Grilled Cheese Heaven

Stella and I were sitting in Manifesto trying to decide if we wanted another fabulous cocktail or if we wanted to head over to The Westside Local to get a bite to eat and have a beer. The Westside Local won out.

It was about 10 O'clock on a Friday night. When we walked in there was a couple in the main dining room. We chose to sit outside in the beer garden because it was very nearly a perfect evening to be outside. All of the picnic tables in the beer garden were taken except the very last one upon which we took up residence.

Our waiter, who was very friendly, took our drink order and brought us the complimentary olive tray. He took a moment to explain the menu to us, namely the localities section which is basically an a la carte section, I'd never seen it called localities before.

Then we started to feel some raindrops and we decided to move inside. The inside of The Westside Local is very nice, but not that cozy when there is only 3 tables taken. The beer garden is much more enjoyable. Stella decided we should split a grilled cheese sandwich since I wasn't that hungry. I tried to talk her into the deviled eggs, but she wouldn't do it. For $7, her argument was, we could get a sandwich and garlic fries as opposed to spending $6 for a half dozen deviled eggs (6 halves or 3 eggs).

Our waiter, who seemed more like he wanted to sit down and join us than he was in serving us (which is fine because it was pretty slow in there) told Stella about one of the bartender's drink creations. At the drink's heart it was a ginger shandy, but the ginger part was done by infusing some cognac with ginger and mixing that with Tank 7. "Good. But dangerous" was the waiter's assessment of the drink. It does sound pretty good, but if Stella drank that well...let's just leave that to the imagination, but I think I would have to ice a part of my body in the morning.

Our grilled cheese sandwich arrived and it was huge. Certainly $7 well spent. I don't remember all 3 cheeses in the grilled cheese sandwich but brie was one of them and that's enough. Simply put, the sandwich was superb. The bread was light and airy, a great cheese delivery device. The tomato soup was served cold and once we got used to the cold aspect of it, was really enjoyable.

What I didn't like was the garlic fries. They seemed like they had been sitting around for awhile and were mostly ends and irregular pieces. They didn't have much garlic flavor or any flavor for that matter. To make up for the lack of flavor I tried dipping them in the homemade ketchup but it was awful which I didn't think ketchup could ever be. I really didn't like it at all. The aioli that came with the fries was just the opposite of the ketchup, good. Stella used the aioli exclusively, I switched between the two and was not the better person for doing so.

To our surprise, Muddy Mo showed up and sat down with us as we were about halfway done with our sandwich. He had a beer and we discussed the topics of the day. I tried to give him half of my half of the sandwich because it was just too much to eat, but he wouldn't take it. I couldn't finish it. Of course he wouldn't eat any of the fries after I talked bad about them so those went to the dogs too.

The star of the show at The Westside Local is the beer and the best supporting actors are the beer garden and the grilled cheese sandwich. I don't know of a better late night option for beer and food though I'd skip the fries if I could. I'm definitely going to go back and try more food, but I don't know how it could get better than that grilled cheese.

Death by Food: Road Show Edition

Thanks to being forced to use my work vacation, and a sense of obligation to visit my wife's parents for the first time in 5 years, I found a reason to spend a little time in Minneapolis this week. My main mission was to pick-up some Surly, but I found even greater glory in the food of the Twin Cities.

Our tour guide had us ready to swing by some place called Yum for lunch, which sounds just a bit queer for my tastes. So as I pull up to a stop light listening to people try to decide whether to do burgers or spaghetti for dinner, I swung into the parking lot for Burger Jones and made a decision for them.


I knew nothing about this place other than the sign made me believe it's a gourmet burger place, and I'd much rather down that than food from a place known for cupcakes. Sure enough, we walk in to see a bevy of beers on tap and a menu of diverse burgers to be had. Right off the bat, I was conflicted by three burgers: the green chile cheeseburger, the hangover or the white trash burger. The wife agreed to go after the green chile burger, which made my decision so much easier. Who am I? What do I do? I eat food with an item description of "chicken-fried bacon, fried cheese curds, and plenty of Velveeta." White Trash Burger it is.


