Fritz's Smoked Meats: 10326 State Line Rd

Off the top of my head, I can think of three restaurants in KC named "Fritz's." There is the famous railroad restaurant that is either disgusting or fantastic, depending on who you listen to. People on cheesy online venues like Insiderpages.com tend to refer to Fritz's railroad as "Choo Choo Rific," among other things. There is also the curious, but somehow endearing Fritz's Chili in Overland Park that serves up a plate of hamburger and calls it chili.

Lastly, there is Fritz's Smoked meat on Stateline Road and 103rd Street.

The name says it all, people. Walk up the stairs and into this humble brick building and you will be confronted with a series of deli cases full of meats in various forms. Meat comes in tubes, circles, rectangles, obelisks and various polygonal permutations here. It is by no means a comprehensive selection a la your supermarket deli counter but they do have plenty of stuff you can't get on your average grocery run.



The centerpiece here is the variety of sausage available. They have Polish, hot Polish, beef hot dogs, pork hot dogs, knackwurst, andouille, Italian, bratwurst, cheddarwurst, garlic sausage and probably a few more.



Best of all every one of these varieties is available fully cooked on a bun at the counter for $2.50. For a little more money you can get a deli sandwich topped with one of their homemade sliced meats like smoked turkey, salami, bologna or brisket.

Side dishes are very limited. You can get beans or a bag of chips. There are also some cookies by the register that look like those you get at the gas station. The take out menu I have says they offer potato salad but I don't recall seeing it on my visit.

For me, this place is about sausage and that's exactly what I had: a hot polish, bag of chips and a crisp Pepsi from the fountain. Not a mountain of food but a good quantity for lunch, and the right price at $4 even. When you order a sausage, they take it out of the huge warmer behind the counter, throw it on a cheap white bun, wrap it in aluminum foil and hand it to you. It takes about 5 seconds.

It doesn't look like much when you open it up.



But a couple simple accouterments and it gets dressed up for the party nicely.



They have maybe 5 tables in this joint, and a little counter that holds napkins, plastic ware and a little bin of sauerkraut. Each table holds nothing but a large bottle of French's yellow mustard. I didn't even bother to look for ketchup anywhere.

The sausage was damn good. Not as spicy as I would have liked but it was explosively garlicky and salty and had wonderful texture. The wiener had a delightful snap with each bite which is the hallmark of a nice natural casing. While I ate I noticed a lot of people ordering two dogs. By the time I finished mine, I understood why.

Basically this is an old school smokehouse and meat counter that happens to do a fairly brisk lunch business. Most customers opt for take out so I managed to find a chair rather easily, but I wouldn't go with a large group. The service behind the counter is excellent--friendly and fast as lightning. Fritz's will not bowl you over with atmosphere, but it is an excellent option for a quick lunch out in this area, particularly if you like a good sausage.

St. Louis Pizza Time! Johnny C's: 11200 W 75th St and George's Pizza: 8435 W 95th St.

As if the world really needed another style of pizza, I started to hear about the St. Louis variety upon moving to Missouri three years ago. I don't get really excited about specific pizza styles, probably because of my experience with the Chicago deep-dish stuff. Seriously, I think it's rather gross, like an overpriced cheese brick. And it's not even as prevalent as Chicagoans and television shows would lead you to believe; the vast majority of neighborhood pizza places serve really lame, standard fare. In fact, I would venture to say that Chicago overall is a lousy pizza town.

Anyhow, who knew St. Louis had its own style? And that it is so incredibly weird? People who read this blog probably know more about St. Louis pizza than I do, but for those who don't, here's an overview:

It has a thin, crackery crust, sparse use of sauce, and is topped with something called provel cheese--a creamy, processed mixture of provolone, swiss, and cheddar, kind of like a white velveeta. It is often cut into squares rather than triangles.



One of the most loyal and helpful commenters to this blog is JH, and he (I'm assuming it's a "he") recommended Georges Pizza to me not once, but twice. I dutifully visited a couple months back and ordered the lunch special with his recommended mix of provel and mozzarella. It's a nice deal at $6.95. The special came with a tepid little salad accompanied by these weird homemade croutons.



What is it about pizza parlour salads? Do they not understand fresh vegetables?



Seriously, it's like these places try to make the salad as much like a pizza as possible. This one, as you can see, has cheese, pepperoni and black olives.

George's is interesting because it is owned and operated entirely by Asians. And the place has a locomotive theme. Train memorabilia decorates the joint and a track runs along the perimeter of the ceiling, though I saw no little train car up there.



