Food

Dinners with Josh – Brobecks BBQ

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I have been on a roll trying new places lately!  Thanks to the local Facebook group called KC Eats.  It’s a great group of people and a great way to hear about new places around town.  I had read several great reviews on Brobecks BBQ and we decided to dive in.

On most of these reviews I had read that you have to try the ham salad.  So I ordered the appetizer!  The only other ham salad i’ve had was Debbie’s ham salad which she would make after holidays where smoked ham was a staple.  It was always a great treat and something I haven’t been able to recreate.  This one was really good too.  It was served with homemade chips and packages of crackers.  Josh claims he doesn’t like ham salad but made a dent in it anyways!

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For dinner, we both ordered different things.  Josh got the Brobecks Combo platter with fries and macaroni and cheese and I got the Burnt End dinner with cheesy corn and beans.

All the meat on both plates was really good.  It was all served dry, which I prefer and there was sauce on the table.  There was also a table with a few different other sauces you could get and signs encouraging you to bring your own sauce if you didn’t like theirs.  The mac and cheese was a solid choice, the steak fries were nicely cooked and meaty, the beans were decent and the cheesy corn wasn’t bland like some cheesy corn can be.

It was a great meal and we were both stuffed and took home some leftovers.  The BBQ market is a tough one around here but I would go back for the ham salad alone.  They are closed Sunday and Monday so don’t make the drive out there and be disappointed on those days!

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Lunches with Dad – Summit Grill

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I could start with a litany of excuses why it has been 5 months since my last post.  But we all know life happens, so there!

We have been doing lunches, though not as frequently as we would like!  My work schedule has changed and dad has been busy with his AMA VP duties.  Admittedly some of our lunches have been some repeats, but thats ok too!

Last week, in an effort to get back in the game, Dad picked Summit Grill for lunch.  They recently opened a new location here in the Northland and we decided to check it out!  We got there shortly after they opened at 11 and the place was already hoppin’!

The menu looked like all kinds of fancy, yummy stuff.  We opted to skip a starter and dive right in!  I got the Pot Roast Nachos (a starter, but I wanted it as my meal) and dad got the Fresh Icelandic Haddock Fish and Chips.

The food came out pretty quickly!  My nachos looked super fancy!  They were also really tasty.  Not quite what I was expecting when I think of nachos, but great nonetheless!  The “chips” they were on were fantastic!  I’m pretty sure they were cut and fried flour tortillas.  I would highly recommend them as an appetizer OR a meal!

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Dad got two big pieces of fish, some coleslaw and a generous helping of fries.  I didn’t try the fish but he assures me it was good.  The coleslaw had a different, but good, flavor.  A week later I can’t even remember why, but I remember the fries being really good.  I just got off the phone with dad and he said they were OK.

(Picture should’ve been here, but we both failed at getting one!)

When we were done with our meal, our waitress brought over this tray filled with sweet delights to tempt us.  Two things on the tray caught our attention:  Creme Brulee and a Reeses inspired peanut butter cup dessert thing.  Wanting to share a dessert and not wanting to actually decide, we told the waitress to “just bring us one of those two things!”.  Only slightly thrown off, she obliged and brought us the creme brulee.  Man.  That.  Was.  Good!  Instead of being in a glass dish it was in its own, edible, chocolate bowl!  There was a delicious raspberry sauce on the plate and some fresh berries.  We both could have easily finished our own of those and not regretted a moment!  I must find out how they got the brulee in the chocolate bowl!

All in all it was a good meal.  I would go back again to try some more of the menu and i’m sure dad feels the same! (Spoiler alert, I have a lunch meeting there tomorrow!)

***Edited to add***

As promised, I got to visit Summit Grill again the day after originally posting this.  Once again, it did not disappoint!  I was there for a continuing education meeting thru work.  This time I got the Chicken Fried Chicken (gravy on the side, always).   The breading on the chicken was delicious and the chicken was cooked perfectly!  The gravy was a nice touch and the mashed potatoes were smooth and delicious.  I didn’t care for the veggies served with it, but I like my green beans more well done than the ones I was served.  Some people like them less cooked, I like them more well done!

