Food & Drink >>

• Best Breakfast
  Cascone's Grill at the City Market
  Newcomers to the City Market wonder why customers -- of all shapes, sizes, colors, and castes -- start lining up on Saturday mornings to get one of the few tables or counter seats at this unassuming little diner. It's the combination of the food (hearty and inexpensive) and the rapport between... More >>
• Best Cheap Breakfast
  The Trolley Inn
  This long, narrow "building" really is a trolley car. Built in 1903, the former Number 125 on the Kansas City line took riders from downtown to Independence. Since 1951, however, it's been delivering robust -- and darn cheap -- breakfasts via the Bonjour family. On any given Saturday, Linda... More >>
• Best Tiny Restaurant
  El Pequeno Guadalajara
  The kitchen and dining area are one and the same at the Medrano-Loza family restaurant. There's room for nine people to sit (in good weather, the dining area gets expanded to two sidewalk tables with umbrellas). A mix of lawyers, laborers, and neighbors find conversation and conviviality at El... More >>
• Best Dinner Under $5
  Palace Express
  What this place lacks in ambience and charm (it's an old Taco Bell with whitewashed walls), it more than makes up for in value. At the back, where sullen kids used to assemble tacos and gorditas, a sweaty chef now juggles the five giant steaming woks. He turns out groaning portions of... More >>
• Best Walk-Up Ice Cream Stand
  Angie's Italian Ice and Custard Ice Cream
  Angie's Italian Ice and Custard Ice Cream offers a true neighborhood experience. This little window underneath the bright red awning opened in April and has grown popular with the lunch crowd as well as people who like to stroll past the many shops and restaurants along 39th Street. Angie's has... More >>
• Best Treat at Kauffman Stadium
  Dippin' Dots
  When it's hotter than bacon grease at the K and your Royals hat is literally floating in sweat, there's nothing more refreshing than Dippin' Dots. We still can't figure out what they're made of, but we're guessing pure, concentrated cold. They're basically just a cup of frozen pellets you scoop... More >>
• Best Place to Kiss a Diet Goodbye
  Peppercorn Duck Club
  After two decades, the Peppercorn Duck Club has lost a little of its glamour but none of its style. It's high-gloss fancy, right down to the fresh rose given to each female patron, the personalized matchbooks, and the seriously attentive service. So if it's time to toss the latest trendy (and... More >>
• Best Place to Break Up with Someone
  Skies
  It's a matter of equilibrium. If someone's mind will spin when you say the inevitable unpleasant but consoling words that end a relationship ("It's not you. I just need my own space"), it always helps to be at a restaurant that spins in the opposite direction. That way the cast-off boyfriend or... More >>
• Best-Looking Waitresses
  Gala Cabaret
  Gala is not really a restaurant, but a gentleman's nightclub where nubile young ladies in pasties (not pastries) and G-strings, with such stage names as Destiny, Serenity, and Simone, perform "dances" around a brass pole. Food is served each night, though, and the female servers are just as... More >>
• Best-Looking Waiters
  Zin
  We polled many different trend-setters for this one and made an interesting discovery: Kansas Citians typically don't look at their servers, and if they do, they don't remember them one second after they've paid the bill. And unlike Los Angeles, where nearly every waiter is a drop-dead gorgeous... More >>
• Best Waitress in Town
  Sherri Owens at Houston's
  Few local servers are as slickly and professionally trained as the staff at Houston's, where those fresh faces in starched shirts and aprons are so friendly, unflustered, and accommodating, there's a slight robotic quality to their movements. But in the case of Sherri -- who has charmed the... More >>
• Best Waiter in Town
  Kevin Fosland at Hannah Bistro Cafe
  No less a fussy diner than Karen Peters, the general manager at Saks Fifth Avenue, extols the virtues of Kevin, the good-natured, engaging waiter at Hannah Bistro. Like most good waiters, Kevin intuitively gauges his customers' mood the moment he arrives at the table: Do they want him to be... More >>
• Best New Restaurant
  McCormick & Schmick's, Valencia Place on the Plaza
  We'll risk getting a little flak for picking a restaurant that's part of a national chain over a more homegrown new eatery. The fact of the matter is that the Plaza's newest "see and be seen" space has consistently creative seafood, slick and attentive service, and two really beautiful dining... More >>
• Best Beer Selection
  Barley's Brewhaus
  Barley's Brewhaus has more than 100 beers. This isn't just your typical frat-boy beer either. We're talking stouts, big heavy stouts -- drinking them's like swallowing raw steaks. There's also an even mix of pilsners, ambers, and microbrews from around the world. Each of Barley's locations --... More >>
• Best Plaza Bar that Doesn't Seem Like It's on the Plaza
  Fred P. Ott's Bar & Grill
  A TV obsession over the latest football game doesn't figure much into the ambience of Fred P. Ott's on the Plaza. Not that a sports-bar mentality dominates Kansas City's premier retail district -- it's just that some Plaza establishments have taken to installing clusters of TVs, often tuned to... More >>
