Anton's Taproom

I run by Anton's all the time, as it is on my regular running route. I have been saying (since before they opened) that I really wanted to go there, but for some reason I had yet to try it, until my beautiful wife gathered a group of friends and took me there for my birthday (plus she probably wanted me to stop saying "I really need to try that place"). Admittedly, I had built Anton's up quite a bit, and it still lived up to everything that I had hoped that it would be!

As soon as we sat down, I started to to work my way through the list of saisons that are on tap at Anton's.

We started off with smoked barbecue chicken wings and fried pickles. The wings were so tender that they almost fell off of the bones, I am sure that the only thing holding the meat to the bones was the skin. The wings came with a really nice, house-made bleu cheese dipping sauce (for you bleu cheese heads, like myself). The fried pickles were equally awesome; the batter on the pickles almost tasted like a funnel cake batter (which was surprisingly good). The dipping sauce for the pickles was even better than the bleu cheese, it was a cucumber buttermilk.

Continued my way down the list of saisons.

Entree choices were easy given Anton's adjacent butcher shop and lengthy selections of steaks; we did  what was essentially a tour of steaks. Anton's has filets, strips, and both bone-in & bone-out ribeyes, all of which are available in grain fed or grass fed and 14 or 28 day dry-aged versions (think they have enough steak choices?). *For those that don't know the difference between grain fed and grass fed beef, I will explain that (to the best of my ability) in the below note* The grain fed, dry-aged filet was without a doubt the best steak that I have ever had. The grass fed, dry aged KC strip had a stronger beefier taste, but was not near as tender. Finally, the grain fed, dry-aged bone-out ribeye was also some sort of fantastic. To go with our steaks, we had the seasonal roasted root vegetables (carrots and beets), they were just as good as everything else (I have no idea why people sleep on beets).

Enjoyed some neat whiskey (if it's not good enough to drink neat, its not good enough to drink, IMO) and switched from saisons to a dubbel (before beginning a long explanation about grass fed beef).

*Above referenced note (grass fed vs grain fed beef, in laymen's terms): Once upon a time, cows roamed free and ate grass & hay. Then, somewhere along the line, some beef farmer got the great idea to feed them grain to fatten them up (so that they would sell for more at the market). This industry tactic to add cheap weight to their cattle had the happy side effect of adding fat marbling to the meat, which adds tenderness to the texture and richness to the flavour. This is partially why we chose the grass fed strip, because that cut naturally has a slightly higher fat content, since grass fed beef is lower fat than grain fed beef. Grass fed beef is more natural, lower fat, and has a stronger beefy flavour. Grass fed is favored by many for dietary reasons, including higher omega 3 fatty acids and lower saturated fat levels, but also takes a lot more careful preparation (as the lower fat content makes it a lot less forgiving). Paleo dieters also love the grass fed beef, but the thing that I don't get about these Paleo people is how they have no problem with cell phones, tv, or air conditioning (cavemen didn't have those things either, why just pick on the food? </rant>). Long story short: I see both sides, therefore will continue to eat both types of beef.*

We wrapped up an awesome birthday with a chocolate mousse dessert, which was as good as you could ask it to be!

Anton's also has organically raised tilapia (raised in their basement) that they use in the fish & chips and fish tacos. They are very proud of this and love to give tours, all you have to do is ask.

P.S. I have no idea what kind of crack Urbanspoon voters are smoking, but 72%?!? No way this place is 72%, it's incredible!

Ethnic Lunch Spots on Quivira

Anyone who lives or works in the South KC/Overland Park area knows all too well that it very difficult to find good authentic ethnic eats in the area (no, Jose Pepper's and Pei Wei do not count!). As someone who works in South KC, I am always eager to try new authentic ethnic eateries when someone tells me about them. I have done a blog post on the Caspian Bistro already, and am always looking for good (reasonably priced, if possible) ethnic food in the Southland.

All of that being said, this post is about two awesome ethnic eateries in the Southland: El Fogon (Mexican Deli & Taqueria) and Choga (Korean).

First, we will visit Choga, an authentic Korean restaurant. I have never been to Korea, but the food is just like the food that the grandmother of one of my childhood friends always made for us. It also came highly recommended by a Malaysian coworker of mine, and when we got there we ran into a number of Korean co-workers. All of that being said, I am fairly confident in labeling it authentic without ever stepping foot on the continent of Asia.

