Haus

Who’s haus? Bier’s haus.

A couple of months ago, a bunch of co-workers came back from having lunch at Haus and told me they’d just had the best fries ever. That’s right -- ever.

Clearly, I had to try these fries for myself, and while I don’t know if they’re the best, they are excellent. Haus somehow pulls off a crispy exterior with a chewy center, the result of a two-stage frying method involving a brine and possibly dark wizardry.

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Los Tules

Loosely translated, “Lost tools.” (I know roughly enough Spanish to get me stabbed in Mexico.)

What’s better than a happy hour with $1 tacos? A happy hour with $1 tacos that’s four hours long. Welcome to Los Tules, Mondays through Wednesdays from 4 to 8 p.m.

These are seriously awesome tacos, too. They’re fried-shut corn tortillas filled with ground beef, then garnished with a ton of cheese and lettuce. For maximum cheese delivery, turn your taco parallel to the ground and eat it like a stuffed nacho. Never let cheese go to waste.

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Twisted Doughnut

Finally, a doughnut shop for the crazy, mixed-up world of today.

Who’s got two thumbs and is bonkers for doughnuts? My daughter, that’s who. So for a fun Saturday morning treat, I took her to Twisted Doughnut, Kansas City’s newest doughnuteria.

Twisted Doughnut is from the brains behind Smallcakes, and shares space with that cupcakery’s original location. They’ve got some unusual varieties of doughnuts and long johns, a few of which involve bacon. Then they’ve also got your everyday glazed and cake doughnuts -- you know, for all the squares and lame-o dweebyheads.

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Hiland Light

‘Land, no.

How cheap is Hiland Light? It’s so cheap that even I think it’s nasty.

And seriously, at $4.99 for a 20 pack, Hiland Light may be the cheapest beer I’ve ever had. I’m pretty sure the last time I bought Meister Brau it was at least $2.89 for a sixer, and that was in the ‘90s.

I found Hiland Light at the Missouri Lukas Liquor. They had a few small sample glasses out, and it tasted fine enough to bring home for a trial run as the cheap beer of the house -- after all, at 25 cents per can compared to 48 cents for a Natural Light (case of 24 for $11.49), that’s a savings of $4.60. Or in other terms, about three Taco Bell Beefy 5-Layer Burritos.

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Robert's Western World (Lunch Blog in Nashville, Pt. 2)

My bologna has a first name -- it’s F R I E D.

I’ve been a fan of old school country music ever since I was introduced to it in college by Mike Soden, fellow alumni of KU's campus station KJHK 90.7 FM and host of the fondly remembered Jayhawk Hayride.

The band that really did it for me was BR5-49, whose self-titled full-length debut had just come out right around then. At the time they were recording it, BR5-49 was also playing four-hour sets three times a week as the house band at Robert’s Western World. And as that record remains one of my favorites to this day, I wanted to stop at Robert’s to have a beer and check out BR5-49’s old stomping grounds while I was in Nashville.



Like so many of the places on Lower Broadway, Robert’s has live music from open to close, and a handful of people were enjoying afternoon beers and listening to Dave Cox finish up a lunchtime set when we walked in. The two of us took a seat at a high top, and Nicole started eyeing the shelves full of boots lining the nearby wall. Even though a little bit of daylight was coming in through the front window, there’s something about Robert’s that makes it feel like it's always almost last call inside those walls.

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Pancake Pantry (Lunch Blog in Nashville, Pt. 1)

On the road again.

Went to Nashville on business the other week. While I mostly subsisted on hotel food, there are a couple of places I went that I’d like to tell y’all about. (Apparently it only takes a day or two in Tennessee for this former Southern boy’s accent to come back -- at least when I type, anyway.)

The first place is Pancake Pantry. My co-worker Nicole and I arrived in Nashville mid-morning with some time to spare before we could check into the hotel, so we decided to get some breakfast and found this restaurant on Urbanspoon. They’ve got 23 different kinds of pancakes. 23! Who’s tough stuff now, IHOP?

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Chef’s Classic Knock OUT ‘Bout

“8 Chefs. 3 Rounds. 1 Champion.”

It was a battle royale at St. James Academy last Saturday for the Chef’s Classic Knock OUT ‘Bout.

At this boxing-themed culinary throwdown, eight local chefs competed for a trophy roughly the size of a high school freshman. In each of rounds one and two, the chefs prepared an appetizer and all attendees got a ticket to vote for their favorite. The top two chefs then advanced to round three -- a secret ingredient, Iron Chef-style, head-to-head cookoff.

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