More of MO.

We pull into Kansas City about 7:30 and after some Steak n’ Shake, which is apparently fast food in?? It took like 10 – 12 to get some burgers. Now I don’t know how you have a drive through when it takes that long, but many things have been very confusing on this trip. Between driving and parking signs, laws, and people I wonder about this world, well at least the country sometimes. As we pull into our exit the stadium in on our right and I can count how many people are in the stands. We check in and get ready, to head out. I did more research for cocktails and this city has a ton!!! And KC is also known for their BBQ. I find well thought I found a place with both cocktails and BBQ. Cocktails were defiantly not up to par. Drinks with orange vodka with orange juice, Cosmo’s, and appletini’s are not a proper drink list. That is someone who has no knowledge of cocktails, and puts the most popular things they’ve heard of in list form. The drinks might not have been great but when you walk into a place and you know you’re walking out smelling like smoke you know it will be great. The place is Jack Stacks. It’s a chain of sorts but online it didn’t look like a typical chain. It was but the BBQ was still amazing. They make everything in house. I have fall off the bone baby back ribs and beef rib, and what they call burnt ends. These don’t sound appetizing but they are phenomenal. They are so tender and tasty. If you have the chance, try them. Pops and I are not fans of beef ribs, usually they are to fatty and either taste burnt or tasteless. This came with baked beans and cheesy corn. And cheesy corn is what it is. When they drop it off it looks like Mac and cheese but instead of pasta it is corn. MMMMMM mmmmm tasty. Every bite made me want another quick, but not knowing which I should have the next bite of. My pops had a hickory smoked prime rib. Now I’ve had some awesome prime rib before but never smoked. I can imagine how long this took. Everything about this was great. The smoke all the way through. It’s like they injected the flavor. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat the regular prime rib again. All the food is top notch. As we are sitting at the bar I look outside and start laughing because there are about 6 older guys outside dressed ridiculously for their age. Between all of them they had woman’s pants and boots, leather pants and jackets, and piercings up and down their heads. I poke pops and he says they have to be in a band. I can’t believe that, they are too old and dumb looking. But it was the guys from Styx, Journey and Kansas. It was only a couple of them but I hate them more now because they just look so damn ridiculous. We finished up dinner and pulled out my list of cocktail bars. And we start driving around. The first stop is called The Foundry. This is a hipster looking bar, with some interesting drinks and a beer menu that’s about 60 long. The drink I order was Buzz Aldrin. This had vodka, Chambord, lime juice, tang and a honey rim of pop rocks. She drops it off and says “the women really love this drink” Awesome LOL. Very cool place, very cool bartender and door guy. But I want to try a couple places, so we head to this place called The Drop. No one in it but it’s got bourbon and anytime there is more than Makers and Beam on the wall I’m pretty happy. I wanted to make sure they were open, I walked in and asked. They were walk back to tell my dad that they were but there were 2 problems. 1. There was no one in there and 2. A women bartender who was cleaning the bar. Only one of those seems to be a problem. Guess. I really am hating that this is a trend. I wish I wasn’t so serious about each of these times but this is getting stupid. We stop in pops asks for Tom Collins, Gin and sweet and sour with some soda water. But she’d rather stand there and tell us a story of why she refused to learn how to make them!!!! Seriously!!! The list that I peeked at online wasn’t as great as I had thought. So I ordered a Sazerac. So I sip mine and it taste a tad weird. I had to ask what kind of absinthe they used. “Ohh we don’t use Absinthe in our Sazerac’s because it’s not the real stuff, we use sambuca”. Not the real stuff?? It’s not?? It tastes like absinthe, has 63% alcohol and wormwood. If it smells like shit and taste like shit and has corn in it, it’s probably shit!!! And Sambuca isn’t absinthe!!! So why not use something close (I guess) to what it’s supposed to be rather than a completely different ingredient??!! You don’t pour someone a vodka tonic with soda instead because it’s how you make it!!! You tell me you make it this way and let me make the decision on if I want it your dumb ass way. Fuck!!! I can’t believe I have to get angry about this shit. The good part is this was the worst thing that happen in this city. We went home after that the day game is tomorrow and Grienke is going up against Weaver. Should be an awesome pitcher’s duel. Oh on the way to the hotel we cross this street not called El Paseo but The Paseo. Had to take a pic of that. Spanglish at its best.
