o-hi-o

I was traipsing around Ohio earlier this week, well traipsing really isn't the right word. I flew in and flew out within a 24-hr period. Gotta love work. Anyhow, I was in Dayton for one night and in search of a suitable restaurant to meet our client's per diem and a fun place to get to relax a little bit, we headed out of the hotel in search of a restaurant.

Staying in downtown Dayton, we headed out of the hotel toward Dayton's historic Oregon District (yep, we're still in Ohio, haven't passed the Mississippi and into the Pacific Northwest). The Oregon District is a quaint little area a few blocks long that has lots of shops, restaurants, bars, and even a comedy club. We bypassed all of the, wooed by the lure of every traveler's staple - an Irish bar. Really, how could one go wrong with an Irish bar.

We stopped in the Dublin Pub, which I later found out is affectionately referred to as the DubPub. We walked in, and the 10 of us were seated quickly at a combination of round tables to fit all of us. While the seating arrangements weren't ideal, there was plenty of room and the waitress was quick to fill our pints. They have a large selection of beer, of course mostly Irish beer and the menu even explains the black and tan, the half and half, etc.

Then we got the menus that would be our novellas for the night. I'm not kidding. I wasn't sure where to start. I opened the menu and there was a paragraph for each appetizer, salad and entree. I guess if you have the time to read it all, sure. Despite the rather long menu, there were lots of options and things were easily substituted (cole slaw or salad for fries, etc.) and the food was simple and delicious. If you're ever in the sleep city of Dayton, give this one a try.

*healthy foodie*

nothing better than beer in the AM

we woke up early. We had to, beer was on the agenda. We decided to take a tour (free!) of the Anheuser-Busch facility. This was a great tour, the tour guides were very knowledgeable and it was entirely free, with beer and pretzels at the end of it. You see the entire brewing process, the clydesdales and dalmataions. If you haven't been there and have the chance to, do it. It's worth the time. Enough of that plug... so we did that and had a great time.

After that, we went over to a butterfly house that was really kind of cool. You end up walking through a greenhouse sort of structure that is filled with lots of plants, flowers and thousands (yes thousands) of butterflies. I was actually a little scared at first, I know that's ridiculous, they are butterflies after all. After that adventure, we headed back to downtown, with a pitstop at Imo's, the signature pizza of St. Louis for 40 years (who knew?). I liked it, but what's with the cheese? The thin crispy crust was great and it had a creamy, gooey, almost liquid cheese that tasted a little like cheddar on top. Definitely never had that before. Next, we went up in the arch and caught a few beers at the mad Hungarian's saloon (Al Hrabosky's Ballpark Saloon). This is a great place to hang out before the game, if you're a Cardinal's fan. HA! Just kidding, it's a great place, lots of sports memorabilia and generally festive atmosphere. At some point we saw a really bad ballgame from really great seats, courtesy of my former boss. The game was delayed by a torrential downpour, and we filled our bellies (at least I did) with lots of ballpark fare. Big plus for the Cardinals stadium - they had veggie burgers, and they were good! The game, on the other hand, was not so good. The Brewers really beat up on the Cards, can't say much more than that.

Our grand finale was to a little hole in the wall called the Broadway Oyster Bar. We saw some live music, a band with a ska influence, and a few disappointed Cardinal's fans looking to forget about the game they just saw. We hung out there for a while before heading back to the hotel. Another big day was coming up.

*k*

a slacker, eh???

now that I've been called a slacker (?!?), I'll have to catch up on all my posting to save face. So onward in the midwest. From Kansas City, we took a short hop across scenic Missouri to St. Louis. It took about four and a half hours and we saw a few cows and corn fields. There was also an inordinate amount of billboards. After checking in and taking a quick look at the view of the ballpark from our hotel, we headed to the arch. It was crowded because one side broke (and we're going in this thing?!). From there, we went in search of the signature food of St. Louis. Yeah, we didn't know what it was either. We later found out that it's toasted ravioli and Imo's pizza.

Off to The Hill, a quaint little neighborhood dotted with Italian restaurants. We followed the footsteps of Rachel Ray and went to Cunetto's. It was funny, it looked like it was dead when we walked in. And then the hostess took us through the bar area around to the dining area and it was packed! We walked through the dining area, around the corner and the place is huge. Much bigger than I anticipated from the outside. The menu was chock full of traditional Italian fare. I asked about the toasted ravioli and was surprised to find out they were meat ravioli. I didn't order any, but my friend did. She described them as not quite fried ravioli, lightly toasted, nice marinara sauce. Way to go Rachel Ray! I ordered a house salad, which was essentially a giant bowl of cheese with some salad in it. Don't get me wrong, I like cheese, but this was a little over the top. If you really love cheese, you would love this salad, and the dressing was good too. Along came our entrees, spaghetti with a garlic, oil and anchovy sauce, and veal saltimbocca. It was generally okay food, but definitely not what we are used to being from the Italian capital of the USA, northern NJ and NY area.

