Kansas City Food Blog

​This is the time of year when you should be excited about egg nog. You haven't had it in a while and you've forgotten what's it like when you have too much.

In Kansas City there are a number of options vying for your egg nog dollar. As a cautionary note, avoid Silk Nog, the soy milk iteration of egg nog (curious ingredient: sea salt). It's essentially soy milk with an egg nog aftertaste and the start and finish in your mouth do not mix. Despite having no citrus elements, it manages to have the burn of cheap orange juice.

Let's move on to more festive thoughts. Here are the top 5 egg nog options in Kansas City, listed in reverse order of which will make your stomach happiest.

5. Hiland Old-Fashioned Egg Nog (curious ingredient: corn starch) -- I should have listened to the scary snow man on the packaging -- this egg nog packs a punch. It says non-alcoholic, but it has the taste and smell of butter rum lifesavers. This is a kick-you-in-the-face kind of egg nog that you'll love or hate at first sip.
  

​Everybody has irrational love for a particular fast food establishment or chain restaurant -- witness the 2,484 fans on the 'I Love the Taco Via!!!' Facebook group. And so I decided to think about what chains could improve the lives of the residents in the city of fountains.

Dunkin' Donuts would have been a natural fit for this list -- but the first of several area stores in Overland Park (7722 W. 151st Street) opens today! So below are the five other chain establishments that Fat City wishes were coming to Kansas City: 

5. Friendly's -- This East Coast chain serves the classic diner food: melts, chicken fingers and burgers. But the reason you eat all your chicken fingers is so you can have dessert -- from Candy Shoppe Sundaes to the Fribble, a shake that requires maximum effort on the other end of the straw. (For Charles Ferruzza's take on two classic Kansas City diners, read this week's Cafe review.)

4. White Castle -- Kansas City hasn't been the same since White Castle slid out of town. Mini cheeseburgers make the world go round and the classic sliders that turn the white bag shiny with grease before you're out of the parking lot would be welcomed back with open mouths.

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Soup is the ultimate comfort food in winter. There's something about a warm bowl and cold weather that just feels right. Perhaps it stretches back to the days when Julia Child used to make primordial soup.

So, Jonathan Bender and Charles Ferruzza set out with their soup spoons in hand in an effort to find out bowls were worthy of a place at a table. The list that follows is the Top 10 Soup options in Kansas City. 

10) Roxanne's Cafe -- This family-owned Parkville diner offers two homemade soups every day. A bowl of the vegetable, chock full of fresh vegetables and hunks of steak, sided with a softball-sized yeast roll is a soothing meal.

9) Souperman -- The daily specials change, but the West African Peanut Chicken Soup is a hearty staple that's earned its status as a regular option.

8) Red Snapper -- The best egg drop soup in Kansas City.

7) Happy Gillis -- This restaurant began as a soup subscription service, so they obviously know what they are doing. Southern Indian Lentil is the current featured flavor, but the choices change weekly.

6) Sweet Tomatoes -- This salad bar restaurant always features several soups each day. They're pretty good soup too -- and with the all-you-can-eat option, you can taste all of them.

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When it's not busy being carved into a jack-o-lantern, a pumpkin is one of the most versatile things in the city. Jonathan Bender and Charles Ferruzza discovered an entire menu from, start to finish, inspired by the orange fruit. 

10.) Pumpkin donut holes at Hy-Vee. The dense holes from the bakery are sugary, sweet and mini -- so it's not like eating a whole donut. Unless you consume a dozen, which is fairly easy. 

9.) Pumpkin bisque at Souperman. The soups consistently rotate at this downtown staple, so call ahead to find if the slightly spicy and extremely filling bowl is on the menu that day.

8.) Seasonal pumpkin pancakes at the International House of Pancakes. They're back!

7.) Pumpkin pie concrete at Sheridan's. It's available through November -- it's like pumpkin pie in a cup, which is somehow warming despite the fact that it's frozen.

6.) The pumpkin seeds that line the Mexican chocolate cake with prickly pear sauce at West Side Local. They're technically a garnish, but they're the salty you want with sweets.

5.) Traditional pumpkin pie at The Village Inn.

4.) First-class pumpkin pie at The Pie Lady Coffeehouse.

3.) The Charlie Brown at Manifesto. This drink is still in the works at the Crossroads speakeasy as Ryan Maybee experiments with what works best with pumpkin puree. Ask for it by name or bide your time with a Cranberry Cobbler (fresh cranberries, lemon, orange, cinnamon and vodka).

2.) Pumpkin cheesecake or pumpkin pecan cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory. These creamy favorites return for the holiday season.

1.) Pumpkin donuts at Donut King. These are the best pumpkin doughnuts ever: moist, spicy, terrific with hot coffee. They stop selling them in late November, so don't waste time!

 [Image via Flickr: ulterior epicure]

Why order a short stack when you can have the whole stack?