The lunch menu at Choga offers smaller portions than their dinner menu, at more lunch friendly prices. I went with the Yang Nyum Kalbi (grilled beef short ribs marinated in Kalbi sauce), as it came highly recommended. The short ribs came off of the bone (as shown in the photo in the lower right) and they were quite tender and very tasty. It may not appear that there is much meat on the tray, but the serving size is actually quite satisfying. I would definitely recommend this to someone going to Choga.

Every lunch comes with: Kimchi, steamed white rice, house salad, Japchae, fresh fruit, and two pan fried beef dumplings. The Kimchi (traditional Korean, fermented cabage) was not quite as spicy as I am used to, but still had very good flavour. It was also slightly different that all sides came on your tray, except the Kimchi, that came on one dish for the whole table (but sharing is the Korean way). The steamed rice was perfectly sticky-icky. The house salad was made with fresh greens and a nicely flavoured vinaigrette. The Japchae (stir fried sweet potato noodles) was new to me and did not taste anything like sweet potato, as I had expected, but was more like a traditional rice noodle that had some added pigment. The fresh fruit that came with my lunch was watermelon, as it was in season at the time. The two pan fried beef dumplings were fantastic.

My coworker had been to Choga for dinner and was telling us about the newly installed in-table grills and vent hoods, the concept of this is somewhat lost on me, I believe it is something you have to experience to fully understand. It sounds like a Korean hybrid of hibachi and fondue, I will have to go sometime for dinner to get a better understanding of it. I will surely post pictures after I do, but as you can see, they are brand spanking new.

Secondly, El Fogon, a self titled "Mexican Deli and Taqueria". El Fogon has authentic Mexican fare, I can attest to the authenticity of El Fogon. They serve street tacos, burritos, tortas, authentic Mexican desserts, and authentic Mexican bebidas (drinks, such as jamaica and horchata). We all know that I have an unhealthy love affair with authentic Mexican street food.

El Fogon is a deli style restaurant, in that you walk in and walk up to the counter to place your order. I loved the Mexican decor, Spanish music playing over the speakers, and soccer on the TV. It seems like it is a family operation and the whole menu looked great! I went with the tacos, they offered 5 different varieties (Carne, Pollo, Chorizo, Barbacoa, and Al Pastor), and at only $1.50 each I figured I could afford to try them all. The tacos were very good, not the best I ever had, but that is not at all an indictment on the tacos and more of a statement of the amazing tacos that I have had in my life.

The tacos came bare, they have a table of condiments that allows you can put what you want on them, I went with the traditional Mexican fixins (cilantro, onion, and squeezed lime, as if there were any other way to eat a taco). The corn tortillas (the only tortillas to have, in my opinion) were hand pressed and delicious. You can always tell if a tortilla is hand-pressed or made on an assembly line by the markings on the tortilla itself, not to mention the difference in taste (those who don't like corn tortillas are probably just forming their opinions after trying store bought corn tortillas). Anyways, on to the taco meats; all of the meats were solid options, but the Chorizo had to be my favorite. This is odd, because Chorizo is not usually my favorite street taco meat, but El Fogon's Chorizo is delightful! I do love salsa verde on my tacos, El Fogon's salsa verde had good taste (however, if you are a major heat seeker, you may want to try another salsa on your tacos, but the verde is good for me).

I had the Jamaica, a traditional Mexican drink made from the leaves of the Hibiscus flower, to go with my tacos. It was a tad sweet for my taste, but was the closest to the Jamaica that I had in Mexico that I have been able to find this side of the border. This is most certainly not the last lunch I will have at El Fogon!

Caspian Bistro

To continue my recent run on Mediterranean places, today we go to the Caspian Bistro. The Caspian Bistro is an awesome place to get some Mediterranean/Middle Eastern food. I have a coworker who is a Diamond VIP in their frequent flyer program, so whenever a team lunch comes up, the Bistro is always the first place that gets mentioned (and usually where we decide to go).

