Kansas City
Kansas City
Kansas City, the largest city in the state of Missouri, is always a fun town to tour through. Two major sports teams, the NFL Chiefs and the MLB Royals give fans a chance to catch a game almost year-round. There is a great walking/running path along Brush Creek, which is adjacent to The Plaza, a fantastic shopping area with lots of high end clothing shops, a Mac store (essential for most touring musicians when their computer inevitably crashes while working on songs or blogs), and a handful of restaurants. There are lots of Clubs, Theaters, and a large amphitheater that provide KC venues for just about every size band to stop on tour for a gig.
That said. Kansas City is primarily known for one thing, Barbeque. For me, however, when I go for barbeque in KC I go for a style that definitely wouldn’t pop into your mid, Mongolian BBQ at a place called Genghis Khan. Located at 3906 Bell St, it is right in the center of town.
When I was a kid, I had my first Mongolian BBQ experience in Los Angeles around the age of 8 and I was immediately hooked. The basic principal is a raw bar of thinly slice meats (beef, chicken, pork, and occasionally seafood), a vast selection of sliced vegetables (bean sprouts, water chestnuts, celery, peppers, carrots, etc), and a number of basting/marinating sauces (vinegar, sesame oil, chili oil, soy sauce, ginger water, etc). You take a bowl and fill it with all of the ingredients you desire and take it to the grill man who cooks your meal in front of you on a huge round and flat grill. I always prefer to sprinkle sesame seeds on my prepared dish once the cook gives it to me.
I love that you can create your own concoction of flavors and ingredients. Mongolian BBQ’s typically have a few cheat sheets if you know roughly what you want your dish to taste like but don’t want to risk adding the wrong flavors. Unfortunately, this type of restaurant is becoming harder and harder to find but I always hit yelp when I get to town and see if there is one close.