
even better one: their wonderful mushroom salad. Also they
have different dressings, if you don't want the usual
one. Their best dressing is the sundried tomato
dressing on the mushroom salad. The crispy polenta veggie skewers
excellent, but is only available in the evening, after the
regular chef arrives. The polenta is on the side, not on the
skewers. If you want something else, you could get a
small side salad. But the veggie skewers alone are
We also got a shot of Glenlivet 12 year old scotch and a martini. Both very good, but not bargain priced. The potato chips here are to die for (perhaps a good reason not to get them too often).
Yes, they have a pinball machine and TVs, but this is no dive bar. Hi-Dive is a neighborhood bar in the best sense of the term. If you want to avoid the crowded driving conditions on 39th St, there is a way to avoid it. Take 40th St. from State Line Drive. At Terrace St., take a left. You don't even need to look for the street sign to find that street. Just watch for the one way arrow sign at the intersection of 40th St. and Terrace St. There is a small lot on the left side of Terrace St. at the corner with 39th St.
The last time I was there, it was crowded and noisy with loud music.
2820 W. 53rd St
Fairway Shops
Roeland Park, KS 66205
Pitch review
this is part of the Houlihan's chain. So you know
that the
atmosphere is good, the seating comfortable (especially
the oval booths
in back), and the food ordinary. But we like the restaurant a lot. At present, all of their wine bottles are half price
on Tuesdays. This is a particularly
good deal, since their wines
are priced moderately by the bottle, even without the
The salad is not included with any of the entrees, and includes bacon and cheese. So if you order a salad, expect an upcharge and bacon and cheese. The vegetables that come with the entrees are adequate, so I rarely order a salad too. The dressing that they normally provide masks the flavors of the salad ingredients, which really are interesting. The grilled shrimp are especially good. I also really like the fire grilled salmon but I add olive oil onto it and substitute for the mashed potatoes. The tilapia is very good, if you like its somewhat unusual preparation here (not my favorite). The scallops are surprisingly good for the Midwest. I usually avoid them in Kansas and Missouri, but I like them here. The hummus small plate is good as an appetizer,but unnecessary, since the entrees are adequate as a dinner on their own.
All of the soups include chicken stock, including the tomato soup. If you are a vegetarian, avoid all of the soups, including the ones that might appear to be vegetarian.
Table 1 is a large table in the back corner by the fireplace. It is too large for a couple. But the next table, table 2, and the two after it, are good choices for privacy. My favorite is table 3. My second choice is table 2.
IPho Tower
3623 Broadway
Kansas City, MO 64111
|This excellent Vietnamese
restaurant is close to the Broadway Jazz Club, and shares the same
parking lot which is behind them. There also are a few spaces next
the the restaurant. Enter the lot from the Sprint Store parking
lot, just south of the restaurant. Alternatively you could enter
the lot from 36th St., but then you'd have to drive through the lot to
the far end of the lot to be behind iPho, which is south of the Broadway
Jazz Club on the same block.
IPho is exceptionally cooperative about changes. For example, unlike many Vietnamese restaurants in Kansas City, IPho offers vegetarian Pho. After adding a small amount of chili oil, we liked it a lot. If you want, they'll replace the noodles with bean sprouts. You can also ask them to add shrimp, but they'll then removed the tofu, unless you ask for that too. The house wines, including the chardonnay and the cab are fair, but the pour is generous. Either by the glass is fine or a bottle of the chardonnay is fine, but the more expensive wines are significantly better. Be aware that the more expensive Bouchard chardonnay is from France and is not oaked to the degree to which most Americans (including me) are accustomed and tend to prefer.
They'll serve the spring rolls without the meat that they usually include in it. The sweet potato and shrimp fritters were disappointing. They seemed like sweet potato fries in a batter with a few battered shrimp added. The grilled tofu appetizer is good, and enough for an entree, if you also get something else. They no longer have salmon on the menu.
The Vietnamese sandwich comes with one add on, such as the tofu or egg. You can get more than one, but there will be an upcharge. That sandwich is excellent and large (about the size of a "foot-long" Subway sandwich). The vegetarian sandwich with tofu is available at a discount during happy hour, ending at 6 pm.
The restaurant has both benches and individual chairs. Although both are padded, the individual chairs are more comfortable than the benches. At the last table, you can move one of the chairs to the end, if you don't want to look at the wall.
An excellent choice for two persons would be one veg pho with tofu and shrimp plus two tofu appetizers. In fact before 6 pm, the tofu appetizer is a bargain happy hour choice, as is the wonderful tofu Vietnamise sandwich.
719 Kansas Ave.
Kansas City, KS
|In Spanish, Jarocho means a
person from Veracruz, which is known for its seafood. This
restaurant's concept is interesting and admirable. They serve
exclusively Mexican seafood. As a pescatarian, I'd very much like
to see more restaurants adopting that concept.
When we first arrived, I was hesitant to park my expensive car in the restaurant's parking lot. The exterior of the restaurant and the location, across the street from a grain elevator, give the impression of a dive. But don't be discouraged by the exterior. The interior of the restaurant is very nice, but certainly not upscale. Throughout the time of our dinner, they were playing loud Cajun music on the sound system, not Mexican music. There were young children clapping to the music, running around, and playing in the restaurant. They were evidently the children of the owners or servers. Definitely not an upscale dining experience.
The food was interesting and good. We liked the stuffed fish (filete relleno) better than the steamed fish (filete Veracruz), which benefited from added hot sauce. Instead of the rice that comes with the fish, we had them substitute grilled zuchini. It was good.
But we were turned off by the price of the wines. They have a moderately priced house wine, Barefoot, priced one dollar a glass more than the same house wine at Johnny's. They also have a list of good wines by the bottle. The list does not include prices. If you ask for the prices of those wine bottles, you will find they would have been suitable for an upscale restaurant. Perhaps they think the novelty of the grain elevator across the street justifies the pretentious wine pricing in that low rent district? I don't think so. When I pay that kind of money for a bottle of wine, I expect much more of the dining experience than this modest, noisy restaurant has to offer. Relative to the many other excellent reviews of this restaurant, count us as "disappointed," despite the fact that we very much like the restaurant's concept.
