chrizow + his girl come to KC for the weekend...again. short and sweet.

[chrizow]

so the missus and i came to KC for the weekend.  i had an interview with a judge in KC for a judicial clerkship and decided to make a weekend out of it.

thoughts:

* First Friday attendance seemed weak compared to the last few months, but i am sure the 45-degree temperatures had something to do with that.  we had a lot of fun though, and there was some great art.  coffee + kahlua in travel mugs + traversing the alleys of the Xroads = good times.  the Friends of Alvin Ailey were showing clips of Ailey performances on the wall of a loft building, which i thought was great.

* Papa Keno's pizza (in Westport) is the best pizza i've had in kansas city, and the second best pizza i've ever had (first place goes to East Coast Pizza in STL).  it didn't seem very busy though, which was good for us but probably bad for Papa Keno's.  their thin crust is to die for: it is thin and crispy, but not like a cracker.  it is like a crunchy, doughy flatbread.  yum.

* the Gillham Row stuff looks surprisingly good.  the pictures i had seen on here made it look sort of sterile, but i think it looks great in person, especially compared to the 10-12 awful 1970s apartment complexes south of there.  i like that the recent Union Hill development is focused on neighborhood amenities (liquor store, salon, body shops, bars, etc) and relatively urban residential.  it seems to be well-paced and planned.

* the NASCAR folks were obviously out in full effect on the Plaza and in JoCo.  my gf and i had to stay out in OPKS because all the urban core hotels were booked solid.  our hotel out there was full of NASCAR people too.  it was pretty cool to see some of them so in awe of kansas city.  it is easy for jaded KC residents (like me) to take its attributes for granted, so it was great to see (ostensibly) small-town folks having a good time on the Plaza and in Westport (and OPKS). 

* is it me or are there a LOT of great homes for sale in KC?  we drove around a lot gawking at homes in Volker, Brookside, Romanelli Gardens, etc. and i am not exaggerating when i say that every single block had at least one house for sale.  is this normal?  looking online at real estate, there are some GREAT homes in the leafy old 'hoods of KC for 200K-400K. 

* allah praise Latteland. 

* my new favorite restaurant in KC is Eden Alley.  i ate there when i was in high school and found it quirky but nothing special, but now that my tastebuds are more grown-up and i can appreciate freshness, i think that place is just amazing.  everything tastes like it was just plucked off the vine (or, more likely, the farmers' market or organic produce circuit) and it was great.  a bit pricey, but awesome food and desserts!  i recommend the tacos.

* i am a diehard urbanite at heart, but i have to admit that Fairway, Mission, Prairie Village, et al are quite attractive.  whenever we would leave our hotel to go to the Plaza/Midtown area, i would just drive randomly through JoCo on the way there in lieu of taking I-35 or 71.  i like that there are a lot of different housing styles close together - tudors and bungalows and 50s ranches in Fairway, larger 50s modern and Beaver Cleaver-style homes in PV/N. OP, and even the 70s/80s stuff as you go farther south.  i also like that there are lots of small parks sprinkled throughout.  personally, i would prefer to be able to roll out of bed and into a coffee shop or my workplace, but one cannot help but enjoy a leisurely drive through North JoCo, even with its faults.  north JoCo is suburbia all the way, but it puts SoJoCo to shame in my opinion.  i saw lots of bus stops, and wish that there could be even more transit connecting these neighborhoods to the core. 

* i think that's it.  i had fun.

[Boognish]

Glad you got to come home. A few years ago I actually changed my "I can't stand Johnson County" stand to "I can't stand Johnson County south of 87th St. Parkway." Look for it, it's clearly the dividing line between the hives and the hive-nots. Fairway, Mission, these places are all good with me.

If you haven't had the pizza at Cupini's, you'd probably like it. Wonderful crust, which is an overlooked part of a lot of pizza places who just make it a grease sponge. If you like Eden Alley, you might like Bluebird Bistro at 17th and Summit.

[nota]

NICE-really nice to see that you didn't have something bad to say about the NASCAR folk. It was a glorious weekend for racing and the race fans were certainly out in force. The restaurants here in the Northland were PACKED to the gills. And they were sure having fun everywhere.

I love Prairie Village and old Leawood especially. That is why I can't give blind bashes to JOCO. Prairie Village is just a really nice area and has stood the test of time well.

Good luck with the judge.

[ComandanteCero]

going along with the old-JOCO love, Mission is definitely a place to look out for.  They recently (this year) approved a large redevelopment plan for their downtown to open up Brush Creek and createa a natural park around it, as well as redeveloping a large part of the adjacent area into a mixed use, relatively dense core, and making Johnson drive into a boulevard.  My words don't really do it much justice but the renderings and concepts looked pretty great.  If i were to move into a single family home i think i'd definitely look in the neighborhoods and areas you mentioned, great areas with a lot of charm.  Glad to hear it was a cool KC weekend.

[Maitre D]

This thread is worthless w/o a photo of Chriz' chick.

C'mon, let's breathe some life into this one, whaddya say Chriz?

[chrizow]

This thread is worthless w/o a photo of Chriz' chick.

C'mon, let's breathe some life into this one, whaddya say Chriz?

[Maitre D]

noooooooooo!   "image hosted by tripod"

are you the one they call, "Tripod"??  Or is that her nickname for yoU?

(lol lol llol lol lol lol)

[staubio]

I would have picked Jessie myself, especially considering her career prospects.

No, I can't see the picture.

[Maitre D]

So Chriz - where's the photo?

This is bullshit.  C'maaaaaan

[chrizow]

So Chriz - where's the photo?

This is bullshit.  C'maaaaaan

chill, bro!  i'll cough up the pics after the Gamma barbecue tonight.  cool, dude?  *high five*  GO CARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[Maitre D]

Chriz, nobody is going to read that Manifesto - which mentions the ladyfriend -w/o a mental image of what you're talking about.

Photo time!

[KCPowercat]

Has PA moved to the stalker rhelm?

[Maitre D]

Yes.  I am stalking Chriz girlfriend.

But first, I'll need to know what she looks like.