Diners, Drive Ins and Dives - Swagger

One of the best beer bars in town, Swagger, is going to be on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives tonight at 9. The blond, spiky haired one will be featuring the Dead Texan and Suribachi burgers. In case you don't know, the Dead Texan is a burger with 2 grilled cheese sandwiches as a bun as well as an egg, some jalapenos and various other manly and macho ingredients. The Suribachi burger is a 1/3rd burger patty that is tempura battered and fried and then covered in Sriracha and various other Asian ingredients.

Swagger will be having a watch party for the show at 9 and you can eat your very own Suribachi or Dead Texan for $2 off as well as 50 cent wings. You can also choose some wonderful beer from their wonderful and varied beer list. You'd better get there today or else you're going to have to deal with the 100% increased business the KC barbecue restaurants were dealing with after last weeks show.

Diners, Drive Ins and Dives - KC Barbecue

The KC edition of Diners, Drive Ins and Dives or Triple D as the cool kids call it is focusing on KC Barbecue tonight at 9. Johnny's, RJ's Bob-Be-Que, Smokin' Guns and Woodyard will be featured. I'm always excited when RJ's gets some press, even if said press comes from someone who insists on wearing his sunglasses on the back of his head. So remember to set your DVR's for the Food Network at 9 tonight.

Family Dining Chronicles - Dickey's Barbecue Pit

I found my way down to south JoCo with just my 2 hungry girls. I knew Dickey's Barbecue Pit (7248 W. 121st St by the Costco) had my barbecue meat of choice, hot links, on the menu and I had to give it a shot. I love my barbecue spicy and hot links bring the spice and, unfortunately local KC barbecue restaurants have an outright ban on the hot link.

I had no idea if Dickey's was in any way kid friendly, but I was almost certain it wouldn't be filled with nude women or anti-kid hipsters, both of which are equally offensive to family dining. We walked in with no other knowledge of Dickey's. It took a moment to determine what I wanted and what to get the kids. They have 3 sizes of sandwich. $3, $5 and $7 as well as 3 sizes of meat plates. I'm more of a fan of barbecue sandwiches, especially in a place that I'm unsure of barbecue quality. I decided on the $5 hot link sandwich for me and the girls decided upon a ham sandwich and fries. They have kids meals which are free all July after 5 PM, but a $3 sandwich, side and drink is only $4 the rest of the time.

They dress each sandwich with onion, pickle and sauce, but it's like Subway when you order, you can specify what you want as they do it. I presume this means a choice of sauce, mild, original or spicy, but when asked for sauce, I just said "yes". This created a problem for one of the girls because, unbeknownst to me, she won't eat barbecue sauce and I ended up having to scrape it off. The fries are the waffle variety and because of that I didn't get them with my sandwich. I decided on the onion strings (they give them some other name, but they're onion strings) as my side. In retrospect I should have gone with my gut and got fried okra as the strings were quite greasy and a quarter of them were a little burnt and kind of infected the whole batch with that burnt batter taste.

As for the hot link sandwich, it was mediocre. It wasn't very spicy hot but had a spicy taste like it had quite a bit of paprika or ancho rather than jalapeno or cayenne. With the original sauce the hot link sandwich was fine, but definitely not a great sandwich. The kids' ham sandwich looked positively wonderful. The ham was cut kind of thick, unlike the Gates ham on bun, more like a ham steak. I think next time I'll give the ham a shot.

In addition to your meal, they have free whole pickles at the condiment stand, the kind you'd pay $1 for at a festival or fair concession. This made my oldest daughter quite happy as she loves pickles. For dessert they also have free soft serve ice cream you help yourself to. You can get either a cup or a cone. It was pretty good soft serve ice cream, much better than you get most places.

I'm not going to say that Dickey's Barbecue Pit is anything other than average in KC. There is just too much barbecue that is better in town, but if you drop a Dickey's anywhere in Nebraska or Iowa it would be a strong choice for barbecue. But, for treating kids to a good time it's an excellent choice. Plus, they have some  menu items that aren't found on many KC barbecue restaurants; hot links and fried okra, as previously mentioned, green beans with bacon or jalapeno beans or barbecue stuffed baked potatoes can also be found. Plus, it's quite affordable, adults can eat a pretty good meal for $7.50 and kids eat free on Sundays and every day in July after 5 PM. Of all the places you can take your kids to eat, Dickey's ranks pretty high in the taste and affordability scales. For that, I guess I'm a fan of Dickey's Barbecue Pit.