​Pancakes are good for the soul. It's why everybody loves them. And so Fat City set out to discover the Top 10 pancakes in the Kansas City area. What follows is the result of a carb-laden conversation between Jonathan Bender and Charles Ferruzza.

The secret to a perfect pancake, told to Charles Ferruzza decades ago by a short-tempered short order cook, is the temperature of the griddle (not too hot or the surface will brown too quickly), the texture of the griddle -- well-seasoned steel is best with just an evanescent sheen of butter, never margarine, the flavor's off -- and a good spoonful of batter that's not too thick (the flapjack will be too doughy) or too thin -- you want a pancake, not a crepe. The perfect pancake should be airy, not dense. 

10) Po's Dumpling Bar -- Onion Pancakes. These dim sum regulars are the right amount of grease on a weekend morning -- an outstanding savory pancake.

9) Jerry's Woodswether Cafe -- Blueberry Pancakes. If you can finish one of these, you deserve a medal. It's not often that pancakes are big and tasty, but these fit the bill.

8) The Cook Shack Cafe -- Pancakes. The pancakes taste homemade, and that's a good thing. A fat pat of butter lets you know that the triple stack is going to be filling.

7) Chris Cakes -- Pancake mix. There are not many caterers dedicated to pancakes but the company, based in Louisburg, Kansas, sells its fluffy mix at Price Choppers in Overland Park.

6) Kelly's Diner. Apple Cinnamon Pancakes. It's almost like dessert for breakfast at this down home diner in Lawrence -- but bring cash -- credit cards are not accepted.

​ 5) The City Diner. This popular River Market breakfast joint is legendary for serving one of the biggest pancakes in Kansas City: It measures over twelve-and-a-half inches across. It's hard to eat one -- particularly with eggs, bacon and a half-order of biscuits and gravy, but we have seen people do it. The City Diner is another cash-only establishment.

4) The Classic Cookie. This is a Saturday morning destination spot for breakfast lovers in the Waldo and Brookside neighborhoods. If you have to wait for a table -- it's a tiny joint -- a short stack is a good way to warm up quickly. 

3) Mama's 39th Street Grill. There are many varieties of flapjacks here, including pineapple pancakes -- which only sounds like the 1960 Annette Funicello pop hit Pineapple Princess.

2) Winstead's. The iconic local burger joint also serves breakfasts in the morning and the pancakes are practically perfection.

1) Cascone's Grill. These pancakes are beautiful and feather-light. The Cascone family has been selling them for over a half-century, so you know they're doing something right.

(Image via Flickr: dr_loplop)

​Yep, it's cold outside. That makes us think about hot drinks. Here are the metro's Top 10 non-alcoholic warm-ups, according to Fat City:

10) Arrowhead Stadium -- Hot Chocolate. There's something about concession-stand hot chocolate: It's the right amount of sweetness and chalkiness that makes you feel like a kid again.

9) Madame Hatter's Tea Room -- Kansas City once had a dozen little tea rooms like this retro venue in Bonner Springs, mostly designed for ladies after a weary day of rigorous shopping. Here, you can have your choice of hot tea, a tasteful little lunch and a trip back in time all at once.

8) Tea Drops -- China White Peach Hot Tea. A light crisp white tea (by the mug or pot) is basically a hot cup of relaxation.

7) One More Cup -- Satisfy your sweet tooth and get a needed caffeine fix with the Curious George: It mixes a shot of espresso with Shatto chocolate and banana milks.

6) Mildred's Coffeehouse -- Lattes here are the perfect balance of hot milk and coffee for rainy, cold days.

Scott Spychalski

​The Power & Light District was the clear choice of readers who voted in the Best Place to Break Up category, which makes sense: In the span of a single night in this packed entertainment district, it's easy to see a number of make-outs and break-ups -- sometimes from the same couple. And if you have a breakup in one bar, you can head next door to find a rebound romance.

Looking through the rest of the results, our completely unscientific analysis of overall voting patterns revealed some other intriguing choices. Here, in no particular order, are Pitch readers' strong recommendations for other Best Places to Break Up, along with our theories as to the logic:

Buzzard Beach -- Since you always need an escape plan, the wrap-around deck is the perfect way to blend into the crowd after a break up.

The Riot Room -- It's dimly lit and loud, so people probably won't be able to hear the shouting of your new ex.

Nara -- Sushi always makes for a classy send-off.

Westport Flea Market -- Sleeping in the burger mobile is better than sleeping on a friend's couch.

Tanner's -- The ultimate place to prove you're not too chicken to break up. 

PF Chang's -- The food and service are smooth, even if you can't figure out how to say, "I just want to be friends."

Winstead's -- The tub of ice cream is already there; you just have to insert your spoon.

The Drop -- Get it?  