We jump out of bed and head the 2 blocks to the stadium. Awesome looking stadium. From what they told us it was built in the 70’s and revamped in the late 90’s. It looks brand new to me. Probably because when you have less than 500,000 fans a year it’s not gonna get warn very quick. Very kid friendly stadium, beautiful fountains, and a huge video screen in the shape of the Royals emblem. There are only a couple seats in the outfield though. Most of the outfield is fountain and grass rather than stands. They don’t need any more but it looks weird to not have many stands in the outfield. I was really hoping to see Greinke pitch but he disappointed me. He was last year’s CY Young and this year he already has like 7 losses and today will be another. The Angels are smoking the ball. Connecting with everything and hitting it far. Weaver is pitching a gem he ends up going 4 hitter. But the home team record doesn’t fail all the way... They stated getting blown out early but 9th inning they start coming back. Too bad it’s a little late and 5 runs in an inning isn’t very easy. At this point to I was hoping for them to lose fast cause it was like 95 degrees and I am baking. I’m just trying not to keep one part of my body exposed for too long. Last thing I want is a sun burn. They end come up a run short of tying and lose the game. 2 home losses in 3 days. This is unheard of. We head on back to relax before going out for dinner. Looked at this place called the R bar. No relation to the one that smells like Fernet off Polk. BTW I think 2 people on this trip have known what Fernet is. Are we hording it all?? I think we should let other cities have some. We head on over to the R bar and YES!!!!! YES!!!!! This is what I love. This place has booze!!!. Chartreuse, a bunch of bourbon, tons of bitters, and more. The food is looking amazing. Pork rinds, which I’m not a huge fan of but hell let’s try. Way to salty and hard to eat. If I never ate another pork rind I wouldn’t be sad. I had a hanger steak that was cooked perfectly, it was so tender and the sauce that came with it, motto benne. Pops had veal and of course great again. We sat there and ate and drank and talked to Shawn the bartender who was a really nice guy, and knew his booze and food. I got some more ideas for drinks and probably gonna steal a drink from him. You’ll have to wait and see, then come by and try. It’s a great summer drink. We finished up and needed to get to other bars, there is too many in this town to see. My list had a place called Re: verse. This was in the Plaza district and like the Marina District. Very yuppie but the scenery is amazing. I just have a couple bourbons and take in the scenery. Then we go to another one of my new favorite places called Bluestem. Again, the people are nice as hell and really there to help you out. And that’s not just the people who work there but the people who live in this town. Everyone gives you advice on where you can go and just want to lend a helping hand. We grab a bunch of drinks from this place. Another place I stole a menu from. I haven’t stolen 2 menus from 1 city in a very long time, if ever. A place that has Aperol is a friend of mine. We take it in and meet some people who give us some advice on where to go, and invite us to where they work for food and booze tomorrow. After R bar and Blue stem I’m DONE!!! LOL. We need to do nothing tomorrow so I need sleep lol. We are starting way too early in the night drinking.
We get out of bed kinda slowly but when you don’t have to go anywhere for any reason then slowly is the best. But we are still in KC so BBQ for lunch it is. We had been told about this place called gates in St. Louis but the people in KC are not a fan anymore, apparently it has gone down in the last couple years so someone tells up about L.C.’s. And thank god. Wow this stuff if great. I had a beef sandwich and pops had a homemade smoked sausage. The beef was so tender. I’ve never bit into a sandwich and it felt like I was eating a cloud. It all fell apart in my mouth. Just dissipating like cotton candy. So amazing. The place is very southern though. Family owned and the owner is sitting at a table with all his business stuff and talking on the phone to an employee, yelling at him about coming to work on time. I don’t usually care about chatter between people at work, most time it’s funny. This time it sucked. There’s a place to do business and it’s not at a table in the dining room. But whatever, food is awesome. The sausage is spicy and smokey. I could eat here every day for a month. Well maybe I would just get it to go. HA. We take a ride to Kansas to grab a glass of wine at this French place this girl from last night works at but we miss it being open by about 30 min. So we just drive around taking it all in. And need to buy socks cause I’m running out quick and I don’t feel like doing anymore laundry. There’s only a couple more days left, and I have everything else clean but socks. We look around KC and head back to the hotel to do some more relaxing and find some more places to eat. This is a vacation. Eating, drinking and relaxing on your own time. Not rushing just going with the flow. Sometimes on this trip it hasn’t been like that. It’s get up and go, kinda like a job. I jump on the yelp again, and look up the power and light district. As I scroll down I see “Makers’ Mark Restaurant” Holy shit!!! Why did I not know about this? This was an easy choice for dinner. Was there even a question where I was going?? We head on out a couple hours later. And the first thing we see in the Power and Light District right outside of Makers’ was 3 trannies. It’s a weird feeling when you’re in another city and you see something weird like that but it doesn’t shock you at all. So we head into Makers’ and right out the back door is Pride Festival, LOL. This I wasn’t expecting in KC. I was expecting cowboy hats and cows walking down the street. This city is the most surprising of them all. I go outside to check it out and it’s very tame. It’s like a concert pretty much. No one spanking anyone with a heart shaped crop like I’ve seen at Bay to Breakers. There’s not even anyone naked thank God. We sit at the bar and I see a ton of bourbon. I ask for a list and I hear harp’s playing, and a bright majestic light comes from the menu. The selection is amazing and you can buy flights, which is a half shot but the way these guys pour it’s a full shot. And its half price. So I get to try twice as many bourbons. Heavenly, hence the harp’s playing and the light...Anyone get that?? Pops isn’t that hungry and really nor am I but a beef skewer in a Makers’ glaze is screaming at me. I try a good 6 different bourbons and I’m ready to head back to Bluestem. I want to try more of their drinks and some of their food, hoping I’ll be hungrier a little late. If I have more booze with no food it can end up ugly. We get there and there are people there from last night including the bartender Van, who remembers both of our names. If it was me and I didn’t think I was ever gonna see 2 people again, the names go right to the garbage. Hell most time when I probably will see you I still forget names. I’ll know what you’re drinking though. The apps list is delicious looking, and decently priced for what we thought we were expecting. Not even close. I have steak tartar. Now I’m expecting a little hand full of steak and a couple pieces of bread. This thing comes out with spinach salad all around it 5-6 crustini’s, and a quail egg on top of it. Huge, beautiful, and delicious. This was more than enough food for me. This place keeps getting better and better. Now the day before the girl sitting next to us offered us some Mac and cheese that looked amazing, so of course we had to grab a one of those. Did not disappoint. So cheesy, and bacony (not a real word so I don’t know how to spell it). I think behind steak, Mac and cheese is 2nd on things I’ve eaten on this trip. And that’s probably why that all the weight I lost working out before I left is now back on, with probably plus a couple. Gonna need to hit the gym hard when I get back. We drink a couple more drinks and am good and toasted, so we head on home. Denver, CO tomorrow. It’s an 8 hour drive.