corprip

Confession-- I really didn't want to like this place. After several disappointing meals at Dalzell's previous opening, Pizza Bella, it seemed his arrogance was getting the better of him. Yet, being a big fan of good burgers, it was requisite to at least give it a try. And... it was good. I had the buffalo burger with bleu cheese and bbq sauce, and my partner had the burger with gruyere and caramelized onions (we split them, so we could each try the other); we also split an order of sweet potato fries. Fries were alright, a little soggy, nothing special. The buffalo burger was delicious; very bold flavors, unfortunately too bold for the poor burger with the gruyere and onions. By itself, it probably would have been delicious, but the buffalo burger dominated it. A few complaints though: *Last time we were there, the hours weren't posted and we just barely made it before they closed (at 10 pm) on a Friday night. Now far be it for me to tell someone how to run their business, but being located in a huge party district, one would think they'd stay open long enough to capture as much of the drunk n' hungry crowd as possible. We weren't the only ones to think so, as one group after another turned away after trying to open the doors only to find them locked out and deeply disappointed. *Also, the place was a complete mess. We had a hard time finding somewhere to eat that wasn't covered with trash from the diners before us. Plus, the flat screen televisions were loud and obnoxious. It was such a lovely space, it's such a shame to see it so unkempt, I felt the televisions took away from it. *Final complaint, I made the mistake of not reading the fine print where it states all burgers will be cooked medium well unless otherwise requested. Medium well is burnt in my book, and the worst thing about the burger with the gruyere was it tasted like a burnt hockey puck. That actually pissed me off, so in the future I'll make sure to specify how I want it cooked since I was never asked. But we would definitely go back. Prices are decent (roughly 6.99 for most of the burgers) and the quality was much better than anything at Applebee's or TGIF (although I do suspect the burgers may have been frozen .) Dalzell did ok this time, but he might want to consider focusing on making his existing restaurants better (I'm looking at you, Pizza Bella) before he rushes off to open up yet another trendy concept restaurant.

Wow! Didn't it just open??? My partner and I walked by there just two weeks ago, looking for a place to eat. We opted for Aladdin's Cafe instead. We weren't really up for paying $25+ per person that night, especially at a place we hadn't heard anything about, good or bad.

Reading this thread just made me sad... or more specifically, homesick. I just moved from Phoenix, and Arlecchino is among the things I miss the most (along with Delux hamburgers, Pane Bianco sandwiches, Tammie Coe cupcakes, Backstreet Wine Salon, etc., etc.) Sigh and a tear. Desert dwellers, have a scoop for me.

As a newcomer to KC (from Phoenix), I dived head first into the BBQ scene. Now it seems I'm almost on an Arthurian quest for the Holy Grail of BBQ, and my SO is getting completely burnt out while I march forward. Here's what I've tried so far, in order of best to worst: Oklahoma Joe's: I'm somewhat of an ambience snob. It's not that I need low lighting and "modern" art hanging on the walls to enjoy my meal, but I would have never guessed a restaurant in a gas station would be so good, let alone one of my favorites. One thing I'm learning about BBQ is this sort of ambienece is what one should expect from a "good" BBQ place. I love the meat, the sauce (especially the hot), the sides, and even the pickles and the toast. (But the sausage is unimpressive, yet seems to be enough of a favorite that it's included in two of their combo meals.) I really love their ribs, and I'm not usually a rib fan. What stands out most from OJ's is the sweet smokiness of the meat, which seems more developed and complex than any of the places I've tried so far. Plus, their sauce is a good balance of spices with the right tone of sweetness that doesn't become too cloying. LC's: A distant second to Oklahoma Joe's, the meat was quite good and the sauce was acceptable. Again, the ambience was terrible (even a bit offensive), but whatever. I enjoyed the burnt ends and the smoke ring was clearly visible and lovely. It earns its place in second purely because of the level of smokiness in the meat. I haven't tried any of the sides yet, nor have I tried any of the other meat selections, so I think I need a couple more goes at it before I form more of an opinon. Jack Stack's: So yeah, it's corporate and maybe even a bit dumbed down, but the meat is delicious. That's what matters most to me: Meat first, sauce second. The burnt ends are tender, and has enough smokiness to please my love of smoke. Of course the sides are great, but while everyone seems to love the cheesy corn, we weren't very impressed and preferred the cheesy potatoes. I've had both good experiences at JS and bad. When it was good, it was pretty damned good, but when it was bad it made me swear I would never go again. RJ's & Wyandot: These two are tied in my book. Sides are decent, meat is ok, and sauce is good enough. Overall a little forgettable. Maybe I need to try different things to get a good feel of them. Gate's: Hated it! Even with the gimmicky "May I help you", the service sucked, especially when said gimmick line is shouted at me three or four times while I'm trying to figure out what to order. Then when I asked for a to-go box, instead of an affirmative response, I got a "What for?" Rude, rude, rude. Sadly, the meat and sauce didn't make up for it. I got the combo plate, which had ribs, brisket and ham, served with pickles and a stack of Wonder bread (an aspect of BBQ I find repulsive, which is why I like Oklahoma Joe's toast so much.) Ham was ok, but personally I didn't care it was just ham. Brisket, ok. Ribs were good, but overseasoned. The worst part for me was the sauce. The first thing that hit me upon tasting it was an overbearing, heavy handed use of cumin, which is a tricky spice in my book. It can be used synergisitically with coriander or cilantro with great results, but is easily overdone. The whole time I was eating my Gate's BBQ, I couldn't help shaking my head at why someone would want to make cumin so pronounced in a sauce that would have otherwise been ok without it figuring prominently. On top of all that, the prices suck. A big test for whether a restaurant was good for me or not is if I would ever go back. I would go back to Oklahama Joe's any time, same with LC's. RJ's and Wyandot would be a maybe, but Gate's is an absolutely not! On my quest, the next destination is Arthur Bryant's, plus a handful of others that are smaller and lesser known. There's a Johnny's near me in Mission, so I figured I'd give them a shot (if anyone is familiar with them, I'd appreciate some input pn whether it's worth a try or not.) I also recently bought an offset grill, so once I figure out the principles of fire management, my own smoking should be on its way!

A well made beef salad is truly a thing of beauty. Did you go for the Thai New Year festivities? I had really planned to check this out, but things got in the way. I believe they had a special menu available last week. Aaron ← Apparently, I missed the Thai New Year Menu. When we went, we were just looking for a good place to eat without driving too far (American Idol was coming on in an hour.) We just moved to the area from Phoenix, and the first Thai place we tried was on Pennsylvania (in fact, I think it's called Thai Place.) It was ok, but I was displeased with the service and prices. So when we went to Thai Orchid, we were looking forward to finding a different restuarant to satisfy our Thai cravings. It was more than acceptable, and it's nice to hear others enjoy it as well.

A well made beef salad is truly a thing of beauty. Did you go for the Thai New Year festivities? I had really planned to check this out, but things got in the way. I believe they had a special menu available last week. Aaron ← Apparently, I missed the Thai New Year Menu. When we went, we were just looking for a good place to eat without driving too far (American Idol was coming on in an hour.) We just moved to the area from Phoenix, and the first Thai place we tried was on Pennsylvania (in fact, I think it's called Thai Place.) It was ok, but I was displeased with the service. So when we went to Thai Orchid, we were definitely looking forward trying

Is this the restaurant in Mission? The SO and I went to a Thai Orchard in Mission last week and we were very pleased. We especially loved the beef salad.