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Jazz, A Louisiana Kitchen
1823 W 39th St.
Kansas City, MO
is the second restaurant of this Texas chain of Cajun
restaurants to
open in the Kansas City area. The other is in the
area. See the "Johnson County, Wyandotte County, and
South KC"
section for more about this chain. This restaurant
has live
entertainment in its back dining room every night starting
at 7
pm. The happy
hour is 3 - 6 pm on M-F,
with substantial discounts
on the appetizers, including the oysters. But they
get their
oysters only once a week: on Thursday. So
don't expect to
find any left on Wednesday. In fact the last of them
usually gone
by the end of the weekend. The best days for oysters
here are
Thursday and Fridays, with Thursday being a fantastic
deal. Not
only are the oysters at their freshest on Thursdays, but
the price
drops to even less than the happy hour price, and for all
day, not just
for happy hour. While listed as an appetizer on the
menu, you can
order enough for dinner (about 1 1/2 dozen will do it) at
the bargain
price on Thursday. If you are there after Thursday
after 7 pm,
you also can enjoy the live jazz. Can't beat that
for a
"deal." But the other fish (salmon, tilapia, and
catfish) usually
come in on Tuesdays and Fridays. So almost any day
of the week is
good for fish, with the possible exception of
There is no discount on wine during the happy hour, but the regular price of the house wine is always a bargain. Wine bottles are half price on Wednesdays, including the already inexpensive house wines. My favorite sauce is the lemon-pepper sauce. But if you are a vegetarian, you should be aware of the fact that they use chicken stock in that sauce. They don't use chicken or beef stock in any other sauce. Another sauce I like a lot is the "Pierre" sauce, but my preference is usually just the Louisiana hot sauce that is on the table. Lately it seems that the sea food in general has been especially good, including the salmon, tilapia, and shrimp. A really outstanding dish is their garlic seafood tilapia. You should be aware that it is in a butter sauce and is breaded, so you might want to ask for the same dish, but blackened instead of breaded; but the breaded version is excellent. My current preference here is blackened tilapia or blackend salmon with Pierre sauce or the Louisiana hot sauce and with sliced tomatoes and sweet potato fried. There is a charge for a side of the Pierre sauce, bnt not for the Louisiana hot sauce (which is maybe better). Also they have a veggie burger. They usually serve it with cheese, and it is not soy cheese (one waitperson told me otherwise, but not true). Those sweet potato fries are already seasoned, but not with much salt or anything else I'd want to minimize, so just right. There is a small upcharge for the sweet potato fries as a substitute, but worth it. In fact even as an additional side order, the price is reasonable. The sauce that usually comes with the salmon is a cream sauce that doesn't go well with blackening, but it contains shrimp. I ask for it to be on the side, so I can fish out the shrimp and avoid the sauce. The Cajun cole slaw is good. The sliced tomatoes are good. The side salad is big and they have no good dressings, so I am not a fan of the salads.
The cajun stir fry seems more Oriental than cajun, with a sauce based on soy sauce. But I like it a lot. A half order is a good side to go with whatever else you might order. In fact one of those half orders is likely to be larger than you might expect. Instead of the dirty rice, you might prefer the sweet potato salad. It's really good, so long as you don't mind the potato salad type preparation, which probably includes mayo, but not an excessive amount. The sweet potato fries are better. The Garlic Seafood Tilapia is good, as is its sauce. But it usually comes with a bread crumb coating. It's better if you ask for it to be blackened instead. The Tilapia with Devil Crab Stuffing is very good, but the sauce is a cream sauce, and the stuffing includes bread crumbs. I ask them to substitute the sauce from the Garlic Seafood Tilapia. I get the Cajun cole slaw and sweet potato fries with either.
The waiter we request, when he is there, is Olaf. He told us about a sauce that is not on the menu, and we like a lot. It is called "mamou." It is a very good tomato sauce. The chef uses it in various preparations, but you can ask for that sauce itself. Oddly as a separate sauce, it is not listed on the menu. The salmon Lafayette is among their best choices. It comes with a cream sauce containing two shrimp. I prefer to ask them to substitute the mamou sauce. They'll include the two shrimp in that sauce too, if you ask.
I really like the shrimp creole here. It comes in a light, spicy, healthy tomato sauce. Instead of the dirty rice, I get the veggies and drop them into the sauce. On Thursdays, I also get a half dozen oysters on the half shell, since they are very fresh on Thursdays. Also the band on Thursdays is excellent, but it is best to arrive before 6:30 pm to get a table on that evening, since the band starts at 7 pm.
MO Brew
1403 W 39th St.
Kansas City, MO 64111
web site
|I really wanted to like this
restaurant/bar/club, which is in a good location on 39th St., where
one restaurant after another has failed. Being the first sports
bar on the Restaurant Row, MO Brew is very welcome. But there are
some disappointments. Oddly it has no wines at
all. They do have beers, including seven beers on tap. Two
of them are particularly good choices: the KCBC Dunkel dark beer
and the Citradelic Indian pale ale. They also have a very good
selection of single malt scotch liquor, but they are hard to see, since
displayed high up on top of the cabinet containing the beer bottles and
beer cans. Another disappointment was their discontinuing of their
smoked salmon pizza, which I thought was a good choice.
The sweet potato fries are excellent. The white pizza is a worth a try. You can request it with the red sauce instead of the white sauce. It then becomes a conventional veggie pizza, and I like that better than the white pizza having no red sauce. But be aware that it has a cracker crust, not the traditional crust you would expect on Italian or New York pizza. If you are accustomed to folding pizza in accordance with the NY tradition, you will not be able to do that with the cracker crust.
If viewed as a sports bar, it is a good place to go to watch a game. There are lots of TVs, and suitably loud noise to accompany a game crowd.
McCoy's Public House
4057 Pennsylvania
Kansas City, MO 64111
web site
the best bar food in Kansas City, by a rather large
I have consistently been impressed by the freshness
of the
ingredients in all of their food. In addition, the
menu includes
an admirable number of vegetarian choices. Also they
have good
beers, which they brew themselves. I especially like
their India
Pale Ale and Unfiltered Wheat. I am less enthused
about their dry
stout. But the wine choices are a bit
odd. They have
moderately priced house wine, of moderate quality, and a
good choice of
better wines --- that are overpriced. So if you want
wine with
bar food, you are stuck either with a fair house wine or
better wines priced suitably for a fine dining restaurant,
which this
is not. The smart move is probably to order beer
with dinner, at
not too late an hour. But if you are there between 4
pm and 6 pm on a weekday (happy hour), the house wine
is $3 a glass, and well worth it.
Late in the evening on a weekend, this
restaurant can get very crowded.
I have enjoyed the Sake Salmon and the Moroccan Stir Fry. Both come with a glaze that is too sweet for my tastes. But you can tell them to skip the glaze and provide olive oil instead. The salmon is listed as Norwegian, but is farm raised. This is rather unusual, since most farm raised salmon is Atlantic salmon. It's typical quality farm raised salmon. It's fine, but don't get your hopes up for fresh Norwegian salmon. I request that it be wood fire grilled with cajon spices and olive oil instead of sake glazed.
427 Westport Rd.
Kansas City, MO 64111
Ichiban are Japanese restaurants that are (or have been) in
Westport on Westport Rd. I can only conclude that
Westport is not
a good place for Japanese restaurants. Ichiban is
closed. I
went to Matsu on a very hot day. It was hotter inside
restaurant than on the street. The waitress told me
there was
nothing wrong with the airconditioning, but it was very hot
out and
there was too much body heat inside (there were people at
only two
other tables). Someone brought food out from the
kitchen and
similarly said the airconditioning was working, but it was
really hot
in the kitchen. The waitress told me the heat
was "driving
me crazy." She offered to bring out ice.
Next time I want Japanese food, I'll go to Kabuki at Crown Center. At least the airconditioning is adequate there.
New Peking Chinese Restaurant
540 Westport Road
Kansas City, MO 64111
some of the best Chinese food in Kansas City.
As is necessary for fine Chinese food, the ingredients are
very fresh
and the sauces excellent. The menu is not very
especialy the lunch menu. The choices at dinner are
much better
than at lunch, but still tend to emphasize the Chinese
dishes that are
the most well known in the US. The dining room is
very pleasant
and comfortable with many booths. I especially like
the booths on
the upper level. The choice of authentic
Chinese teas is especially noteworthy. I especially
like the Hot
Plate Seafood Combination here, but I ask them to skip the
squid and
add more of the shrimp, scallops, abalone and
vegetables. The Eight Treasure Seafood is
similar. If you don't want fake crab included,
you'll need to tell them. A really big winner from
the authentic side of the menu is the Pipu Braised
Tofu. It is in a light batter, and includes no other
vegetables, but is really excellent! The
orange roughy with lemon sauce is fried in a batter and
large. The lemon sauce is OK, but nothing
special. Better yet is the sliced orange roughy in
black bean sauce. After adding chile souce, it is excellent.
seafood roll appetizer is fine. The spring rolls are
OK, but nothing special. The flounder is served with
bones, so probably not worth the trouble. The dried
fish and eggplant hot pot is enough for two. The eggplant is good,
but we did not like the salted dried fish. This
restaurant leans toward
Cantonese style dishes, but there are a few spicy ones on
menu. The traditional menu is at the back of the
Americanized one, so the choices are substantial.