Stolen picture alert: As I was at the Bistro with a group of coworkers, one of whom is very close to the owners of the Bistro, I didn't think that it was the appropriate time to bust out the camera phone and start playing paparazzi. Therefore, I have stolen most of the pictures from today's post from the Bistro's own website. I apologize for the cop-out, but wanted to maintain journalistic integrity and credit the source of the photos in today's post.

The Bistro is a great place to gorge yourself on large quantities of delicious kabobs and saffron rice. When most people think of kabobs, they think of satay style kabobs, but these are not the small individual style satay kabobs, these are the giant meal sized (use a sword as a skewer) style kabobs. Other options besides the kabobs are available (Gyros, etc), but when I go to a place I like to order the dish that they are known for. In other words, order the kabobs. They have many different kabob options: filet Mignon (thinly sliced), ground beef, ground chicken, marinated chicken, and Cornish game hen.

As you are waiting for your food, they put out a layered flat bread for you to snack on, it is quite good. I recommend saving some of it for when they bring your meal, put some of the zaziki sauce on it and it is incredible. The Bistro is the home of the best zaziki sauce I have ever had in my life! You can taste the cucumber in the sauce.

We got a group of 4 of us together and ordered the Shamshiri platter (I wish I had a picture of this thing, although I would have probably needed a wide angle lens to get all of it in the photo), which is served with 7 skewers of meat (one of each variety, two of each of the ground meats), roasted tomatoes and other veggies, and everyone gets their own individual plate of saffron rice that is the size of a human head. The saffron rice is not the same saffron rice that is in something like a paella, it is more along the lines of rice topped with saffron (but is still very very delicious). Of all the skewers, the marinated chicken is my favorite, followed by the Cornish game hen, filet Mignon, and then the ground meats. The marinated chicken had the best flavor and texture, in my opinion, with the Cornish hen in a close second. The Cornish hen does still have bones (cartilage) on one side, but that would not deter me from ordering it, just making note of it. The filet Mignon was very flavorful and was not overcooked, but I guess I just prefer my filet in steak form and not in slivers. The ground meats are not my favorite, but are the favorite of a co-worker of mine, so don't let my opinion stop you from ordering them. The ground meets taste to me like there is some sort of a gelatin added to help the ground meat stay together on the skewer, similar to the gelatin that you use to make beef jerky with a jerky shooter. Again, not bad, just not my personal flavour (yes I have adopted the Queen's spelling of the word "flavor" and will be sprinkling it in to my posts where I feel like it). Lunch portion of the ground beef pictured to the right.

For lunch, there were plenty of open tables. But I am told that for dinner, it is hard to get a seat. They do have a belly dancer that will come in for one show on the weekends, so do be aware of that if that kind of thing is too risque for you. Also, this is a Mediterranean restaurant, therefore you can expect to be served at a Mediterranean pace. My suggestion is to enjoy the ambiance of the restaurant and plan to go to the Bistro when you have the time to enjoy it.

Tamale Wizard

After having the BBQ tamale and strawberry pecan tamale from Indios Carbonsitos, I was hungry for more unique tamales. When I first heard of Tamale Wizard and saw the menu, I thought it would be a must stop on my tour of authentic Mexican joints. Man, was I surprised when I walked in the door and saw a bunch of Gringos behind the counter! I thought I had just been dooped, but after talking to the guys, they are just a bunch of Gringos that share my extreme affinity toward Mexican food (but are much better at making it than I am).

A little background on the culinary genious that is Tamale Wizard. The propriator's son told us that he (the son) learned how to make tamales by cooking with his ex-girlfriend's family. His dad owned a food cart and began letting him sell his interesting takes on this Mexican classic. They got started as a food cart, then a food truck, now a restaurant. The rest, as they say, is history.

What you see to your right is as follows:

Mallory's plate (top of photo): black beans, green chile and cheese tamale (topped with jalapeno lime salsa), smoked pork tamale (topped with mango banana salsa).

John's plate (bottom of photo): black beans, smoked pork tamale (topped with mellow habanero salsa), sweet potato and black bean tamale (no salsa), and green chile and cheese tamale (topped with jalapeno lime salsa).

All of the food was amazing! I was a bit hesitant to try the sweet potato and black bean tamale, even though I pretty much love everything that is made with sweet potatoes blindly, I just didn't know how it would work as a tamale. I was pleasantly surprised with it, as we both agree that it was far and away the best tamale that we tried. The mellow habanero salsa was very good, it had the flavor of the habanero, but is very mellow, as the name states. The best salsa was the mango banana. I am just a sucker for that sweet flavor on the spicy tamale, I guess that is what growing up around KC BBQ has done to me.

