For months now, people from all different walks of life have been telling me to go and give this place a try. I finally made it happen and brought a few of my foodie friends along for the trip. And let me tell you true believers, THIS trip was worth it.
I originally dismissed this restaurant as another watering hole in Westport that just happened to serve food. I was wrong. Beer Kitchen is all about the food. This was a rare occasion when literally almost EVERYTHING on the menu looked to be worth ordering.
We gave the restaurant a go on a Friday evening. We arrived just before the Westport "weekend crowd" started to rush in. Ya know, these guys:
After being shown to our table in the middle of the restaurant we began to peruse the menu. I realized quickly that we had all been quiet for some time do to the excessive amount of salivating that was occurring around the table. The entire menu looked great. There were plenty of tried and true favorites as well as some food with twists.
I figured I would give a classic bar sandwich a try in an attempt to gauge what kind of experience we were all in for. My philosophy has always been that if they can't get the basics right, then I don't even need to try any of their more creative offerings. I got the reuben. It was the best reuben I have ever had. The corned beef was tender and delicious, the rye bread was crisp and the cheese was perfectly melted. I also ordered a side of Truffle-Parmesan fries with a side of Smoked Chipotle dipping sauce. It was hard to settle on what dipping sauce I wanted because there were so many different options. The choices ranged from Cucumber-Dill to Sweet Thai Chili. After being completely satisfied with my meal and becoming "pleasantly plump," I noticed that for dessert they had bread pudding. I am a person who does not have the ability to NOT try bread pudding when I am at a restaurant. I did partake, and I graduated from "pleasantly plump" to "fat and sassy."
But don't take it from me. Just have a look at what my foodie friends had to say:
DR. J
DR. J ordered "The Big Fish," a tempura ale-battered whitefish filet with tillamook cheddar, tomato, butter lettuce, cider slaw and secret sauce on a brioche bun. When asked about his dinner DR. J responded: "I like my fish like I like my women, pungent and spicy."
T-DAWG
T-DAWG had the "Brick House," a burger made from a blend of beef brisket, short rib and chuck tenderloin topped with apple wood bacon, tillamook-aged cheddar, smoked bacon aioli, red onion jam, roma tomato and "stacked chips" on a brioche bun. In regards to her meal, T-DAWG said, "That is a tasty burger." She followed up her statement with "Suck-it Blanc'."
BRETT THE JETT
BRETT THE JETT devoured his "Kobe Meatball Sliders," a trio of small meatball sandwiches covered with hand pulled mozzarella and basil pesto with garlic aioli on the side. After wiping the sauce off his chin THE JETT proclaimed, "those are the tastiest balls I have had in my mouth in a long time."
Final summation: Do yourself a favor, go to Beer Kitchen and nom nom nom the shit out of it.
There are a lot of fundamental differences between the West and Islamic culture. We both have our fringe groups and our crazy religious nut jobs. There are plenty of ways to spin it so that you can make either side look like the "victims."
Are the terrorists really just freedom fighters who are reacting to Western imperialism in a very extreme and violent way? How would you react if your home land was being "invaded" by another culture with questionable motives? It's hard to cast even seemingly good intentions in a positive light when civilians are accidentally being blown up along with the bad guys.
On the flip side of the coin, you have the West valiantly marching into the war torn and persecuted nations of the Islamic world with the intent of spreading democracy so that everyone can be free and happy. Of course there is collateral damage along the way but it's worth it if we can protect ourselves from the evil doers who masterminded 9/11 and other unprovoked attacks.
My personal belief is that people are people. Collectively, we are all pretty rotten to the core. Of course there are exceptions to every rule. There are plenty of good people out there with great intentions. But these aren't the people who are running "the show." These aren't the people who are shaping history and continuing mankind's long legacy of raping, pillaging and plundering. It's in our nature to destroy ourselves. There isn't really any hope. It's something you have to accept. This cycle will continue until we have simply wiped each other out. Do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars.
I started thinking about this after I read THIS article. I have a tip for fundamentalists on either side of the fence... killing small children doesn't really get ANYONE to sympathize with your plight or to relate to your cause. It's a sad day when any group ranks lower in my mind than The Westboro Baptist Church. FUCK YOU terrorist fucks.
