Huge KCMO/KCK Blunder (Kansas City, Lee's Summit: neighborhood, colleges, tornadoes)

[JackieB23]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

But would they say that if they were, say, visiting Philadelphia?

I ran into a woman who now lives in Vermont on Walnut Street here one day. I wouldn't have learned that about her had she not seen me wearing an "I (heart) KC" T-shirt and called out to me.

She had on a Worlds of Fun T-shirt. We got to talking Old Home Week stuff, and when we got to the part about what schools she went to, she said, "Shawnee Mission South."

Conversely, someone who would say they live "on the Main Line" or "in Abington" or "in Cherry Hill" or "in Delaware County" or (...) while within striking distance of Philadelphia City Hall would probably tell you they were from Philadelphia if you were to run into them on the Country Club Plaza.

That's where you see the metropolitan affinity surface - once you've left the metro.

I have the same experience. In my 13 year hiatus from KC, I've been stopped countless times while I'm out and about in my Chiefs or KC-centric Charlie Hustle gear by other ex-pats. We immediately commiserate on how Texans are totally mistaken about BBQ and what the hell the Chiefs front office is doing. Most of these folks were from various KC metro suburbs, not KCMO or KCK themselves.

Outside of the KC metro, it's all one Kansas City (and for non-natives, it's almost always in Kansas, which drives me nuts. I like you Kansans but dammit, KC is in MISSOURI! )

[VietInKC]

Originally Posted by Floorist

I lived in Indep and Buckner for 20 years. If you were to ask someone where they lived, it was always, Blue Springs, Lees Summit, Overland Park, Olathe, etc. No one says they live in KC, unless they live in KC. And I worked all over the metro, from Kearney to Belton, from Buckner to KCK.

Of course people would refer to the specific suburb they live in if they were asked within metro KC where they lived. I am pretty sure if you are outside the metro, you would say that you were from the Kansas City area. If you started the answer by saying your specific suburb, I think you would then clarify immediately afterwards that it is located near metro KC or that it's in the KC area. No one gives a flip or knows anything about a small city/town within the metro area if they aren't from that area themselves.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by JackieB23

I have the same experience. In my 13 year hiatus from KC, I've been stopped countless times while I'm out and about in my Chiefs or KC-centric Charlie Hustle gear by other ex-pats. We immediately commiserate on how Texans are totally mistaken about BBQ and what the hell the Chiefs front office is doing. Most of these folks were from various KC metro suburbs, not KCMO or KCK themselves.

(emphasis added)

I have the good (mis)fortune of counting among my friends a Penn grad (he workstudied under me when I was managing editor of The Penn Current) who hails from the Lone Star State.

He happens to make the best chili (no beans, of course) I've ever eaten, and a classic of Texas culinary history, "A Bowl of Red," is a pretty persuasive tome on the value (and making) of Texas chili. The stuff people eat in the Northeast is just a beef-and-bean stew with onions, peppers and tomatoes tossed in.

But we go 'round with each other on barbecue. We have yet to have the definitive cook-off, however. I figure it's a matter of time.

Outside of the KC metro, it's all one Kansas City (and for non-natives, it's almost always in Kansas, which drives me nuts. I like you Kansans but dammit, KC is in MISSOURI! )

You have permission to borrow from me the arch reply I give whenever a clueless Easterner, after I tell him or her where I was born and raised, responds with some comment about living or growing up in Kansas:

"If I were from Kansas City, Kansas, I would have said so."

It also has the virtue of schooling them on local usage.

[JackieB23]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

(emphasis added)

I have the good (mis)fortune of counting among my friends a Penn grad (he workstudied under me when I was managing editor of The Penn Current) who hails from the Lone Star State.

He happens to make the best chili (no beans, of course) I've ever eaten, and a classic of Texas culinary history, "A Bowl of Red," is a pretty persuasive tome on the value (and making) of Texas chili. The stuff people eat in the Northeast is just a beef-and-bean stew with onions, peppers and tomatoes tossed in.

But we go 'round with each other on barbecue. We have yet to have the definitive cook-off, however. I figure it's a matter of time.

I have the pleasure of having lived in, or being connected to, lots of the "major" styles of BBQ in the United States. Kansas City, Memphis, Texas, Carolina (and I guess St. Louis counts but really? REALLY? ).

The proper ranking is in the order I typed above: KC, Memphis, Texas, Carolina, and everybody else.

No, Texas, jalapeno sugar water is not a seasoning. Proper BBQ flavor has DEPTH.

You have permission to borrow from me the arch reply I give whenever a clueless Easterner, after I tell him or her where I was born and raised, responds with some comment about living or growing up in Kansas:

"If I were from Kansas City, Kansas, I would have said so."

It also has the virtue of schooling them on local usage.

