Life in the Mind of a Modest Genius

Old Chicago

Their commercial had been playing on a pretty regular basis in our area.  It's one of those spots I had always seen and wondered how they were but never bothered to stop and see for myself.  Maybe because I was never in the mood for pizza which seemed to be their specialty.  But the commercial was showing other items they had that looked just as good. 

The opportunity finally presented itself this past Saturday.  Thanks to the traffic jam I ran into, I wasn't able to make it to Des Moines in time for cousin Michelle's graduation.  It was already past lunch time and I was already hungry.  I figured I wasn't going to waste an outing so as I approached the Duff Ave exit, I began going thru the list of places close by that I could hit for lunch.  Old Chicago was the first one I saw which jogged my memory that I had yet to try their cuisine.

The one thing that immediately caught my attention was their decor.  It in the same format as the Applebees and TGI Friday's spots: a bar and grille that wants to be both a family restaurant and a sports bar.  What Old Chicago did differently was included several framed posters and pictures that stayed true to the name of the restaurant, taking you back to old Chicago.  Like the poster advertising the 1933 World Fair in Chicago.  That was one I wouldn't mind having myself.

You would think that I would have ordered something that would highlight their expertise.  Like maybe a pizza?  But I wasn't feeling pizza.  I was feeling pasta.  So I went with their southwestern cheesy pasta dish.  The side salad was extra for a dollar.  That was a no-brainer.  Their house salad dressing was even on point.  I just wish it would have come with bread.  How do you serve salad with no bread?

The main dish was not too bad.  It was both spicy and zesty just as I expected.  The chicken in it was even tender and juicy rather than those dry chunks that some places put in their similar pasta dishes.  I wasn't a fan of the black beans that came in it though.  I probably should have told them to hold those.  I ended up pushing most of those to the side.

I'll give my server Baylie credit for warning me ahead of time about their berry lemonade.  She told me in advance of getting a refill that the refills weren't free.  I've been to places where they charged for refills and didn't want to tell you until it was too late (...cough...Schmick's Seafood Restaurant...cough...).  However, just as I gave her credit for that, she ended up still getting gigged for something else. 

When my bill came, I noticed it was a bit higher than I expected.  I looked closer and saw that they charged me $2.49 for the side salad instead of the $1 it was supposed to be.  I pointed it out to Baylie and she apologized saying that it was her mistake.  Yes, it was and that just cost you your tip.  Who am I kidding?  I wasn't leaving one anyway.  That little "oversight" just guaranteed it though.  I know we're only talking about $1.49, but hey...I don't play about my money.

Es Tas

So I'm living in Ames now.  Since I haven't lived here in so long, I have no idea what restaurants are good and what ones aren't anymore.  With the exceptions of the couple of reliables like the gyro man and Lucallan's (and even that one has slipped).  However, one of my all-time favorites is now gone for good with the news that Da Vinci's restaurant was replaced with some generic Chinese joint.  I was feeling like Mexican food though and didn't know where to find that here.

One of the undergrad bros happened to post something on his FB update about this place called Es Tas.  He mentioned that he had it delivered and they left the sour cream on the tacos when he doesn't like sour cream.  That is something in itself which I didn't understand (who doesn't like sour cream on Mexican food??), but I was liking the fact that there was a Mexican place that delivered.  That was a huge plus. I checked with Ralph on the quality and he confirmed that they were pretty good.  Not a ringing endorsement, but enough for me to check it out.

I first of all had a heck of a time finding the place anywhere.  The iPhone restaurant locator showed it on Welch with a phone number that didn't exist.  Apparently that address didn't exist either.  There also was no listing for it in the 2009 Ames phonebook.  Why in the world would a restaurant have an unlisted number?  I reached out to Ralph and he provided the address and the phone number so I was on my way.

I was fully expecting the place to be a real restaurant.  Even though the campustown address could have been misleading.  Sure, campustown was known for housing several bars, but there were a few restaurants here and there.  I just figured Es Tas was one of them.  Not so much.  It actually was a bar that serves food.  Typically, that's not a good mix.  Still, I gave it a pass because I was really feelin' some Mexican cuisine.