The portions
are very large, so you won't likely need an appetizer,
unless you are
planning to take home enough for another meal.
The service here is always excellent, but there is one server who really stands out. Her name is Hong. Unfortunately she is not always here, but we ask for her. Other surprises are the quality of the seafood. The shrimp are especially excellent. The scallops do not match the same standards, but are much better than at most Chinese restaurants, and are very good. We've tried the scallops with garlic sauce, and we liked them. Usually those are breaded, but I had them prepared without the breading. The jade scallops are made in a ketchup sauce, so unavoidably contains a lot of sugar, so I have not tried it. They come with a tomato sauce and fewer vegetables, but may be worth trying. The double delight shrimp are excellent, including both a spicy sauce and a stir fry shrimp. But even the spicy version is very mild, so definitely ask for it to be made spicy and get extra chile sauce to add.
If you are a vegetarian, you'll have to inform the waitperson, since they use chicken stock in most sauces. But they are able to provide water-base sauces that are really first rate, if you make clear your preference. Also it is best to request no sugar added to get closer to an authentic Chinese sauce A good sauce that works well with water base is the garlic sauce or the garlic-ginger sauce. If this seems aukward to request, you may wish to consider the fact that in some places in China, it can be difficult to get waitpersons to understand that chicken stock and pork are not "vegetarian," unless you claim to be a Buddhist.
The house wine is available by the bottle at four times the price of the wine by the glass. It is OK.
There is a parking lot directly in front of the restaurant and a garage across the street. Unlike many Chinese restaurants, this one has good wine choices. The restaurant is across the street from Gold's Gym in Westport, and is usually open normal hours on all holidays, including Christmas day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Eve, but without reservations the line can be extreme. Instead go around the corner to Asian Fusion Buffet on those days. They have no wine or beer, but no wait. That buffet is near the supermarket in Westport.
Beer Kitchen
435 Westport Rd
Kansas City, MO 64111
restaurant evidently has the same ownership as the other
restaurants at this intersection. If you go into the Beer Kitchen
restaurants and order food to go, you will find an
up-charge on the bill for the cost of packing the food
to go. If you ask why, they'll complain about how
much it costs them to pack food to go. I would
never pay one penny for NOT using the restaurant's table
space, or the dining room overhead, or silverware, or
plates, or the restaurant's service. In Lawrence, one
restaurant tried to institute that practice, but stopped
when no one would pay the up-charge. I guess in
Lawrence people are too smart to put up with such an
The practice is an insult to the intelligence of its customers. If it were not for that, I'd be a big fan of this restaurant. The Beer Kitchen is very innovative, interesting, and vegetarian friendly. Evidently the owner figures that KC diners are getting smarter about their food choices, but remain gullible about billing tricks.
900 West 39th St
Kansas City, MO 64111
Owner's personal phone: 913-461-4828
Owner is Joe Perez
|This restaurant is in a location where many
restaurants have failed, although the location is
excellent, with one of the best parking lots in the 39th
St. area. This lot is a few blocks east of
restaurant row. While I am less than sympathetic
with the failure of some of the restaurants that have been at this
location, I do believe that this one has real potential.
The walls of this restaurant are covered with the impressive art of Alexander Austin. The paintings are huge and impressive. Also the sound system providing music to the restaurant is first rate. You have to come to this restaurant to appreciate the atmosphere of the dining room.
The current menu is for the new restaurant's opening. Much more is planned. We have had the house salad, the caprese salad, the hummus, the veggie market pizza, and the Margherita pizza. We were very happy with everything, including the service. The wine options had improved dramatically. All of the wine bottles are priced the same, and all of the wines by the glass are priced the same. The prices are reasonable and the wines are very well chosen. So far we have tried the chardonnay, the pinot noir, and the Italian merlot. All are excellent. We got the margherita pizza, but the veggie Market pizza was better . We also got the hummus. It was good, and the pitas were made by the restaurant from the ingredients used to make the pizza crust.
Minsky's Pizza
3063 Southwest Blvd at 31st St
Kansas City, MO 64108
|This restaurant is in
the location of the former Latin American
restaurant, Poco's, which sadly is gone. I was pleasantly
surprised by this Minsky's. I had not been to one since the one on
39th St., which I did not like at all. Clearly Minskys' have
changed since then, and not all of them are the same. This one is
very good.
We especially liked the tabbouleh salad, which is not available at all of the Minsky's. For example, the Lawrence Minsky's does not have it. We also liked the Caesar salad with shrimp added. We very much enjoyed the Nature's Choice pizza with the Minsky's original thin crust. In addition, unlike the Minsky's formerly on 39th St., this one has a full bar including many choices of beers and wines.
We liked the Minsky's original crust, in its thin version, very much. But they have others that I find rather puzzling. For example, they do have whole grain crust, which has significant health benefits over crust made with refined flour. But oddly, Minsky's whole grain crust is only available with honey included in it. Including honey in whole grain crust completely negates the health benefits of the whole grain. The also have Diaya diary free cheese. We have not tried it. We had the mozzarella cheese, which was fine, but not imported from Italy. It is from Wisconsin. Next time we'll try the nondairy cheese.
The restaurant has discounts on wine on Wednesdays, but the nature of the discounts is a mystery evidently not completely understood by anyone who works there. The drink menu says that the house wine bottles are priced at $5 on Wednesdays, while all other bottles are priced at a $5 discount off of the list price on the menu. When I asked the server, she didn't understand, so brought out someone else, who said that on Wednesdays the house wines are not at $5 per bottle, but $5 off the bottle price. I asked why the house wine discounts are listed separately, if all bottles are $5 off. She then said that normally the discount is only on the house wine. The other discounts were special only on today, which is a wine holiday occurring only once a year. She then told me what the usual price on the house wine is on Wednesdays, and she quoted a price that was $9 off list, not $5 off list, and not $5 for the bottle. Meanwhile I looked elsewhere on the menu, and found the exact same information for all Wednesdays, not just today. In short, the servers, although clearly very well meaning, seemed to be entirely clueless about what the Wednesday wine discounts are.
The Wednesday wine discount pricing seemed like a carnival shell game. She assured me it would be straightened out. I hope so. I like this restaurant. Meanwhile, if you drive to nearby Artego Pizza on 39th St., you can get half off on any wine bottle on Wednesdays, and their servers do know what they are talking about.
Pie Five Pizza Co.
534 Westport Rd
|This chain's concept is similar
to Topp'd. At both, you walk along a line, make your choices,
they create the pizza, bake it, and you have it in about 5 minutes, if
the line is not long. But there are differences. In terms of
healthy choices, Pie Five makes it easy. You can go online,
experiment with various combinations of crust, cheese, sauce, and
toppings and immediately see the resulting calories, carbs, sugars,
sodium, etc. In fact I was rather surprised by what I sometimes
found. I went there and ordered the combinations that I had found
online to be unusually healthy. Indeed it was ready rapidly.
