By OWEN MORRIS
This is the second entry in my backwards countdown of Top Ten foods to eat in Kansas City before you croak. For number Ten click here.
Before I reveal my ninth choice, I just wanted to highlight my blogger friend Dan's list at Gone Mild, where he named all ten of his choices in one great list.
He's got some really interesting choices -- including his number one, which is much more controversial and better thought-out than anything on my list. He calls Winstead's burger "simply the Kansas City classic," and povitica from Strawberry Hill "beautiful to look at, teeth-achingly sweet to sample." Make sure to check out the rest of Dan's list!
Now on to my ninth choice:
Boulevard Wheat (With a Lemon Dammit!)
Who cares that Boulevard Wheat is not a food but a liquid. A delicious liquid that represents the gumption, taste and entrepreneurship quality that makes Kansas City great(ish). It's hard to imagine Kansas City without the Boulevard Brewery. From sports games to outdoor barbecues to graduation parties, Boulevard Brewery is everywhere that Kansas Citians are having good times.
The toughest choice was not whether Boulevard deserved to be listed, but which product.
While Boulevard Stout and its seasonals are fine beers, the choice really comes down to pale ale or wheat. Each has its own merits. Boulevard pale ale goes better with Kansas City-style barbecue while wheat is better by itself. Pale ale was the first beer Boulevard ever made but wheat has become its signature beer.
I chose Boulevard wheat, because it's the finest example of a beer in its class. When I order a pale ale, I'm just as likely to get a Sierra Nevada as I am a Boulevard pale ale. But if I'm ordering a wheat, there's only one.
I don't know who was the first person to put a lemon in Boulevard wheat, but they were a genius. Like a doughnut and coffee or orange and chocolate, the bitter lemon flavors interacts with the slightly sweet/sour yeast and carbonation and produces a flavor that transcends normal beer. It's smooth with very little hops and actually tastes like wheat. Like salt on french fries, the lemon accentuates the flavor.
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Will do Sam. If you add a sentence or two to why you chose each of your choices, I'll add them to my site.
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