I also happened to go on a night that was a costume bar crawl for the ISU campus.  That meant there were an abnormally high number of co-eds walking around in skimpy outfits.  Not there's anything wrong with that, as I've already previously mentioned.  There seriously were some pretty creative outfits out that night.  Most notable was a bartender in Es Tas who was the spitting image of Fat Jesus from "The Hangover".  I just wish I could have gotten a better pic than the one I captured with my iPhone.   

Because it was a bar, I was greeted at the door by some scruffy wannabe bouncer who asked to see my ID.  I laughed because I genuinely thought he was joking.  He wasn't.  I was probably old enough to be his dad and he was carding me.  I guess I should have felt flattered that he thought I may not be 21.  Then again, he was probably drunk too and couldn't tell the difference.  I'm pretty sure that was the more likely scenario.

As for the food, their menu was very sparse.  Would you expect anything less from a bar?  I decided to go with the tacos since that's what Ralph had mentioned.  Not that I had much to choose from anyway.  The shells were the same flour baked hard shells that Raul's in Des Moines was famous for.  That was about the only good thing about it though.  I've never had such bland tacos in my entire life.  Even with their salsa and sour cream, it still tasted like I was almost eating paper.  What really got me was despite how flavorless they were, they STILL gave my stomach fits later that night.  But I should have pretty much expected that coming from bar food.

Fishbones

One of the best things about going to a new city is being able to try different cuisine.  Okay..not necessarily different cuisine because I still have a tendency to stick with the cuisine I'm most familiar with.  I really mean different restaurants.  I can see what the host city has to offer that I would not see in Des Moines.

I had no idea what was good and what wasn't in Detroit.  The rental navigational system could offer me a litany of restaurants to choose from, but it's not like it would provide reviews.  Looking them up online does not good because their self-description makes them all sound good.  That's where Detroit Facebook friends come in handy.  Or at least the one that I was able to get in touch with.

Barb is one of my sorors who lives in the Detroit area.  She is one of my FB friends, but we go way back to the good ol' Blackplanet days (is that site even still around?) so I've known her on going on 10 years now.  Knowing that I could trust a restaurant  recommendation coming from her, I put the decision in her hands.  She came up with Fishbones.  Ironically, I happened to remember the same restaurant on my way to the hotel.  I had seen a couple of them which would make it a chain.  However, it's a chain we don't have in central Iowa so Fishbones it was.

They had me hooked (no pun intended) immediately with their drink offering.  When the sever told me they had strawberry lemonade, I just assumed it would be strawberry flavored.  I had no idea there would be actual strawberries in it.  That was the best strawberry lemonade EVER.  I cold have sat there drinking that all night long.

I ended up going with a Pasta Orleans with extra shrimp.  It's a fettuccine with sauteed scrimps, crab meat, crawfish, mushrooms and fresh tomatoes in a pasta cream sauce.  It's hard to ever go wrong with pasta and seafood since they are two of my favorite dishes.  It was more filling than I expected.  Of course, the barbecue scrimp apps I had beforehand probably had a lot to do with that.

Fishbones was so good that I ended up eating there again for lunch on Tuesday.  I walked around the block and found a few restaurants that piqued my interest, but I kept finding myself obsessing over that strawberry lemonade.  So I was at Fishbones again only to find out that particular location didn't offer the strawberry lemonade!  I was devastated  I got over it enough to eat another Pasta Orleans though.  Man, that's some good stuff...

T.G.I. Friday's

Yes, it's a chain restaurant so this entry may not come as a big revelation to many folks.  It even goes against my own self-imposed rule of not reviewing chains.  However, I haven't been that good lately about getting out to different local spots so this will have to do.  Plus, there was an extra incentive which was worth mentioning that inspired my visit in the first place.

As I'm following Twitter the other day, I see one of my friends asked if anyone could use a coupon for a free sammich at Friday's.  I'm usually not in the mood for a burger at lunchtime, but I was willing to go for a chicken breast sammich from there.  Especially if it was free.  I lucked up and responded quick enough for Mel to award the coupon to me.

