Went to the BBQ place Arthur Bryant's several years ago, and it was great. I'd go back in a minute.

There are of course several other BBQ options in this city. A good place to find food recommendations is the chowhound.com website.

Thanks, bachs!

Bluebird
You Say Tomato
Cafe at the Nelson(can't remember it's real name)
Oklahoma Joe's
I'll think of some more.

As a local, our favorite BBQ place is Oklahoma Joe's.

On the west side of the Plaza check out Ingredient...original location is in Lawrence so lots of appeal for college age diners there and LOTS of veggie-oriented fare.

Just south of the Plaza, near the library is another salad-on-steroids place...The Mixx? Not far from it, in the Board of Trade Bldg is Bo Ling's, our local Chinese chain that is popular and quite good.

In Westport there is Californo's.

Like bbqboy, I will probably think of more...

We enjoyed dinner at Lidia's when we were passing through KC last September. http://www.lidias-kc.com/#

Thanks, bbqboy and musicfan! That should get us started nicely.

Is the Nelson Cafe still that beautiful courtyard off to the right? We'll plan a lunch there for sure. From website it appears the museum's closed M and Tu these days.

Lidia's looks nice, martym. Nice menu. Thanks!

There is also a nice restaurant at the Kemper Museum of Modern Art (which is free, by the way)...just off Main St. NE of the Plaza...I think it is Cafe Sebastienne.

I recommend reading Calvin Trillin's chapters about his home town, Kansas City, in American Fried (part of the Tummy Trilogy). He is a great fan of Arthur Bryant's.

We have never been to the Kemper; will for sure check it out. Thanks so much.

Vttraveler, I love Calvin Trillin. He's on my short list of favorite contemporary writers, and one of the few whose books I'll pay actual money for. Once I think I stood behind him in line at that little drive in on the Plaza whose burgers he wrote about once and whose name escapes me at the moment. If he likes Bryant's that's where we'll go.

Winstead's is the burger place, I think...it's still there.

that's it!

Definitely Winstead's. Trillin says everyone thinks that a hamburger place from his/her home town is the best in the world but "Someone has to be telling the truth, and it happens to be me."

I also love Trillin's writing, both political and travel/food-related. I made a reference to "Alice's Law of Compensatory Cash Flow" the other day and was shocked when no one knew what I was talking about. ("Money not spent on a luxury one considered even briefly is the equivalent of windfall income and should be spent accordingly." From Alice, Let's Eat)

He's a treasure, to be sure. They seemed like such a lovely couple, so sad that she died so young.

The only sympathy note I've ever written to a stranger was to him about Alice.

While I was thinking about this, I did a quick search and found a really sweet article on Salon.com from 2006...if you haven't read it, you should.

I'm not a vegetarian so difficult to make recommendations there - but two restaurants we really enjoy in KC are the Grand Street Cafe (near the Plaza), and Avenue Bistro in the Brookside area (63rd and Wornall) - quality restaurants moderately priced!

Our favorite BBQ in town is Fiorella's Jack Stack BBQ (I believe there are now 3-4 locations around town, including one in the Plaza and another in Overland Park (95th and Metcalf). Oklahoma Joe's would run a close second for the meats, but we haven't been too crazy about their sides.

http://www.avenuesbistro.com/
http://www.jackstackbbq.com/
http://grandstreetcafe.com/

Enjoy!

Thanks for the salon.com tip. It is a nice article
http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2006/03/24/alice_trillin
I was very touched by both the New Yorker piece and Trillin's slightly longer book, About Alice.

Really appreciate these tips, everyone. We're heading over in the morning.

Have a great time!

http://economy.kansascity.com/?q=node/6874
fud. Don't know how to umlaut on a Mac.