Great feedback cw. I've heard of Apothecary but the other two weren't on my list. I'm curious about Chick's. I'll hit as many as I can. You can see my take on all of them on twitter.com/burtonandbailey later this week.

Heading to Philly for a few days for work and wanted to see if there was a GREAT bar/small plate establishment with a well-crafted cocktail list and staff? Thanks.

Mushroom...good job on budgeting at EV. Let us know what wines and beer you had...love hearing about what people drink. Lots of great wines at low prices right now...makes it fun.

This is a good issue to bring up and update since it's been 2 1/2 years. I haven't been for brunch but I hear Avenues has a great one. Who else right now is oppering a great brunch in KC?

McCormick is all fluff anyway. Try the Bristol Seafood Grill for the best seafood in town, City Tavern always deserves a visit. And of course, 1924 and Michael Smith's two concepts but I think he's so busy he's not worried about cutting pricey as much as others.

Speaking of seafood who do you guys think has the best (fried) oysters in town?

Wine is good and a cute neighborhood place. I think between there and Cosentino's Market if you are sticking around Brookside, you can go home with some great choices and varities. The Market just started carrying Tito's Vodka....yummy.

Babycakes is good. Haven't been there in awhile. Going into warmer weather, you have to like Foo's, which is also fun for families. Recently went to The Sweet Guy...wasn't too impressed. Mulberry & Mott's has really nice treats.

If you go corporate, you can't go wrong with Dean & DeLucca.

There's some great wines on that wine dinner. You can find out the details on the Bristol's website. Probably best thing happening downtown on Sunday evening.

lulubelle- Thanks for the North Shore info. Very cool find. I'm pretty convinced Chicago doesn't have just one drink. Thanks for the info gang and yes, I feel sorry for the diehard Cubs fans. You guys deserve a damn world champion.

I'm a baseball and overall sports fan so I appreciate that. My son has a Cubs warmup jersey and a Bears ear warmer and I don't even like either team that much. So, thanks for those notes but I'm thinking more of the lines of cocktails and not cheap beer. I will have an occasional PBR to mix it up.

I was on a business trip two weeks ago and was able to have a few cocktails at the Violet Hour. Very impressive and kudos to their entire staff for a job well done. That made me think what is Chicago's signature drink? Is it Scotch, is it a certain cocktail? What is it?

I was lucky enough to see him speak also. I thought he was great and the crowd was awesome...so into it. I thought the food was wonderful and especially the oyster shooters. Chinkeymonkey...what did you think of the Midland? KC is coming alive guys.

Since my original post was too harsh (I guess) because I was amused by the complainers. He's coming to KC....that's awesome. He's the biggest celebrity thing in food right now and if you went to a concert to see U2, the Stones, Springstein, etc., good luck getting $50 good tickets.

Anyway, I think it will be great and glad several on this post are supportive.

Vergara, I think he'd love your list but I could certainly see him at either Harry's sitting at the bar. I had a fried bologna sandwich the last time I was at the River Market location. Scotch and fried bologna...heck yeah!!!

Bashful 3 -
Certainly try it out. It's a great location and has a great variety of seafood and cocktails (if you drink). Their fish is really underrated in my opinion. It's a good value. That's just my .02. I like to visit when I go to Philly.

Denny Matthews? Now that's a KC name. And...the Royals are on a roll right now. Thanks TexasCarl.

Calling all Kansas City area peeps. I'm looking for unique summer drink ideas that are fairly easy to create. I was at a friend's house last weekend and they made a batch of "Summer Brew" which contained vodka, beer and limeade concentrate. They had a story to go with it and how they make this every summer they go to the lake. It got me thinking about our local traditions from Chiefs games to how we barbeque.

I'm using this information for an article in a local publication and please include a short story with each drink idea/recipe. I'll probably be able to use 3-5 ideas for the article. I'll post or contact you if it's one I use and obviously give you credit. Thanks for sharing. Cheers.

Scotch Chick...
Great thread and blog site.
Here's the place in KC: Harry's Bar & Tables. It's a lost treasure here buried by all the hip, gimmicky bars with top 40 playing. Who wants to listen to top 40 and drink Scotch???