Located in the heart of KC's Power & Light District, Fran's Restaurant's claim to fame is it's 24-7 access to upscale comfort food. Unfortunately, Fran's is a HOUSE OF LIES!!!!
I visited Fran's this past Memorial Day with a few associates of mine who are always on the look out for new places to have breakfast. We realized upon our arrival that there were barely any customers in the restaurant. After a brief wait, we were seated and began to peruse the menu. I immediately started to notice that the two females in the group seemed to be growing increasingly more and more uncomfortable. At first, I reasoned that it was just the atmosphere of the place; it wasn't really comforting or inviting at all. It definitely didn't reflect the diner atmosphere that they were attempting to go for. Then I started to notice that it was a little too cold for my liking. That was the problem, because "too cold for my liking" translated into arctic winds to the ladies of the group. We ignored the problem and ordered our drinks, which came out promptly. Some had juice, some had coffee, one of us just stuck with water. The waiter got our beverages switched around and the coffee drinkers had to ask for an adequate amount of cream for the coffee but no big deal. We ordered our food and were pretty excited about it because the menu looked tasty. They had all the basics, a few signature entrees, and multiple variations of Eggs Benedict.
But alas, it wasn't meant to be. Time passed and our waiter never returned. The temperature of the room continued to drop, and I feared that we might lose the girls to either starvation or the elements.
(fictional representation of restaurant's environmental conditions)
An hour passed and people all around us began to receive their food. Even the tables that came in after us with the same number of patrons were receiving their food. And still, no waiter. Now let me say that I have worked in the food industry for a number of years so I am very forgiving about problems that can arise in a restaurant. We might have been feeling a little more positive about the wait if our server would have at least come by at some point and assured us that our food would be right out, or made up some sort of plausible explanation for why we had been left for dead. But our waiter did none of these things. So after careful consideration, we left money for our drinks on the table and walked out. I have never done that in my life, but I felt like the bad service and the bad atmosphere warranted it.
When the day was over we decided to look up reviews about Fran's and saw that we weren't the only ones who have come up against bad service at this particular location. There were also a number of comments to be found about the food being sub-par and the place only being tolerable if your are drunk. Unfortunately for Fran's, that is not the type of restaurant that I want to give my business to.
In yet another needless show of omnipotence, God busted out the old "he works in mysterious ways" move and pretty much wiped Joplin Missouri off the map earlier this week. But my contention isn't with the the almighty this time, oh no. My current beef is with the United States Government.
THIS is the particular headline that sent me into full on berzerker rage:
Someone tell me why we can spend countless billions to help other countries, finance wars that the people aren't in favor of, fund bullshit we don't need, but we can't help citizens of this country on our own soil when a natural disaster happens. Why the hell hasn't President Obama brought about any of the "CHANGE" that was promised? Guantanamo bay closing? End of a military presence in Iraq? De-escalation of our activities in Afghanistan? I think that all these things would certainly be a step in the right direction when it comes to NOT BANKRUPTING OUR COUNTRY!!!!!
The worst part is that it's easy to blame Obama because he is the ass hole in office. But the truth is that the former ass hole in office was just another type of fuck up, and I'm sure who ever comes next will be just another variation of retarded. WE as a people need to stand up and say "NO MORE!" We want someone in office who is actually instituting the will of the people and not that of "the party" or special interests in general.
FUCK Republicans and FUCK Democrats. The two great parties of the United States are a joke. You have lead us into a whole that we may never recover from. My advice is that you start paying closer attention to the revolutions that are happening all over the Muslim world. I think we are closer to the western version than you would like to think.
I remember my high school history teacher talking about significant moments in history like the Kennedy assassination, and how if you were alive when those events occurred, then you will always remember where you were and what you were doing in those moments.
I never grasped the truth of that statement until September 11th 2001. It was my first semester of college and I was on my way back from my math class. As I walked down the long hallway towards my dorm room, someone yelled out "Holy shit they hit the other tower." I remember picking up the pace as I approached my room at the end of the hall. As was normal in a college dormitory, most of the doors were open and as I passed my dorm mates rooms I could see everyone was watching different news broadcasts.
