Greetings Eaters and Readers!

Fun fact: Martha and I share very close birthdays (one day apart). We always celebrate together. This year, we dedicated a whole weekend to birthday festivities in Kansas City.

Besides food and drink adventures, we thoroughly loved KC’s offerings: The Nelson Atkins Museum (FREE!), West Bottoms antique shops (UNIQUE!), and ambling around the Plaza and Power & Light areas on a beautiful February Saturday made for a near-perfect birthday weekend.

Vacillating between the Kansas and Missouri border, we tried a handful of places and decided to tell you about all of them — but only in about 100 words or less. For the full detailed experience, we’d love for you to strike up a chat with us, leave a comment on the blog or ask us on Facebook! Or, one better, take the quick trip to KC, MO yourself and check it out firsthand. We’re confident you’ll be as pleasantly surprised as we were with all this big little Midwest gem has to offer!

Scroll to the end for photos. But first:

Beer Kitchen — Old Westport

We shared a plate of Gorgonzola fries that I loved, but Martha could’ve done without the sun-dried tomatoes and Bleu cheese. I had Boulevard Tank 7 Cheddar soup with a Field Greens salad. The soup was too salty and the salad was okay. Fork sideways for me. Martha had their Chicken and Waffles and loved every bite. She sipped on a light, crisp Cherry Pie hard cider and loved that, too. Fork up for her!

HopCat — Old Westport

We’re not going to lie, the name of this place and the black cat on the exterior got us in the door. We stopped in for one drink (they do serve food). I got a delicious Giddy Goat Stout — a sweet, milk stout from a local brewery. Fork up for beer and cat décor! Martha had another cider, thinking it could/should be as lovely as the first. And while she doesn’t remember the name, she remembers it wasn’t as lovely as the Cherry Pie! Fork sideways for the drink, not the establishment!

Joe’s Kansas City BBQ — Leawood

A lot of people steered us towards Joe’s for our obligatory KC BBQ. Personally, I don’t get too jazzed about BBQ. I got the Brisket Dinner, which was fine. But I’m not a good judge, as most BBQ tastes the same to me. The sides were just okay. Fork sideways. Martha swears she was a southerner in another life. See: her affinity for the twangy talk and the BBQ. She got the Porkaholic plate which let her try 3 of the pork meats and 2 sides. Surprise – fork up!

Tomfooleries — The Plaza

Tomfooleries was my favorite place overall. I got Chicken Lettuce Wraps, which were very comparable to the ones at PF Changs (Ever tried those? GO NOW!) I also had Boulevard Irish Red and Cranberry Orange Radler. Fork up for good beer, good food and good vibes. Martha loved the Plaza district (ample shopping and sunny walking), but was relatively un-enthused by Tom’s offerings. Good? Sure. Destination spot for your KC trip? Not really. Fork sideways.

Kaldi’s Coffee — Power & Lights District

We stopped into Kaldi’s to fuel our coffee addiction before our night out in the Power & Light’s District. Their vanilla iced coffees were just what we needed. If I lived in P&L, Kaldi’s is surely a place I would frequent morning, noon and night. Fork up. Martha loved Kaldi’s vibe, local roots and charming coffee offerings. She, too, would frequent this java establishment. Fork up.

The Dubliner — Power & Lights District

As soon as I spotted The Dubliner, we went in. Unrelated to the Omaha location, it still fulfilled my love for Irish culture. I ordered a large Guiness, which equaled to 2.5-3 beers in one glass. Yikes! We devoured a plate of hot Artisan Pretzel Sticks as well. Fork up. Martha felt brave enough to try a Guiness and cider (The Velveteen maybe?) And honestly, if she can learn the name of it, it might be her new go-to drink. She quietly tried to cheer the Jayhawks to a loss as the game played on almost all the TVs (They won. Whatever.) She also had their chicken/cranberry salad and thought it was delicious. Fork up — a personal ‘must’ on future KC trips to explore their menu more and hope to catch live music!

McFadden’s Sports Saloon — Power & Lights District

Our Uber driver had told us McFadden’s had games. So we went there. Looked around. No games. We shrugged and bellied up to the bar anyway. Martha surprise ordered us a round of Irish shots, which I generally steer clear of. But I have to say these weren’t too bad. She thought they were souvenir shots — where you keep the glass — but they weren’t. Disappointing. Fork sideways for me (for no games) and Fork down for Martha.

BRGR — Power & Lights District

Hit with another strike of hunger, we sought out BRGR for some apps. I got chips and dips. Two of the dips were too spicy. The third, a pimiento cheese, was all but licked clean. Fork sideways because they took a weirdly long time to feed me. Martha enjoyed a hard root bear. The first one tasted amazing and she swears the second one tasted different. She ordered what she thought would be a Midwest take on poutine — loaded tots with cheese curds and fixins. But what got to the table was lukewarm/somewhat cold tots with cheese and bacon. Fork down for her.

Howl at the Moon — Power & Lights District

Our last stop in P&L was entertaining. This very lively piano bar had the whole audience engaged in alcohol-infused dancing. I sipped on my Blue Moon and observed from the outskirts of the crowd. A definite fork up for surprisingly good service despite the large crowd. Martha panicked and ordered a Sex on the Beach because she could point to it on the menu the server handed her. It tasted like it was supposed to and because piano bars are always fun: fork up for her, too.

IKEA — Merriam

We. Love. IKEA. We went there twice and as soon we hit the checkout, our noses led us to the cinnamon rolls before we could exit the building. Simple marketing at its finest. We’d both eaten in the cafeteria before, so we opted not to this time. Fork up for overall shopping experience and perfectly warm, gooey cinnamon rolls.

Cheers!
Martha and Jaclyn

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Feature image credit: Pinterest
IKEA image credit: Speckhals

Want to stay up to date? Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.