We walked in late on a Friday night and they were sold out of almost everything. Most people would have been offended by this, but I take that as a sign that they have good food. I would much rather have food from a restaurant that is nearly sold out over a restaurant that has not sold a thing.

One big takeaway that I got from our visit to Tamale Wizard (aside from noting that they had a full collection of Mexican drinks and Boulevard beers) was that they have multiple vegetarian menu items. I am not a vegatarian, nor do I care if a place has vegatarian options ("why then would you notice that?" you ask?). I noticed that the black beans, sweet potato and black bean tamale, and green chile and cheese tamales were all vegetarian selections because that means that they were able to make these delicious tamales while making them slightly more healthy by omiting the lard that you get in a lot of tamales.

 

Most Awesome Tacos Ever!

One of the most awesome and one of the least awesome parts about my job, at the same time, is the travel. Spending time away from my wife sucks, but it allows me to try smaller regional restaurants when I travel and it also allows me to gain airline and hotel points to take my wife awesome places so that we can try awesome new restaurants together. This story is one of those business travel adventures.

When most people think of Dallas, they think of nice warm weather. It seems like almost every time I go to Dallas, I run into some form of crazy weather event. I was snowed (or rather iced) in during the week that the super bowl was in Dallas. Then the next time I was in Dallas, I ran into this:

 Yes, that is hail that is nearly the size of a softball. That was not the largest piece, that was just a piece that was easy to grab outside the door of the rental car place (where I was waiting out the tornado warning). I had placed my things in my rental car before the sirens began to sound. I went back inside until the warning had cleared. Upon returning to my rental car in the lot, I saw that the back window had been smashed by the hail and shattered glass all over my things. I was given 2 other rental cars, each of them had windows shattered when I went out to them, before I was told to "go out there, find one with a good window and we will give you that one". It was quite an awesome experience!

I had already caught the last flight out and waited for a tornado warning to clear, so it was already late before I began my 2 hour drive to my hotel. I had to find a gas station to go get a Rockstar (my favorite energy drink). As fate would have it, I missed my turn onto the highway, which took me on a frontage road straight to a gas station that not only had Rockstars, but also has a 24 hr window that sold street tacos.

The window sign advertised the different tacos in Spanish (with the English names in parenthasis). They had all of the regular suspects: carne asada, carnitas, chorizo, and pollo. They also had other great options like spicy beef and beef tongue along with breakfast favorites like huevos rancheros and egg tacos. My favorites are the spicy beef fajita (that comes with sauted onions and peppers) and pollo (that comes with the traditional cilantro and onions). All orders come with limes, red salsa, green salsa, and a grilled jalapeno. The salsa verde is my favorite (but to be fair, I am quite partial to salsa verde). The grilled jalapenso is the perfect finisher for the tacos, but make sure you have something to cool your mouth after finishing it, as the grilling just intensifies the kick. You can also get them with avacado for an extra 50 cents or so, and the avacado is perfectly fresh and ripe (which is the dead give away that you are not in Kansas anymore).

As all great taco places, this place is cash only, but tacos are only $1.50 (so it won't break the bank). You can pay at the front of the gas station with a card and then show them the reciept at the window, but that is about as close as you can get to paying with a card. This place is incredible! They have the best tacos I have ever had in my life! The corn tortillas are perfect, the meat is good, and the salsa verde is great! I now make a point to take the wrong turn that took me to this gas station every time I am in Dallas. Sometimes multiple times per trip. If you find yourself in the neighborhood, make sure to check it out!

Los Alamos Market y Cocina

I ride my bike by Los Alamos Market y Cocina all the time and see the interesting metal sculptures outside. They have little metal men in sorbreros, metal flowers, chimineas, and usually pinatas too. They have a board out with the daily specials on it (It's usually tamales). I have always wanted to stop in and try it, but they close a little early, so by the time I am ready for dinner they are closed. I was finally able to give it a try one weekend that I had a slow saturday and it was everything that I had hoped for.