But don't expect pizza comparable to what you would find at a restaurant having a brick oven and seeking to match what you might find in Naples. In fact, even the pizza at Tapp'd tastes better than the pizza at Pie Five --- much better. In short, if you want fast healthy pizza, you won't be able to do better than Pie Five anywhere, especially if you do a bit of experimentation with the online choices. But if you want the best tasting pizza, forget about the calories, carbs, sugars, and sodium and the time taken to bake the pizza in a brick oven, and go elsewhere.
On the other hand, since all Pie Five Pizzas are priced the same, you might as well add lots of toppings, cheeses, and sauces. That might really pick it up. While you're at it, try the Caesar side salad. It's really good here. In fact I liked it better than the pizza. Also they house salad is very good.
We've tried a few combinations of choices for the pizza. This is the one we prefer: thin whole grain crust, tuscan Marinara sauce (with a lot extra), vegan cheese (also with extra scoop), spinach, minced garlic, grape tomatoes, mushrooms, red onions, red and green peppers, green and black olives, crushed red pepper, and magic dust (two Italian cheese types and spices in a shaker). I like also to add fresh basil and chopped cilantro, but they are large leafs adding a strong taste you might not like.
Port Fonda
4141 Pennsylvania
Kansas City, MO 64111
|This Mexican restaurant
in Westport has one of the most uninformative web pages
I've ever seen. The page is a photograph of one of
the restaurant's walls. There is no information at
all on the page, other than a very small link to the
restaurant's Facebook page, which similarly contains very
little information. So if you want to see the
restaurant's menu, don't bother looking. It is not
The restaurant is not stereotypical Tex Mex, but is similar to many of the newer Mexican restaurants in the big cities of Texas, as along 6th St. in Austin. In fact stereotypical Tex Mex food is now at least as popular outside Texas (e.g., in Paris, France) as inside Texas.
The vegetarian tacos are really excellent. I haven't tried the veggie fajitas, but I'd guess they also are very good. The guacamole is another winner. In terms of seafood, the oyster tacos are worth a try, but be aware that the oysters are deep fried. The seafood soup (chilpachole) is another good choice. If you are a vegetarian or pescatarian for health reasons, you will likely enjoy the restaurant. But if you are a vegetarian or pescatarian for ethical reasons, you will not likely be happy here at all. There are paintings of violence against animals on the walls and windows, and many of the selections that you will see on the menu are likely to offend you. In that case, you will probably be much happier walking across the street to the Thai Place Grill.
The wine choices are minimal, including a few kinds by the glass, not including chardonnay or pinot noir, and not listing the prices by the bottle. You'll need to ask to be quoted a price by the bottle. Unlike most Mexican restaurants in KC, there are no cheap wines. Figure on about $30 a bottle for the few choices they have available.
They open for dinner at 5 pm, right around the time that parking starts to become difficult in that part of Westport. But once you get there, you will find that the service is excellent. Our server was Josh, and the service could not have been better.
|Po's Dumpling Bar
1715 W 39th St.
Kansas City, MO
Its web site
excellent Circe restaurant,
which previously had been at this location, has
closed. It now is
Po's Dumpling Bar, which has excellent Oriental
food. I was
particularly impressed by the steamed dumplings that
are comparable to
those in the best restaurants in Beijing. Also the
hot chile sauce that
you can request on the side is much better than
usually available in
Kansas City. It reminds me of the XO sauce
that is available in
the best restaurants in Hong Kong.
|[format (stage=11;
904 Westport Road
suggested by its name, this restaurant has a "down home"
theme, as
evidenced by the country and western music they often play
on their
sound system and the one pot pie that is always on the
menu. But
don't be fooled. This no place for chicken fried
steak or other
typical country food. In fact it is a very good
restaurant with
very good food. But it is not secret, as evidenced
by how crowded
this enjoyable restaurrant often is, especially on
weekends. I
especially like the fish and shellfish here. The
scallops are
served only for dinner, but the mussels and one fish are
usually served
both at lunch and dinner. The lunch portions are
smaller than the
dinner portions, but much less expensive. A lunch
entree plus a
side salad is a great deal. In fact the house salad
is garden
fresh and hard to beat. The preparations use more
butter and less
olive oil than I like, but still really good. What
surprises me here is how fresh the sea food is, including
the mussels,
which usually disappoint me in KC, but not here.
Its location is right next door to Bluestem. They share a small parking lot behind the two restaurants. I've heard that you alternatively can park in the Sonic Parking lot in the evening when the Sonic is closed at 5 pm. The Sonic is on the other side of Roanoke Street from Bluestem and PotPie, all three being along Westport Road at Roanoke. Alternatively, there is a large parking lot at the Old Westport Plaza just west of the SW Trafficway about 2 blocks of the restaurant, if you don't mind crossing the SW Trafficway on foot.
PotPie does not close between lunch and dinner, but they do not switch from the lunch to the dinner menu until about 4:45 pm. Lunch from Tuesday to Friday is 11 am - 4:45 pm. Dinner from Tuesday to Thursday is 5 pm - 10 pm, and Friday and Saturday 5 pm - 11 pm (but usually available at 4:45 pm). Closed Sundays and Mondays.
All of the chairs are padded, but still rather hard and not that comfortable, except for the benches by the window on the raised "stage." There is a small 2-top table there (table 11) and a comfortable 4-top (which is tables 12 and 13 normally pushed together). The latter is the best in the restaurant. If you are alone, there is a bar area, which is pleasant and not a problem.
100 W. 39th St.
Kansas City, MO
|This BBQ restaurant has an
award winning chef. In fact an entire wall is covered with his
awards. Clearly the chef deserves all those awards, since the food
is excellent. But there are two quirks to this restaurant.
All of the seating is wooden chairs without cushions. While that
is fine for lunch, it is not conducive to relaxed evening dining.
The wine list is a bit pricey for a BBQ restaurant, even one with such
excellent food. So I asked whether there is a house
wine. I was told yes, and the waiter pointed to one of the wines
on the wine list. But it was not the least expensive wine on that
list. The Round Hill Merlot was, so I ordered a bottle of the
Round Hill Merlot. The house wine is not the least
expensive? That's a new one on me. I wonder what this
restaurant's definition of "house wine" is.
The salmon is excellent, and the veggie burger is fine. The mixed vegetables include a lot of corn, but are good, and the cheese fondue is very good, especially if you ask them to provide sliced cucumbers.
Rhythm & Booze
423 SW Blvd
Kansas City, MO 64108
is a genuinely interesting bar that merits support by its
customers. I was told that they have stopped serving
lunch, since
they weren't getting enough business at lunch. But
it has only
been in business at that location for a few month, so
hopefully its
business will pick up and will succeed.
This bar has a very good bar atmosphere and environment. I liked it. Also the ingredients that they use in the food on the menu are very good, although there is nothing upscale about the preparations. I got the fried cod sandwich and liked it a lot. That surprised me, since I usually do not like fried fish sandwiches. Instead of using the mayo that comes with it, I asked for the horse radish mustard. You get a surprisingly large number of options for the side that comes with it. That really impressed me, since many restaurants give you a choice of one vegetable or nothing (without an unwelcome upcharge, which always rubs me the wrong way). The brussel sprouts are really good. The next time I was there, I got the fish tacos. We both liked them a lot. But they come with cole slaw that contains too much mayo. You might want to request a substitute. Also they have hot sauces varying from "wimpy" to "el diablo." You might want to use very little of the el diablo, but the one called "hot" is fine with me, if you get enough of it.
The bar choices are limited, but fine. They have the same house wine as Hamburger Mary's about a block away. The cabernet is better than the merlot here. The chardonnay also is fine. They do not have wine by the bottle.