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Although most of us have never likely encountered a live octopus, there is a staggering array of calamari dishes across Kansas City. With so many choices, it can be difficult to figure out which ones are a real catch. What follows are the 10 calamari plates you should make every effort to grab with both tentacles.

10. McCormick & Schmick's. The right ratio of breading to calamari. These always come out hot and are gone before you realize you've eaten the entire plate.

9. Red Snapper. The fried king calamari are steaks, not tubes. The lemon-chili dipping sauce adds a good amount of heat to a generous serving.

8. Osteria Il Centro. The calamari fritti is meant to be a shared appetizer, but you'll want to keep it to yourself. A thick basil pesto and roasted red pepper cocktail sauce are good compliments.

7. The Gaf. The calamari at this Waldo standard are dipped in buttermilk before being fried, which adds a lighter quality that pairs well with the Spicy Guinness-Mustard aoli.

6. Ruth's Chris Steak House. You're focused on steak when you get there, but save some room for the calamari. When it's on the menu, it's almost worth going just for the fried rings served with a Thai chili sauce. 

​With people keeping tigers in their apartments, a dog seems kind of passe. It did get Fat City thinking, though, and we figured we should issue a warning. Here are the 10 worst food spokesanimals to have as a pet.

10. Dig'em the Frog -- Kellogg's Honey Smacks. His catchphrase was "gimme a smack." This ball-cap-wearing frog was eminently smackable, but it's wrong to hit your pets. 
 
9. Cheesasaurus Rex --- Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Why bother with animals you'd have to reanimate from a mosquito in amber? Rex debuted in the beginning of this decade, and frankly, if you're going to have a T-Rex as a pet, it should be a lot cooler than a yellow Barney-esque dinosaur.  

8. Charlie the Tuna -- StarKist Tuna. One of the oldest mascots on the list, Charlie first appeared in 1961. You get the feeling he sold out the rest of the tuna so he could live on as a spokesman. Pets need to be loyal, but is Charlie? And the uncanny resemblance to Charles Nelson Reilly is not winning him any points either.  

7. Taco Bell Chihuahua. Stereotypes aside, have you ever seen what happens to your dog if it gets into a burrito of any kind? Besides, the Taco Bell dog is dead. What, too soon? 

6. Mr. Peanut -- Planter's nuts. For those who feel it isn't right to keep an animal in the home, the monocled Peanut might feel like the right way to go. However, the only people who have monocles are supervillains and eccentric millionaires. Would you really want one of them for a pet?

​Whether you're tailgating or parked on the couch, food goes with football. There is something satisfying about overeating while watching someone else operating at peak physical efficiency. 

  

A big bowl of menudo reportedly cures a hangover

​Your head throbs and every tiny sound resonates through your brain like a power drill. Your your mouth is dry, and you smell like day-old Subway sandwiches. The last thing you want to do after a big night out is go to breakfast the next morning.

But you're not a vampire and you have family and friend obligations -- so Fat City has limped around Kansas City to find you the finest grease offerings to help you get through what is going to be a rough day. Here are our Top 10 places to dine while hungover:

Ortega's Mini-Mart, 2646 Belleview. This combination mercado and cantina serves menudo every day; the spicy tripe soup reportedly makes the body sweat profusely, releasing toxins and eliminating hangover symptoms.

Dunkin' Donuts, 521 W. 23rd Street, Lawrence, Kansas. You don't have to even get out of the car to enjoy this one. A sugary-bready bagel encapsulates a dirty bacon, egg and cheese that, when paired with an iced coffee, will have you feeling almost human by the time you get back to Kansas City.

The Cook Shack Cafe, 8950 Wornall. The coffee is strong and the food is straightforward. Nothing complicated, just really good, oversized pancakes with a fat dollop of butter. They always have lunch specials, like homemade spaghetti and meatballs, which might be easier on the stomach.

Ruby's Dagwood Cafe, 1117 Southwest Boulevard, Kansas City, Kansas. Order one heated cinnamon roll with melted butter. Then get their namesake -- a fried egg and cheese on Texas Toast with two kinds of meat, sausage and bacon. Then light up a cigarette. Finally, pass out in your car.

Minsky's, 427 Main Street. Doughy crust on the calzones and the pizza makes this joint attractive; the cheeseburger pizza can be a dealmaker or dealbreaker. Plus, there are enough televisions to distract you from the mess that is your insides.

Record Bar, 1020 Westport Road. Start with the Bloody Mary. It's the right amount of spicy and you've got to get back on the horse some time. After that, you'll be ready to tackle a huge bowl of pasta or an overstuffed sandwich.  

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​10) "I don't drink water. Fish fuck in it." -- W.C. Fields.