Notice the Kansas state flag on the burger. Either I have grossly underestimated my nation-wide popularity, of the waiter was extremely observant when carding me for the draft Surly Bender I ordered. The first bite of this thing was like heaven. Perfectly cooked burger, a heaping dose of Velveeta, and some crispy fried goodness. As I progressed through it, my admiration began to slowly decline. The burger wasn't cooked evenly. The fried curds were a lot of air. It was still delicious, but more along the lines of ChefBurger quality rather than the heaven that is Blanc here in KC.

Plus, what is the deal with the lettuce and tomato? I'm trying to kill myself here, and you throw in some veggies to sog up my bun and provide some much needed help to my colon for later? Apparently they do this for every burger, as is evidenced by the green chile burger and daily special featuring a dickload of shrimp below. The White Trash was easily the best of our three.

My Gyro

Why oh why is the gyro not a more universal item? I love them, they're nearly the perfect sandwich and they're oh so filling. What's more, I've never had a bad one. I've had some that are better than others, but they've all been good.

This weekend we ventured south to go to Deanna Rose and do some fishing and some goat petting. After an hour and a half of cutting worms into thirds and threading them onto hooks in the hot sun and pulling the boy's stroller back onto the boardwalk after he inexplicably tried to pull himself into the lake, Stella and I had built up quite a hunger. Luckily for us there is a Mr. Gyros just down the street from Deanna Rose on 135th St.

We stopped off and got some chicken nuggets for the kids at the nearby KFC and took their food in with us. I took a moment to figure out our order and got Stella and I each an original gyro. The original is the only thing either of us have gotten at Mr. Gyros because I can't imagine them making something better. To be honest, I would feel like a douche if I were to order the chicken, KC strip or vegetarian gyro and I think only a jackass would order the gyro melt, I get enough cheese in American food, I don't need to muck up my Greek food with cheese too. At some point I need to try the beef souvlaki or the dolmades just to round out my Mr. Gyros experience but that will have to wait for another day.

By the time I got our drinks filled up and taken to our table, the gyros were ready. Mr. Gyros has a very simple presentation, pita with sliced gyro meat on it, 2 tomato wedges and 4 or 5 rings of onion. The tzatziki sauce is in a paper condiment container like the one you might find at your local McDonalds. The problem with that is their tzatziki sauce is a little thick to pour out of the container so you either use a knife to get it out or you squeeze it out making a mess of your hands. I don't know why I would worry about such things since eating a gyro is anything but a clean experience.

The portion size is excellent, at least 1/2 pound of meat. I could probably use a little more tzatziki sauce each time, I find myself rationing it. The meat is wonderfully flavored and usually quite moist and tender. This weekend the meat was a little overdone, but it was still very good. I've never had a Mr. Gyro experience where I was left wanting more to eat, but I could see needing a little baklava or a dolmade or 2 on the side.*

*This is the first occurrence of this actually happening. While writing this post I was looking at the Mr. Gyros website and found the chocolate almond roll. Within 2 minutes I was in the car driving to Mr. Gyros for a couple of gyros and a couple of chocolate almond rolls, which are fabulous too.

The location on 135th Street feels like any generic local fast food place with the exception of the Greek tourism video that is similar to the DVD's they play at Nebraska Furniture Mart to sell HD TV's and the mural on the back wall. The decor was actually well done, making you feel as though you were in a Greek restaurant, but not beating you over the head with that fact. Also, I like the seating at that location. It allows for large groups (like the kids soccer teams*) to sit together but each table is still separate. The Metcalf location is similar in design to the newer 135th Street one, but quite a bit smaller.

*Stella and I talked about the kids soccer teams (the new soccer complex is next to Deanna Rose) eating in the neighborhood. I told her if there was a kid's Greek soccer team, they would absolutely love KC and talk about KC for the rest of their childhood. I was reminded of when I was a kid and my baseball team went to the little league World Series regionals in Rockford, IL (we lost to the eventual LLWS runner up) and we ate at McDonald's at least 6 times and Bonanza twice in our 5 days there. A little variety in Rockford would have been nice.

Mr. Gyros is obviously a good little restaurant judging by its tenure and expansion. But they're also filling a niche in the market. In my mind, there is no reason the gyro isn't served in nearly every restaurant. I don't know what goes into making the gyro meat on the spit, I don't want to know. I do want the gyro to be a menu staple like the Philly, Reuben or club sandwich. A gyro would be a perfect addition to my little dream of ChefStreet. Let's get this done.