Good places to eat in Kansas City and northern Missouri?

In My Humble Opinion
21

I live in KC. Yes the barbecue is world class, and Arthur Bryant’s and even Gates imo don’t crack the top 10. But as for the OP- being a medium sized city there’s plenty of fantastic options covering a wide range of styles. Not sure your budget, and I can’t speak for most of the high price options, but my favorites are

Sushi: friends sushi, bob wasabi kitchen

Scandinavian: Krokstrom Klubb & Market is great

Indian: korma sutra

Mediterranean: Aladdin cafe

Mexican: kc has dozens of great choices- My current favorite is Rudy’s, but out in KCKansas especially there are tons of amazing taquerias for “authentic” Mexican

As mentioned, blue nile is great Ethiopian, tho I have nothing to compare it to

French: also as mentioned, fou frog is a little pricey but both times I went it was fantastic and a fun experience

There’s also plenty of trendy foody type places. Since you’re looking for something you can’t find in a small town, those might be worth checking out.

Bluestem gets a lot of hype, I’ve eaten there once and it was fun and food was delicious

Port Fonda also gets hype, haven’t been but it’s modern Mexican from a chef who apparently has some notoriety

Novel- I’ve heard great things about

These are just off the top of my head. There’s a ton more great options. KC has been building a food scene over the past 5 years or so with more new restaurants opening than I can keep up with

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22

I’ve never been in Missouri but I’ve traveled through neighbouring Arkansas quite a bit. Are tamales a thing up in Missouri or is that an Arkansas/Mississippi thing?

For those who haven’t had them, I’ll point out that southern tamales are different from Mexican tamales.

23

Many thanks to Bootis, Baker and Sefton for your answers to my query. I will more closely examine these establishments and I look forward to sampling several of them.

24

Jack Stack was my favorite BBQ in KC. I was also found of the Cajun food at Jazz.

25

If you’re into German food, you’ll loveGrünauer. It’s located right next to Jack Stack - the best BBQ in Kansas City. I’ve thought about trying to find a place within walking distance … I’d never cook again!

26

I’ll second Grünauer; it is a wonderful place to eat. In the same area (Crossroads district), you’ll also find Lulu’s, which is a pretty good Thai noodle place.

Regarding the BBQ, I would stay away from the “big places” such as Jack’s, Gates, and even Joe’s. I don’t know why Joe’s has the reputation it does, unless people really like standing in a gas station parking lot for 30 minutes to get something to eat.

The absolutely best BBQ in town is from a food truck called Scout’s BBQ. They have a regular spot on Sundays in south Overland Park at 199th and Metcalf. They have some seriously good BBQ with sauces that don’t taste like everyone else’s. This past weekend they were even serving American Wagyu beef burnt ends.

For the record, I am not a BBQ fan, and won’t go out of my way to go to one of the big BBQ places in town, but I absolutely LOVE Scout’s BBQ!

For Italian, I’ve eaten at Lidia’s a few times but wouldn’t recommend it. Instead, try Garozzo’s, located near the City Market or in Overland Park.

In the City Market, there is also Burrito Bros, which serve pretty good burritos, etc., for lunch.

27

BBQ -
Gates is usually convenient having more than one location and it’s pretty good when grabbing lunch.
I like Arthur Bryants but it’s salty, gritty sauce is somewhat of an acquired taste
**LC’s **is a hole in the wall place on the East side of town, not too far from the sports stadiums. It’s in my top favorites list and the atmosphere is part of the entertainment.
Plowboys in downtown KC and Blue Springs MO (you can stop in on your way to Columbia) -My favorite for burnt ends
Q39 - High end BBQ - they go out of their way in presentation and quality so a bit pricey for BBQ but definitely delicious

Other
Another vote for Garozzos Italian - is actually a St Louis Hill transplant - The Chicken Spiedini Samantha is the best

There’s a new place in Lees Summit (Southeast of Downtown KC) which I haven’t been to but have been hearing about a lot -The Pearl Tavern - Good seafood

You can find a lot of unusual places and dishes all in one area called the Crossroads District which has been mentioned above. Find that area and follow your nose.

28

These sound wonderful and I thank you for mentioning them. I’ll throw them out to my traveling group and try to reach a consensus.

29

Why on earth would you expect a state that is easily 15 hours drive to the nearest ocean to have ANYTHING resembling decent seafood? :confused::smack::rolleyes::dubious:

30

DrForrester sent me here to help - I work near the plaza but like to go out for new places at lunch. Hope these help.

So there is this great restaurant called Black Dirt - only been in business less than a year, but it is ran by the originator of Justus Drug Store that was a very poshy place north of KC. I love this place.
https://www.blackdirtkc.com/
The Russell is more of a lunch place, but very good, always packed with locals from the children’s hospital and Hallmark, which are close by:
https://www.therussellonmain.com/
If you just don’t want barbecue meat and might be interested in a vegetarian version, the Charbar has a smoked jackfruit sandwich, which I like:
https://charbarkc.com
My last suggestion is inside the museums - both the Nelson Atkins Museum (the one with the big shuttlecock) and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art have good restaurants inside them, and the museums are free as a bonus! The Nelson Atkins is a bit more mainstream and the Kemper is a bit more adult. My old bosses liked to do both at lunch.

https://www.kemperart.org/cafe

31

I need to find some traveling companions with a greater spirit of culinary adventure. Granted, when you’re doing 12-14 hour days of moderately heavy physical labor, I can understand the desire to keep the menu options convenient and fast.

Breakfast on all four days - The Waffle House. Decent coffee but a sadly depressing when you’re sober.

Other than breakfast, we has exactly two meals that didn’t come from a drive through. Sunday lunch was at the Pizza Ranch. I’m not sure of the KC geography but it was somewhere in the Riverside/Gladstone area. Pizza somehow managed to be impressively pointless but the fried chicken was actually pretty good.

The most exotic meal I could convince anyone to try - IKEA. I was only able to accomplish this because umlauts indicate quality…apparently.

Oh well, I earned a few bucks and made some brownie points with the family. Many thanks to all Dopers who valiantly tried to expand my dining options.