Archive for "Food and Drink"
The Wheel Barrel
Posted on March 30, 2018 by Ching under Food and Drink, Reviews.
Finally got to try the Wheel Barrel.
My coworker Tom, who lives in there area, has been talking it up for weeks. However, I’m not usually in Topeka and, when I am, I’m usually hitting up the Burger Stand. We carved out some time on this last trip to Topeka for the Wheel Barrel, though. Sarah, Chris, Tom, and I went on Monday night.
Here are some pics.
Sarah had a half sandwich and soup combo. I can’t remember what kind of sandwich she got, though. I think she might have gotten the “luau” because I remember us talking about how much she loves ghost peppers.
Tom had a full sandwich and soup. I can’t remember what kind of sandwich he got for the life of me. He also got the tomato bisque soup. I heard their tomato bisque is really good. I’m not really a tomato bisque soup person but Brian loves that stuff. I may have to bring him here.
Chris and I both got the same thing — the “hangover” grilled cheese sandwich. It consists of smoked gouda, sharp cheddar, bacon, two fried eggs, and sriracha aioli on sweet brioche. It is amazing. This was, hands down, the best grilled cheese sandwich I’ve ever had.
This is the Wheel Barrel’s take on bananas foster. It was the perfect size dessert of the four of us to share.
So, I have newfound respect for Topeka and a new favorite restaurant. I’m definitely hitting this place again the next time I’m in town. I may even bring reinforcements (i.e. Brian).
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Cory’s Birthday Festivities
Posted on March 26, 2018 by Ching under Events, Food and Drink.
Brian and I normally do not go out on St. Patty’s Day because the bar scene just gets too crazy. This year we agreed to go out and meet the gang in honor of Cory’s birthday. If it hadn’t been for that, we probably wouldn’t have been downtown at all. Although, I was kind of interested in all of the NCAA madness.
Cory’s birthday, which has always been March 17 so it coincides with St. Patty’s Day every year, just happened to fall on a Saturday when the NCAA tournament was in town. This is the first time in over two decades that Wichita has hosted games. The Downtown area was ridiculously busy and buzzing with activities. Thankfully, the city has done a great job with planning and there were plenty of places to park.
The plan was to meet at the Arcade, this place downtown that has old school arcade games and pinball machines. Before that they decided they would meet at Old Chicago for supper. Brian and I are not really too crazy about Old Chicago so we decided to do our own thing for dinner and just meet up with them after.
We used the opportunity to dine at one of my favorite restaurants in Old Town, Public at the Brickyard. This is us, waiting for a table to open up.
We got there around 6:30-ish and were given a 30-minute estimated wait, which was nothing compared to the 45-minute to an hour wait they were quoting to people with groups of four or more. The KU game was on and everyone was sticking around to finish the game so even though they might have been done eating, they were still drinking and lingering. Thus, no open tables until much later.
This is Brian with his signature RBF. While I thought the people-watching was quite entertaining (some people had been drinking since at least ten o’clock in the morning and were obviously pretty hammered), he was getting completely annoyed. He’s not great around inebriated people when he’s sober.
We were seated much sooner than expected (I think they were trying to be conservative so as not to disappoint people — underpromise and overdeliver, right?) but that didn’t do anything to improve Brian’s RBF.
They put us in the corner, where there was plenty of good people-watching to be had. Unfortunately, what entertains and amuses me sometimes has the opposite effect on Brian who was annoyed by it all.
Here he is, mid-complaint.
Here I am, in contrast, enjoying my yummy beverage.
It’s called the lodi dodi and consists of gin, champagne, strawberries, and honey.
What saved the evening for Brian is that Public serves Boulevard Brewing’s Irish Red Ale (first one on the list), which is his current favorite beer.
I really like Public’s food but their Cuban sandwich looked quite puny that evening. I suspect it’s because they had to feed hundreds of people that day already.
Brian is less adventurous than me and usually orders what’s tried and true. He’s had the Cuban there before and he liked it so he ordered the same thing. I generally try to go for what’s on special because I know I won’t be able to order it any other time so I got the pork belly with a side of black beans and rice.
And, because I’m a little piglet, I also ordered dessert.
Mostly because we were killing time until the KU game finished but also because I have no self-control whatsoever.
After dinner, it was off to the Arcade for games with the rest of the gang. We were the first to arrive and got a few games in before everyone else showed up.
