johnson county – Page 4 – Kansas City Lunch Spots

India Palace: 9918 W 87th St (OPKS)

Posted by Dave at 9:39 pm

Nov 132007

Carrying on the fine tradition of the Indian lunch buffet, India Palace does not disappoint. The place is veritably hopping during lunch hour, but I can’t imagine you would ever have to wait unless you were with a large group.

The buffet itself is about on par with Taj Mahal on Wornall. In other words, very good but don’t eat too much unless you want to belch tikka masala fumes for two days. Actually belching will be the least of your problems.

The restaurant itself is not fancy, and kind of ugly. Vinyl booths, industrial carpet, drop ceiling, etc. But don;t come for the decor, come for the food. The assortment at the buffet is quite impressive for its modest size, and includes everything you could want: samosas, pakoras, vegetables, chicken, lamb, beef, nan, rice, and a variety of deserts, including those weird little doughnut balls soaked in sugar syrup. There’s also a dispenser full of free chai!

I tried everything and everything I had was good except for the chicken samosa. Usually these are vegetarian appetizers filled with a mixture of potato, carrots and spices. The chicken in this samosa was choped to a gritty, fine consistency, and unaccompanied by any friends with better mouthfeel.

Service was really a nonfactor because of the buffet aspect, but the folks were friendly as they seated us and took our money. Speaking of the latter I think the buffet runs 9 bucks–I can’t remember exactly. I’m always on the lookout for good Indian food. Taj Mahal is pretty solid, as is Korma Sutra which has the disadvantage of really odd decor and proximity to drunken westport hooligans on the weekends. I would not travel out to JoCo from KC just to go to India Palace, but if you live or work out that way, it worth a stop for lunch.

Yelp

[google-map-v3 width=”350″ height=”350″ zoom=”12″ maptype=”roadmap” mapalign=”center” directionhint=”false” language=”default” poweredby=”false” maptypecontrol=”true” pancontrol=”true” zoomcontrol=”true” scalecontrol=”true” streetviewcontrol=”true” scrollwheelcontrol=”false” draggable=”true” tiltfourtyfive=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkerlist=”9918 West 87th Street, Overland Park, KS{}restaurant.png” bubbleautopan=”true” showbike=”false” showtraffic=”false” showpanoramio=”false”]

Wyandot 2 BBQ: 7125 West 75th (OPKS)

Posted by Dave at 9:19 pm

Oct 252007

My first foray into the wild world of johnson county lunch cuisine was, expectedly, pretty disappointing, but for weird reasons.

Wyandot 2 is a great little barbeque place near 75th and Metcalf. Well, great in every respect except the food. It has a casual, almost bar-like vibe to it–wooden booths, brick, and faux-wood panelling come to mind, though I’m not sure there was all three. Basically if your grandpa turned his basement into a rec room/bar in the 1970s, Wyandot 2 will remind you of it. Right down to the cheap beer.

This place also has at least two-maybe three-televisions on. Sorry but I’m not a fan. I prefer an ackwardly silent lunch to caterwalling ESPN ‘analysts’ in shiny suits any day. At least it wasn’t “The O’Reilly Factor” which I experienced at a truck stop outside of Des Moines recently. Worst. Buffet. Ever.

Anyhow Wyandot 2 is a counter service place which is just what you want in a barbeque joint. The employees are regular folks, which I also like to see. They are maybe a tad long in the tooth, maybe spent a few too many weekends at the local JoCo watering hole, maybe had a pall mall or six before breakfast, but they are fast and perfectly friendly. The menu is very typical of other places, as are the prices. Plan on spending 8 or 9 bucks on a sandwich, fries and a delicious fountain drink.

This is the kind of place that would go on the regular lunch rotation if only the food was better. But sadly, my brisket tasted like it was cooked in an oven.

It looked right–pickles, wonder bread, the whole nine yards, but had virtually no smoke flavor. Come to think of it, it didn’t really smell like smoke in the restaurant at all. It didn’t taste bad, but that’s not good enough. I’m sorry, people but this is just inexcusable for Kansas City. The OP has several very good BBQ spots but this is not one of them which is a shame because it could have the complete package. All that being said, I’ll totally go back because it beats the hell out of Mr Goodcents.

Yelp

[google-map-v3 width=”350″ height=”350″ zoom=”12″ maptype=”roadmap” mapalign=”center” directionhint=”false” language=”default” poweredby=”false” maptypecontrol=”true” pancontrol=”true” zoomcontrol=”true” scalecontrol=”true” streetviewcontrol=”true” scrollwheelcontrol=”false” draggable=”true” tiltfourtyfive=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkerlist=”7125 West 75th Street, Overland Park, KS{}restaurant.png” bubbleautopan=”true” showbike=”false” showtraffic=”false” showpanoramio=”false”]

Newer Entries