Just looking at the outside of the market and restaurant, you can tell that they served authentic Mexican food inside. Upon entering, you see the glass door to the beer cooler straight ahead, 2 or 3 aisles of Mexican specialty food items to your left, and a counter to your right. I asked the man behind the counter where I placed my order, he pointed me to the back. When I got to the back, I saw 6 hispanic women cooking, laughing, and just enjoying making good food. The woman that took my order was very helpful, it took me a minute to decide, but she was very patient. I finally decided on the Tamales El Jefe. That is beef tamales covered in more beef chunks and some kind of Mexican gravy (for lack of a better comparison). It came with beans and rice and the lady told me that I could go get whatever I wanted to drink out of the cooler. I chose a grapfruit Jarritos (which is my favorite flavor of Jarritos) and it went perfectly with the tamales el jefe (it really goes perfectly with everything). Sitting at the tables with the Mexican themed tables cloths, the pinatas hanging from the ceiling, and watching the cooks work thier magic had the perfect ambiance to accompany my Mexican meal. As I was finishing my meal, all of the lights went out because they had overloaded the breaker, it was just like Mexico! When the lights went out, one of the regulars at an adjacent table yelled out "Everything's free!", everyone had a good laugh. They even poked fun at the young man who went downstairs to flip the breaker, making sure to ask him if he was scared before he went down. I had a great time and will definately be going back!

Street tacos in KC

After many failed attempts to find street tacos in a town that is dominated by tacos that more closely resemble deep fried crap covered in cheddar cheese than they do tacos. I came across Ricos Tacos Lupe. It is marvelous! It is a little slice of Mexico here in Kansas City. The tacos (and other food) are actually made on a cart that is behind a fence looking structure in the front of the restaurant. The TV in the back is always tuned into Univision (that is when a soccer match is not on), there is a giant Chivas Guadalajara flag on the wall, and the menu is in both Spanish and English. This is one of the most unassuming places that I have ever eaten in my life, and I wouldn't have it any other way. There it is, off to the right in the Google street view image shown below, the orange store front with bars on the window.

More important than the atmosphere is the food. They bring you chips and a traditional tomato based salsa when you sit down. There are also two other varieties of salsa on the table in diner style condiment containers, a salsa verde (my favorite) and a chipotle pepper based salsa (my wife's favorite), I recommend eating your chips with these salsas over the salsa provided in the bowl. That being said, the bowl salsa has improved quite a bit in the time that we have been going to Ricos. Their big hits are the street tacos, burritos, and tortas (a traditional Mexican sandwich). The taco/burrito meat options are: carne asada (pictured to the right), pollo (chicken), carnitas, cabeza, chorizo, al pastor, and tripas. The carne is always my go to option, if you cant make up your mind, just go with the carne. The chicken is solid. The carnitas (Mexican shredded pork) are always very juicy and flavorful, they are my wife's favorite. The cabeza (which translated literally means "head", but is beef cheek meat) is my personal favorite meat when prepared correctly. Sometimes the cabeza meat is a little fatty but if you get a good cut, it is amazing. The chorizo has great flavor, but a little greasy for my taste, its spiced just perfectly and not TOO spicy. The al pastor is sort of like a Mexican gyro that is made of pork, to those that have never tried it. Every time I try to order the tripas and relive my trip to Mexico, they are out, but I will keep ordering it until I get it. The tacos are perfectly sized (not too small and not too large) and come on corn tortillas with cilantro and onions, just like they would on the street in Mexico. The tortillas are made in house and taste great, however sometimes the tortillas beneath the tacos can get a little soggy if you don't eat them fast enough. The burritos are nearly the size of a Chipotle burrito and come in a flour tortilla. I recommend squeezing that lime slice that comes with your tacos and adding some salsa verde, then chowing down.

You can find me at Ricos on most Tuesdays and even a good number of Thursdays with a group of friends and a 12 pack of Modelo. That is right, nothing goes with the 1$ Taco Tuesday special or the 2$ Burrito Thursday special than the Mexican beer of your choice that you can pick up across the street at Royal Liquors and bring in with you. It should also be noted that Ricos is a cash only establishment, so make sure to bring a whole 10$ bill to pay for you and your date after cash and tip (you may even have enough left over to buy a losing lottery ticket if you take a skinny date).