From there, we found a local watering hole called Maggie O'Brien's, because it was touted to have lots of TVs and several satellites. This was going to be the perfect place to watch the Yankee game, and it was. We met some very nice (but very odd) local St. Louisites who kept us entertained after the Yankees started to lose.

We left there and headed back to the hotel, the next day was going to be busy.

*k*

midnight at jardines

our second day in Kansas City proved to be quite a history-packed fun time. We started off by heading out toward the town of Independence and visited Truman's home and a jail that Jesse James did a stint in. After a wonderful tour by an Alaskan park ranger who knew one of the NJ Devils, we headed on over to the Truman Presidential Library. After a while, paying $10-$15 for each and every exhibit gets really old, and so we didn't feel like paying to go into a library that we weren't going to borrow a book from. So we stepped inside, took a quick peek around and then took off.

Back in KC, we headed straight for the much touted, long awaited, KC BBQ. We went to the original, Arthur Bryants. The original one that we went to was located in the northwestern section of the city, and somewhat oddly, there were no other viable businesses in the area but the place was PACKED at a few hours after the mid-day lunch at 2 pm. It was basically a fast food joint (as opposed to a sit down place). We ran into the YES Network Yankee Roadtrippers there and traded a few "Go Yankees" cheers. I doubt we'll be on, but we did have to sign a release. The BBQ was fantastic, even though we're in meat country and I didn't order a sandwich. I had some french fries, which I was able to use as sticks for picking up BBQ sauce.

After that, we had some time to kill before the game, so we went down to the Plaza to grab a few brews at the Classic Cup Cafe. It had a hip trendy atmosphere and a great bartender named Curtis, who gave us a few tips about getting to and from the game and where to go afterward. So we headed up to Royals Land, watched the Yankees batting practice and cheered along with the rest of the 10,000 Yankee fans who infiltrated the Royals stadium as A-Rod hit his 499 home run. We sat next to a couple from rural Iowa who were big Yankee fans and talked about them visiting NY next year for the last year in classic Yankee Stadium. It was a great time.

From there, we headed over to a jazz club called Jardines for a nightcap. A few more beers and some great jazz music at a local haunt. After last call, we called it a night as we had a long drive ahead of us to St. Louis.

*k*

the heartland of america

every year I take a trip with a friend of mine to visit a few baseball stadiums. Not only is it a fun way to see the parks of America's favorite pastime, but it's a great way to see cities that I would not normally visit. This year is Kansas City, MO and St. Louis. Our first stop KC - home to KC BBQ, KC jazz, historic fountains (who knew!) and of course the Royals. There has been quite a bit of eating and drinking (did you expect anything less?). We arrived around dinner time and decided to head down to Westport, one of KC's historic districts touted for quaint shops, bars and restaurants. It was a small nook butted up against State Line, Kansas, with about 3 blocks of businesses along Westport Avenue. We choose a cajun / creole place called Jazz - a Louisiana Kitchen.

As I entered the place, I was a little confused because while the awning said "Jazz...", the door said something else (Jimmy's something or other). Anyway, it was perfectly our speed. Full of historic charm, the lights are dim and the walls are hung with Mardi Gras memorabilia. This little hole in the wall on the Kansas / Missouri stateline had ice cold beers, suprisingly scrumptious food, a relaxed atmosphere, and live music 7 nights a week. The onion rings are gianormous, beer battered, thick cuts of onion. The Po' Boys are served with a heaping order of the best cole slaw I have ever had, and a few, ever so slightly sweet, but perfectly crispy hush puppies. I ordered the blackened Catfish Po' Boy - a stick to your ribs meal that left me satisfied for the rest of the night.

From there, we went in search of a place to watch the Yankees / Royals game, George Bretts. George Brett was a KC Royal and is considered one of the greatest third baseman in baseball history. The bar is located in Country Club Plaza in the southern portion of KC. This neighborhood was quite different from Westport that we just came from. Packed with hip and trendy restaurants and designer stores, this area is a little more upscale. This bar / restaurant maintained a relaxed atmosphere with a little more of a trendy feel. One of the best features was late night happy hour - how fun is that?!

our adventures in the midwest will continue...

*k*