9) "A gourmet who thinks about calories is like a tart who looks at her watch." -- James Beard

8) "Ask your child what he wants for dinner only if he's buying." -- Fran Lebowitz

7) "I judge a restaurant by the bread and by the coffee." -- Burt Lancaster

6) "One cannot think well, love well, or sleep well unless one has dined well." -- Virgina Woolf

5) "Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek. Soy sauce makes it Chinese; garlic makes it good." -- Alice May Brock

4) "He who is a slave to his stomach seldom worships God." -- Saadi

3) "Lettuce is divine, but I'm not sure it's really food." -- Diana Vreeland

2) "There are people in this world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread." -- Gandhi

1) "I will not eat oysters. I want my food dead -- not sick, not wounded -- dead." -- Woody Allen

 

 

 

Please don't eat the babies

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Note: As this post goes live, Fat City blogger Jonathan Bender and his wife are awaiting the birth of their first child.

The prevailing wisdom is that once you have a baby, you'll never eat out again. Or on those occasions when you do eat out, you can forget going anywhere but a chain restaurant. Well, in an effort to debunk that myth, Fat City set out to find some family-friendly joints where everything didn't come from the fry-o-lator and you didn't have to settle for chicken fingers off the kid's menu.

 

10) Sharp's 63rd Street Grill, 128 W. 63rd Street. With a large menu, this Sunday brunch place is a no-brainer for picky eaters of both the adult and child variety. It's often so busy that nobody will notice a screaming child.

9) Waldo Pizza, 7433 Broadway. Every other table usually has a high-chair. Kids and pizza are a natural combination and here is one restaurant where it seems like the servers enjoy entertaining your kids.

8) Five Guys Burgers & Fries, 14965 W. 119th Street, Olathe, Kansas. An assembly line approach cranks out grilled burgers for a headache-free meal. It's a chain (with more than 300 locations in 25 states), but kids are part of its targeted market and that means families are just another customer. 

 

A table for writing at Brookside's Aixois; it's not a literary Mecca like La Coupole in Paris ... yet

 

Ernest Hemingway ate here.

In Kansas City, that is. Yes, he lived here and he liked the food.
A 1923 short story by Hemingway features a description of a meal of sea slugs he polished off in a Kansas City Chinese restaurant. There may be a culinary theme: In 1937, when that other great 20th-century novelist Sinclair Lewis was traveling through the Midwest on a lecture tour, he wrote to a female friend in New York about Kansas City. This town, he wrote, "is entirely composed of chop suey joints and the $500,000 homes of ex-oil millionaires who are now washing dishes in the chop suey joints and the very handsome stone monuments of lecturers who were shot by bored audiences."

There's no record that either of these two famous novelists actually sat down and wrote in these chop suey joints. But if a modern writer is so inclined, here are Jonathan Bender and my suggestions for places to write the Great American Novel:

10) Kin Lin Chinese Restaurant, 314 E. 51st Street. It's a chop suey joint all right, but the food is cheap, so you can slowly sip on a bowl of hot-and-sour soup or nibble on plate of fried rice and begin work on an epic novel that makes War and Peace look as slight as Alligators All Around. As long as you're eating, the staff is happy and you can sit until closing time.

9) Bobby Baker's Lounge, 7418 Wornall Road. Cramped and dimly lit, this is a Waldo haunt with character. It's one of the few spots in town that attracts all ages, which means that there will definitely be some life experience to mine.

8) Latteland, 7900 Stateline Road. Two-sided cubicles with bar tables make for nice writing caves. The Prairie Village and Plaza locations offer the right mix of caffeine and quiet.

7) Nine Muses Cafe, Kansas City Public Library, 14 West 10th Street. Tucked into a corner of the ground floor of the Central Library, this little venue (with food catered by the Hereford House) is surrounded by shelf after shelf of the world's greatest literature. Inspiration is everywhere!

 

This week, we'll not only re-cap the posts we think were the Top Stories on Fat City, but weave those stories with the major highlights from your favorite TV soap operas:

​1) We were absolutely stunned that no one even ventured a guess as to the location of this week's "Where Is It?" quiz. The photograph is to the right. So obviously, more clues are in order. And speaking of clues, on All My Children, Kendall is sentenced for Stuart's murder and Marissa is shot by Liza's nutcase mother. Back in Kansas City, Kansas -- hmm, is that a clue? -- the word of the day is: shrimp.

2) There's whoopie and there's whoopie. Someone is always making whoopie on As The World Turns and the recent couplings include Meg and Damien (making so Lily jealous that she had to get in on the action) and Paul and Emily. There is a new gourmet chef in Oakdale, a dishy chick named Terri.

3) The big news in Fat City is that the hot evenings inspire patrons to dine al fresco, which is why we compiled this list of the Top Ten Outdoor Patios in the city. An outdoor dinner is the perfect spot for a goblet of cool wine and some hot gossip, like how the Bold & the Beautiful has a cougar -- man-hungry Jackie, played by sexy Lesley-Ann Down -- pawing all over the buff, shirtless young men in her office.