• Best Rooftop Rendezvous
  The deck at John's Food & Drink
  A group of people gathered at tables for drinks and socializing on the deck atop John's Food & Drink one night last summer. It was about 6 p.m., and the sun was just beginning to set on this typically hot day. The men and women were neatly dressed, having just ended their workday at Enterprise... More >>
• Best Get-Drunk-Quick Destination
  Have A Nice Day Café
  Even people who hated the '70s and '80s and feel constrained by having to tuck in their shirts to enter a club can benefit from a visit to Have A Nice Day Café. The secret to happiness lies at the bottom of the club's sweet-yet-lethal fishbowls, which pair colorful fruit-derived flavors... More >>
• Best Unlikely Post-Concert Hangout
  Hayes Hamburger & Chili
  When the Allman Brothers Band played August 29 at Sandstone Amphitheatre in Bonner Springs, some concertgoers couldn't wait for the show to get over. They had food on their minds, which explains why dozens of them finished the night north of the river at a place called Hayes Hamburger & Chili.... More >>
• Best Shot Girl
  Julie Liebnitz at XO
  One bar patron made this comparison about Julie for her ability to make people drink and be merry: "She's better than a car salesman." It might be difficult refuting that claim. When it comes to selling shots at the dance club XO, Julie Liebnitz is a mover and a shaker. Specializing in test... More >>
• Best Place to Eat After Midnight
  Town Topic
  If the little joint isn't too busy, grab a stool at the white Formica counter. Posted over an unbelievably narrow kitchen area, Town Topic's menu boards offer breakfast on one side, lunch and dinner stuff on the other. Fresh coffee brews and burgers sizzle on the grill. After midnight the place... More >>
• Best Cinnamon Roll
  Chacko's Bakery
  The biggest, most decadent cinnamon roll in town is baked daily by David and Rachel Finn, owners of tiny Chacko's, where all of the pastries are oversize and mind-bogglingly buttery rich. Unlike those vastly overrated, doughy, and bland T.J. Cinnamon's rolls, these square, flaky, and heavy ones... More >>
• Best Greasy Spoon
  Ruby's Dagwoods Cafe
  Dagwoods, the lovable L-shaped joint that proudly presents a man-size platter of biscuits and sausage gravy for less than three bucks, has been a fixture on Southwest Boulevard for decades. But it's not so greasy-looking anymore: The place has had a recent face-lift ("We actually get one every... More >>
• Best Brunch
  Figlio
  Diners get lots of bang for the buck, Italian-style, at this tastefully appointed Sunday brunch. The $14 spread includes salads (Figlio has one of the best Caesars in town), fresh fruit, cheeses and crackers, pastries, egg dishes, tiny flaky drop biscuits for scooping up thick sausage gravy, and... More >>
• Best Bread
  Fevere
  Step through the front door of this old storefront on Kansas City's west side and go back in time, to when neighborhoods had bakeries that specialized in a few good things instead of every possible bread, bagel, and bundt cake. Inside this tidy, narrow space is a wood-burning brick oven where... More >>
• Best Juice
  The Nutty Girl
  Driving east from State Line on 39th Street, it's hard to miss the giant carrot on the façade of The Nutty Girl, which bills itself as a café, micro-juicery, and smoothie bar. That's the first clue to the kitschy, 1970s coziness you'll find inside -- small wooden tables, lots of... More >>
• Best Place to Revisit Your Childhood
  Crayola Café
  As might be expected, art is central to the Crayola Café dining experience. Diners can choose from an impressive selection of crayons, including some that are seemingly white but actually blend three colors at once, and decorate their place mats, which come in dinosaur, star, plane,... More >>
• Best Quiet Place for a Cool Drink
  Shiraz Restaurant
  Two stories of brick surround Shiraz's plant-festooned and wrought-iron-ornamented courtyard. It's a surprisingly quiet place, despite its entrance off of Southwest Boulevard. With soft lights at night and the subdued glow of sunshine during the day, the courtyard resembles those of European... More >>
• Best Urban Hangout
  Y-J's Snack Bar
  Nestled in the heart of the city's art district, Y-J's Snack Bar is the ultimate in urban cool. It's a tiny place with just a couple of tables, and it gets particularly cramped when the management books a musical act (which, more often than not, tends to be something avant garde). But that only... More >>
• Best Lunch and Walk
  Merriam Café
  Daily specials at the Merriam Café include a myriad of reliable Americana -- soup and a grilled cheese sandwich, tenderloin and fries, burgers, and Reubens, each served with a drink for less than five bucks. To ease the steep calorie intake, diners can walk across the street to the Turkey... More >>
• Best Limeade
  Topsy's Popcorn & Ice Cream Shoppe
  Limeades, like people, have distinct personalities. They can be tart or sweet, sour or bitter. Topsy's gets it just right, though. First of all, Topsy's uses crushed ice, which makes the drink sound wonderfully slushy (crushed ice doesn't clank distractingly, as cubes do). After squeezing the... More >>