There just so happens to be a Friday's a mere few blocks from my office so I can get in and get out for a quick lunch.  I don't know what it is about the location, but I swear it feels like it was built on uneven ground.  When you first walk in, there's a huge bump in the floor that is almost the equivalent of a step.  It's quite the safety hazard.  Everytime I go there, I can't help but wonder how many premises liability claims they have had as a result of that.

The sammich was a Jack Daniels Chicken Sammich.  It's a grilled chicken basted in Jack Daniels glaze and topped with bacon, mixed cheese, Cajun onion straws, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and Jack Daniels mayo on a bun.  I was surprised at how large the thing was once it arrived.  I immediately realized that if I was able to finish that, I would be full for the rest of the day.  I was right.

The thing with Friday's Jack Daniels collection is I'm still not 100% certain if that means there is alcohol involved with it or not.  Is Jack Daniels just a brand name and alcohol is one of the things they make?  Or does that mean those food products have Jack Daniels alcohol in them?  If so, that means that I broke my own rule of not partaking of any alcohol. 

My lunch would have been free with that coupon had it not been for my additional order.  It's a must that I get an Oreo cookie shake whenever I go to Friday's.  Those are the best milkshakes ever and the only two places that I know of that make them are Applebee's and Friday's.  Applebee's version is far superior, but I didn't have a coupon for a free sammich from there.

The service wasn't entirely bad for the lunch hour.  I was seated immediately (that's always easy anyway when I'm rolling solo) and my waitress was there within seconds.  She brought extra napkins without my having to ask as she anticipated how messy a sammich that big can be.  Even brought out the check timely.  I was in a benevolent mood so I went ahead and tipped her.  I rounded up my $3.42 bill to $5.  I hope she doesn't spend it all in one place.

Trophy's Sports Bar & Grill

A friend who was fully aware of my affinity for crinkle fries referred me to this joint.  She thought I might be put off by the fact that it was a restaurant attached to a bowling alley (Plaza Lanes to be specific).  Location doesn't mean a hill of beans to me as long as the food is good.  Henry J's is living proof of that.

I had been to Trophy's once before, but never tried their food.  I happened to go there to watch a volleyball game since they also featured sand volleyball leagues during the summer.  It just so happened that while I sat on their outdoor patio, not once did a waitress approach me.  Never asked if I wanted anything like a menu, a drink, something to eat.  Nothing.  I didn't think anything of it until I had been there  for a few minutes and noticed that the tables around me were getting service and I was getting ignored.  Things apparently hadn't changed much.

I was looking for a spot to watch the ISU/K-State game and coincidentally ended up on that side of town.  My guess was Trophy's wouldn't be as packed as most other sports bars because it wasn't that popular.  I was right.  Walked right in and was able to get a table with no problem.  It was even one of those nifty seats with the 13-inch television right in the booth.

It took a while after I sat down to get a menu and drink.  Even longer after that to order.  Was it because it was Saturday and the place was packed with folks trying to catch games?  Not so much.  There were probably about 20 people tops in that restaurant.  It was because they had inattentive waitresses.  There were about three of them sitting two booths ahead of me just gabbing away.  They weren't even looking to help customers. 

When I finally was able to order, I went with the Trophy's Cajun sammich.  I really need to learn to read menus better.  I saw that it was a chicken breast, but I thought it would have buffalo wing type sauce on it.  Or at least cajun sauce.  Instead it was a dry chicken breast with cajun seasoning.  Not what I was expecting, but I would have known that had I paid closer attention.

I didn't make that mistake when I ordered my sides.  They had regular fries and their signature Trophy fries.  There wasn't a description for either so I asked the waitress for clarification.  Their Trophy fries were the waffle style that I detest.  The "regular" were the crinkle fries.  They came already seasoned which felt like it was doing too much to me.  They probably would have tasted better had they not overdone it.  Thanks to their seasoning stunt, Francie's still has them beat in the fries department.

