No visit to Wright, Kansas is complete without a visit to Tacos Jalisco in nearby Dodge City so we found ourselves here, yet again, on a suddenly snowy bleak day after Xmas. Good nothin fancy soft tacos (fried pork is my new fave) and carne asada and flan in a long open dining room with lots of murals of the old country. We also did a little antiquing at the dodge city antique mall near Hastings dept store and stopped at Dillons grocery for some Art and Mary jalapeño potato chips, a Kansas Classic (it was just arts when we lived in Wichita many years ago.)
Category Archives: THE MIDWEST
Dodge city dining– tacos Jalisco
Filed under Kansas, Kansas misc
Eating en route to Dodge City: Liberty, Mo (Stroud’s chicken), Lawrence, ks (Wheatfields), Salina (cozy inn)
Fine dining en route to dodge city Kansas from Des Moines for Christmas:
– Stroud’s (“we choke our own chickens”) off I 35 north of Kansas City). We didn’t think we’d be able to stop here because there is usually a long wait but we drove right into a prime parking spot on a Tuesday night at 8:15 pm (albeit holiday date) and sat at the small bar rather than waiting 40 minutes for a table. Great pan fried chicken and what everyone needs after a chicken dinner – killer cinnamon rolls, buttery and warm. Perfect stop before picking our son up at the Kansas City airport.
– Wheatfields bakery in Lawrence where we learned we could avoid the long line for take out pastries and bread if we ordered breakfast as well at a counter with no line. And good grub too although I just had a small croissant (still recovering from Stroud’s.) Our waitress enthusiastically recommended another old tome bakery in town for its cream cheese donuts. Next time. (And there will be…)
– Cozy Inn, we took up three of the six seats at the counter in this shoe box of a burger joint, with a great view of the two tattooed guys cooking sliders on a griddle. Forgot how good those sliders are..small and mighty, slightly rare with grilled onions and pickles (no cheese or fries allowed) on a small moist white bun.
– Ad Astra, a hipster coffee shop around the block on Salina’s main drag where I had a good chai latte and found a great used book about Elizabeth “Grandma” Layton, a sweet older lady from small town Kansas who painted brilliantly wicked self portraits. (One of which hangs in our kitchen nook.) We met her in the late 1980’s when some friends and I were playing pool at a bar and met her nephew, or some such, who called her to see if she was receiving visitors. She was . So we went to her house and she served us lemonade and showed us around and let us buy signed posters of her work. Only in Kansas!! She died in 1993 I see from the book (which I had to buy!)
The sun is finally out with endless blue sky, bald brown hills, the occasional wind-whipped tree and lots of gleaming white whirling wind turbines. Life is good.
Filed under Kansas, Kansas misc, Uncategorized
In honor of the KC Royals– recalling when I met George Brett 25 years ago
Since the Royals are in the World Series for the first time since 1985, it’s time to share again my chance encounter in about 1989 with Royals Hall of Famer George Brett at the old now demolished Stroud’s road house in KC, MO.
To be honest, I didn’t know who George was but my husband filled me in after spotting him waiting in a crowd alongside us mere mortals for a table at Stroud’s (where the fried chicken was so good people were willing to wait for hours to eat it since the old place didn’t take reservations. Nor does the newer Stroud’s.)
Brett, for the uninitiated, was Kansas City’s best ever player (my husband reminds me of this today) and a key factor in the Royals last World Series win (in 1985.) So we were sitting next to a little boy, about age 8, who was staring at George in amazement. Awestruck. His mom was encouraging him to ask George for his autograph but the kid couldn’t do it. (In this day and age, he’d be asking George to take a selfie with him.) So I said I’d ask George and sidled over to where George was talking to several attractive blond women. He seemed uninspired when I mentioned the little awestruck boy and didn’t provide an autograph. “Jerk,” I thought as I returned to the kid empty handed.
But a short time later, as the little boy and mom were being led to their table, the boy left his jacket behind on his seat by mistake. “Son. hey son,” George called out to him. “Here’s your jacket.” And he handed it to him. The boy looked like he’d won the lottery. “Not a jerk,” I thought, revising my opinion of George Brett.
Filed under Kansas City
Much better burnt ends: Oklahoma Joes in Kansas City
We thought at 2 pm on. Monday there might NOT be a line at this super popular (for good reason) BBQ joint in one half of a gas station in an out of the way corner of Metro Kansas City . Think again. But at least the line wasn’t as long as last Friday’s 1 1/2 hour wait. After a half hour of standing in line, ogling other diners’ plates, we had our very own slab of ribs (meaty, juicy AND crispy) and burnt ends (succulent chunks of BBQ beef – still not the chewy shards I remember fondly, but from where? Bryant’s?) Also good spicy slaw, fries sprinkled with some magic spices, rich tangy beans. Worth the wait!
Filed under DINING, Kansas City
Casa Alvarez and Jalisco: good Mexican in dodge city
D and n at Doll ancestral home in Wright, Ks
We had excellent fajitas at Casa Alvarez in downtown Dodge City – the steak and grilled onions and peppers were packed with flavor. Next time we will stick with just the steak and skip the pork which turned out to be a thin dry slice of meat. Down the street, the pork tacos and flan were a good choice at Jalisco, which has order-at-the-counter service vs. table service at casa Alvarez.
Filed under Kansas, Kansas misc
Shelter from the dirt storms: ad Astra Books and coffee in Salina, ks.