Parking in this area by the Crossroads Art District can be tricky. There are many lots, but you need to know which ones you can use. There is one right next to this bar. But you should not use it, since it is owned by a different business. There is a huge lot directly behind Rhythm & Booze. You can use it, and you can enter the bar directly from that lot through the bar's back entrance. But to get to it, you will need to drive around the block and continue to the lot that is up against the bridge behind Union station. Be careful to avoid the smaller lots that have signs limiting parking to other businesses. In short there is an exceptionally large amount of free parking available for this bar, but you need to know where it is. The restaurant is on a corner. You easily can get to the large lot by making a right at the corner from Southwest Blvd coming from the south, just before the restaurant, and then a left into the alley just past the restaurant into the large parking lot behind the restaurant.
Rhythm Lounge
3535 Broadway
Kansas City, MO 64111
Kansas City on the map! If you are accustomed to
really big
cities, like New York City and Paris, you will appreciate
club/restaurant/bar. It is located where Trio
was. There is a multilevel garage directly behind
it, with the
entrance immediately to the north of the entrance.
The decor is
upscale, the live entertainment is excellent (currently on
Friday and
Saturday evenings starting at 8 pm), the small plates
provide good food
(although a surprising number of the menu entries were not
and the full bar is what you would expect in a fine
lounge. On
Wednesday evenings the wine is half price. People in
the know,
drive to the upper levels of the garage and back into a
space, since it
is a tight garage and can be hard to exit otherwise.
But there are puzzles. It was written up in Ink on October 7, 2009. The article was titled "This sexy jazz spot keeps a low profile." The article mentioned that there is no sign on the front, no web site, and no advertising for this jazz lounge. It is located in the historic Old Hyde Park area, which has not so far done well at making its expected comeback, other than the Uptown Theater across the street a few blocks away. There still is no sign on the front of the Rhythm Lounge, no web site, and no advertising. There is a Facebook page and a very large number of Facebook fans.
When I went there, the owner walked over to me and asked whether I lived in the neighborhood and had walked there. No, I do not live in that neighborhood. I can see why, with no sign in front, he might have thought I lived in the neighborhood. Perhaps many of the customers do. But I am sure many do not. There are far too many Facebook fans to be from that neighborhood.
The customers are very different from those who previously had patronized Trio in that location. Those customers were from the burbs and mostly had driven long distances to get there. Now they do not have to drive so far, since Trio has moved to the Plaza. In contrast, the customers in Rhythm Lounge are mostly upscale African Americans and interracial couples. Did I feel out of place there, being one of the very few white people in the Lounge, other than the servers? Not a bit. I loved it there. I'll be back.
There is an entrance from the garage directly into the lounge, so in bad weather you need not even walk outdoors. If you arrive after the entertainment starts at 8 pm on Friday or Saturday, seating may be limited. I did notice many reserved signs on the best tables. But there were a few other tables available and a few seats still available at the bar.
Now I know that Kansas City has made the big time. It's no longer necessary to drive to the historic Jazz District to be among the sophisticates, who know what they are doing with their nightlives. If you are in that neighborhood, are accustomed only to small towns, and have bad taste, go across the street a few blocks away to Chubby's. You'll feel right at home. If you have good taste, go to the Rhythm Lounge.
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Room 39
1719 West 39 Street
Kansas City, MO 64111
web site
10561 Mission Road
Leawood, KS 66206
39, named after the location of its primary location on
39th St, is arguably the
best restaurant on the 39th St. Restaurant Row. But
it has its problems, not the least of which is its
There is another location in Leawood. In addition to the fact that the quality of the food, preparations, and service are first rate, this restaurant has an unusually well selected wine list. For example, if you like white wine at a reasonable price and without the woody taste of American chardonnays, this restaurant offers Cuvee Centenaire Domaine Lafage Cotes Due Roussillon at a moderate price. On the other hand, if you are "politically incorrect" on this matter and actually like American Chardonnays (as I do), you might prefer those on the list at similar prices and qualities. In short, you can find on this wine list whatever you like and at reasonable prices.
While the seafood selections on this menu are limited, they are genuinely fresh. This is among the few restaurants where I can order entrees prepared exactly as described on the menu --- with no requested changes at all. This restaurant can be excellent.
Oh, and there are other positives here: the walls are covered with excellent local art, and there is a parking lot about two doors to the east on the south side of the street (at the 39th St. location). I also like the recorded music on their sound system.
Now for the negatives. There are no booths or tables that provide privacy. All of the tables in this small restaurant are close together. Also the chairs are wooden without padding. The service is variable. In short, they need a larger dining room with more comfortable seating for a restaurant of this quality. To make matters worse, the last time we were there, most of the restaurant was empty, but we were told that the only available table was the least desirable table in the restaurant. In fact, we first were offered a better table, but when I agreed to it, the hostess changed her mind. I am not accustomed to being treated that way and did not like it. We immediately left for Thomas, which always treats us right.
Unlike many of the other restaurants on 39th St that open for dinner at 5 pm or earlier, this one opens at 5:30 pm.
Rudy's Tenampa Tacqueria
1600 Westport Rd.
Kansas City, MO 64111
are from the Southwest and don't think that the Mexican
in Kansas City meet your expectations, then try this
one. Rudy's
was the first to bring fish tacos in Kansas City.
They are good,
but a big chunk of fish in a tortilla easily can break
They would be better, if they cut up the fish into smaller
pieces. But the shrimp tacos are better, although
expensive. I've also tried the quatro taquitos, and
I was
impressed. I was very impressed. But the
restaurant is
small, so you might want to try it at an off hour, when it
is easier to
get a table.
They are very willing to accomodate different preferences. I said I did not want rice or refried beans. They gave me the whole beans I wanted and substituted a fourth shrimp taco plus more lettuce for the rice I didn't want; and those tacos are wrapped in real corn tortijas, instead of the deep fried flour tortijas used by the chains. The side of grilled vegetables is very good. Two shrimp tacos plus whole beans and grilled vegetables makes a good lunch. The hot sauce is the real thing, so there is no need to ask also for habaneros. In fact, if you do, there will be an upcharge, and they will be extremely hot. Also they have their own parking lot next door on Westport Rd. But there isn't an entrance to it from Westport Rd. Also you cannot make a right turn onto the street on the side of the lot, since it is a one way street. You will have to drive past the restaurant and make a right onto the next street (Wyoming) and then into the parking lot. But better yet, when you get to Wyoming, make a left from Westport Rd into the parking lot on the other side of the street. It is a large parking lot associated with the Emanuel Church. The restaurant has arrangements to permit its customers to park in that large lot.
While not "interior-Mex," Rudy's is a match for the Tex-Mex, California-Mex, or New-Mexican-Mex that you might expect in the Southwest. They have four booths that are very comfortable. One is a large oval one.
Now for the down side. They have no wine by the bottle. The house wine by the glass is OK, but the price is not a bargain, unlike the house wines at most Mexican restaurants. They up charge left and right for almost any change. For example, if you ask for tortillas instead of chips, they will upcharge. If you ask for a change in a side that comes with the entree, they'll upcharge. If you don't want rice, since it contains chicken stock, you may be disappointed. They put rice in the shrimp tacos and in who knows what else. So just saying you don't want rice is not enough. You'll probably end up with some in your entree anyway. So what is my view on balance? Negative.