I'm wondering if maybe the waitresses around the city have some type of picture of me in the back that says "Beware of this non-tipper".  Maybe that's why I continually get crappy service.  At least in this instance they could have faked it and not been so obvious.  Couldn't they have done the goofing off out of sight instead of right there in the dining area with the custoemrs?  Maybe...but then they wouldn't be able to rub it in that they knew I was a bad tipper.  Well congratulations go out to them then.  They certainly earned the zero tip I gave them.

Smashburger

The name meant nothing to me at all when I first received the e-mail.  It was a huge picture of a hamburger with some type of invitation attached.  At first glance, I just assumed it was unnecessary spam that somehow slipped thru the spam filter.  Then I took a second look and saw that it was a special invite for selected bloggers to attend a preview of a new restaurant coming to Des Moines.  Well you know I wasn't about to pass that up.

Burger places are very often hit and miss with me.  I have to really be in the mood for them in order to get one.  The reason being that most of them all taste pretty much the same.  There are little nuances here and there like maybe one place grills instead of frying.  Or maybe one joint makes their patties a little thicker.  But for the most part, they don't differ much in variety, selection or taste.  That's why I didn't go in expecting much.

The new place sits nestled in between two non-food stores in a strip mall in West Des Moines.  That automatically tells you that there's limited seating available (seating capacity of 74, to be exact).  However, they make good use of what space they do have.  The seats were very comfortably cushioned as opposed to the hard ceramic curves that other chains provide.  That was a nice change of pace right off the bat.

The minute I walked in the door, I was greeted by some cat who was very cordial.  He immediately made me out to be "the Modest Genius". I was very impressed.  Never had anyone actually recognized me by face from my blog.  So they really did do a little research before they sent out the invitations for the joint.  Bonus points for their marketing.

The decor had a slight diner feel to it and the menu matched up with it well.  They had your typical 1/3 and 1/2 pound burgers, chicken breast sammiches and so forth.  Not knowing what to get, I just asked the lady for their specialty and was recommended the Classic Smashburger.  It was just a standard 1/3 Angus beef patty with the works on an egg bun.  It reminded me a lot of a Be-Bops burger with just a little more flavor to it.  A side of their signature smash fries helped set it apart even more.  They season them with rosemary, olive oil, garlic and other herbs to make them the only fries that come close to giving Mickey D's a run for the money.

In hindsight, the lady behind the register should have suggested I try the Iowa Smashburger.  Apparently, Smashburger prides itself in regionalizing their menus by offering specialties indicative of the area where the franchise is located.  The trademark of the Iowa Smashburger is Iowa's own Maytag blue cheese.  Now I'm going to be honest and say that I've been here 30-some-odd years and I NEVER knew that we were supposed to be known for Maytag blue cheese.  Is it just me? 

They wanted to make sure we tried as many items from the menu as possible to see what we thought of the food.  It was on the house so I didn't hold back.  That wasn't an easy feat since I'm typically not that hungry over lunch.  I managed to also go with the onion rings and chili.  The onion rings were the thin, stringy kind that are rather popular around the area but I'm not a particular fan of.  The dipping sauce for them with its blend of what tasted to be horseradish sauce and hot mustard didn't too bad a job of softening my disdain for those style of onion rings.

The chili had just the right amount of bite to it.  They sprinkle it generously with fresh jalapeno slice that gave it enough kick to make it both spicy and flavorful.  That little pint-sized portion was probably what I enjoyed the most from the menu items I sampled.  I can only imagine how much better that would have tasted on a cold day when chili is the perfect antithesis.  Lucky for them that weather is just around the corner.

The one slight I did have against the place was the constant badgering.  I'm going to chalk that up to the fact that it was because it was a preview.  I felt like they were doing the Hooters philosophy where it was a goal for every employee in the place to come ask me how I liked everything.  It was okay at first, but got old after about the dozenth person approached me.  However, I must say that I found it very cool that one of those people was the company president, Scott Crane.