I got to my room to find my roommate and girlfriend staring blankly at the TV screen. I asked what was going on and they said that "planes crashed into the world trade center." I remember seeing the image and thinking how I had only seen something like this in the movies. You never see things like this happen, you just see the aftermath. I felt sick to my stomach. At the time, all the details were sketchy. Once it was made public knowledge that we were attacked by a foreign power, an image of an old teacher of mine who had served in World War 2 flew through my head. He said that the day after the Japanese hit Pearl Harbor that he and some friends went out and joined the military. I couldn't help but wonder if that was what I was supposed to do; or if that was what a lot of people were going to do.
It's has been roughly a decade since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The United States has just announced that On May 1st 2011, Osama Bin Laden, the leader of the group responsible for the attacks has been killed by American forces. This is another moment in time that I will not forget. No, it doesn't mean that we've "defeated terror" and it's not as significant as it would have been if it had happened closer to the initial attacks, but it's still an important moment that I won't forget.
Never in my life have I ever even had the faintest desire to visit California. In fact, I have always assumed that it would be destroyed by earthquake, disease, terrorism, or moral decay. My girlfriend and I only decided to make the trip because we got tickets to see PJ HARVEY. It's pretty rare for her to tour in the U.S., and she happens to be my girlfriends favorite musician. So since we were spending the cash to go to Cali for the show anyway, we figured we would stay a few extra days and make a mini vacation out of it.
THE AIRPORT:
As you all know, to get anywhere worth going, you have to fly there. And THAT was the biggest problem we experienced. Our flights to and from San Francisco were both ones that included layovers in other cities. I set it up specificity so that we would not have to physically change planes. We had to schedule our initial flight excessively early in the morning to make this happen. Our trip to Las Vegas went really smooth, but as we waited for the plane to refuel we were informed by the captain that the planes "check engine" light was flashing and that we would have to change planes after all. We were also told that we should probably "hurry over to gate C-18" to try and get a seat. I guess that was their polite way of saying, "you physically have to run across the airport in hopes that you can beat these other passengers to the plane and squeeze onto a delayed flight." So, we RAN to the terminal and beat the other passengers by around one to two people. We were some of the last to board so we didn't even get to sit by each other. It was a less than awesome way to start our trip. But at least we didn't have to go through this thing:
Our trip back to Kansas City went a similar route. Our flight to L.A. went fine, but then they informed us that we had to switch planes. Though now that I think about it, I don't remember why. Anyway, we went and waited for our NEW plane to show up. Of course it was over an hour later than our original plane was supposed to be so that meant that we didn't get home till after 1:30am.
I don't know. I guess it could have been much worse...
THE HOTEL:
We stayed at the luxurious Intercontinental Hotel. Now, let me preface this by saying that My girlfriend and I both have worked in the hospitality industry. We know what is expected from different sizes and types of hotels.
OUR HOTEL KICKED ASS! I mean, just look at it:
It boasted a fantastic location, a great view, a very competent and friendly staff, a pool and jacuzzi, and nice rooms at a decent rate. It was the best hotel we have ever stayed at and we recommend it to everyone. Our check out was at noon but we still had shopping to do so they held our bags for us until we were ready to leave the area. The concierge was also extremely helpful. I asked him about where the best places in town were to get breakfast and he pulled out a map and told me stories and gave me lots of options. AWESOME.
THE CITY
If you have never been to a major city then you can't really imagine what it's like. The only sort of preparation that I had for the experience were the crowded street scenes that we have all seen in countless movies depicting New York and L.A. The city is a buzz with activity 24-7. It doesn't really stop. Everything is very crowded and everyone is on the go. The streets were loaded with venders and street performers and it was a blast. It was just a really different energy than we are use to experiencing here in a smaller city like Kansas City. My girlfriend and I spent a huge chunk of time on foot just exploring the city in general.