Via Allegro sounds like heaven. Ahh Toronto, keeping it cool.

KC is a great foodie town. Those mentions in Lawrence are also worth visiting.
KC, here's a variety and in no order...
Classic Cup (on the Plaza)
PizzaBella
The Mixx (fast salads and sandwiches but nice)
ChefBurger (downtown parking though)
Bristol (also downtown)
Pizza 51 (cool neighborhood pizza joint)

Those of you that pointed out Portland and Minneapolis as culinary secrets...very true. Now the real question and my answer...St. Louis. A few old school Italian restaurants and a sprinkle of other treats but not much going on and a city of weak tastebuds. You can thank Anheuser-Busch for that and that's a fact!

Pina is awesome. Try it with ice cream!!!!

I'd love to hear about your favorite Jarritos flavor. This is one of my favorite sweeter sodas. And no, I don't work for them.

This is a great thread and a perfect example of debating w/o someone getting sour about their feelings. I was a hardcore graphic designer out East, including a stint in NYC, and I saw too many designers design for what they wanted and not the customer or even what the target audience needed. A HUGE pet peeve of mine.

Same with some of these postings. State your point, back it up and relate it to a story or how it works for the consumer. You have done that Zin, and I appreciate it.

Now, since you feel that strong about wine and that relationship, think about that and use the same strategy when buying other products. Obviously, we can't all buy the best of the best across the board (and I wish I could every time I go to the store) but try this with coffee, vodka or Scotch. Specialty coffee is still a mystery to most Americans with decent palates. I hope that you get someone to assist you who knows what they're talking about and it ends up like your second to last paragraph in your last post.

Cheers and drink up. Thanks Zin and crew...good stuff.

No, not really. I shop online because of two reasons. #1- My busy schedule during reg. business hours (I get my hair cut usually after 10pm.) and #2- I'm already doing research and work email online.

Actually, this was more to see if that option was available versus me actually purchasing from it. It's interesting all of the "custom" marketing that is supposedly taking place, but in a way it's not.

Jason to answer your question, I would probably only purchase wine face to face. Really great to have you guys chime in and maybe it's something that's not needed/wanted. Thanks.

Perfect. This is it...Best Cellars. I'll check out the other URLs later. Great stuff.

You guys are correct and I didn't identify my question that well.

Verbally...yes, but what about a process online. I'm thinking, "Do you like sweet or dry" and then that goes to a selection, then "Do you prefer floral or nutty" and so on. I know you can go into wine stores and get this process verbally, but it would be cool on paper, or online. Maybe I'm being weird. ; )

Regardless, thanks for your feedback.

Does anyone know of a site or retailer that has a process to select the wine that matches your preferred taste. Example, do you prefer fruity or floral, then that would narrow you down to do you like sweet or tart, and so on? Wine isn't my strong point (I'm a coffee and cocktail guy) but I was wondering about this after playing around with custom shoes on Nike's site. Anyway, I'd be curious to know...seems like it would be fun and educational. thanks.

Damn good suggestions here. Dixon's...is that still good? One Bite rocks but their location is difficult for most. Worth the trip. What about some of the new places in Northeast KC?

I'll give that a try. Anyone over use these...
http://www.negusboxnbag.com/ice_cream...

I'm so curious about nonplastic containers.

I've started testing ice cream that I've made and actually really getting into it. Coffee and cocktails are sort of my passion/hobby but this ice cream experimenting is catching up. Anyway, I've noticed after a few days that it's starting to develop a slight freezer burn taste. What's the best container to use to avoid this and any other non-artificial tips? Right now, I have it "air-tight" in tupperware??? Thanks!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear ya'. I agree...I just wanted to talk pizza and not just NY style. Since I did, I'll also mention Spin, which I think is pretty good and nice interior eating experience.

I lived in NYC before moving back to KC and honestly NY style is mostly hype. It's good, don't get me wrong, but there's better pizza. Just like the Gray's hot dogs. They're good and NY, but not the best.