4)  We can all agree that lying, scheming, baby-stealing Nicole on Days of Our Lives is no Girl Scout. And on the subject of Girl Scouts, Jonathan Bender's post about Wal-Mart taking aim at the Girl Scout cookie market generated a lot of response.

5) Now that little poisoned Summer is recovering on The Young and the Restless, her parents need to keep shoes on the tyke. One unlucky Missouri mother discovered that a Burger King manager meant business when he enforced the "no shirt, no shoes, no service" rule!

 

 

​The Italian term al fresco -- meaning "in the open air," to refer to a mode of dining -- dates back to at least the 16th-century, although the term is firmly rooted in ancient Latin al (to or in) and fresco (fresh). The concept of dining outdoors -- particularly in an urban setting -- is sometimes more romantic than the reality.

Even a beautiful outdoor dining space, like Lidia's Kansas City -- pictured above -- can seem a little less charming on fiercely hot summer evenings. Other urban patios might also feature the less-than-alluring possibility of mosquitoes, car fumes, the pungent aroma of cigar smoke (particularly now that non-smoking policies have driven the tobacco-loving crowd outdoors) and maybe a few raindrops.

But to dine al fresco suggests something sophisticated and European -- even in Kansas City. The reference book Italian American Heritage: A Companion to Literature and the Arts offers this: "Conflating the idea that Italian cuisine is admirably suited to be eaten in the open air and the image of the Mediterranean climate, al fresco has become a signifier of the pleasurable way in which Italian life is conducted."

Here are Fat City's top ten outdoor dining spaces, chosen by Charles Ferruzza and Jonathan Bender:

​10) The balcony at Figlio, on the Country Club Plaza (209 W. 46th Terrace, pictured right) has a romantic view of the famous J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain in Mill Creek Park. The view is certainly more dramatic than the Italian fare served at Figlio's, but the combination of hot breadsticks, cold wine and a sweet little balcony that evokes the most famous scene in Romeo and Juliet all adds up to a potentially seductive evening.

​Tacos may be the best-loved Mexican-American dish served in the United States. The Food Lover's Companion describes a taco as "a Mexican-style 'sandwich' consisting of a folded corn tortilla filled with various ingredients such as beef, pork, chicken, chorizo sausage, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, onion. ... Most tacos in the United States are made with crisp (fried) tortilla shells, but there are also soft (pliable) versions."

Over the years, tacos -- which are relatively inexpensive to prepare -- have become a fast-food staple at national chains such as Taco Bell (which started in the early 1960s when a former Marine, Glen Bell, began selling tacos from his hot-dog stand) and local drive-ins like the 47-year-old Humdinger Drive-In (with its vintage sign at right) at 2504 E. Ninth St., which sells tacos by the bag (you can get a dozen for $11.25).

Oh yes, there are terrific tacos all over town, but after taking a taco tour, Fat City's Jonathan Bender and Charles Ferruzza settled on this group of ten as the best cheap tacos in town:

10. Fric & Frac, 1700 W. 39th St. For more than three decades, patrons have stopped in this 39th Street saloon for tacos. They're filling and cheap -- enough said.

9. La Chiquita, 265 N. Seventh St., Kansas City, Kansas. The $1.25 tacos come from a sidewalk window in a squat brick building. A modest, albeit salty, good cheap taco that's available with carne asada or barbacoa (the latter only offered on Fridays and Saturdays).

8. El Pulgarcito, 5921 Merriam Dr. in Merriam. The carne asada is tender and tastes of the grill. These look and feel homemade -- the right introductory taco ($1.75) for the uninitiated.

7. Charritos Taqueria, 3831 Independence Ave. Skirt steak and roasted cactus spill out of the Tacos Aztecas ($1.85), while a salsa made with poblano peppers adds a nice bit of heat. The amount of filling almost guarantees the use of a fork.

6. Nara, 1617 Main. This trendy Japanese robata grill and sushi bistro may seem an unlikely place to find tacos, but during happy hour (3-7 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 3-6 p.m. Friday and 4-6 p.m. Saturday; 10 p.m.-closing Monday through Saturday), the fish tacos are a very happy discovery. Crispy wonton shells are filled with flaky white fish, mango slaw and "dynamite sauce" made with mayonnaise and hot chili sauce.

As people around town continue to dissect Gloria Squitiro's diary, a line on Page 17 of the manuscript caught the interest of Fat City: "We purposely met with [political consultant Jeff] Roe at Cascone's so all the world could see what we were up to," writes Squitiro.

We assume she meant Cascone's Grill in the River Market, a well-documented favorite of Funkhouser's when he was auditor. That got us thinking: If you really wanted everyone to see who you're palling around with, where else would you go besides Cascone's?

