Dinner in the plaza? (Union: real estate, hotel, homes)

[akamaimama]

Hi there,
We are here in KC for the weekend...having a great time. We're staying at the Raphael. Yesterday we had lunch at Jack Stack and dinner at Carmen's in Brookside--followed by ice cream at Foo's. Brookside has some gorgeous homes! We're going to check out Union Station this afternoon after driving around with the real estate agent for a couple hours.

We're planning to grab an early dinner with our little girls in the plaza area tonight. Any recommendations? We'd prefer to avoid chains.

I love it so far...crossing my fingers that all works out!

[brewcrew1000]

You must go to glace ice cream right near hotel, one of the best on the planet. They even have beer ice cream. Sundays are usually limited since most just serve brunch. I suggest grinders or dbronx for pizza. A lot of the restaurants on west 39th are local and reasonable priced.

[brewcrew1000]

All of the places on the plaza are pretty much chains except blancs burgers, Bo lings (best Chinese around), and a few others

[akamaimama]

Thanks Brew!
We're leaving tomorrow night so we have time to check the ice cream out. Sounds great! Maybe we'll check out Bo lings. We also heard Plaza III is amazing...

[TabulaRasa]

Blanc is a local "chain" (in that they have several restaurants locally, and one in, I think, Arkansas or somewhere). Be prepared to spend more than you typically would for burgers and fries, but it's good food. If upscale isn't a necessity, there's Winstead's, a longtime local diner that now exists in a bunch of locations all over the metro, but its original is on the Plaza. It's steakburgers, fries, malts...the restaurant opened in 1940. In general, it's kind of difficult to find eateries on the Plaza, proper, that aren't chains and/or more adult upscale than kid-friendly.

The UMKC campus demographic helps a bit with a few places just to the south of the Plaza. There is a pizza place, Pizza 51, that seems to be pretty popular not only with the student scene, but with young parents with little kids from the South Plaza/Brookside neighborhoods, because they have an outdoor dining area that's fenced in. Whenever I'm there, I see parents with little kids because there's space for the kids to roam while they wait for the pizza, and it's laid back. It's in a repurposed service station, and the pizza can be bought either by the pie or by the (huge) slice...you build it yourself, loads of toppings to choose from. It's kind of a nice family vibe, even though it's located adjacent to a college campus. Nothin' fancy, though. Especially nice if the weather's nice and you can be outdoors.

In the 51st and Main vicinity (up the hill south of the Plaza, a little past the library), there's also Spin Pizza, which is more of an artisan pizza-type bistro concept than a "pizza joint," if you know what I mean. More arugula and goat cheese and roasted fennel & potato toppings than, say, pepperoni and sausage. That same complex has Accurso's, a family-run Italian place that's decent, as well. Jack Gage, which is a pub that serves decent food, is nearby, and so's Osteria Il Centro, but I've never eaten there, so can't vouch for it.

[akamaimama]

Thanks TabulaRasa!
We'll see how we feel (and what the girls are up for) at the end of the day. Looking forward to touring around KC today!

[brewcrew1000]

Plaza 3 is really expensive but worth it. Another cute place u might love if they are open today is cafe Europa in the south plaza area. Julian in brookside is great to, its like gourmet comfort food and the owner will be on iron chef in a couple weeks.
Kc really has a great and under-rated food scene.

[aragx6]

I didn't know about the Iron Chef thing, tell me more!

And akamaimama -- we want to hear more details as soon as you've had time to process. What did you like? What did you not like? Come to any decisions?

[brewcrew1000]

Julian’s Celina Tio to Appear on “The Next Iron Chef” (http://blogs.kcfreepress.com/food/julians-celina-tio-to-appear-on-the-next-iron-chef/ - broken link)

[aragx6]

VERY cool. Thanks!