We also got to choose between the carrot cake and the creme brulee for dessert.  I chose the Creme Brulee again.  I ate the whole thing.  It was too much, but I finished it anyway since i’m not a quitter!  Maybe next time i’ll try a different dessert.  Maybe.

 

Lunches with Dad – Brown and Loe

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Life happens, but here we are!

Dad and I went out this week to a new to both of us place!  I have had this place on my list for quite awhile and now am only sorry I waited to so long to try it!

Who:  Dad and I

What:  Lunch

When:  Thursday, 12/20/18

Where:  Brown and Loe

How (was it):  In a word, GREAT!

 

We arrived just slightly after 11 am to a mostly empty restaurant and was seated and greeted by our server quickly.  We wanted to start with an appetizer and had narrowed it down to two choices, the Sea Salt Pretzels or the Pimento Cheese Toast.  I told our server what we had narrowed it down to and told her to order us one of those things and bring it to us.  She accepted the challenge!  In short order our Pretzels came out.

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The menu had many yummy looking choices and it was hard to choose what we wanted!  I went with the Smoked Chicken Salad Sandwich.  Instead of fries or chips, I went with the Crispy Brussels Sprouts instead.  It was a good choice.  The sandwich was on a hearty wheat bread and there was a generous portion of chicken salad on there!  The apple butter was a great addition to the sandwich, too!

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Dad went with one of daily specials which was a BLT with Pimento cheese and a side of fries.  Dad said the pimento cheese was a great addition to the BLT.  It was a huge sandwich too, and he left half of it for me to take home to enjoy later.

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In an effort to completely stuff ourselves, we decided to indulge in some dessert too.  It was a Plum Cobbler served with a goat cheese ice cream and caramel syrup.  It also was delicious.

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It was a great meal that gets 10’s all around!  I can’t wait to go back and try some more of the menu items!

Dinner with Nikki – Hawaiian Bros Island Grill

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Hello!  Welcome!  School has been all consuming this semester on top of life.  Dad and I haven’t been doing lunches as a sad, sad result.

I recently joined a “KC Eats” group on Facebook that highlights restaurants in the area.  I saw a couple posts about Hawaiian Bros Island Grill and decided I NEEDED to check it out.  I grabbed Nikki, who loves to explore new restaurants too, and made the drive there!  It’s in Belton, so not close, but definitely not too far!

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The menu is pretty straightforward and small.  Short and simple.  We both opted for the Traditional Classic Plates.  For a small upcharge you could get two meats instead of one so thats the option we both tried.  Every meal comes with rice and macaroni salad and you choose the meat(s).  I went with the Molokai Chicken and the Honolulu Chicken.  Nikki got the Molokai Chicken and Luau Pig.

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Honolulu chicken on the left, Molokai on the right

The meals were great.  The rice was cooked perfectly and the chicken was cooked perfectly and flavored well.  I’m still on the fence about the macaroni salad.  It was pretty bland, with pepper being the predominant flavor.  They had a BBQ type sauce and a teriyaki sauce on the table which I used to kick up the macaroni salad and that really perked it up!

It’s a great little place and I can’t wait to go again!  I will have to hit it up on our way to or from Clinton once and awhile.

Highly recommended!

Lunches with Dad – The Quaff and Caddy Shack

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Ok guys, hang in there.  I am going backwards thru all the food pictures in my phone to get caught up.  Pardon me if details are a little sketchy.

A Dad pick we tried was The Quaff.  It is downtown on Broadway.  I honestly always thought it was a nightclub/bar establishment all these year I have driven by.  Turns out its a restaurant too!  My sister had mentioned it to my dad as a place to check out and off we went!

