#85 - Sabor Latin Bar & Grill, Wichita, KS

The Saturday morning of the Big 12 tourney I woke up, ran 6 miles, and then headed home.  Probably not the best idea, because my legs were super sore from sitting in the car for so long and I was exhausted after a couple of hours.  But I timed it out perfectly to hit Wichita about lunchtime.  I had gone on TripAdvisor to look for a place to eat, and came across Sabor Latin Bar & Grill.  It's right in Old Town Wichita, an area with a Warren theatre and lots of other restaurants and shops.  It was ranked in the top 5 restaurants in Wichita, so I decided to try it out.

I arrived well after the lunch rush, but there were still a few tables of people there.  The restaurant looks kind of industrial, with a full bar near the entrance, about 20 tables inside, and a small outdoor patio with about 10 tables.  The kitchen isn't fully open, but you can still see and hear them cooking and talking in the back, particularly if you're seated close to the kitchen as I was.

There was only one server working almost the whole time I was there.  I understand it was after the lunch rush, but it was still way too much for one person.  It took quite a while for me to be served, although he did come over and tell me he would be with me as fast as he could after I was seated.  It's not his fault, but it detracted from the experience.  And then I heard the manager/owner in the kitchen arguing with one of the cooks about how he was slicing the meat...he wasn't doing it against the grain, so it was tough, but he didn't want to hear it.  There was a little bit of a language barrier because the chef was Hispanic, and had kind of broken English, so another chef had to help translate some of it.  So that didn't help things either.  From their argument I really thought the chef was going to walk out.  Thankfully the fight didn't last too long.

As usual, I was having a hard time deciding what to eat.  I started with the plantanures

Crispy Plantain Chips | Served with Chimichurri and Avocado Crema

These chips were so good!  Growing up my mom made plaintains all the time.  She used to bake them, but they were way too mushy for me to eat so she would also fry them for me.  But when she did it was thick cut slices.  These were very thinly cut, crisp, not greasy, and freshly cooked.  The avocado crema was pretty good, but I really liked the chimichurri.  It had a lot of garlic, so once again it's a good thing I wasn't going to be kissing anyone.  The down side to the long wait for my meal was that I kept eating the chips.  But I finally forced myself to stop, and asked the waiter to bag the rest so I could take them home.

For my main dish I went with the sandwich de vegetariano with a side of black bean frito

Sauteed Mushroom Blend, Roasted Red Bell Pepper | Manchego & Mozzarella Cheese |
Tomato | Avocado | Spinach | Chimichurri | Mayo

I don't normally order veggie sandwiches, but after the funtivities of the Big 12, I felt like I needed something healthy.  Plus it sounded delish.  Plus it was on ciabatta bread.  Plus when I asked the server he said it was awesome.  And he was right.  The sandwich was huge, but really really good.  The chimichurri is very oily and there was too much on the bread so when I picked it up, some of the middle fell out.  But I honestly didn't even realize that it came with the chimichurri until I bit into it.  So next time I would get it on the side. That's my only complaint about the sandwich. The black beans were absolutely delicious.  It's smashed beans sautéed with onions, topped with sour cream and cilantro.  The beans aren't spicy at all, but the sour cream adds a nice cool texture and taste to the dish.

I continued munching on the plaintains on my drive home, and had enough left when I got there to eat a few later that night.  Then I got tired of the garlic smell and had to throw rest of the sauce away.

Will I go back?  Yes of course!  The server issue had to be a very rare occurrence, otherwise the restaurant wouldn't get such good reviews and a high rating.  Plus, there's other menu items that I want to try.  But regardless, I will always start with the plantanures.

 

#84 - Jack Stack BBQ, Kansas City, MO

Kansas City is well known for its steaks and BBQ.  I've had great versions of both over the years there.  A few years ago I made my first trip to Arthur Bryant's.  The food was great, but I seriously thought we might get shot in the neighborhood.  The "no guns" sign on the door kinda made me feel better, until we saw the security guard...about 75 years old.  He didn't have a gun either.  Not sure who he thought he could tackle if the need arose.

OSU lost on Thursday night in the Big 12 tourney, but Susan, Matt and Lon had already decided they were staying until Saturday since they didn't get to town until Thursday morning.  And since I had nothing to rush back to Stillwater for, I stayed as well.  I was able to get an extra night at the hotel and a free upgrade to boot.

We decided to go to Jack Stack BBQ for lunch.  I had never eaten there before, but had heard great things.  We went to the Freight House location, right by the train tracks near the Sprint Center.  We arrived at prime lunch hour, plus all the Big 12 fans had nothing to do all day since the first game wasn't until 5, so there was about a 25-minute wait.  The restaurant is really cool.  Dark wood floors and tables, but big windows to let in the light.  There's a full bar near the entrance, and all the barstools were full of guests either waiting for a table or eating lunch.  There's also some additional bar area seating where we waited.  There's a great outdoor patio with about 15 tables, but it was a little windy to sit out there. 

