I'm going to Kansas City with a friend
 

We want some real down to earth Kansas City street stuff. We want original bbq, we want original jazz or blues lounges with wooden floors and cigar smoke and whiskey, we want hole in the wall, Anthony Bourdain adventures. Nothing trendy, nothing upscale, no rotating restaurants, no Hallmark stores, no bullshit.

Whatdaya gots?

Jazz - the Phoenix downtown...great place, authentic music, good atmosphere

BBQ - Arthur Bryants on Paseo...the original one

See that's what I like about you Jilly. You step up when people need answers. No bullshit, just step right up and lay it down.

I'm a people pleaser.

www.knuckleheadskc.com

^^^ Great Honky Tonk and Blues Bar

the Blue Room on 19th or 18th? and Vine is good too....more blues then jazz

Arthur bryants for BBQ i personally dont think you can beat it and for jazz go to THE JAZZ louisiana kitchen theres one in kck and i think one on the missouri side to.

Walk down Prospect or Troost about 2am with $20 bills hanging out of your pockets.
You'll get some action...

The best place to get that kind of authentic experience is at kansascityland, a new destination within Epcot Center in Orlando.

BB's LAWNSIDE AND BBQ 83rd street. Greatest harpes in the world

hole bars that don't include blues/jazz, in case you get tired of it:

the Velvet Dog - not a dive bar really, but a great place nonetheless
Charlie Hoopers - just an average bar, but good food, great selection of beer, and lots of tv's....they also have shuffle board
dive bars - what is it? the Red Balloon or something in OP, KS? total dive, but great karaoke

Restaurants, not BBQ:

Funhouse Pizza (40hwy) in Independence...it's historic, great mullet watching, excellent pizza, totally rugged place

LMAO

ALL YOU PEOPLE GET REP FROM ME TODAY

oh and if you want to see the stadiums a great place near them that Harry S Truman ate at, called Dixon's chili. It looks so shitty, but the food is so awesome. All you can eat tacos there....for like $5.50....plus, good chili. It's a weird kind of chili, but good nonetheless.

I went down to some upscale jazz club (the Blue Note?) one time downtime. Seems like it was about 7 or 8 blocks off the Plaza. Anyway, we met some people there, and they invited us back to some little house in a rundown section of town where there was an after hours jazz session playing in the basement. It was one of the weirder and more cool experiences I've had while traveling. It was like we had stepped back in time to a prohibition-ear speakeasy. Lots of white hipsters, but also lots of soulful, old black dudes in attendance. It felt very organic and authentic. Anyway, I never figured out if it was some regular thing that happens down there or what, but it was definitely cool.

Edit: The place we started at was the Blue Room. I remember now. It also doubles as a jazz museum.

Go to breakfast at City Diner down in the River Market. Good old greasy spoon.

OK, OK, here's some info you might actually be able to use:

Good places to eat BBQ:
BBQ is everywhere, I list all the joints here:
http://www.georgeblowfish.com/BBQ.html

Cool things to see:
WWI National Museum at Liberty Memorial (If you like war)
(Union Station right across the street is a cool building)
Steamboat Arabia Museum in City Market (north end of downtown)
Harry S. Truman Library in Independence (If you like history)
Negro Leagues Museum in 18th & Vine District (If you like baseball)
Nelson-Atkins Museum (If you like world class art)
Boulevard Beer Brewery Tour (if you like beer)

Other good stuff:
Shopping: Country Club Plaza, Legends by the NASCAR track.
Food besides BBQ: Savoy Grill, Plaza III, The Bristol (all expensive)
Not expensive: Dixon's Chili and Fun House Pizza are both good, also try Winstead's for burgers or shakes, Ponak's or Manny's for Mexican, Garrozo's or Cascone's for Italian.

Entertainment:
Knucklehead's is a great music venue. I played there with my band back in July. Also Grinder's in the crossroads district.
President, Phillips and Muehlbach Hotels downtown are cool old school hotels to have a drink.

Have fun!



Have fun, spend money, we need it!

The after hours place is the Mutual Musician's Foundation in the 18th and Vine district. Famous for after hours gigs. You were lucky to get to attend a jam session.

Here's the website:

http://www.thefoundationjamson.org/

Thanks for shedding some light on that! It's one of those sort of surreal experiences that happen when traveling that later (we'd been drinking a lot) the memories are so fuzzy that you begin to wonder if they really happened. Now that I see the building, I realize that it was in that building, not in a house... the booze makes things fuzzy. Anyway, I've actually posted about that experience once or twice on here trying to get insight into the night, and I'd always drawn a blank which was really leading me to doubt my recollection of the evening.

Jack Stack's on 95th have killer burnt ends.

The original Jazz restaurant is on 39th & Stateline...on the missouri side.

If you want BBQ & Blues, consider BB's Lawnside BBQ...2 birds, 1 stone.

Phoenix is a good suggestion for Jazz music, but so is Jardines & JJ's.

How the hell does a thread about cool/interesting/unique things to do in KC fall from the front page with only 20 posts? Good grief. You'd think it was football season.

The Red Balloon? The place that only takes cash?

The foundation is awesome...very interesting mix of people there & - last I was there - they sell you drinks out of a cooler (no liquor license for after 3:00am but they have been granfathered in to allow "under the table sales" until 6:00am)

Y'know, its funny, reading thru this thread, nobody even MENTIONS the Power & Light District or Westport, both of which were designed specifically for tourists coming to KC to have fun. I forgot to mention the College Basketball HOF at the Sprint Center, it's pretty awesome if you like college Basketball.