We have gotten into the habit of ordering appetizers when we are out just so we can sample more of the menu.  That day was no exception.  We ordered the nachos with beef on them.  They were plentiful and very tasty.  I would order them again as my meal.

Dad and I both had decided we wanted a french dip with fries so we both went for it.  Usually we try to order different things but not today.  French Dips were in our hearts.  We both enjoyed them.  They were hearty sandwiches with good fries.  I had to abandon the bread halfway thru so I could finish the meat, which was tasty.

Dad and I both enjoyed it with no regrets and I will definitely be back again.  In fact, I have tried to take Josh there a couple of times but both times they were closed due to holiday hours.  We will make it there when they are open one of these days!

Mid November we checked out Moretina’s Caddy Shack Pizza.  This was a choice of mine.  I was (and still am, lets be honest) going thru a pizza phase and took this recommendation from a friend.  She is one that when she makes a recommendation, you listen.

We both ordered side salads to start and they were your basic, run of the mill salads.  But lets be honest, theres not much to get excited about with side salads usually.  It’s something you get so you don’t feel like a total glutton when the pizza comes.    We ordered a pizza with (I believe) canadian bacon, pineapple, mushrooms and onions.  In the picture it looks smallish but I don’t remember it being so.  It had a great crust and the toppings were cut to a good size and had the right amounts.  I was told w

e should have tried it St Louis style with provel cheese but will have to do that next time, which I anticipate there being!  We both were happy and full when we left.

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Have you tried any of the places we have?  I would love to hear your comments and experiences!

Lunches With Dad, breakfast style

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Apologizes its been so long.  Life happens and I have lots of excuses but lets not bore you with those.

Dad and I have still been going out to lunch regularly, but the last few weeks we had to switch it up due to schedules and do breakfast instead.

This week we went to The Big Biscuit which neither of us are strangers to.  We needed a sure thing and it delivered.  I didn’t take pictures but it was a filling and good meal.  Super fast, too!  We had taken schedules to hash out and exchange and we didn’t even have a chance to finish that before the food showed up.  The bacon I had deserves special mention though.  It was perfectly cooked.  Yummmmmmmmm.

 

The Thursday before Christmas, we went to Chubby’s on Broadway.  My BFF joined us as we had big plans for the day (hence the need for breakfast instead of lunch that day).  Turns out there they start you off with cinnamon rolls.  They were perfect!  The icing was great and they were nice and soft!  I could’ve probably eaten just a plate of those with a glass of milk and been happy.

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Alas, we did order food too.  I ordered a smorgasboard type plate that had hash browns and eggs (over medium for me) and biscuit with gravy.  Dad got fancy and decided to try, for the first time ever, Eggs Benedict with fruit.  He also got a biscuit and gravy (any breakfast place is judged by its biscuit and gravy!) which came also with hashbrowns.  Carrie got french toast with bacon and eggs.

 

It was a good meal overall.  Solid breakfast options and decent biscuits and gravy.  Dad even enjoyed his foray into the world of eggs benedict.  It is a bit far south to frequent but I would go there again if we were in the neighborhood.

The week before Chubby’s we went to a new neighborhood spot, Sissy’s Breakfast and Lunch.  The place where it is was a long time Northland restaurant, then was Crown Pointe Tavern (which moved to a bigger location, then Taco Luchador which wasn’t there very long at all.

It is a clean open space with nice people working there.  We were brought a plate with some fresh baked house made bread samples to try.  We both ordered pretty standard breakfast fare.  Dad got a plate with bacon and eggs (over easy) and hashbrowns and, of course, a side of biscuit and gravy.  I got a plate with eggs (scrambled with cheese), bacon and pancakes.  And a biscuit and gravy, you know, for research purposes.

The food came and we dug in.  The gravy is…different.  It has a different spice to it that neither of us could put our tastebuds to.  They say its a mix of two different kind of sausages, but the flavor is more than just that.  Dad was not a fan of it at all but I liked it enough.  The rest of the food was decent.  I would go again but dad says it was “so-so” (I think the gravy really threw him off ).