We concluded that since Kansas City doesn't yet have a Mr. Chow, these are the top 10 places to be seen:

Until today, we just assumed that everyone loved baked beans. But as Charles Ferruzza, Owen Morris and new Fat City blogger Jonathan Bender discovered -- thanks to erudite Pitch music editor Jason Harper -- that no less an authority as Pythagorus opposed the consumption of beans (he wouldn't touch meat either, based on the principles of reincarnation). The poet Callimachus wrote: "Keep your hands from beans, a painful food: As Pythagorus enjoined, I too urge." Callimachus, however, did not write: "Beans, beans the musical fruit/the more you eat, the more you toot."

Tooting right along, what's a Fourth of July celebration without baked beans? It's un-American! That's the reason Fat City's Ferruzza, Morris and Bender (with some assistance from Jason Harper and Crystal Wiebe) tasted eleven different varieties of baked beans -- not the Boston Baked version, but the traditional barbecue joint staple -- from many of Kansas City's more iconic barbecue restaurants.

We immediately crossed the beans from Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue off the list because our carry-out container of baked beans was heavy on the sauce, seriously light on the legumes and practically meatless.

Here are our choices and rankings for the Top Ten Baked Beans:

10) Greedy Man's BBQ, 5536-A Troost. So thick, glossy and rich with molasses sweetness that they come the closest to Boston baked beans in consistency and taste. Extremely dark in color and light on beef. The overwhelming taste? Sweet, very sweet.

9) McGonigle's Market, 1307 W. 79th Street. The outdoor smoker in front of the store puts out some excellent smoked meats, but the baked beans got mixed reviews from our panel. The legume purists in the group didn't like the mix of different varieties of beans (including lima beans, which Charles detests) and it didn't contain much meat. One taster thought the sauce had a "coffee aftertaste." Owen noted that allspice seemed to be the dominant seasoning.

8) Cosentino's Brookside Market, 14 W. 62nd Street. The meatiest, by far, of any of the baked beans tasted, well-seasoned, packs a little heat, not as sweet. A good blend of spices but this was underwhelming, lack any smokiness that defines a true baked bean.

7) Oklahoma Joe's Barbecue & Catering, 3002 W. 47th Street, Kansas City, Kansas. A beloved spot of all of our tasters, the baked beans are, again, a blend of legumes -- including black beans, which make a pleasing visual note --  and the sauce -- which has some heat -- is splendid; Owen detected a strong note of cumin.

6) Gates Barbecue, many locations. Excellent, sassy and smoky beans. Not a hell of a lot of meat, but well-textured and delectably-seasoned. But like all things Gates barbecue, these were divisive. If you love Gates sauce, you'll love the beans as well. If you don't, then best avoid.

Jaime Warren

It's almost criminal not to love cinnamon rolls, especially great cinnamon rolls. There are certain qualifications that set the perfect rolls apart from the plastic-wrapped supermarket variety: not too dry; moist, but not gummy; lightly brushed with a sugary glaze -- too much icing can turn a breakfast roll into a cupcake.

KCUR-FM's Walt Bodine loves cinnamon rolls (he particularly misses the ones at the long-defunct Putsch's Cafeteria) and every so often devotes an entire segment of his talk show to the subject. The phone calls generated by this topic speak volumes to Kansas City's love for this buttery spiral pastry.

These are the cinnamon rolls that I would elevate to the Top Ten offered in the city, from the sticky to the sublime:

10) Stroud's. These aren't really cinnamon rolls in the traditional sense, they're biscuit dough slathered with cinnamon and sugar. But when they first come out of the oven, they're extraordinary. Not so great served cold the following morning.

9) Napoleon Bakery, 706 Westport Rd. The new owner of this venerable establishment, pastry chef James Holmes, knows how to rock a roll. 

8) Mama's 39th Street Diner, 3906 Waddell. If you haven't tasted Ira Aurbach's fried cinnamon roll slathered with butter, you haven't lived. 

7) Granny's Chicken Ranch, 1340 Village West Parkway, Kansas City, Kansas, This restaurant serves hot biscuits and first-class cinnamon rolls. It's the only way to truly enjoy a fried chicken dinner. 

6) You Say Tomato, 2801 Holmes. Co-owner and baker Mark Wingard puts a lot of love into his rolls.

5) Le Monde Bakery, 308 Armour Road. In a word: divine.

4) The Sweet Guy, 7439 Broadway (photo, below) serves an excellent roll -- not too small, not too big -- sinfully flaky and excellent with a hot cup of coffee.

3) Wheatfield's Bakery & Cafe, 904 Vermont Street, Lawrence. Not, this bakery isn't in Kansas City proper, but the sweet rolls and baked goods are so extraordinary here that it's worth hopping out of bed on a Saturday morning and driving 40 minutes or so just to enjoy one of the cinnamon rolls baked here.

2) The Classic Cookie, 409 W. Gregory. (see photo at very top). An excellent, flaky and gorgeously moist pastry. 

1) Chacko's Bakery, 6001 Johnson Drive, Mission. If the sensual and lusty qualities of sex could be reproduced in flour, butter, sugar and milk -- this bakery's roll would be the result. 