• Best Steak
  Yahooz
  Since chef Michael Peterson took over the kitchen at this very masculine-looking restaurant, the "cowboy" cuisine has gotten a lot more sophisticated. It's unlikely that any cattle herders ever tasted anything like Peterson's glorious 14-ounce, wood-grilled Kansas City Strip, a hunk of USDA... More >>
• Best Burger
  Fritz's Railroad Restaurant
  The original Fritz's Railroad Restaurant -- a combination 1950s diner, burger joint, and Rube Goldberg-style mechanical creation -- has lots more character than the newer, more antiseptic version at Crown Center. At both places you order your burgers or chili or pie by phone and it arrives a few... More >>
• Best Barbecue
  Rosedale Barbecue
  When this place opened during the Great Depression, the fragrant barbecued ribs, beef, and chicken were the kind of solid, inexpensive country-style staples that Kansas Citians drove from all over town to eat. The oldest barbecue joint in the city, Rosedale Barbecue is still a destination spot... More >>
• Best Barbecue Specials
  Oklahoma Joe's Barbecue & Catering
  Once you eat at Oklahoma Joe's Barbecue & Catering, you will never again bypass a restaurant just because it's attached to a Total station. Oklahoma Joe's, at the corner of 47th Street and Mission Road, looks like just another restaurant wedged between a gas station and a liquor store. Yet the... More >>
• Best Tacos
  California Taqueria
  One school of thought holds that things are better when they're deep-fried. Case in point: fried ice cream, funnel cakes, fish 'n' chips, and the "soft-shell" tacos at California Taqueria. The key to their exquisiteness lies in the shell, which isn't soft at all but deep-fried to a golden brown,... More >>
• Best Lasagna
  Tuscany Manor
  Tuscany Manor is a renovated old Lee's Summit mansion that's been reborn as a comfortable series of "theme" dining rooms crammed with gee-gaws, dolls, and both real and faux antiques. But the oversize slab of cheesy, lovingly baked lasagna (a traditional Neapolitan, rather than Tuscan, dish)... More >>
• Best Calamari
  Frondizi's
  Restaurateur Jimmy Frantze and his talented chef, Linda Duerr, do the right thing by the lowly, slimy squid. For Frondizi's version of the Italian delicacy calamari fritti, Duerr dips the rings of tender squid into a light dusting of flour and cornmeal and fries them with batter-dipped clams and... More >>
• Best Pad Thai
  The Thai Orchid
  Wonders are usually simple things. So it is with pad thai. The mix of noodles, scallions, raw peanuts, and bean sprouts that Wilai Poin and his cooks stir-fry with ginger, peppers, and other spices at The Thai Orchid is a big, tasty lunch (the Thai Orchid's always-friendly staff will send diners... More >>
• Best Vegetarian Food in a Cowtown
  Eden Alley
  Eden Alley isn't strictly vegetarian, but that's the primary focus of a constantly changing menu, where different variations of pizza, quesadillas, and pasta share the limelight with the usual suspects (a damn veggie burger, hummus with pita). In just a portion of the massive space on the... More >>
• Best Vegetarian Sushi
  Lotus
  Sushi lovers who are not fond of raw fish -- and the two aren't synonymous -- will be delighted with Lotus, a seven-month-old restaurant that aims to put a new slant on vegetarian food. Lotus owner Andy Fletcher, who has been rolling his own sushi "forever," has invented a smorgasbord of exotic... More >>
• Best Tofu
  Princess Gardens
  "Mmm, tofu!" Not many people express this sentiment; this squishy food has gotten a bad reputation as something gross that's good for you. But diners at the Princess Gardens know that "spiced bean curd," as it appears on the menu, can taste sublime if it's served slightly crisp with snow peas... More >>
• Best Soul Food
  Three Friends Restaurant and BBQ
  On a recent Sunday afternoon, a squad car belonging to two of Kansas City's finest was parked in the lot outside Three Friends Restaurant and BBQ. Inside, the officers came prepared for a bust -- of their guts, that is. Not powered by doughnuts alone, these officers stacked their plates full... More >>
• Best Sweet-Potato Fries
  Marty's Bar-B-Q
  If you think French fries are as American as apple pie, then get a load of Marty's Bar-B-Q's unforgettable side item: sweet-potato fries. Added to the restaurant's menu about seven years ago by co-owner Nick Tamburello, these fries can be eaten with salt and barbecue sauce or Marty's sinfully... More >>
• Best Buffet in a Town Where People Have a National Reputation for Pigging Out
  Feast Around the World Buffet
  It's not so much the quality of the food (which ranges from really tasty to utterly inedible) served in Station Casino's massive dining room that lures people to this buffet as it is the sheer quantity. It's like a fantasy -- piles of fried chicken, buckets of brisket, mounds of pasta, and more... More >>
• Best Place to Impress Out-of-Town Guests
  Golden Ox
  There are fancier places, more sophisticated places, and certainly more historical restaurants (such as The Savoy) to take out-of-towners to get a taste of what Kansas City is all about. But few restaurants capture the flavor, color, and gusto of Kansas City's rollicking cowboy past like the... More >>