It's a huge plus for Smashburger that their location is in such close proximity to my job.  I can definitely see myself returning there to check out some of the other menu items on days that I feel the diner urge.  I just have to make sure that it's on a payday week since their prices also run that diner range.  For example, the total on my meal (if I had to pay for it) came to $11+ for a burger, fries and a strawberry shake.  A little steep for our current economy.  But maybe a Stimulus Smashburger Value Meal will be one of the menu items they will add later.

Downtown Farmer's Market

So I'm surfing the FB updates and come across one that has a picture of a couple of FB friends holding up a taco that looks INCREDIBLE.  It was obvious from the setting that it wasn't at a restaurant.  It was at some festival of sorts.  One IM later and I come to find out that it was purchased at the Downtown Farmer's Market.  Really?!  Well I hadn't been there in years so that provided some extra inspiration for me to visit again.

It had probably been well over five years since I had last been to the Farmer's Market.  Back then, it was all about the produce.  The vendors would set up shop to sell fruit and vegetables (not really a whole lot of fruit) fresh from their gardens and/or fields.  Usually better than the kind you get in stores.  There would be the occasional different item like kettle korn, but nothing too much out of the ordinary.  That is clearly not the case anymore.

 

What immediately surprised me when I arrived there Saturday was how large it has grown.  I remember it being a couple of city blocks at best.  Not even taking up all of Court Avenue.  Now it spans a little over four city blocks with some additional side streets.  You could get a nice little workout just walking the entire thing a couple of times.

 

Not only that, it has gotten much more diverse.  What used to be a Farmer's Market more closely resembled an International Food Fair.  All types of restaurants and/or international vendor had set up shop down there to sell their specialty.  In fact, the taco (which turns out wasn't a taco at all, but a burrito) that I was looking for came from one such place.  The little spot was called Three Nations Restaurant.  I probably should have picked up one of their menus so I could have found their actual location.  Judging from the taste of that burrito, I will definitely be stopping by their spot.

The funny thing about the food vendors is there was a special sign put up that was almost like a warning of sorts.  It said "NOTICE (really just a politically correct way to say "warning"):  for your safety please know the food vendor in the parking lot is not associated with the Downtown Farmer's Market."  It's like they were covering their butts in case anyone got sick from their food.  Didn't make any difference to me.  That burrito was looking WAY too good for me to not take a chance. 

What I don't remember was everything being so pricey.  I'm not talking about the organic stuff.  I didn't even bother looking at those.  I know from experience that organic food in stores is expensive so I could imagine what it was like downtown.  Things like a mini-watermelon for $8?!  Even the asparagus that I love so much was twice as much there then what I pay for it at Hy-Vee.  I realize you're supposed to realize that you're paying a little extra since this is genuinely fresh food and all, but come on now.

The one thing that was still consistent about the Farmer's Market.  The street performers.  There were naturally more around given that they now had more square footage available to them.  I was a little surprised by how that was the one aspect that wasn't quite that diverse.  The only ones down there were musicians and they all seemed to be of the same mold:  that 40+year-old white guys singing cover songs.  Nothing wrong with that though.  Especially when I heard one of them belting out Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline".  Had me having "Beautiful Girls" flashbacks.  Although truthfully, I'm pretty sure I will always prefer the abbreviated movie version.

I will undoubtedly make a return trip to the Downtown Farmer's Market before the summer is out.  Maybe next time I will even get there at a more reasonable time.  11:15 may have been pushing it when it's over at noon.  I just wanted to make sure it was close enough to lunch time to fully enjoy that burrito. Plus, judging from the size of that enormous crowd that was there, earlier arrival would probably be more beneficial.  Maybe I can even get in on some free samples to circumvent the crackhead prices they charge.

 

Look for the Pirate Flag!

The invite came in the mail a few weeks ago and I had put it on my mental calendar to attend.  Unfortunately, you all know how unreliable my mental calendar can be at times with my shoddy memory. It will sometimes need something to jog it and that's just what I got with the latest issues of the Juice.  That was what reminded me of the 22nd Annual Pork BarbeQlossal at the State Fairgrounds this past weekend.