I was not crazy about Georges pizza to be honest. I can't find the photo I took at the time but it was a 10" little pie with lots of cheese and a few chunks of sausage. The dry, thin crust reminded me of those cheap Totino's frozen pizzas that cost $1.09 at Price Chopper. The sauce was essentially nonexistent and the provel was mildly off-putting. It smells odd and has a sharp undertone to its flavor. Like JH, I liked the sausage quite a bit, but there was so little of it on the pizza that it didn't really make up for the overall weirdness. In all fairness, JH did indicate that the larger pies were better.

But sorry JH, I put off writing about this place because you like it so much and hesitate to piss you off. However it turns out that there's probably nothing wrong with George's, I just don't like St. Louis pizza that much.



You see I paid a little visit to Johnny C's recently, which is another St. Louis pizza parlour at 75th and Nieman. I did this at the urging of local blogger and food lover Goofy Girl. Indeed, she was the first to really explain St. Louis pizza to me comprehensively. Johny C's seemed like the kind of place that, love it or leave it, I had to try.



Johnny C's is a classic pizza parlour in a lot of ways, with a bar, pool table, video games and those traditional hanging lamps you used to see at old pizza huts.



Their lunch special involves your choice of two of the following: a pizza slice, salad, half sandwich, toasted ravioli or garlic bread (there may be other choices I'm forgetting). I opted for the slice and a salad to make a proper comparison to George's. I got the full provel treatment, and it was pretty strange.



The odor of this cheese is just a little intense for me, and I'm no shrinking violet. The salad was almost exactly like Georges: shredded cheese, a pale tomato wedge and a couple pepperoni slices. It was topped with a couple of odd, dusty crackers.



Service at both George's and Johnny C's was excellent. At both places you order from the counter and wait for your food at a table. Value is likewise very good: you can't beat a $5 lunch special which is what you get at Johnny C's but George's gives you more food for the money since there is a whole little pie. The ambiance at both places is pretty unique and cool, far exceeding that of chain pizza restaurants around the metro.

In general I preferred the pizza at Johnny C's, mostly because of the crust which tasted more substantial and homemade than George's. Both had excellent Italian sausage. I think both places warrant repeat visits, but I probably won't get the full-on St. Louis pizza experience next time. Indeed Johnny C's advertised an Italian beef lunch special that I'm eager to try. You all know how much I love Italian beef.

I probably should have done more research on the St. Louis pizza phenomenon but it was hard to muster the motivation. I just don't like it that much. I'd love to hear from you all about your opinion of St. Louis style pizza and your favorite places to get it.

UPDATE: I located the George's pizza photo. Here is is.

Two Amigos: 10321 W 75th St

No one can easily remember the name of this place or exactly where it is located, probably because it seems so generic. I mean "Two Amigos?" That's not the most catchy name.



Moreover the restaurant is situated in an old Taco Bell building, not exactly the connection you would want potential customers to make, even though the building is kind of cool. Two Amigos also features this less than progressive logo of two lazy Mexicans sleeping under a tree a la Speedy Gonzales cartoons.



For these reasons Two Amigos has been hidden in plain sight for a couple years.

Have you ever been to the Red Balloon, perhaps the greatest karaoke bar in the Kansas City metropolitan area? Sometimes on the weekends, it gets quite crowded and the parking lot fills up. But it's not a big deal since there is a parking lot just next door. You just have to step up a little embankment and boom, you are right at the bar. That parking lot next door? That's Two Amigos. I had parked there several times before realizing that this was the Mexican place people had mentioned to me.

As you can see this place advertises "Real Mexican food," and having visited a couple times, I think they deliver the goods.

Walk right in and take a gander at the huge menu above the counter. Everything is there: classics like enchiladas, tacos and burritos, hearty soups like menudo and posole, full entree plates, seafood cocktails, three kinds of tamales and a refrigerator full of jarritos, half-liter bottles of Coca-Cola and several kinds of Mexican beer. The menu board runs the length of the counter; items are punctuated with taped-on pieces of paper or handwritten translations. Some items are highlighted with signs taped up by the register.



I have had a bunch of tacos here which allowed me to try a lot of their meats. I sampled the carnitas, carne asada, lengua (tongue), cabeza (cow head meat), fish and the chicken. Only the lengua rubbed me the wrong way (hehe), mostly because of its spongy texture, but that's just my personal preferences at work. The cabeza was much as I expected, hearty, fatty and delicious with a pot-roast like consistency. The fish tacos do not receive the cabbage slaw treatment that they do at other places. In other words they are prepared much like the other tacos with onions, cilantro and a touch of shredded iceberg lettuce, the latter topping being the only differentiation between the fish tacos and other kinds.

The tamales are very simply prepared as, I would argue, they should be. I prefer them handed to me in a corn husk unadorned by any superfluous sauces, cheeses or toppings.



With judicious use of a good salsa, this tamale is just about perfect the way it is. These did not disappoint, though the filling was a little on the dry side.

