Kansas City Pizza and Philly Sandwiches and A Deli

That's Betsey (my lovely wife) waving

Stretchilicious (I wonder if I spelled that right) is what Guy (from Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives) calls the food at Grinders.  Grinders in Kansas City, MO was our second stop yesterday and it was our target stop for lunch.

We met Sonny and Sharie at Hillbilly Hot Dogs and if you read the blog for that day you already have learned about Stretch.  If you haven't read that blog entry (click here).  They told us about Grinders and we hope to see them again when they come to Kansas in May.

I have thought this about a couple places that we have visited; and that thought would be "I sure am glad I don't live closer to this restaurant cause I would be broke and fat(ter)."  So needless to say we liked it and will definitely be back.

The menu was quite eclectic so I asked our waitress for her favorite and she was wonderful in recommending a few things from different types of food.  So we took a couple of her recommendations and ordered a little bit of everything.

Lame picture of the pretzel

The Philly Soft Pretzel on the appetizer list that we started with was exactly that a Philly Soft Pretzel; perfectly salted and very pleasing.  Brought back memories of my time spent in Philadelphia while I was in the Navy.

I ordered a half philly with Cheese Wiz.  The menu says it is voted best cheesesteak west of the Mississippi. I am not sure who voted but I am also not sure I have ever tasted a better one west of the ole Miss.  I am not normally a cheesesteak fan cause the peppers don't sit well with my tummy.  So I got the peppers on the side (also Betsey said she wanted to taste it and she likes the peppers.  The tender beef on the pocketed fresh baked Amaroso Roll was prepared perfectly even when I added some peppers.

The chandelier in the Men's Room
I wonder if the people that had the largest
ball of barb wire know it is missing.

Betsey had the Reuben that was STACKED with corned beef.  On it was finely chopped jalapenos, baby Swiss, sauerkraut, and of course thousand island dressing.  And it was a marvelous sandwich as well.  O the Ho Made Potato Chips were very good as well.

All in all it was a great dining experience.  Probably not the cleanest place in the city, but nothing stood out for me to say it wasn't clean.  Restrooms, as well as everything else, was a down to earth everything goes artistic jumble of anything goes.  One of those places where you will see something new each week and it might have been there for awhile.  There is Grinders and then there is Grinders West; normally when you hear that you think that one is in one neighborhood and one in another.  Not the case here as both establishments share a common wall (couldn't knock down the wall cause it is a load bearing wall - hence two places).  By the way it was a joy to watch the team of employees doing each other's jobs.

And we will be back SOON!


I did mention that Grinders was our second stop of the day.  Marv's Delicatessen was the first food stop of the day.  I wanted to get some Knish to send to one of my favorite Marines since we were in the "big city".  There are no places to get Knish in Topeka.  So while we were getting some work done on our car in KC yesterday I decided to go get some Knish.  We picked some up in New York and Josh liked them so Betsey utilized her techno skills and found us a Deli.  A nice little deli in Park Place (an up and coming upscale shopping center) looks like a pretty good place to grab a deli meal.  I was only disappointed in the fact that it was a Chicago influenced deli as opposed to a NY or NJ Jewish Deli.  Still looking for a Jewish Deli but for now this one will do.

I wanted a dozen potato knish and Steve, Proprietor / Owner, said that he would make more but at this time he only had 5 potato and 4 meat knish.  I ate one of the meat knish for breakfast this morning and there was a bit too much onion in them for me, but the potato knish were worthy of mentioning.  I am looking forward to going back to Park Place as there is an authentic street vendor (operated by Marv's Deli) and that will bring back some memories of New York.  Next time I go will be time to get some Lox or a Chicago Dog.  Don't get me wrong there was a Jewish slant to the joint but saw no mention on the menu for kosher.

Thanks for reading - Please come back.

Chow and Chow Down
Blessings to Ya'll 
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Kevin