| Charles Ferruzza Collection |
Fat City's Owen Morris -- who is probably tired of me talking about the Kansas City restaurants I wanted to experience, but waited too long and they closed (like the legendary Gold Buffet) or places that were already long closed by the time I moved to town in 1984 -- turned me on to the new book by former New York Times restaurant critic William Grimes. The new Grimes book, Appetite City: 25 Restaurants We Wish Still Existed focuses on New York restaurants, of course.
The Kansas City joints that I wish still existed include Bretton's (and the Polynesian-style Bali Hai Room downstairs), the Wish Bone -- I grew up on the bottled salad dressing, but missed the fabled fried chicken restaurant, which closed in 1980 -- and the Say, Man! hamburger joint at 3843 Prospect. The 1950 postcard, above, offers a few tantalizing details about the diner: it was open 24 hours, served ten cent burgers and hot do-nuts.
Does anyone have a time machine I could borrow?
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Anyone remember the name of the little restaurant that was next to the Gold Buffet in NKC? I used to eat lunch there.
Diaana: Is the restaurant you're talking about the one that was in the old Pizza Hut building, just east of Troost that's now occupied by Dainty Chinese?
does anyone remember the new york seafood and chinese restaurant on 47th and troost? my aunt and uncle used to own it and had the best chinese and fried fish. i can't find fried fish like they had.
Yes, the Putsch's Coffee House was still active when I moved to town. I liked it enough, but not as much as the old Putsch's Cafeteria which was so inexpensive, I could afford to eat there three times a week on my budget. When I wanted to splurge, I went to the Pam-Pam Room in the Alameda Hotel. I still have dreams about that ice cream sundae with the coconut macaroons.
Was Putsch's Coffee House and Sidewalk Cafe still on the Plaza when you got here, Charles? You'd have loved it - it was a great place.
The one I'll never forget is Wolfburgers. They finally tore the building down a few years back - its most recent tenant was something called Greek Islands. (a few doors south of Westport Road on Broadway) Bastards gave me food poisoning back in '71, when I was right in the middle of moving. Can't say I miss them much at all.
Rockwood took a long time to die, and it wasn't pretty. It was a nice place back in the '60s and early '70s, back when it was still private. By the time they became "Rockwood Public Club" you couldn't pay me to eat there.
One of my high-school buddies had a couple of aunts who worked in the kitchen back in the good old days - we used to stop by and they'd make us sandwiches.
I never went to the fabled Rockwood Country Club, but I vividly remember the TV commercials for the restaurant airing after midnight -- I would come home from a long shift working in a restaurant, flip on the TV and the first thing on the tube (during those wonderful analog days) was, invariably, one of those hilariously cheaply-produced commercials for the buffet at the Rockwood Country Club. Lou Jane Temple told me that one night she ordered a Grand Marnier there and they served it to her in a styrofoam cup and the liqueur melted the cup.
Yeah, I miss the Gold Buffet. You can come close at some of the Sunday brunches at a good hotel, but none of today's buffets are up to the Gold's standard.
Another buffet that used to be very popular back in the day was the Rockwood Country Club off 23rd Street in Independence. They did boiled spiced shrimp at a time when not much of anybody else had them, and really packed in the crowds on Friday and Saturday nights.
I also really miss the Sam & Sally's Fish and Chips that was at 39th and Main in the early '70s - real English-style fish and chips served wrapped in newspaper. That's something KC really needs - a good fish and chips shop.
Climb into the way-back here and we'll have a steak at Morgan's on Blue Ridge Cutoff, just off Independence Ave.
Or maybe grab something at Allen's Drive-In?
How about some ribs from Sherman's on Prospect just off of Truman Rd.?
Just no more KC places trying to pass off what-ever-it-is as a cheesesteak. Gimmeafugginbreakhere!
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