What puts Two Amigos head and shoulders above other Mexican establishments are their salsas. They offer five kinds: blazing hot habanero, a hot salsa verde (green tomatillo), a medium-spicy red salsa made from guajillo chiles, a medium tomato-chipotle salsa and a thin, pureed avocado sauce. But of course quality always trumps quantity and Two Amigos sauces represent both.



My favorite is the red chile salsa but I found that the avocado stuff really rounded out the fish tacos nicely.

There is also a little condiment station with iced cucumber slices, whole radishes, limes and roasted jalapenos. After a bite of a habanero salsa-adorned taco, I immediately understood the appeal of the cold cucumber.

There is a huge Quick Trip next door to Two Amigos, so it must get quite a bit of exposure and traffic. Unfortunately it never seems to be very busy. For instance I found it somewhat depressing to see two guys cutting across the Two Amigos parking lot carrying QT sandwiches and bags of Doritos. I just can't fathom making that choice.



The interior is almost unchanged from its days as a Taco Bell. I'm pretty sure that the booths, the counter, the trash areas and even the orange cafeteria trays are left over from that period. It's funny to realize how much smaller fast food restaurants used to be. A couple of old televisions are mounted in each corner, usually only one is turned on, playing Spanish language programming loud enough for the owner to hear at the counter.

They even still operate the drive-through, made evident by a couple of yard signs in front of the building. One time I actually saw the owner wearing a headset over her black knitted hairnet.

The prices here are fair, and comparable to other similar restaurants. Plan on spending six or seven bucks, and more if you want to sample a lot of items. And bottled soda will set you back more than fountain pop. Tacos are all about 1.85 each, and the combination plates are in the neighborhood of $7.50, depending on what you get.



For the cost conscious, the burritos cost $4.95 and approach infant-like proportions.



So I encourage everyone to check out Two Amigos. If you aren't sure what to order, try something new. They will happily put together any combination you desire. I for one will be visiting Two Amigos with regularity from now on. There is just too much on the menu that I have to try.

Waid's: 6920 Mission Rd

This place is insane.



For people who like odd experiences, who like to challenge their notions of comfort, for those who can't abide the ubiquity of tin ceilings, exposed brick and conical glass lampshades, this place is for you. The strangeness here is rivaled only be the old Nichols Lunch. And as with Nichols, just don't expect to eat well.

Walking into Waid's I found myself the object of dozens of octogenarian eyes and suddenly wondered if I had mistakenly walked into the dining room of a cheap retirement home. What in the hell was this place? It was quiet, dark and entirely devoid of any redeeming physical characteristic. I'm sure Waid's used to be cute and retro, but they didn't have the good sense to pursue a nostalgic vibe. Indeed the 1980s makeover is all too apparent, made more creepy by all of the seemingly unintentionally depressing details: hotel room art, drop ceilings, industrial carpeting, and the blandest of American diner menus.

If the Prairie Village Waid's was a movie, David Lynch and John Waters would co-direct. There was the guy coughing and hacking up phlegm, three ladies going over every detail of their check to make sure they hadn't been swindled and a certifiably crazy woman with papers and change all over her table.

My waitress had the sort of shocking cheeriness reserved for overprescribed mental patients and Maharishi disciples. I'm pegging her for the former. She had this odd way of speaking with incredible gleefulness and vigor while never really making eye contact. As I have implied, the clientele was almost entirely senior citizen--not a bad thing in and of itself, but I did feel odd, almost like an interloper into a world in which I did not belong.

Naturally Waid's is not the sort of place where one expects great food. Ordering a salad never entered my mind, though they have several on the menu. I took forever deciding on my order because I didn't want something gross. This was a futile pursuit. I can't begin to tell you what to order here. You're on your own.

When asked about the soup of the day, our server told us it was steak soup. "But it's different than it used to be," she said, "we used to make it with hamburger and now we use...you know, steak." I did not order the soup.

I'm sure breakfast is passable at Waid's, it's not hard to make eggs, bacon and toast after all. Lunch is a different affair, presenting you with possibilities like chili dogs, tuna melts, fried cod, reubens and burgers. I wound up ordering the chicken fried steak sandwich for god knows what reason. Life is too short to eat one more substandard reuben. My sandwich came to me aptly presented but utterly bland and kind of dry since I opted not to use the cup of mayo they provided.



Despite a decent appearance my sandwich tasted like nothing and was cooked to death. The french fries, however, were woefully undercooked.



You know the restaurant that you always have to take your grandma to when you swoop into town for a once a year Sunday lunch to stave off the crippling guilt of not really finding her that interesting? Waid's is that restaurant. It's crazy but a lot of older people have a singular ability to overlook the sheer creepiness of a place in favor of comfort and familiarity. They know the waitress, the know what they like to order, they know how much it will cost. They could be eating in a dungeon for all they care.