Dinners with Josh – Homeslice Pizza & Pints

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Josh and I (mostly Josh these days) enjoy going downtown to get our walking in.  You can park close to the streetcar line and take off.  As long as you can get back to the streetcar, you are never far from your car.  There’s always interesting people watching and plenty of things to see.

On one of these walks Homeslice Pizza & Pints was noted and the other day we decided to finally check it out.  It sits on the corner of Truman Road and Grand, right across the highway from the Sprint Center.  It was a beautiful evening and they had the garage door/windows open so I chose a seat next to the window.  I beat Josh there and ordered us some waters and the Chicken & Hummus appetizer.  He got there shortly and we decided also on “The Wise Guy” pizza for dinner.

The only real problem I had with the whole experience is the pizza came out before our appetizer, which was ordered at least 15 minutes before the pizza!  They apologized and we ate it anyway.  The pizza was good!  I’m not a fan of fennel sausage so we substituted it for pepperoni on the pizza and that was the right choice.  The whole thing was delicious.  It was a decent size for the price too.  I had expected it to be skimpier than it was.

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The Chicken & Hummus appetizer was also yummy.  It came with four skewers of chicken, some pita slices and a healthy sized dish of roasted red pepper hummus which was really good.  There weren’t enough pita pieces so I resorted to using the pizza crust.  Yum!  There was some even left over after everything else was gone and I may have ate some with a fork too, it was that good!


Overall it was great and I would definitely go again!  It gets a 4.5/5 from me!

Lunches with Dad – Mudbugs

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Hello again!  Today I decided to take us both out of comfort zones.  I figured that it was what our plan with our weekly lunches was really about.  Sometimes I just have to force us out there.  We are guilty of picking more “safe” choices and I decided to go outside the comfort zone with Mudbugs.

We walked in to the restaurant and its is set up in the style of a food truck, Mudbugs original set up.  You order and pay at the front counter and pick up your food at the back pickup window.  One look at the menu and Dad leaned over to me and said “I don’t have a warm fuzzy feeling about this”.  I just laughed at him and told him to try something new and pointed out some “safer” options.

I decided to go all in (well, almost…) and go for the Shrimp Po’boy.  I did opt out of the sauteed craw fish that comes on the sandwich…I just wasn’t feeling THAT adventurous!  Dad opted for the Classic Roast Beef Po’boy (also without the craw fish).  I got fries to go with mine and dad opted for the fried okra.

Our meal came out pretty fast and the person that took our order actually brought us our food to the table.

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Much to both of our surprises, it was pretty good.  The shrimp on my sandwich were perfectly breaded and fried and they were generous with the amount of shrimp.  The toppings on my sandwich were well paired, although i’m not sure what the polenta added to my sandwich, but it wasn’t bad.

Dads sandwich was very good too.  The roast beef was nicely seasoned and was generous in the portions of it.  We combined the fries and okra and shared.  Both items were good.  The okra wasn’t slimy and was well breaded.

We heard that they would give samples of their other items such as the red beans and rice and gumbo.  When we were checked on we asked for a red beans and rice sample and they obliged.  It was good!  I don’t even like red beans!  Dad really enjoyed it and wished he had ordered some.

Later in the meal the Chef had a break in the action and made his rounds.  He was warm and friendly and got us some gumbo samples to try too.  It was good!  I don’t know that I would eat a whole bowl but it was nice to try it.

Over all we had a good meal and didn’t have to resort to emergency back up fast food (which I told dad we would if we had to).  We were both full and don’t regret a thing!  Wait…dad regrets not ordering the red beans and rice, but that just means he needs to go back!  I will definitely go again!  Maybe next time I will let them put the crawfish on the side to try it out.

Lunches with Dad (and Grandma!) -Milwaukee Delicatessen Company

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Another week, another lunch!  Grandma was up for the week and Dad worked hard at getting her to plenty of new places to eat (She lives in a small town with limited options) and he succeeded!

