Trying out some places in the Heartland - Part 2 (Back to Kansas City Day1)

After getting to 6 places in Omaha I headed south on Interstate 29 for the 2 and half hour drive back to Kansas City. The drive went pretty well, light traffic and nice scenery.  I knew that I had a lot of barbecue in my future, not only did Guy do a KC Barbecue episode but Kansas City is well known for it's great barbecue.  My first stop would be a place that is popular throughout the Kansas City area, "Danny Edwards Boulevard Barbecue" is a small non-descript building that belies the great smoked meat that is produced there.  As soon as I got out of the car I could smell that wonderful smoky aroma. 

Danny Edwards - A Kansas City Barbecue legend

I decided to try the Burnt Ends Sandwich.  The sandwich came out with a huge amount of burnt ends and just a little bit of sauce.  In the past I have had some real nightmares when it came to burnt ends, one place served them in a pool of sauce that made it almost like a soup!  They had a couple of bottles of sauce on the table and I really like the tomato taste in the sauce that seems to be the KC style. 

Danny Edwards Burnt Ends Sandwich

The sandwich was so big that I ate it with a fork and knife rather than like a sandwich.  One of my friends told me that Danny Edwards was a good choice.  As I was leaving I met Danny and he signed my book, it was so busy that we couldn't really talk but I thanked him and went on my way.  Danny Edwards is in Kansas City, Missouri and my next stop would take me to Kansas City, Kansas.  The two cities are divided by the Missouri River,  It was a short drive to "Woodyard Bar-B-Que".  This is a very unique place.  Originally they sold all types of wood for use by local barbecue restaurants.  A few years later they started a small restaurant business and today they still do both, sell wood and serve very good food.  The place is going through a renovation to expand the restaurant area adding more seating.  It kind of reminded me of going to a country house for a picnic.

Woodyard Bar-b-cue in Kansas City, Kansas

Woodyard's seating area

As you walk up to the serving area they have some really cool home made signs.  Woodyard has been featured on a number of shows, Triple D was the first, but several of the signs promote these shows.  The big area behind is where the commercial wood sales take place, they sell about 10 types of wood.

Woodyard's cool signs

Guy's sign

Wood for the restaurant

Commercial Wood sales

The place was busy but the line was never long but very steady, and the service was fast.  This would be the only place that I could not get my book signed as there was only two people working out front and they were always busy.  I decided to try the smoked turkey sandwich.  It came on hearty bread and was loaded with delicious smoked turkey.  One way to know it's a good sandwich is if you don't need to add anything and is was great just plain!

My Woodyard Smoked Turkey sandwich

Woodyard is a very cool place, being able to see the behind the scenes of wood sales was very cool!  I headed to my hotel to take a break and get ready for my next stops.

After a break I headed out to check out a couple of some non-barbecue places in Kansas City.  My first stop was in the downtown area that features pastas.  "Cupini's" is sort of like an Italian Deli that instead of making sandwiches makes pastas.  The process is to go to the counter and choose you choice of house made pastas and sauces. 

Guy's signature pan "Guy Ate Here"

They also have fresh salads and house made desserts.  One of my favorite pastas is Gnocchi so I chose it with Pesto sauce. The plate came out and it was delicious.  It reminded me of Grandma's home made pasta that was very much like Gnocchi.  I had one of the managers, who was also one of the pasta cooks sign my book.  If you like fresh pasta and are in he KC area this is a place to visit!  

Cupini's Pesto Gnocchi

I headed to my last place of the day which was just about a mile away and one of the more unique places I have been to on my Triple D travels.  "PotPie" specializes in exactly what it's called.  A small intimate café, I took a seat at the bar and was offered a menu for drinks only.  The only food menu is a huge chalk board on the wall.  If you're at the bar, then you can see into the open kitchen. 

PotPie - Kansas City, MO

I noticed on the menu board it read "Good Food Not Fast Food",  I knew that meant everything is cooked to order ad fresh, this would be good!  I ordered the Beef and Mushroom pot pie.  The server brought me out fresh bread and butter.  It did take about 20 minutes for my meal  but it was worth it. 

Bread service at PotPie

The pie came out with a golden brown flaky crust top and was filled with hearty thick gravy, big mushrooms and other vegetables, a classic pot pie.

Golden Brown Pot Pie

Very Tasty!

My server came over and signed my book and we chatted while I ate about the show and my travels and also about football.  The restaurant has a lively fantasy football league amongst the employees.  He told me that although they have been busy since they opened in 2003, they get a huge bump each time their episode is shown.  I finished my first day in Kansas City with another day to come and my count is at 429!