Kansas City experience?

[nate_sf]

Hey guys,

 

I have the opportunity to go to Kansas City on unrelated business in October and had thought of posting a travel ad while I'm there. Anyone here have experience visiting Kansas City?

[Steven_Draker]

Yes, on two occasions recently.

 

You'll be happily busy, Nate. Stay in the Country Club Plaza.

 

Make a search within the Forum to see what others have to say about Kansas City, MI MO

 

Cheers!

[+ deej]

Kansas City, Michigan? I think you mean MO.

[Steven_Draker]

Wrong abbreviation. Thanks for catching this, Deej.

[+ deej]

You actually get bonus points for even using the USPS abbreviations. A lot of natives get 'um wrong!

[BaronArtz]

You got to try the Kansas City, MO, BBQ while you are there. It's outrageously good!

[maxwellissmart]

You got to try the Kansas City, MO, BBQ while you are there. It's outrageously good!

 

I always heard Kansas City has good steaks, and that Chicago's loop was fun for a day.

 

Okay, I'm trying to find the lyrics to that damn NYC song from "Annie" and I KNOW FOR A FACT that the version we learned in school had these words in it, yet I can't find them online. Now I wonder if our music teacher was getting her plays from Big Lots again.

[gallahadesquire]

I always heard Kansas City has good steaks, and that Chicago's loop was fun for a day.

 

Okay, I'm trying to find the lyrics to that damn NYC song from "Annie" and I KNOW FOR A FACT that the version we learned in school had these words in it, yet I can't find them online. Now I wonder if our music teacher was getting her plays from Big Lots again.

 

Chicago has good steaks, too. Any beef (except the live on-the-hoof kind: HELLO, BOYS!) in New England pales in comparison.

 

MEH! on Da Loop. Much better stuff is found outside it: The Art Institute; The Museum of Science and Industry; The Magnificent Mile (best shopping in the United States); the Visitors Center with Tiffany mosaics in the ceiling. And, of course, the Lake Front.

 

And ANY native knows it is called Greater Chicagoland!

[BSR]

If you like BBQ, you'll feel like you died & went to heaven in Kansas City. A dirty little secret in the restaurant industry is that most BBQ outside of Barbecue Country is just baked in an oven, not smoked low & slow in a wood smoker. Yes, you will most certainly taste the difference. My favorite is Jack Stack (there's a location in The Plaza), but you can't go wrong with Arthur Bryant's or Gates. Even if you're not a BBQ fan, give it a try while you're there & see if the Real McCoy can't make a convert out of you.

 

A little civil rights and BBQ history: around 1900, a KC BBQ joint owned by Henry Perry was reportedly the first black-owned business in the country patronized by white customers. While I'm not certain of the factual accuracy of that, it makes sense that the first black business with white customers would be a BBQ joint.

 

After years of enduring Fake & Bakes - i.e., the fraudsters who bake their BBQ instead of smoking it - I was overjoyed when a real wood-smoked BBQ joint opened in Las Vegas recently, with another hopefully opening in January. Those who didn't grow up in BBQ Country have a time understanding it, but for those of us who did (I grew up in Kansas City), barbecue is like religion.

[rvwnsd]

A few corrections from a native:

 

MEH! on Da Loop. Much better stuff is found outside it: The Art Institute;

 

The Loop's borders are: The Chicago River on the west and north, Roosevelt Road on the south, and Lake Michigan on the east. The Loop 'L' (not "El") tracks, from which the area does not derive its name, circle a subset of the neighborhood. The Art Institute, located at 111 South Michigan Avenue is within The Loop.

 

...the Visitors Center with Tiffany mosaics in the ceiling.

 

You are combining The Chicago Cultural Center, which has a Tiffany dome, and Marshall Field's (now Macy's), which has a mosaic Tiffany ceiling. Both are located in The Loop.

 

And, of course, the Lake Front.

 

You meant to say the" Lakefront" (all one word). You might be confusing it with Lake Shore (two words) Drive, a/k/a "The Outer Drive," and/or "LSD" At any rate, the eastern boundary of The Loop is Monroe Harbor and Lake Michigan, so part of the Lakefront is within The Loop. Grant and Millennium parks are within The Loop.

 

And ANY native knows it is called Greater Chicagoland!

 

A native of the city will refer to it as "Chicago." "Chicagoland" is a catch-all for the metropolitan area. Any city native can tell you the earth drops off at the city limits, except for small patches that include Oak Park and Evanston, which we acknowledge to be part of the planet, but only because the 'L' runs to both and Oak Park has Frank Lloyd Wright's house and Evanston has Northwestern University.

 

In fairness, The Loop does not hold the monopoly on stuff to do as it once did.

[nate_sf]

Thanks guys, this is all very encouraging. I'd heard KC barbeque is legendary - would be worth going just for that! Now my mouth is watering reading about it here.

 

Plus I learned a whole lot about Chicago I was not expecting ;-) And all this time I thought "The Loop" referred to the area within the L tracks. Chicago remains one of my favorite cities to visit for so many reasons.

[Bosguy]

Thanks guys, this is all very encouraging. I'd heard KC barbeque is legendary - would be worth going just for that! Now my mouth is watering reading about it here.

 

Plus I learned a whole lot about Chicago I was not expecting ;-) And all this time I thought "The Loop" referred to the area within the L tracks. Chicago remains one of my favorite cities to visit for so many reasons.

 

Not to worry Nate, whatever city you go to will instantly have the best beef around (Nate Prime)--thick, juicy, and wonderful to fill you UP!!

 

 

Boston Bill