BB's Lawnside BBQ is a good place for blues and BBQ although its in kind of a bad part of town.

Also, if you like chicken try Stroud's, either in Fairway or North of the River.

Knuckleheads or BB's Lawnside for Blues and BBQ. If you're out on a Thursday night, make it BB's for sure. John Paul's Flying Circus is the shit. Decent rib special that night too. $9/half slab, $14/full slab.

Flea Market in Westport is good for some great burgers, beer and pool/shuffleboard/foosball.

Hoopers' shuffleboard isn't considered an actual shuffleboard table. It's a very very crappy table, and nowhere near level enough to even finish a game. Don't go to Hoopers specifically for shuffleboard or you'll be very disappointed...

Great bar otherwise. They have a huge selection of beer.

In all fairness, his OP made it clear that he wasn't wanting a typical touron experience.

If you like trannies, go have breakfast at Mama's Diner (the old Nichols Lunch) on 39th and Southwest trafficway. There's a waitress, I think his/her name is Nicki, and he/she's about 6' 3" with tasteful makeup and lee press on nails...

The food is great there, otherwise it wouldn't be worth the sideshow.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/mamas-39th-st-diner-kansas-city

yes, that's the one. He asked for dives....that's def one.

Their hot dogs.....****, so yummy. And you shut your hole....I love their shuffleboard...plus, not too many places even have that anymore.

On Brooklyn between the Paseo and Prospect.

Mamas is good, but for real authentic diner you gotta go City Diner. Retail Strips and 5 page menus just don't cut it. If you do go to Mamas go for the Hangover or the breakfast bowl with Chorizo, both good. Damnit I'm hungry!!!:cuss:

Jack Stack's on 95th have awesome burnt ends.

Daves Stagecoach Inn. That is all.

Bro, gotta hit the Cheesecake Factory in OP. Then you can head on over to Dicks Sporting Goods and walk around a while. Catch a flick at the rave. Maybe grab a night cap at Old C's. Wake up the next morning and hit Crate and Barrel. Yeah man, good times. (by the way, this is a parody of the way far too many of my trips to Kansas City tend to go).

Korruption. West Bottoms.

First stop after parole. Damn good hotdog too.

I'll be in town for a few weeks myself. I should be there between mid-December and early January. 3 to 4 weeks of pure unadulterated fun. I'm really looking forward to it.

Allow me to rephrase.... If you're a competitive male who plays barsports for the thrill of competition, it's not considered a legit shuffleboard option. If you're a drunk female wanting to play barsports for fun, it's a great option.

They also have pool and foos....

Did there used to be one of these in Waldo? I remember a chili place that I think was called Dixon's. You ordered your chili based on how greasy you wanted it?

If I forgot to rep you, just let me know and I'll get around to it.

You've got to try their pizza rolls. (They are literally Totinos pizza rolls in a bowl.) As soon as you order, the waitress asks for money. It's the only place I've ever been that only takes cash and makes you pay for your food before they will put in the order. Funny thing is that it's not in a bad part of town or anything.

I think it is 1727 Brooklyn.

Have some lunch at a Peach Tree. Fine fine soul food. Maybe the best catfish in town.

http://www.peachtreerestaurants.com/index.html

You can hit it up after LCs, it's just down the street! I've actually never been there, heard a lot of talk about it though, is the place any good?

Let's go drinks on me

http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2003...school_002.jpg

I told my wife I wouldn't drink tonight. Besides, I got a big day tomorrow. You guys have a great time.

A big day? Doing what?

Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we're going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time.

LMAO

It's a real hole in the wall now, having been downsized to basically a counter, and the hours are minimal, but the Mario's Grinder continues to be served in Westport.

http://marioswestport.com/

Rep is closed! Rep is closed! I'm all out for 24 hours.

You didn't mention...are you looking for a place with ladies?

Nope.

dudes?

Just old black dudes singing the blues and playing brass.

Try the food court in the Great Mall in Olathe. Just frickin amazing!!!!!!!!
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Have Badgirl bring you breakfast in bed.
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The fact that you put in the effort to type such a stupid post from a phone cracks me up.

Do you think its hard to post from a phone?
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Yes, it's very good. The catfish is worth it alone. And the peach cobbler.... ohh shit the peach cobbler...

I've always done the buffet at lunch. The buffet is definitely the way to go..

The bigger jigger on St.John's ave.

The Jazz is awesome. My neighbor's son owns that bar. I saw Lonnie Mcfadden there a few weeks back. It was great.

Downtown Lee's Summit is vastly underrated. There are half a dozen no-nonsense bars and plenty of restaurants to include a better than average BBQ restaurant.

You can get a nearby hotel and bounce around various clubs to hear any style of music you like.

Hell ya ;)ROFLROFLROFLROFL

From a mental midget like yourself, well yes. Also sucking cock while driving is against the law.

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This is true.

Is the Filling Station still open? I always thought that was -decent- BBQ

They used to have cream soda from the fountain.. which is just too cool :)

DT

Yes, it is. That's what I was talking about. I'm not a huge fan (not a real fan of any BBQ restaurant these days) but it's edible.