Yes it really is blowing dirt here in the Smokey Hills of central Kansas, with brown clouds above the pale green and tan wheat fields, the occasional wind-whipped tree and wind turbine farm.
But in downtown Salina we stumbled upon a little oasis of alternative-ness, Ad Astra Coffee and books. Cozy wood and stone interior with old sofas and sun drenched plants, Good coffee, not-so-great bagels (but can’t fault them for trying), interesting book selection including tomes by resident world famous (no joke) Agriculture visionary Wes Jackson of the Salina-based Land Institute. very welcome after a grim night in a musty room at The Days Inn along I-70.
Filed under Kansas misc, Uncategorized
Bummer Burnt Ends at gates BBQ in KC
Not sure what happened to the crispy shards of BBQ beef that used to be served as burnt ends at Gates on Main Street in downtown Kansas City but tonight it looked more like hash or ground beef with the odd bit of fat. Blech. But pleased to report that the ribs remain fabulous.
bring back the real burnt ends!
Filed under DINING, Kansas City
Midtown Greenway in Minneapolis
We were very impressed last weekend with the Midtown Greenway, a 5.5 mile former railroad bed that runs across the southern bit of Minneapolis. It’s largely hidden from view (we had a hard time finding it from the trail along the Mississippi river) but is packed with people and runs parallel to Lake Street, past some cool places worth jumping off to visit including the Midtown Global Market. It took us right to South Bryant Street, where our b&b is and where we also found that by heading north, you go over a very handy bike bridge that leads right to Loring Park and downtown.
The Midtown Greenery on a brisk Sunday morning was full of bike riders, from older folks to families to hipsters with the prerequisite full-arm tattoos and pierces.
May 11, 2014 · 12:12 am
American Swedish Institute and Room and Board Outlet – Minneapolis!
We followed a Volvo into the parking lot and parked our Ford next to a Saab – which seemed like an appropriate way of arriving at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis. The museum is a hybrid of an elegant over-the-top 19th century Turnblad Mansion with rococo ceilings, elaborately carved mahogany woodwork and the most remarkable assortment of tiled stoves I’ve seen, plus an equally elegant but very spare Scandinavian modern wing with pristine white walls and spotless floors and pale wood.
As expected, the exhibit we saw of exquisite papercuts (the art of “psaligraphy”) by Danish-Norwegian artist Karen Bit Vejle were remarkable – huge, intricate, lovely, I cannot imagine how she does such lovely things with a small pair of scissors. The papercuts were exhibited in both the modern wing and scattered around the mansion, which was cool. We also were impressed with the paper cuts (see below) of St. Paul artist Cindy McKeen, who studied at Grinnell and at Drake and whose work was reportedly influenced by her rural Iowa childhood. I found out later her work is on sale at Ingebretsen’s, the well-known Scandinavian Gift shop in Minneapolis.
MORE VIEWS
The day before, we went to the Room and Board Outlet in nearby Golden Valley – and I found EXACTLY the chair I was looking for (or pretty darned close!) for $600 off the catalog price. How amazing is that? We saved an extra $100 or so on shipping. I am a longtime fan of Room and Board but never knew there was an outlet – this is the only one in the country and it’s only open on Saturday and Sunday. The place was packed and as I wandered around looking for “my chair” – I suddenly spotted it in a remote area of the cavernous warehouse, surrounded by couches similar to the I bought for full price a few years ago. But another woman spotted “my chair” too and promptly sat on it. I waited nervously for her to leave then jumped into it and held on for dear life until my husband arrived and could go fetch a salesclerk. It was the only one in the whole place!
Filed under Minneapolis, Minnesota, museum exhibit
Bar La Grassa; Patisserie 46 in Minneapolis
We were tempted to return to our longtime favorite restaurant in Minneapolis – Lucia’s in Uptown – but we (or make that I) decided to be a little more adventurous. Glad we did. We had a fantastic meal at Bar La Grassa (BLG) in the Warehouse district 9check out the deer popping out of the facade above!) – eating wonderful Italian food that Des Moines, alas, doesn’t have much of. As advised, we nabbed two seats at the bar overlooking the very busy chefs who seemed to be effortlessly whipping up endless plates of inventive pastas and bruchetta. We had a hard time choosing what to eat from the extensive menu but it helped that you could order half portions of pasta. We loved everything we tried – tomato-based bruschetta with creamy ricotta (a lot of the ingredients here are reportedly source from Bologna); another bruschetta topped with carpaccio, greens and shaved Parmesan. The pastas were all excellent – we had raw tuna atop some extremely spicy and orange pasta made with hot chili oil; pasta with a veal ragu; and black pasta in a light squid-flavored butter with perfectly cooked mussels and roasted tomatoes. For dessert, we split a chocolate panna cotta that came with a crisp delicious flat cookie. Perfect (but we were too full to finish it.) This place even got me to eat lima beans – which were served as a free amuse buse (or whatever the Italian version of that is) marinated with bits of cauliflower, carrots, etc. We were also very glad we had reservations because as promised, on a Saturday night, the place was jam-packed. Great place!!
For lunch on Sunday we went to Patisserie 46 on 46th and Grand – I remembered getting a bread at this place three years ago and seeing the amazing looking sandwiches. This time the sandwiches weren’t on display but the ones we ordered were fantastic – a grilled panini with brisket, cheese and light horseradish (must remember to do this with my leftover brisket) and a delicious BLT with lots of crispy hearty bacon on a chewy baguette. The pastries and breads and sorbet also looked terrific. Next time!
Filed under Minneapolis, Minnesota
TakeBetsywithyou 