I have but two months left of making such corrections, then I will be home, and everybody will know what I mean. But that's a good tip!

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by JackieB23

I have the pleasure of having lived in, or being connected to, lots of the "major" styles of BBQ in the United States. Kansas City, Memphis, Texas, Carolina (and I guess St. Louis counts but really? REALLY? ).

The proper ranking is in the order I typed above: KC, Memphis, Texas, Carolina, and everybody else.

No, Texas, jalapeno sugar water is not a seasoning. Proper BBQ flavor has DEPTH.

"St. Louis-style ribs" irk me majorly. Especially since their widespread adoption by restaurants, and even some Q joints that should know better, have led some to believe that St. Louis has an actual barbecue tradition.

Sorry, the food item that's distinctively St. Louis is pizza topped with Provel cheese.

Trimming the point and the back flap off a rack of ribs is bad enough. Then they cook them at a higher temperature - around 350F. Even if the heat's indirect, they cook too fast to develop proper smoked character and flavor (IMO); they're more grilled than smoked. But I suspect that's why restaurants like them: they don't take so long to prepare. You can cover many sins with barbecue sauce.

But I should note here that I actually like the vinegar-based Western Carolina-style sauce.

I have but two months left of making such corrections, then I will be home, and everybody will know what I mean. But that's a good tip!

You're welcome.

[JackieB23]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

"St. Louis-style ribs" irk me majorly. Especially since their widespread adoption by restaurants, and even some Q joints that should know better, have led some to believe that St. Louis has an actual barbecue tradition.

Sorry, the food item that's distinctively St. Louis is pizza topped with Provel cheese.

St. Louis DOES have a local BBQ tradition. It's pork steaks slathered in Maul's BBQ sauce. I haven't eaten a pork steak since I moved away in 1990, I don't think...

St. Louis has more than that. They have thin crust pizza with Provel (which I never liked), Gooey Butter Cake (which is delicious), and Toasted Ravioli. Mmmm, toasted ravioli....

Trimming the point and the back flap off a rack of ribs is bad enough. Then they cook them at a higher temperature - around 350F. Even if the heat's indirect, they cook too fast to develop proper smoked character and flavor (IMO); they're more grilled than smoked. But I suspect that's why restaurants like them: they don't take so long to prepare. You can cover many sins with barbecue sauce.

But I should note here that I actually like the vinegar-based Western Carolina-style sauce.

It's like the annoyance I get with KC strip steaks vs. NY strip steaks. NEW YORK CAN STOP STEALING OUR STEAKS.

I don't mind Carolina style in its proper context. But I don't find myself hankering for it, the way I do, oh, burnt ends or dry-rub ribs Memphis style. I enjoy it well enough when we're visiting hubby's family in North Carolina every few years, but that's PLENTY for me.

I love how this thread has evolved into what is really important, which is, of course, the fact that KC BBQ rules.

[thriftylefty]

Whenever I say I'm from Kansas City I almost always clarify the statement by saying Wyandotte County. Sometimes people don't know that Kansas City isn't just a city with a state line down the middle. When they ask me what's the difference I say; horses, cows, pigs, chickens and mules. For a long time the trend in Wyandotte County was to move further west instead of east or south for better housing.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by thriftylefty

Whenever I say I'm from Kansas City I almost always clarify the statement by saying Wyandotte County. Sometimes people don't know that Kansas City isn't just a city with a state line down the middle. When they ask me what's the difference I say; horses, cows, pigs, chickens and mules. For a long time the trend in Wyandotte County was to move further west instead of east or south for better housing.

Well, if you moved further east from the 'Dotte, you'd be in Missouri.

[thriftylefty]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

Well, if you moved further east from the 'Dotte, you'd be in Missouri.

For the most part in Wyandotte we had water on three sides so moving to the west seemed like a more contiguous move. My great grandfather started out on 1st and Water street and my cousins are out to about 125th in western wyco. There's lots of Industrial area south past Central Ave and the Kaw. Lots more east through the bottoms and the Missouri River. Argentine and Rosedale always seemed like the poor part of Johnson county to us.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by thriftylefty

For the most part in Wyandotte we had water on three sides so moving to the west seemed like a more contiguous move. My great grandfather started out on 1st and Water street and my cousins are out to about 125th in western wyco. There's lots of Industrial area south past Central Ave and the Kaw. Lots more east through the bottoms and the Missouri River. Argentine and Rosedale always seemed like the poor part of Johnson county to us.

Rosedale, of course, is the only part of Wyandotte County that's on the metropolitan street grid (numbered streets run east-west, named ones north-south, Main Street at the Missouri River is the zero point in all directions).

Which is why the numbered streets there bear the designation "Avenue" - to avoid confusion with the Kansas City, Kansas, grid.

So maybe that adds to it.