We didn't have to wait too long to be seated.  The menu is big, but not overwhelming.  We started with the colossal onion rings.  

Photo courtesy of The Pitch

Love breaded onion rings!  Definitely my favorite.  And these were definitely colossal...super thick, hot, cooked perfectly, and delicious.  Did we really need 9?  Probably not, but we still devoured them. 

Of course, I couldn't decide what to eat.  Everything looked and smelled so good.  I started with the spinach salad with balsamic vinaigrette

Baby spinach, bacon, strawberries, red onion, pecans, cheese

The salad was light and very refreshing.  Lots more bacon than I expected, which was a great surprise.  The vinaigrette was very tasty as well.

For the main course I went with the pork rib lunch with cole slaw and cheesy corn bake.

The ribs were delicious!  Very tender, falling off the bone.  We had extra sauce for dipping and I made full use of it.  They have regular and spicy sauce, so I used a little of both.  The cole slaw was very good.  I don't usually get it because the cream based cole slaws are normally way too heavy.  But this one wasn't at all.  It was very refreshing.  The corn was just okay.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but that wasn't really it.  I think the cream was too heavy.  Matt and Susan had the beans, and they looked better.  The Texas toast was really good, but it's hard to mess that up. 

Will I go back?  Yes!  The food was really good, and there are lots of other items on the menu that I want to try. 

#83 - Blue Koi Noodles & Dumplings, Leawood KS

I've had some of my favorite memories at conference basketball tournaments.  From road trips in an RV to Greensboro for the ACC tourney, to watching Maryland win the ACC in '04, to my first Big 12 tourney 5 days after I started working at OSU, to Denise meeting my OSU friends and our "circle of trust" at the Big 12 tourney in '08.  Lots of great times.  This year I didn't decide until the last minute to go.  A lot of my friends I would normally go with had bailed, so I didn't want to go and have nobody to hang out with...what would be the fun in that?  The Cowboys weren't playing until Wednesday night, so I literally waited until about 9am that morning to make my final decision.  I'm glad I ended up going, because even though we lost the 2nd game, I had a really great time.

It's about a 5-hour drive from Stillwater to Kansas City, and so of course I plan my meals around the drive.  Either I leave around 10am and stop for lunch in Wichita, or leave early and make it almost all the way to KC before lunch.  There's not much food-wise right by the hotel, so I usually stop in the Overland Park area.  The night before, I had been watching Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and it just so happened one of his stops was in Kansas City, at Blue Koi Noodles & Dumplings.  The food looked really good, and I loved that the owners were there and involved.

I left home about 9, so I didn't get there until about 1:45. And by then I was ready to gnaw my arm off.  There was still a pretty good crowd when I arrived, and more people came in while I was in there.  One of the owners was at the hostess stand when I got there, and sat me.  I told her I'd seen the show the night before, and that's what brought me in.  She got a big smile and was genuinely pleased, and asked if she'd done a good job!

There are 2 locations, and I went to the one in Leawood.  There's a huge open kitchen towards the back, with bar seating at the kitchen so you can watch them work while you eat.  There's also a full bar, about 25 tables/booths, and modern décor. 

On the show they featured 2 of their specialties...chili pepper wontons and firebird duck.  I seriously considered both, but the waiter said they were both pretty substantial sizes, so I didn't want to go overboard.  I started with the chili pepper wontons

Our wontons are filled with a shrimp, pork, and chicken mixture.
These flavoful bites are then topped with cilantro, scallion, and a chili sauce

OMG these were absolutely amazing!!!  The wontons were huge and freshly made (I learned that on the show), and soaked up the sauce was tons of cilantro and spring onion on top.  The chili garlic sauce was cold, but it didn't make the wontons cold because they put it on top right before serving.  The only reason I even noticed is because I tasted a little by itself at first.  There is A TON of garlic in the sauce.  You probably shouldn't plan to  kiss anyone for at least 5 days after eating it.

I had a hard time deciding on a main dish.  In all honesty I could have just stuck with the wontons, but I couldn't resist trying the homemade noodles.  So I just got a side of them, as well as a  side of the awesome sauce.

Oh my, those noodles...they were SO amazing. It was a really large bowl for a side order, and I knew there was no way I could eat them all...especially since I devoured the wontons.  The awesome sauce was just that. I'm just guessing here, but it tasted like duck sauce with some other spices, cilantro and spring onion.  The noodles are flavored with chili oil and garlic oil (saw that on the show), but I still tried bites dipped in each the awesome sauce and the chili garlic sauce.  I really can't decide which one was better. 

I ended up taking the rest of the noodles and awesome sauce with me, and thankfully I had a fridge in my room.  Let me assure you, these leftover noodles absolutely hit the spot after a long night.

Will I go back?  I thought about stopping on my way back out of town after the tournament to get the other specialty. But by then I was just exhausted and wanted to get home.  But I will definitely go there every time I'm in town.