Sabor y Sol
542 SW Blvd.
Kansas City, KS 66103
new restaurant has opened at the location of the former
Sol Azteca,
which closed as a result of labor disputes. I was at
the new
restaurant two days after it opened. They have
renovated the
restaurant extensively, and it now is very attractive with
comfortable booths, including some by big windows with a
view or the
nearby grain elevator (if that grabs you). The food
was really
good, and they can do things that are not on the
menu. For
example, the only beans they list on the menu are refried
beans (very
unhealthy). But they have excellent vegetarian black
The service was amazingly confused, but this was only
their second
day. It may take a few weeks for them to get their act
together, but I am confident they will.
With such a good menu, excellent food, large parking lot,
attractive dining room, this Mexican restaurant is a very
addition to an otherwise rather unattractive part of
Blvd. I especially liked the excellent tilapia
and the guacamole ranchero.
I was a bit puzzled by a sign on the entrance door, saying that Yelp loves the restaurant. It had not yet been reviewed by Yelp in its new incarnation. Perhaps the sign was based on reviews of the former Sol Azteca. But I read that Sabor y Sol has a different owner from the former Sol Azteca, so that sign seems a big odd. No problem. I am sure that as more and more Yelpers try the new Sabor y Sol, the current somewhat premature sign will become entirely accurate. It is a sure winner.
1403 W 39th St.
Kansas City, MO 64111
of former Szechuan House. Specializes in burrits and
tacos in
shell flour tortillas. No seafood, so no shrimp or
tacos. But if you are a vegetarian, you can do
surprisingly well
here. They have three vegetarian plates, including
burrito, bean burrito, and grilled Mexican veggies.
I like the
veggie burrito and the grilled Mexican veggies. If
you want
the veggies grilled on a skillet, so not on a surface used
with meat,
they'll do it. The Mexican rice contains chicken
stock, but you
can substitute white rice or black beans. I went
with the beans,
and they are very good. I also got a side of
Oddly the only beans listed on the menu are refried beans,
but they
have black beans, if you request. The flour
tortilla's here are
much better than the corn tortilla's, which are the kind
used to
taco shells (resemble cardboard). The flour
tortillas are very
thin, so you'll not likely want to try to pick up one of
flour tortilla
burritos. But they are excellent, if eaten with
knife and
fork. Don't change to the corn tortillas here.
Their regular salsa is very mild, so I also got their hot sauce. The two combined are good. They don't yet have a liquor license, and estimate that they won't for about 45 days.
Grill & Wine Bar
1809 W. 39th St.
Kansas City, MO 64114
web site
|This restaurant has closed. It appears
that it will be replaced by a BBQ restaurant (groan).
Sung Son
Vietnamese Bistro
4116 Pennsylvania Ave.
Kansas City, MO
my opinion, this is the best buy in Vietnamese food in
the Kansas City
Area, and among the better restaurants in the Westport
area. Sung Son is
open Mon - Sat 11 am - 10 pm and Sunday noon - 9
pm. In addition,
as is common in the U. S. , Vietnamese food tends to
be a bargain, so
you can get an enjoyable meal here at a very modest
This is an exceptionally vegetarian friendly restaurant. The menu includes an entire page of vegetarian dishes, and all on that page are genuinely vegetarian (no chicken stock). The Canh Chua Chay soup is wonderful and enough for two persons. It contains tamarind spice, which is excellent. Be careful about adding extra spice to this soup, since you easily can overwhelm the subtle flavor of the tamarind spice. The Dan Hu Sot Ca is not spicy, even though the menu says it is. In addition, it is a bit sweeter than I'd prefer. The Gia Xao Dau Hu is not at all spicy, but has a delicate flavor that is improved by addition of the hot sauce that is always supplied in a bottle, or their own chile sauce, that you will have to request. They call it hot oil. The Vanh Cuon Chay in steamed rice crepes is unusual, and worth a try. It is a full meal, despite its modest price. It could be shared as an appetizer, but is too much as an appetizer for one, despite its modest price. The Dan Hu Cai Xao in brown souce is listed as a Vietnamese dish and is fine, but seems about the same as many common Chinese dishes in brown sauce, so not at all unusual. There are so many choices that you are sure to find some you will like. They also have many seafood choices. I've tried the Ca Sot Ca Chua (salmon with garlic tomato sauce with basil). The salmon is only fair and the sauce is sweeter than I prefer. Although they provide rice with most dishes, you can request rice noodles instead, and their rice noodles are worth requesting. The spring rolls (Goi Cuon Chay) are very good.
Parking is somewhat difficult on that part of Pennsylvania Ave., south of Westport Road, but there are nearby parking lots on Pennsylvania Ave north of Westport Blvd. Also there is a lot behind Streetside Records on Broadway, only a block away.
4730 Rainbow Blvd.
Westwood, KID 66205
Taj Palace
1706 West 39th St.
Kansas City, MO 64111
food uses some of the world's most interesting spices, and
healthy ingredients --- with two exceptions: the use
of coconut
oil widely in south India and the use of ghee (clarified
butter) in
north India, both being highly saturated oils. But
the Taj Palace
uses neither. Instead they use vegetable oils.
I love this
Their curry sauce is especially outstanding. They do not use curry powder. They make their own curry sauce, and chop up fresh spices, some acquired from Chicago. I request the curry dishes prepared "spicy," which is just right for me (on their scale of spice, that is #7 spice level). In fact that is my preferance with everything on the menu. But you might prefer "moderately spicy" (level #5 on the spice scale). The tandoori dishes also are excellent here, since they have a genuine tandoor oven. But the sauce they usually use on their tandoori dishes are somewhat more sweet and not spicy enough for my tastes. However, they are happy to provide alternative preparations to your tastes. The curry sauce is excellent on the tandoori dishes. If you like very spice sauces, try the vindaloo sauce. Although both the vindaloo and the curry sauces may appear to have tomato base, the curry sauce's red color comes from the paprika in the sauce. The vindaloo sauce does have a tomato base. Never ask for vindaloo "extra spicy" or "very spicy," since vindaloo sauce is always very spicy, since it contains vinegar. Also avoid vindaloo sauce, if you don't want potatoes, since potatoes are often added to dishes that include vindaloo sauce.
The ingredients are sometimes not exactly as on the menu. For example, the vegetarian baingan bhurtha (baked egg plant) sometimes includes potatoes, even though not mentioned on the menu. But this is not normal for this excellent dish, and probably resulted from the fact that I requested substitution of vindaloo sauce, which often is served on dishes including potatoes. The shrimp mushroom is very good but seems to have changed under the latest owner. The shrimp bhuna also is very good, and includes vegetables in the sauce. For a change, you might want to try the chholle saag (chick peas with spinach) aand the dal makhni (black lentils). They have a different kind of preparation that seems somewhat creamy, and indeed they both contain dairy. But they are happy to prepare it without dairy, if that is your preference. Similarly the mushroom mattar makni (mushrooms and peas) comes with a cream sauce, but you can request that it be changed to the curry sauce, if you are a vegan. It's excellent either way. I especially like the fish curry, which contains bite size chunks of catfish in their outstanding curry sauce. But the sauce contains no vegetables. If you request the chutney spice tray, that helps. But you might want to ask for vegetables to be added to the sauce or order a side order of a vegetable dish to go with the fish curry. While I usually don't like okra, the bhindi masala (spiced okra) is surprisingly excellent.
In addition to having Taj Mahal beer, which I consider to be among the world's best, they have a reasonable wine list. Their wine bottles are a better buy than their glasses. The Kendall Jackson chardonnay wine is a good match for spicy Indian food (and less filling than beer), despite the controversies about " overly woody" American chardonnays with European foods. After dinner, I order the Indian tea (chai). It contains dairy and interesting spices. If you prefer the vegan version, you can request it without the dairy. In fact the flavor of the spices is even more evident without the dairy.