 

Some of the contenders filed away for further testing.

There are plenty of places to find cool, creamy milkshakes around town, but finding really good ones is a different matter. Here are Charles and Owen's top 10.

We're thinking these were the top stories posted on Fat City this week:

 

Absinthe doesn't necessarily make the heart grow fonder

The best food holder of all

The best chocolate chip cookie?

Chefs salaries revealed

A taste of Kansas and Missouri

 

 

 

Tags: The best of Fat City this week

I know it's been a while since I wrote an entry for my top 10 Kansas City foods series. To recap this is the list so far:

Number 10: Lamar's Cinnamon Twist
Number 9: Boulevard Wheat (with a lemon!)
Number 8: Cheesy Corn Bake from Fiorella's Jack Stack
Number 7: D'Bronx Pizza
Number 6: Kansas City Strip from Plaza III
Number 5: Stroud's rolls
Number 4: Christopher Elbow Chocolates

Here's my third choice:

By OWEN MORRIS

The first time I ever had Christopher Elbow Chocolates, I was living in Lawrence and rarely traveled to Kansas City, much less downtown. If I did, it was for a special occasion. And after hearing so much about Chris Elbow's amazing chocolates, I decided to make a special occasion.

I had trouble finding the store at first. While everybody talks about the amazing interior and the cool bathroom, nobody had mentioned to me that the outside is very discreet. You're likely to pass the storefront a couple of times before finding it, even if you are familiar with the area.

By OWEN MORRIS

Of all the foods on my list, this is the only one I could conceivably eat with every meal. It is the perfect side to any breakfast, lunch or dinner, and also a completely 100 percent Kansas City classic.

I am, of course, referring to the rolls from Stroud's, which make up my fifth food in this series.

Make no mistake, the cinnamon rolls are just as unhealthy as the pan-fried chicken and the mashed potatoes and . . . well, just about everything there. The cinnamon rolls taste somewhere in between coming straight from the oven and coming straight out of a fryer, and they're a mixture of crusty, gooey, bready and moist. Each bite is like eating a new piece of cinnamon roll until the basket of rolls is empty, only to be refilled again!

The best part is the encrusted cinnamon sugar on top that is heavy on the sugar and relatively light on the cinnamon. Besides the sugar and some butter, the rolls are allowed to speak for themselves, which is the way it should be. Too few restaurants offer cinnamon rolls on their menus; of the ones that do, the cinnamon rolls are too often covered in cinnamon or cream cheese icing or worst - powdered sugar icing.

A serious steakhouse would never dream or covering its filet mignon in a heavy sauce, so I don't understand why so many bakers and restaurants cover their cinnamon rolls in heavy icing. By not doing so, Stroud's has taken what traditionally is a breakfast or a dessert item and turned it into another part of the meal.

In picking Stroud's cinnamon rolls, I am going on history because I haven't been to the new Stroud's in Fairway. My mentor, The Pitch's food critic and fellow Fat City blogger Charles Ferruzza, did make it there recently for a review, and I was thankful to read that Stroud's hasn't lost much of the atmosphere and food of the old location. Charles described the rolls as fantastic and "fat squares of yeasty biscuit dough encased in crunchy, buttery cinnamon sugar," which is a much more succinct and poetic way of putting it than I could write and confirms that I'm not the only one to think they're darn-tootin' good.

I still reminiscence about the original location on Troost. If ever there was a restaurant that dispelled the theory of "location, location, location," it was the old Stroud's. When my parents first took me there as a youngster, I remember not being too impressed by the chicken itself but loving the cinnamon rolls and loving the entire experience. What kid doesn't love unlimited cinnamon rolls?

Looking back, I think the reason I didn't enjoy the chicken as a child: I was already too full by the time it came out. As my taste buds have grown older (though maybe not wiser but at least more experienced), I've learned to savor the delicate flavors of pan-fried chicken. I've learned to love the lard-covered green beans and their delicate flavors. With all that said, I still get most excited about Stroud's for the cinnamon rolls.

Image via the amazing website Road Food

By OWEN MORRIS

My goal is to have this series wrapped up by Halloween, which means I've got a lot of writing ahead of me. Fortunately, the response has been great, and I'm trying to link to any and all lists I find other people doing.

Today's pick will surprise people, either for being listed as low as it is or for being listed at all. The food itself -- a Kansas City strip -- is neither surprising nor daring. In recent years, though, which steakhouse is best has become an increasingly opinionated argument. Kansas City no longer has one steakhouse that stands head and shoulders above the competition.

In the past week, as I've been thinking about steakhouses, I have asked a lot of people what they think is the best steakhouse. The answers have run the gamut from new places such as Sullivan's to old classics such as the Golden Ox.

While's there a half-dozen steakhouses with great locations, interiors and varying degrees of aged steaks, there's one that screams Kansas City more than the rest.