One of the coolest parts was the public transit system. You can get anywhere and everywhere by bus trolly, subway, bicycle guy or taxi. There is ALWAYS some way to get where you are going. It was very convenient. It takes a little bit to get used to but you adapt quickly. Then, you are on your way and the city is yours.
It's also very convenient in the way that everywhere you look there is somewhere to eat. There's name brand fast food, little ethnic eateries, hole in the wall coffee shops, and fancy restaurants. You WILL NOT go hungry my friends.
Now, here is the negative side of the large city experience. Namely, zombie like crowds, and clinically insane bums. They pretty much looked like this in crowds by day:
and like this, individually at night:
Yes, that's right. They looked just like C.H.U.D. Cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers. I don't know how else to describe them. They also ranted and raved like lunatics. Mostly because they were crazy. One particular bum was sitting on the sidewalk of a heavily populated shopping area punching his self in the face and yelling: "shut up, be quiet shut up." It was almost like there was a demented bum every 20 or so yards.
Be very aware that you have to deal with this kind of thing when you go to San Francisco.
THE CONCERT
Our concert was awesome and we really enjoyed it. We saw PJ Harvey at THE WARFIELD not too far away from our hotel. For those of you in Kansas City, it was kind of like a cross between The Midland Theatre and The Uptown.
It was really nice inside and the sound was pretty decent. It was a little hot and our seats were just ok, but I think we were a little too "high" on the whole "San Francisco" experience to let it bother us too much. Here is the set list for those of you who are fans:
Let England Shake
The Words That Maketh Murder
All & Everyone
The Guns Called Me Back Again
Written on the Forehead
In the Dark Places
The Devil
The Sky Lit Up
The Glorious Land
The Last Living Rose
England
Pocket Knife
Bitter Branches
Down By the Water
C'mon Billy
Hanging in the Wire
On Battleship Hill
The Colour of the Earth
Big Exit
Angelene
Silence
The set was solid and enjoyable for uber fans like my girlfriend and casual listeners like myself. My significant other was a little disappointed that a few old school jams weren't played but that's the way it goes when ever you go see an artist you love who has a sizable catalog to draw from. You aren't going to hear EVERYTHING that you want to hear. I was just happy that PJ HARVEY was looking a little better than she did in the mid 90's. I mean holy shit she was kinda scary back then:
CHINA TOWN
When we were asking everyone where we should go and what we should do in San Francisco, everyone repeatedly told us not to miss China Town. My girlfriend and I walked through the whole damn thing and you know what we found? The same thing OVER AND OVER. There were exactly 4 variations on the 300 or so shops that we passed.
1. Hole-in-the-wall restaurant.
2. Little market full of only things that poor Chinese people would eat.
3. Little dollar store-like souvenir shop
4. Store full of highly overpriced Asian antiquities. (Buddha statues and such)
This was seriously all the place had to it. Now, don't get me wrong. It really did feel like you were crossing over into China. That aspect was kinda cool. It was decent for what it was I guess. But I don't think it is something to write home about compared to the rest of the city.
I guess I was just hoping for a little more of this:
And a little less of this:
THE WHARF
The wharf was a huge tourist area that encompasses all the piers; Pier 39 being the most well known and the most overwrought with people. The area is cool as hell for the very fact that it has a lot of restaurants that serve you up sea food pretty much straight from the sea. My girlfriend and I indulged in fresh dungeoness crab, shrimp, calamari, and of course clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. MMMM DELICIOUS.
If you go to visit, be aware that you will have to keep a close eye on your food and loved ones because humanity shares the piers with.... THE BIRDS!!!!!
These little fuckers are everywhere. They do battle with each other over sourdough bread bowls as well as the souls of the innocent. BEWARE.
HAIGHT AND ASHBURY
This is the hot spot where the counterculture takes over in San Francisco. It's a neighborhood/ shopping district full of hippies, young people, freaks and new age enthusiasts. The streets are lined with all sorts of restaurants, bars, head shops, tattoo shops clothing boutiques and everything in between. Unfortunately, we didn't get to really explore it all because we got a late start and things started to close before we could REALLY check everything out. It was definitely an area that I want to revisit next time I'm in the city.
