Leawood's Room 39 might not be as charming as midtown's — but that doesn't matter once the food arrives

I'm a sucker for grilled lamb, and Sloan's racy rack was exceptionally tender and flavorful — so good, in fact, that I couldn't take a bite of the dessert that Bob insisted on tasting, a wine-poached pear dressed up with balsamic syrup, crunchy pistachios and blue cheese.

My second visit was the one with Walt, a man of unfussy tastes who couldn't be lured by the idea of roasted duck breast with blueberry pan sauce or risotto Milanese with balsamic-marinated cipollini onions.

"Don't they have a steak?" he asked.

They did. Another 14-ounce ribeye, this time slathered with pancetta butter. Walt didn't want that much beef, so the staff graciously found a smaller slab, an 11-ounce cut, for him and even sliced it up back in the kitchen. "It's kind of fatty," Walt said after a few bites. I took a taste and thought it was wonderful, but I vastly preferred what turned out to be an extraordinarily good pork loin chop, prepared saltimbocca-style, stuffed with prosciutto, sage and luscious, slow-ripened Grana Padano cheese.

Walt and I shared a wonderful old-fashioned dessert, a hot apple crisp with fat slices of the real forbidden fruit in a bubbling caramel sauce, blanketed with a crispy pastry-crumble topping. While Walt nibbled at his portion, I tried not to stare at the middle-aged couple unabashedly smooching at the next table.

"Maybe this restaurant isn't so uptight after all," I whispered to Walt. And then I noticed a well-dressed senior citizen at another table, giving an evil eye to the lusty lovers.

At the bigger Room 39, there's room for everyone: the good, the bad and the hoity-toity.