Hickok's

Hickok's Bar & Grill is one of my favorite spots downtown, period! It's an awesome Southwest grill in the River Market area; it took over the old Dos Hombres building a little over a year ago. We go to there for any reason, but we are particularly fond of going there after Royals games. Hickok's is not just a great lunch spot, not just a great dinner place, not just a great happy hour place, but completely awesome in every way!

To start out with, "The best chips and salsa on the planet", as the menu states. Hickok's is one of the few places that charges for its chips and salsa, but it is WAY worth it! Its $2 for a bottomless order of "The best chips and salsa on the planet" for the table, they named them that, but I wholeheartedly cosign the name. There is some sort of smokiness to the salsa that I can neither figure out the source of nor stop eating. I probably eat my weight in chips and salsa when I am at Hickok's and I am not a huge chips and salsa guy by any means.

Every single entree that I have tried at Hickok's has been incredible! Whether it be the Boulevard Beer battered chicken fingers, that despite their small size (showing you why they are called "fingers"), are huge on flavour! The garlic-agave dipping sauce for the fingers is incredible too. The hot wings, which are done Peanut style, are huge, but not quite the pterodactyl size (like The Peanut). The Hickok's classic burger is indeed that, classic. The most recent item that I have had at Hickok's was the burrito bowl. Imagine a Pepperjax burrito bowl with more flavour. The chicken is better than Pepperjax, and I believe that it is the jalapeno ranch dressing on top that sets it off!

Disclaimer: I have had the crunchy tacos at Hickok's, and they (as everything else is) are quite good. I always harp on "Mexican" restaurants that have crunchy tacos, but this is not a Mexican restaurant, it is a Southwest grill, and Southwest grills have the Eating Awesomeness seal of approval to serve crunchy tacos (as long as you do not label them as "Mexican"). Its really just the principle or it more than anything.

Almost everything that I listed above can be had at a discounted rate during happy hour. The most wonderful thing about Hickok's happy hour is that it includes food and drink, and it is even in effect on Saturdays. Their happy hour menu is (and entire menu for that matter) ever-changing, so make sure to check their website (or with your wait-person) for the latest specials. Whether you want a Boulevard/Shlafly/Bud Light/Stella/Dos XX draw, a tall boy of PBR, a house margarita on the rocks, a frozen strawberry margarita, or food, you can probably find it on special at some time of the day/week at Hickok's.

Hickok's is incredible, and I have no shame saying it! I love nearly everything about this place, and in sticking with the theme of the Dos XX Man: "I don't always eat at Hickok's, but when I do, I eat a lot. Stay hungry my friends".

El Patron

I typically do not frequent Mexican restaurants that are primarily either marketed by or frequented by gringos. It is not that those Mexican restaurants are not or cannot be good, it is just not the type of Mexican restaurants that I am looking for. When El Patron was first mentioned to me, it was by white people from Leawood, which immediately raised a red flag with me. Thus I continued to inaccurately judge El Patron, until a couple family members came in town from California and wanted to go out to dinner. We thought it would be the perfect mix of authenticity (as it IS located on SW BLVD after-all) and upper-scale atmosphere (as heard from the Leawood reco).

When we walked into El Patron, it was indeed filled with gringos, but one look at the menu dispelled any thoughts that I may have had of unauthenticity at El Patron. Skimming through the menu that is occupied by a plethora of entrees that contain Nopales (cactus) immediately made me a fan El Patron. I was first introduced to Nopales as a child, by immigrant farm workers who ate grilled Nopales (by itself) on homemade corn tortillas, lets just say I had to try El Patron's crack at this classic Mexican food!

First, we ordered drinks, all of which were great. The Margarita was an obvious choice, and it was good. However the game changer was a house cocktail, the coconut mojito. The coconut mojito had the mintiness of your standard mojito with the creaminess of the coconut, it was really fantastic, we will be ordering this again during our next trip to El Patron.

The chips and salsa (which are in no way shape or form a reason to go, or not to go to a Mexican restaurant) were very good. The chips taste homemade, but are not. The chips come with two different salsas: mild and spicy. Both salsas are very good.

The entrees: My wife indulged in her all time favorite Mexican dish, the Tacos Marineros (fish tacos). She was gracious enough to let me have a couple bites and it was divine. The "lightly breaded" tilapia was truly lightly breaded, making these tacos a great lighter meal option. The avocado, squeezed lime, and mango salsa combine with the tilapia for a truly great fish taco.

I went with the Arrachera con Nopales (skirt steak with cactus). The grilled skirt steak was just like the carne asada that my friend's mother used to make. The nopales were tender and delicioso! The beans and rice (that I normally hate as most restaurants) were not just edible, but actually good. The meal was tied together by a chile toreado, just like those served with my favorite gas station tacos in Dallas.

For the birthday of one of our group members, we got a sopapilla. The sopapilla was awesome! It came topped with chocolate, whipped cream, and fried ice cream. Pretty much everything sweet and delicious (and equally terrible for you) all on one plate.

El Patron is a fantastic little place on the boulevard and we will definitely be back!