Most dishes are served with a large dish of basmati rice, which is among the world's best and most healthy kinds of rice. The tandoori dishes are served with nan instead. But personally I prefer the whole wheat flour tandoori roti bread to either the rice of the naan, and I often request that substitute. I always start with a soup. The muligatany soup is excellent and is a famous Indian soup. But you might want to try the lentil soup, which I like even better (spice level #7 for my preference). The tomato soup contains dairy and is good, but you can request it without the dairy, if you wish. I find the other two soups to be more interesting.
At lunch, they offer a buffet. You also can order from the menu at lunch, but some items on the menu are only available at dinner. For example, the roti whole grain bread is available at lunch, but the prantha whole wheat bread with spinach or cauliflower is usually available only at dinner. On the other had, partha bread usually contains much oil and often butter, but roti (especially if you make clear that you do not want butter) is a very healthy whole grain choice.
Unlike many Asian restaurants, this one is not open continuously all day. They have separate hours for lunch and dinner. They begin serving dinner at 5 pm. If you are looking for an earlier dinner, then there are other restaurants on 39th St. that are open all day.
They are closed on Tuesdays.
Our most recent experience here was terrible. We asked for the remaining Roti bread to be wrapped to include with our take-out food. The server picked it up with his hands, wrapped it in paper, and put it into the take-out box ---- with his hands on the Roti!!!
Taqueria Mexico
3300 Rainbow Blvd.
Kansas City, KS 66103
restaurant, at the corner of Rainbow and Southwest Blvd in
Midtown is
part of a chain providing an excellent collection of
choices of Mexican
food. If you are there at lunch, make sure to look
at the back of
the menu, that includes lunch selections. Regarding
their seafood
soups, I much prefer their shrimp soup to their fish soup,
contains only chunks of catfish including bones and
skin. But the
shrimp soup is rather bland and boring too.
They have an especially nice outside covered patio, with two unusually comfortable tables along with other more routine metal tables and chairs.
There are some new additions to the menu that we really liked: the tostadas de ceviche is excellent, on an open face toasted taco shell. You can pick it up with two hands. Alternatively, you could ask for it to be on a regular corn tortilla, so you could wrap it. The chile rellenos are good, and rather unusual, because of the kinds of cheese they use.
What's conspicuously missing from the menu is black beans. They have refried beans. The only whole beans they have include pork. They do not have vegetarian black beans.
Also the wines by the glass are fair at the reasonable prices and large pours. The restaurant can be very noisy. The most comfortable area is the back room, which also has more comfortable chairs. If they will permit you to sit there, go for it.
Thai Place Grill
4131 Pennsylvania
Web site
best times to try this restaurant are during their happy
hours, from 3
- 6 pm on Monday - Friday. They offer discounts on
appetizers and
$2 off on all of their wines by the glass, although none
of their wines are cheap. On Wednesdays, all wine
bottles are half off. Otherwise, as Thai
restaurants go, this is not an inexpensive restaurant.
This excellent Thai restaurant is one of five in a local chain. For more informaton about it, see the "Johnson County, Wyandotte County, and South KC" section. Among the surprises at this very enjoyable restaurant is a well chosen wine list.
Among the highlights on the menu is the volcano soup, which is a very good Thai soup. But if you are a vegetarian, you should check whether they are using chicken stock in the soup. A year ago, they were. But recently I've been told they are using vegetable stock. Check anyway. Unless you tell them to make it spicy, it will be very mild and you will need to add spice. In terms of seafood, the best choice in this restaurant is the scallops. Their crab meat is the imitation kind. They have fresh fish choices, but usually only on weekends. They have many stir fry choices. We've tried the spicy ginger, spicy garlic, and Thai spicy stir fries. We like the spicy garlic best so far, with the garlic pepper second, but there are others. Between the spicy basil seafood and the spicy seafood lemongrass, I like the latter one better. But they don't use as much lemongrass in that preparation as I'd prefer. They provide a large scoop of rice with everything. If you don't want the rice, you might see if they will substitute something else. They do not have brown rice. They say that they do not use chicken stock or beef stock in any of their sauces, which use soy sauce, seafood stock, and vegetable stock. But unfotunately that might not necessarily be the case with all of their soups.
The Thai Place has its own parking lot next to the restaurant (on the south of the restaurant) on Pennsylvania St, but it is a rather small lot. There is another one just north of the restaurant, but it is usually full after 6 pm. There is another lot just past it, but it is only for the stores that surround that lot, except when the stores are closed. Continuing further south on Pennsylvania, the street becomes a dead end. But in the evening, parking near the dead end is a possibility. Perhaps the easiest place to park nearby is the lot behind the former Streetside Records on Broadway, only a block away, but be careful about the end of the lot that has private parking signs.
Regarding spice level, they offer four choices, numbered from 1 to 4. I recommend level 3, called spicy. I sometimes add my own choice of additional spice to level 3 from their tray of four kinds of spice. Level 4 is called Thai hot, and is too hot for me.
1815 W. 39th St.
Kansas City, MO 64111
web page
AOL web site
restaurant is back! This restaurant had been among my
favorites, but drifted downhill for a few months.
Their best server, Aaron, left. In addition, the wine
prices were increased, but not reflected in the restaurant's
web page, which continued offensively to list the prior
lower prices. I was less than pleased and stayed
away. Well, Aaron is back --- now as a manager.
The wine list is improved, and there are no longer any
discrepancies between the online wine list and the one in
the restaurant. Thomas now is better than ever.
The secco sparkling wine is a good buy and the Benegas
Chardonnay/Sauv. blend is an even better choice. Also
they have a reasonably priced pinot noir.
This neighborhood restaurant on the 39th St. Restaurant Row can be a very pleasant place to stop for good food and entertainment. You either can order from their entrees or from their small plates. In either case, they are happy to make changes to your tastes. The sauce that I especially like here is the olive oil and garlic sauce that they serve with their bruschetta. They'll substitute it for whatever they usually provide on any of their other dishes. I also request a small amount of their diablo (marinara) sauce on the side plus some crushed red paper, to add spice. Also they have very fresh vegetables, and I often request substitution of their mixed vegetables for the rice or potatoes included with many of their entrees. Here the mixed vegetables are first rate. Also the spinach is excellent, especially with the olive oil and garlic sauce. As an appetizer, I like their hummus, but I ask them to substitute slices of fresh green and red peppers for the pita bread. Outstanding.
They are happy to make things to order. I often request blackened scallops with spinach or blackened shrimp with spinach. On the other hand, their usual preparation of scallops is really excellent. But if you don't want meat in your sauce, don't get that sauce. They are very cooperative with requests, and they do have good quality shrimp and scallops. The scallops come in on Mondays and Thursdays, and on those days the scallops are as good as it gets in the Midwest.
On many evenings they have a pianist, Vince Cook, who can play anything on a list of hundreds of songs, currently close to 1000. He often slightly mumbles some of the words (who could get all the words right for a thousand songs?), but he gets the music right and has a pleasant singing voice: great background music for dinner. You can request any of the songs on his amazingly long list. Thomas's has a rooftop deck that is open in good weather, but smoking is permitted on that deck.
If you want to add spice to any of their preparations, you can request crushed red pepper or horseradish on the side. They do have Tobasco and a ferocious hot sauce called Death (skip it). The crab cakes here are good, but not to my taste. I like them when mostly crab. Here they include bread crumbs, crackers, vegetables, and eggs, as well as crab.
