Preparing a well thought out review for a restaurant can be time consuming. It also often leaves me a little remorseful upon later visits for my opinions can change. I usually like to visit a place a number of times before I craft a review. In that light I am able to stand by my reviews with a clear heart... a clear mind ("Can't lose"... sorry for the Friday Nights Light Reference).
However, I have been to a number of local places recently so I wanted to give my first impression of said locations. I was mostly sober (usually) when I visited these places and I was able to remember key items about each. I also wanted to keep our readers informed about who may be on the Royals next season. You may not know many of these guys so it is my job to inform the mass of readers who yearn for Royals news as the season just ended.
The Billy Butler - All-Star Pizza (allstarpizzaandpub.com) is located in the Tuileries Plaza. Basically, it's in the Northland. Just like the young Royals slugger this place provides consistent pizza and a great pizza/pub atmosphere. In the same mode as Butler, this pizza joint will hit for a high average in providing heavily-topped pizzas and and a good selection of taps. It also features the best football game's line board. If you don't know what that is ask your uncle Morty who always looks sick at Thanksgiving when the Cowboys don't cover the spread. Just a word of warning... just like young Billy, don't expect many home runs with this place. It's good, it's solid, it's just not a homer every time.
The Alex Gordon - Granite City Food and Brewery (http://www.gcfb.net/) is located in many places, but I hit up the Zona Rosa location recently. This place is just like Alex Gordon. When Granite City started showing up nationwide beer geeks went nuts. Afterall, the microbrewing craze was, in many parts, in its infancy. Unfortunately, just like young Alex, these places flopped in my view. The food was of an Applebees quality with a a much higher price point. However, I recently gave the place another look and I was surprised. The hand-crafted beer actually tasted, well... hand-crafted. The server was fantastic (and probably should leave that place and start working at Plaza III or the American). The food was good. The prices were appropriate. Just like Alex Gordon's recent resurgence at the plate (and as a left fielder), Granite City made a comeback in my book.
The Chris Getz - The Art of Pizza (http://www.artofpizzakc.com/) has opened a new location in Westport. I touted this move a few months ago and was waiting expectantly for the Westport location to open. The owner assured me he had trained the staff there and it was going to be great. He was wrong. First of all, how many times must I say it... DO NOT OPEN UNTIL YOU HAVE YOUR LIQUOR LICENSE! This isn't a cupcake bakery or a tea hut, this is a pizza restaurant and as such requires at least beer. But what about the food? It was not good. The pizza by the slice was bland and lacked any real flavor. I made the mistake of ordering the Philly Cheese Steak sandwich (yes, I know I have an obsession with those). It was the worst, most bland Philly I've ever had. They should change it to the Erie or the Scranton. Philly, a town of battery hurling hoodlums, should attack this place and demand that the term "Philly" be removed.
How does this apply to Getz? This guy was supposed to be good. We were told he had great speed and great defense and well.... we're still waiting. Just like I'm waiting on the Art of Pizza to hopefully iron out their kinks.
Happy Eats...
3 comments:
As a self-confessed beer snob, I can't agree with your opinion on Granite City. Most of their brewing is done at an off-site factory, then they bring it in for the final stages. Not that there's anything inherently evil about that, but I've found their beers to be depressingly unimaginative in the few times I've gone there.
And their food needs a lot of improvement before it achieves mediocrity.
Dan: First of all thanks for reading and commenting. I've shared a few beers with you and your blog has been entertaining for me over the years.
As to the Granite City review, I was as shocked with my impression of the beer as anyone. I too brew my own beer on occasion, I have a plate at the Flying Saucer, and my fellow blogger definitely considers me a beer snob.
With that being said the beer at Granite City, which I previously loathed, was actually good on my visit. I should have added that my server made me a maibock concoction made from 2/3rds bock and 1/3rd pale ale. It was good. Not 75th street brewery or Boulevard Bob's 47 or Bell's good. But I guess since my expectations were so low of their beer it actually surprised me by how god it was.
Dan: First of all thanks for reading and commenting. I've shared a few beers with you and your blog has been entertaining for me over the years.
As to the Granite City review, I was as shocked with my impression of the beer as anyone. I too brew my own beer on occasion, I have a plate at the Flying Saucer, and my fellow blogger definitely considers me a beer snob.
With that being said the beer at Granite City, which I previously loathed, was actually good on my visit. I should have added that my server made me a maibock concoction made from 2/3rds bock and 1/3rd pale ale. It was good. Not 75th street brewery or Boulevard Bob's 47 or Bell's good. But I guess since my expectations were so low of their beer it actually surprised me by how god it was.
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