G and I had just gotten back from seeing "Land of the Lost" so the timing could not have been better.  It was dinnertime.  I was hungry.  It was before 7pm.  Oh yeah...I started this new thing where from now on I can't eat anything after 7pm.  Apparently it's supposed to be better for the whole weight loss thing that I'm toying around with.  Anyway, that's when I remembered I had gotten an invite from my old high school buddy Wahl about this event and to come out for some free food Friday.  You didn't have to tell me more than once.

I had talked to Wahl about his competition bbq venture on several occasions.  However, I had never gotten a chance to sample any of his food or even see him in action.  One opportunity did present itself was when Spanky and the Meat Mafia (his competition name) competed in Kansas City and I was slated to be in town for the mini-reunion, but things didn't pan out.  One way or another, I told him I would get to one of his events.  This time around was when it came to be.

The State Fairgrounds look completely different when the renown Iowa State Fair isn't going on.  For one reason, I just assumed that the rides on the midway stayed there.  At least the large ones.  Not so much.  All of the core buildings were there, but the midway was pretty much a huge, empty parking lot.  You could tell they were getting everything ready for the fair's impending presence though because many of the vendor tents were already lined up along the Fairgrounds main drag.  Or maybe they're always like that and I wouldn't know because I've never been to the Fairgrounds when it wasn't State Fair time?

At any rate, I had no idea where I was going.  The Juice did give the location, but I didn't know the building's names and locations from Adam.  I texted Wahl for directions.  He told me to just keep going south.  And to look for the pirate flag.  Not too helpful.  Until I happened to look up into the distance and saw said pirate flag waving proud from his RV.

I have to say that I was impressed with how serious Wahl was about the whole thing.  I have never fancied myself to be a bbq king.  I can't even bbq at all.  I just do a little grilling here and there.  But even with as little as I do know about it, I never knew how much dedication and knowledge it actually took to do it right until talking to Wahl about how he does it.  Things such as having a heat thermometer for the meat that smokes all night and keeping it at bedside in the RV to make sure the food comes out pretty close to flawless.  Just the tip of the iceberg for how he does it.

The part I had been looking to the most though was trying out his food.  Unfortunately, he didn't have any more of the award-winning wings by the time I got there.  What he did have was some short-end ribs, pulled pork, sausage with jalapenos in the center and other delicacies.  As hungry as I was, I couldn't do everything so I stuck to the ribs, pulled pork and sausage. 

All of the food was absolutely incredible.  Especially the ribs.  The meat was done just right so with every bit, it nearly fell off what little bone there was.  Both those and the pulled pork were complemented perfectly by Wahl's sauce.  I was a bit leery to try the sauce because I've been completely spoiled by my Gates.  However, Wahl's had a different flavor to it.  It wasn't as spicy and had a sweeter taste.  Very nicely done.

The actual competition was going to be the next day so Wahl wasn't the only competitor there getting an early start.  There was one cat set up just yards away from Wahl, trying to intimidate with his trophies all out and his huge sign hanging above.  I don't even remember the name.  I just recall seeing his Cockatoo bird (at least that's what I think it was) in the cage going to town on a rib.  I tried to catch a pic of it handling its business, but everytime I tried to snap the pic, the stupid thing turned away from me until it finally dropped the rib altogether.

Wahl runs his own blog dedicated to the Spanky escapades and you can check it out under my Blogging Against the Machine category to the right.  You can also see the mini-photo album I created from the event named 22nd Annual Pork BarbeQlossal.  I highly recommend that if any of you happen to come across Spanky and the Meat Mafia in a bbq competition nearby one of your locales that you check him out. If you ever have problem locating him among all of the other contenders...just look for the pirate flag!

Valley West Bar and Grill

It's no secret that I love me some crinkle fries.  One of the bad things about that is it is difficult finding a place that knows how to make them right.  Some places will have them be too soft and nearly soggy so they taste rather nasty.  They're supposed to be nice and crisp.  Almost to the point of chips but with more flavor.  Anything else would be uncivilized.