They open for dinner at 4 pm and they offer small plates that can compete with the best tapas in the city, at better prices and larger portions. They do also have entrees on the regular menu and daily special fresh fish entrees that are available only on Thursday - Saturday. Unlike many restaurants with daily specials, this restaurant has its specials available for dinner from the time that they begin serving dinner at 4 pm. Many others will not provide their daily special until they've been serving dinner for at least an hour. They are closed on Sundays.
This is a unique place, well worth a try. You could easily miss it, since it is not listed on KC Originals or on OpenTables.com.
3934 Rainbow Blvd
Kansas City, KS 66103
|This pizza restaurant operates
in an unusual manner. The counter is set up as an assembly line,
somewhat like a Subway sandwich shop. Their system is very
efficient. Once you get to the counter, they can make a pizza to
your preferences in five minutes. But that can be after a half
hour wait in a long line to get to the counter.
Once they have produced your pizza, they'll either box it for you to go or bring it to your table, if you choose to dine there. They also have salads, soft drinks, and beer. All of their ingredients are fresh. The crust starts out thin, but tends to pop up in the oven an unusual manner. I'd rate their pizza as average.
If you like spice, ask them to add the inferno blend, consisting of Cajun spices.
The Greek salad is excellent, but the small container of salad dressing is not enough for such a large salad. Request two containers of the salad dressing.
Vietnamese Restaurants on the 39th St. Row
Saigon 39
Vietnam Cafe 39th
2200 W 39th Ave.
Kansas City, KS 66103
web site
Son in nearby Westport is outstanding, the Vietnamese
choices on
the 39th St. restaurant row are surprisingly restrictive in
what they
offer. For example, Saigon
at 1806 1/2 W. 39th Street, while having a good reputation
its food, has no liquor license. They do not accept
Express but do accept Visa and Mastercard. They have a
selection of soups, but all contain either chicken broth or
broth. They have no vegetable or seafood stock, so
substitute water, if you don't want the chicken of beef
You will lose a lot of the flavor from that substitution, if
you are a
vegetarian or pescotarian. Their concept of "seafood
is rather odd. They contain chicken.
In contrast, the Vietnam Cafe 39th at 2200 W. 39th St (at corner of Rainbow Blvd) accepts credit cards (but not American Express) and has a liquor license, but only for beer (not even wine). While the Vietnam Cafe includes a separate page of vegetarian dishes, the menu is more complicated for vegetarians than might otherwise seem to be the case. For example, they have no vegetable or seafood stock to use with soups or sauces. So if you don't want chicken or beef stock in your food, you will need to ask for "water base." The restaurant seems confused when you ask. They do not seem to understand that good can have a taste without chicken stock, which they put in everything, including the one dish that they call "vegetarian." While the restaurant's specialty is a soup called pho chay, they cannot provide that with water base. In fact they have only one soup that they will prepare with water base (if requested). That is Canh Chua Chay (Tamarind Soup with tofu and veggies), but that Tamarind Soup is outstanding and spiced just right although with more sugar than I like. Regarding sauces that they can prepare with water base, the oyster sauce here is really excellent. For example, I especially like the tom xao rau (shrimp and veggies in oyster sauce). The tofu vegetarian dish (Dau Hu with lemongrass) is good, but they don't use enough lemongrass. I am sure if you asked for extra lemongrass when you place the order, they'd be happy to accommodate, and I would ask for a lot of extra lemongrass. But when I've done that, the spice level continued to be too low. In fact it is rather bland, and somewhat unnecessarily sweet. The booths on the lower level are more comfortable than the booths on the upper level. The restaurant has many statues of Buddha. Perhaps they do not know that serious Buddhist are vegetarians.
If your preference is for wine with your Vietnamese, you can drive to nearby Westport to Sung Sun, or call in for takeout food from Vietnam Cafe. They will not deliver, but have a substantial business selling take out food (pick up at the bar near entrance).
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Westport Cafe & Bar
419 Westport Rd
Kansas City, MO 64111
web site
|HEAVEN. A dream come true.
Since I moved to this area, I have been looking for a bistro having food and drink meeting European standards at reasonable prices, not inflated by phony pretension and arrogance. The last time I thought I had found such a restaurant, it was in Georgetown (Washington, DC). I brought a friend there from Aix-En-Provence in France. He began speaking French to the waiter, who was confused and brought my friend into the kitchen to talk with the chef. My friend walked out of the kitchen shaking his head saying, "these people do not know what they are doing." Yes, I have been to better restaurants in the US, Europe, Asia, North Africa, and South America --- at two, three, or four times the price. The Westport Cafe & Bar provides some of the best food and drink I've ever experienced relative to the surprisingly reasonable prices currently being charged at this wonderful restaurant. If you have money to burn, you can do better. But at these prices, not a chance.
We did not know what to expect when we went here, so we ordered one course at a time, starting with the roasted fennel soup, which is a dairy based soup, but does not seem to be heavy cream based. It was wonderful. So then we ordered the tomato fennel mussels. Wonderful. Then we ordered the spring tomato pea ravioli. Wonderful. Then a jumbo shrimp. Wonderful. Then the daily oyster. Wonderful. Then the arctic char entree. Wonderful. We usually do not order desserts, but this all was so good that we went ahead and ordered one. Got the pot de creme. Wonderful, along with coffee (not espresso, but very good in large cups at modest price).
Oh, and then there is the wine. As in Europe, they not only have good wines at reasonable prices by the glass and by the bottle, but also by the carafe, although you get more per dollar by the bottle. I've heard that the mixed drinks are outstanding here, but our preferences are European (wine, not cocktails), so we have not tried the cocktails. Maybe another day.
The second time we were there, we orderd the tomato fennel mussels and the arctic char entrees again. We also got the tuna entree. The mussels were as good as the first time, but the arctic char was not as fresh as the first time. In the future, we shall ask when each of the fish on the menu came in. The tuna was good, but next time I'll order it medium. I got it medium-well, and it was cooked a bit more than I usually prefer
The third time we were there, we got the mussels again and the striped bass along with the spinach and the mushrooms. The mushrooms are excellent, and the spinach fine. The mussels were not quite as good as the previous two times. The striped bass was very good. It definitely pays to check on when the seafood comes in. They bring it in as needed, not on particular days, and not all comes in on the same days.
The fourth time we were there, we got the arctic char and the scallops. The arctic char was much better than the previous time we got it. The scallops were fine. We asked for a change in the preparation of the arctic char. We asked that the chef produce a Mediterranian style sauce. He came out to talk with us about it. What he did was outstanding. In the future, I'll always ask for that sauce. In fact I suggested that they add it to the menu.
The fifth time we were there, I go the bouillabaisse. It was typical Midwest quality --- not a high recommendation.
The sixth time I tried the grilled sardines as an appetizer. They are frozen, but good as an appetizer. I probably would hesitate to buy the sardines entree. As entree, the chef recommended the trout. He was right. The trout was excellent. I also got one daily oyster (excellent), and the carrot soup. The carrot soup is vegan without the cream, but it is best with the cream. They can provide the cream on the side, so you can decide how much to add.
There are no cushions on the wooden chairs, and it can be extremely noisy. Best to avoid dinner time on weekends.
Happy hour is 4 to 6, and includes a few appetizers, including the oysters, and a few wine glasses at discounts.
Westport is back! Power and Light District? Forgetaboutit.
|I can be reached by e-mail at firstname.lastname@example.com

subset: commoncrawl