ALCATRAZ
Both my girlfriend and I agree that Alcatraz was hands down the coolest part of our trip. We opted to take the night tour because it was said to be the "most complete" Alcatraz experience. IT WAS AWESOME. First off, we started the tour in the day before sun down so we actually got the best of both worlds. We got to explore the island with and without sun light. It started with a cool boat ride to the island. Then there was a tour of the outer parts of the island followed by an audio tour that let you in on the history of the island and that of the prisoners who called it home. The history geeks out there will soak all that up and come away very satisfied. Personally, my favorite part was getting to walk around freely and being allowed to take creepy pictures. It is also worth mentioning that it would have been EASY to get left behind. I really had a moment of conflict when the boat was loading up. All I could think about was that they don't take a head count and that the tour group was huge. NO ONE would know we were missing. I REALLY wanted to say that I had spent the night at Alcatraz. It would have been worth the arrest. Of course, that's how horror movies start so I'm probably better of for NOT staying behind.
MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
We visited the museum and walked away happy with it. It was really cool to see some art that didn't date back so far into the past that it was hard to connect to. It was great to see art that was current and relevant to the time that I am living in. The museum had a good mix of classical and modern pieces. There was a great exhibit on surveillance, voyeurism and the nature of privacy that we really enjoyed. Another thing I liked about the museum was the fact that it didn't take an eternity to get through. It took up just the right amount of time in our day. It's definitely worth a visit.
THE FOOD
I all ready mentioned that we ate fresh sea food at The Wharf. But there was a lot more to enjoy as far as food goes in San Francisco. Everyday we went to a different restaurant for breakfast and we had a great meal every time. Here are a few places that we visited:
Mel's Drive-in
A 50's era looking diner that was rock'n it during breakfast. The place was jam packed. I had corn beef hash topped with over easy eggs. My girlfriend had eggs benedict. Both were great. The place was definitely worth another visit.
Moz Cafe
Simple cafe with a pretty straight forward menu. The highlight was that specials. Crab Benedict. Corn beef hash, and a few other things. It was just down the street from out hotel.
Mondo Caffe
An organic cafe that we just stumbled across while we were exploring the financial district. Our food was fresh and delicious. We actually ended up going in and eating because of the amazing smell of the fresh baked focaccia bread.
New Deli Restaurant
A random Indian food restaurant they we went to because we were in the mood for a little asian persuasion. It wasn't anything special but it hit the spot.
Burger Bar
Top Chef master's Hubert Keller's take on an upscale burger joint. It was Amazing. It's similar in concept to Kansas City's Blanc Burger, but more upscale. You could order a burger with a piece of foie gras on it for $60 bucks. We didn't get that burger, but we definitely had some great food. For instance:
Banana Split. The banana was caramelized.
Nutella milk shake.
FINAL SUMMATION:
San Francisco is definitely worth the trip. It's a really great city with a whole lot to offer. You should definitely give it a visit if you have the means. There is something there for EVERYONE. Make it happen, before it's too late.
Japan was hit by another aftershock today that measured around 7.0 on the Richter scale. By my count, that is one major earthquake, a tsunami, a large aftershock, and today's large aftershock...
WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING? Why does God hate Japan so much? I know that sounds dramatic, but does he throw darts at a globe and then go to town? Japan has become the new Haiti. As an agnostic man, I don't necessarily believe that "God" exists, but I don't discount the possibility. That's because I have no evidence either way.
That being said, on most days I would like to believe that there IS a God, but Japan's ordeal makes me want to believe the opposite. Why? Because if there is, then he is a huge ass hole. Let's disregard the naturally occurring parts of the scenario. Perhaps the worst thing to come of all this is the fact that Japan is now "bleeding" harmful radiation into the air and sea. This problem is moving beyond Japan and has already started to impact other countries. The only country in the world to be decimated by mankind's most powerful and destructive weapon, is now going to have to go through all that nightmare again. It would seem that every generation of Japanese is cursed.
So my question to all the believers out there is this: How can you believe in, or worship a God that causes, or allows this to happen? How do you rationalize that?