Then there is of course the biggest problem in that not many places even offer them as an option.  So when I heard that Valley West Bar and Grill was one of the restaurants that does, I was pretty stoked.  That place was just down the street from my job which meant I would possibly have a new alternative for lunch.  At least on those days when I'm able to get away from the office as my workload  provides.

It took me a minute to find the place at first.  My friend who told me about it kept calling it Valley West Pub.  So I'm walking around Vally West Mall trying to find this joint.  Fortunately, that mall is not that big; therefore, the restaurant options were pretty limited.  They also had their own entrance that could be seen from outside the mall which made it even easier to realize I had the name wrong.

A big plus they had going in their favor was they have the design of flat screen televisions in each booth.  Not huge plasma screens, just a convenient little 13-inch screen.  And you have total autonomy over what you want to watch.  The buttons are right there at the top of the tv to change it to any of the cable stations they offer.  Much better than some bar and grills where you have to ask the bartender (who seems to always be the only one with the remote control) to change the channel.

I decided to go with the steak sammich.  It was pretty reasonably priced and it was the only thing that really stood out to me on the menu.  I just wish it would have been a TRUE sammich and had come with two pieces of bread.  Not a fan of the whole 'open-face' sammich.  The cut was also a little thick for it to be considered a sammich.  So what I essentially had was steak and bread.  And Sprite for the drink.  I wasn't about to take a chance with ordering water since it was West Des Moines.

My waiter seemed like a nice enough guy who meant well.  Especially when I first came in and still didn't know what I wanted after giving the menu a once over.  He told me to take my time since he'd be there until 6.  It was 11:30am at the time.  However, it took me forever to get my check.  What was surprising about that is they weren't even that busy.  Then when it finally did come, it was the wrong one.  The items on there cost less than what I ordered.  Had I been a real loser, I wouldn't have said anything and would have just paid it.  But I figured since I wasn't going to be tipping, the least I could do was be honest about my bill.

A Sunday in Kansas City, Part I

Dad informed me that this weekend would be the 44th Anniversary for Philadelphia Baptist Church.  Also known as Popoo's church.  The church would be celebrating by having an afternoon program for Popoo and Grandma.  Dad was going to be traveling down there to surprise them and wanted to know if I wanted to come along.  You didn't have to ask me twice.

I had no idea how much we would get crammed into one day.  So glad that we were able to do it though.  Of course it was more than just being able to provide fodder for the blog.  It was also great to be able to spend some quality time with Dad.  Not to mention that it's ALWAYS a treat to travel back to my real hometown.  I don't get there often enough for a place that's only two and a half hours away.

The first thing on the agenda was hitting up Gates Bar-B-Q.  I'm sure you all knew that was a given.  There's no way I'm going to KC and NOT hitting up Gates.  That would just be criminal.  My stomach would never forgive me.  Although it would have a difficult time dealing with the meal later in the evening, it still had to have it.

The minute we walked in the door, that familiar "Hi, May I Help You!" greeted us immediately.  Funny thing about it was you could tell from the tone that we weren't in Iowa anymore.  The girl that did it was VERY sarcastic about the greeting as though it was hurting her to have to say it.  It was obvious she was only doing it because it was a job requirement.  She clearly did not like that part of the job.  If that were the case, what transpired next certainly assisted in helping her re-think her career choice.

Dad ordered two short-ends and a plate of fries.  Sista-girl yelled out the order so the dudes in the back could get the ribs prepared.  The fries were already up in a basket ready to be scooped up.  She put them on a plate and handed them to Dad.  Naturally, he asked if they were fresh.  Reasonable question.   We just walked in.  We don't know how long they have been sitting there.  She turned away with a smirk and shook her head.  As if to say Dad had some nerve to inquire if he was paying fo fresh food.  There was no shame in her game whatsoever.

I couldn't do anything but shake MY head and laugh at her actions.  All I could think about was that scene from "School Daze" where Da Fellas are trying to place their order in KFC.  Something about having a waitress have an attitude when ordering your food that just really brings it home how much different the atmosphere is.  You just gotta' love my Kansas City folks.