I, on the other hand couldn't help but notice the overwhelming sense of drabness: scratched faux-stained glass, ancient institutional carpeting, water-stained ceilings and water glasses that had been through the dishwasher about 800 times too many.



Waid's is a local chain and one that used to be fairly prevalent in the metro area as I understand it. From what I can tell, there are only 2 current locations: Prairie Village and South KC (and maybe Lee's Summit?). I'm sure a lot of folks who frequent this place have done so for a very long time and don't really pay much attention to the details anymore. I am not qualified (or old) enough to know if it has become worse over the years. In its present state, it is just another American casual restaurant in the vein of Big Boy or Denny's. Thus Waid's is an imitation of something that had no business being imitated.

Oklahoma Joe's: 3002 W. 47th Street

It is incredibly annoying how much people like this place. Yelp and other sites abound with people proclaiming this the best BBQ in Kansas City and often the best BBQ in the world. I don't have a lot of use for those kinds of assertions unless they come from people I know personally and trust. Nonetheless, Oklahoma Joe's stellar reputation is pretty much well-deserved. They make all the BBQ standards really well (at least all that I've had), and I haven't encountered the shortcomings or weaknesses that you see at other establishments around the metro.

Pulled pork? Excellent. Ribs? Excellent. Chicken? Excellent. Brisket? Very good. Sausage? Meh.



Where I will differ with the vast majority of folks in Kansas City is in my assessment of the french fries. While well cooked and pleasingly crunchy in texture, they are vastly over seasoned. They are so salty that I rarely come close to finishing them.

The baked beans on the other hand, pretty much rule. Cole slaw is solid but typical.

This is a quintessential lunch spot in a lot of ways, particularly because I think the midday meal is their bread and butter. Anyone who has been around town for any length of time knows that there is a line out the door by 11:30 when doors open. The wait during lunch rush can approach 45 minutes. This is good food, but I can't see waiting that long for it, especially if I have somewhere to be (like, oh I don't know, WORK?). So this is a special occasion lunch place and also a perfectly good joint for dinner and odd hour meals.

And yeah, there is the gas station thing. Oklahoma Joe's, for those who don't know, is located in the back of a gas station convenience store at the corner of 47th and Mission Road. I won't go into the history of this odd placement but at the very least it is amusing and makes for a great story when introducing out of towners to KC barbecue. Despite the humble surroundings, Oklahoma Joe's has a comforting menu which is larger than many and designed to appeal to mass palates.

The line goes from right to left, which seems backwards but probably creates extra space when it gets too long. It gets a little annoying to squeeze between all the folks in line after paying with your tray full of hot meat, a wobbly plastic cup of beer and a bag of fries. Then you get your drink and have to navigate around the line again to get to your table. But folks are accommodating and friendly so it's not a huge ordeal. I just know that someday I'm gonna drop my pale ale in someone's purse.

A lot of people swear by their fabled Z-man sandwich, basically a bun piled with smoked brisket, cheese and a couple of onion rings. The carolina sandwiches are also popular and include your choice of meat, topped with cole slaw on a bun. Frankly I'm not a big fan of these kinds of "specialty sandwiches." All I require is white bread and meat a la Arthur Bryant's but those at OK Joe's have an undeniable appeal. And if you want meat on bread at Joe's you can get that.



I'm not going to debate what is or isn't the best barbecue in Kansas City. For my money it is and always will be Bryant's, but I can respect those who prefer Joe's, Danny Edwards or even Jack Stack. Joe's began as a competition barbecue team, tearing up the regional circuit in the 1990's and early 2000's. The restaurant has been going strong for about a dozen years, and in that relatively short time, Oklahoma Joe's has inserted itself firmly into the pantheon of fabulous, local barbecue establishments.

Part of that is certainly its Kansas locale. Their clientele leans toward white and middle class and some of them undoubtedly like to think of themselves as slumming because they are eating in a gas station. All I can say is that the first time I went to LC's, there were a couple guys being arrested up against cop cars in the parking lot. THAT is slumming it people. OK Joe's is not so much a neighborhood joint as a destination spot anyway whereas Bryant's still is a neighborhood place in a lot of ways. And the gas station isn't remotely dingy or intimidating. It might as well be a Wendy's with a line.

It is hard to get out of here for less than 10 bucks and a meal here often runs you much more because you want to try multiple items. That's ok though, it is a destination meal and you should splurge a little. Get a beer and an unneeded side of beans; it won't kill you.

I'd be a fool not to recommend Oklahoma Joe's to anyone, just keep in mind that the line is long at the lunch hour. That means no whining. The wait is generally worth it if you have the time to spare. Service is very fast and despite how crowded it can be, I've never had a hard time finding a place to sit. So don't try to save a table while your friend is ordering, because that's just bad form.

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