By OWEN MORRIS

Another day, another Top 10 list at Another KC Blog, which comes up with 10 excellent choices like The Reuben at Browne’s Deli in the nine spot. It also has Minsky's prime cut pizza which I think is good but I decided to go for one of Minsky's competitors.

My number seven spot goes to D'Bronx, specifically the pizza at the 39th Street location. This is my most controversial choice because D'Bronx pizza isn't owned by its original owners; besides, it has started to expand and is named after New York not Kansas City. So why include it? Because while the D'Bronx has New York roots, it's uniquely Kansas City.

First, it's true D'Bronx has lost a step in recent years, and the new Johnson County location has poll numbers about as favorable as Dick Cheney's. Still, I was at the original location recently and the pizza was essentially the same as it's always been: a little too much cheese on top so that it scrunches up, but not so much that you can't taste the sauce. A crust with lots of corn meal specks on the bottom, and big, hearty pepperonis.

What sets the original D'Bronx apart from every other pizza joint is not just good pizza, but also the building. Stepping into D'Bronx is like stepping into another time. Most of the walls are covered in graffiti; if you are a long-time Kansas City local, chances are you will spot either a friend's tag or maybe even your own. A year ago, a friend I hadn't talked to in months called me to say she saw my signature on the D'Bronx wall. (Second booth from the front, around eye level.)

Yet for all the tags, tattoos and rock n' roll fliers, D'Bronx remains a family place. Often, grandparents appear to be hosting full-on family reunions on the long rectangular table in the south room. In that sense, D'Bronx is what an Italian eatery should be: a place to gather.

If the food was sub-par, the building wouldn't matter -- but the food holds its own against the back-drop.

By OWEN MORRIS

I have another Kansas City Top Ten list to pass along. This one comes from the constantly inventive blog Venus in the Kitchen. Venus has some great and surprising choices. In fact, she and I share a couple, including my Number Eight selection today.

Martin City was a good 20-minute drive from my childhood home, so my parents rarely took me or my brothers there. When we did go, it meant one of two exciting things: We were going to see a show at the Martin City Melodrama's original location (I can't remember a single thing from the various shows, but I do remember that they slayed the nine-year-old me), or we were going to Jack Stack Barbecue.

Back then (for at least part of the time) Fiorella's Jack Stack was known as Smoke Stack and wasn't the upscale barbecue behemoth that it is now. When you entered, you were immediately hit by two smokes -- barbecue and cigarette.

Like German cars, barbecue was something I did not appreciate until I got older. I was a typical boring kid who preferred sickly sweet sauces (KC Masterpiece). At barbecue joints, I'd order a boring roast beef or turkey sandwich. Jack Stack was the first barbecue place where I bucked that trend. After seeing a couple big plates of cubed beef walk by, I pleaded, begged and cajoled my parents into letting me get something called burnt ends. I like to think my real Kansas City education started that day.

What I l really loved from Jack Stack as a child -- and still do today -- isn't the burnt ends, though. It's not even barbecue, but it is Number Eight on my list of Top Ten Kansas City Foods to Eat Before You Die.

By OWEN MORRIS

This is the second entry in my backwards countdown of Top Ten foods to eat in Kansas City before you croak. For number Ten click here.

Before I reveal my ninth choice, I just wanted to highlight my blogger friend Dan's list at Gone Mild, where he named all ten of his choices in one great list.

He's got some really interesting choices -- including his number one, which is much more controversial and better thought-out than anything on my list. He calls Winstead's burger "simply the Kansas City classic," and povitica from Strawberry Hill "beautiful to look at, teeth-achingly sweet to sample." Make sure to check out the rest of Dan's list!

Now on to my ninth choice:

By OWEN MORRIS

"Foods to eat before you die" has become a popular Internet meme. Two of our sister blogs Fork in The Road from Village Voice and Eating our Words from Houston Press put their own spin on it, so I have decided to do the same for Kansas City. This list is my own and purely subjective. I chose what I did for a variety of different reasons. If you don't like it, send me your own list or put one in the comments. I'm counting backwards and today is my Number 10 Kansas City food to eat before I die.

Number 10: Lamar's Cinnamon Twist

This listing is based purely on nostalgia but hey, that's a big part of what food is about. I am just old enough to remember driving to the inner city with dad in our (even then) old Volvo station wagon. Driving to the city meant that my dad was going either to a junkyard or to get some food. The junkyards I never cared much for, but the food always excited me. And nowhere moreso than LaMar's Doughnuts.

While LaMar's is now a franchise with many locations in various states (its headquarters are sadly no longer in Kansas City but in Lincoln, Nebraska) at the time there was only the one store and even as a four- or five-year-old I could tell it wasn't very nice aesthetically. Fortunately, I was too young to know anything of cleanliness. Not that any of that mattered anyways.