For lunch this week Dad picked Milwaukee Delicatessen Company to try out.  I had actually discovered this place a couple of weeks ago, unbeknownst to Dad as Josh and I were driving around downtown on a Pokemon hunting adventure. (Don’t judge!)  I even snapped a picture of the front then so I wouldn’t forget it!

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We arrived at our normal “early” lunch time to find that parking was sparse around there.  We ended up in the garage across the street that is $2 per 20 mins, which was fine.  It’s in a cool old building with a lot of what seems to be original decor.  I only got one pic of the decor, with a guy in the pic too.  Next time we go there I want to sit upstairs!

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They had a menu of yummy looking sandwiches and salads but I spied someone at an adjacent table with pizza and I was sold.  Their slices were huge!  They had specialty slices to choose from or you could “build your own” slice.  I went with the build your own and chose my favorite: pepperoni, pineapple and cream cheese.  Yes, you read that right.  Cream.  Cheese.  If you ever have the option, you should try it.  You won’t regret it.  It’s hard to tell in the picture but they actually cut it into diamond pieces for easier eating.  It’s on a New York Style Crust.  YUM!!!!

Dad and Grandma had big dinner out plans that evening so they decided to split the Central Branch Ruben with German Potato Salad.  They both enjoyed the sandwich and it was a decent ruben.  The German Potato Salad was cold (we always think of it being hot).

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It was a good meal overall and I will definitely go back sometime!  Maybe i’ll carry out a pizza from there.  You can get a 26″ pizza for very reasonable.

Until next time!

Lunches with Dad – The Capital Grille

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It is Restaurant Week here in Kansas City which means that its time to try a fancy restaurant we normally wouldn’t go to because its out of the normal budget.  For those of you who don’t know what restaurant week is, its a set week in January where all participating restaurants offer a special menu for lunch and/or dinner that let you sample their dishes.  Lunch is $15 and Dinner is $33, usually per person but there are a few exceptions.

Since we were going fancy, I decided to try The Capital Grille, a place I’ve heard of many a times but never had the chance (or funds) to go to.

I did make one mistake with the choosing of The Capital Grille, that was not making a reservation.  I suspect its a popular lunch spot anyway with its location and when you add restaurant week on top of it, they are SUPER busy.  Luckily we always go early and we got there before the bar filled up and were able to get seats with full service at the bar.

We had very prompt service from Jenny the moment we sat down at the bar.  Sitting at each seat was a Restaurant Week menu.

First, you got to start of with a Wedge Salad or Lobster Bisque soup.  I chose the salad (with ranch dressing instead of the listed blue cheese – because, NO) and Dad went with the soup.  The salad was basic but good.  What is the point of a wedge salad anyway?  They are just being lazy in the name of fancy in my opinion…  Anyway, Dad was taking a risk with the soup as he wasn’t sure he would like it.  He was right.  He tried a couple of bites and was not impressed.  Jenny noticed this and offered to exchange it for a salad for him.  What a sweetheart!

For the entree portion, they had four different choices.  I went with the Dry Aged Sirloin with Roasted Pepper, Fresh Mozzarella and Arugula Salad.  Jenny didn’t even bat an eye when I ordered the steak medium well, as I do when it comes to steak.  Dad chose the Grille’s Signature Cheeseburger with Parmesan Truffle Fries.  Both meals were great!  My steak was perfect and very tender even done medium well.  Dad’s burger tasted great and the truffle fries were truffle-y without being overwhelming.

For dessert you could choose from Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake or Classic Crème Brûlée.  I wanted to try the cake, but I saw a Crème Brûlée come out and the pull was toooooo strong.  We both went with the Crème Brûlée and were NOT sad at the choice!  It was absolutely delicious and I am going to try to make some at home soon!

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Over all it was a delicious meal and would definitely go back.  I just wish it wasn’t so far out of my normal price range!

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So sad…