It wasn’t long before the rest of them showed up and it was at that moment when I realized that we left the card (with a $25 gift certificate to Grove’s) for Cory at the restaurant. Thankfully, when Brian went back for it at the restaurant, the card was still there at the edge of our table. I would have been really upset had it gotten tossed in the trash because I made Brian go out of his way to get the gift certificate. Just kidding. He actually used it as an excuse to stock up on more of one of his favorite local beers, Warbeard from Walnut River in El Dorado.
Here are a few pictures from our adventures at the Arcade: Becca above and April below.
Here’s a picture of me with the birthday boy.
Kristen (foreground) and Cory (background) in deep concentration.
Selfie with Jay.
Selfie with the hubs.
Rune and Kristen shooting things.
Rune showing off his masterfully-styled outfit.
Brian with the birthday boy.
If our friends seem to be dressed more strangely than usual, it’s because April had this crazy idea for everyone to buy secondhand outfits from the thrift store and dress as crazily as possible. Brian, who is always kind of a party pooper, refuses to wear used clothes and wouldn’t make an exception even for Cory’s birthday.
I really, really, really wanted to participate. Anyway, Brian donned his favorite Hawaiian shirt which is old and raggedy so it sort of qualifies. I found a couple of Thred Up things in my closet, so I wore those. We were not nearly as fun and festive as everyone else. The ironic part is that I had on the most “normal-looking” attire out of everyone and I was probably the one who wanted to do the dress up thing the most. This is what I get for having a lame, no fun spouse. Blech.
I suppose it’s all good. We had a ton of fun and we didn’t lose Cory’s card/gift. And I don’t really have to participate in EVERYTHING.
Cheers to another memorable year with great friends!
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Reverie Coffee
Posted on March 13, 2018 by Ching under Food and Drink.
My most favorite Wichita coffee shop, Reverie Roasters, moved their flagship location recently and Brian and I finally found the opportunity to check the new place out. We actually took our Sunday morning “Coffee Chat” session over there this weekend. It’s the only other offsite “Coffee Chat” we’ve ever done besides the one that we did from our hotel room in Kansas City.
Here are some pictures.
Their new location is directly across from East High School on Douglas.
Brian and I had to take a selfie with the good lighting.
Here’s an obligatory foam art photo. A must when you’re at a neat coffee shop.
I told Brian that I liked the lighting so much at the shop that we might do our “Coffee Chats” there every Sunday from now on.
We took a portion of the giant table that they had on the bakery side. It was still pretty slow when we got there but by the time we left, around 10:30, it was packed.
Here’s a picture of the coffee shop/restaurant side.
Here’s another photo of the same side taken from the back entrance.
This is a photo taken from the perspective of where Brian was sitting at the end of the long table. The place is really neat. I liked their old location but this one is even better. It’s double the space and you can now order food, which is great.
We will definitely be back.
P.S. Here’s the video from last Sunday’s “Coffee Chat” session at Reverie.
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Kansas City Restaurant Week
Posted on February 6, 2018 by Ching under Food and Drink, Things to Do.
Restaurant Week in Kansas City is HUGE! The event even has its own web site. This year it started on January 12 and continued through January 12 so you actually had two full weekends of dining out. I had no idea until I was invited by coworkers to join them in their Restaurant Week dining adventures.
The best things about Restaurant Week are (a) you get to enjoy a great meal at a bargain ($15 for lunch or $33 for dinner) and (b) you get to support great causes because they usually donate proceeds to some nonprofit organizations. I got to try some restaurants I wouldn’t normally dine at that week.
My first Restaurant Week stop was Bristol. I’ve only eaten there a couple of times before because it’s so expensive. I remember eating there with Selena last year and, despite sharing an entrée, our bill still reached $100. They offered a heck of a deal for Restaurant Week, though — $15 for a three-course lunch.
They actually had lobster bisque on the lunch menu, which is quite a deal, considering that lobster bisque usually costs at least $15 by itself at most restaurants. The presentation is super cool. I had to capture it on video.
Several of us, myself included, ordered lobster bisque. Someone got a Caesar salad, which looked pretty good too.
Here’s the various entrees we got.
Guess which one was mine? Yup, I had the salmon. Several of us got that one.
This is another lobster bisque picture but this one is from Eddie V’s Prime Seafood. I liked the flavor and presentation of the lobster bisque at Bristol better but at Eddie V’s they practically give you an entire lobster. They include big chunks of lobster instead of just tiny little pieces.
This is Lesa’s surf and turf dinner with three huge shrimp.
They do family style sides. My steak didn’t look like much but it was delicious.
The bananas foster finale was nothing short of spectacular.
Check it out!
Lesa had a refreshing sorbet.
Here’s the Eddie V’s menu card.
There are so many delicious dishes to choose from. I can’t wait to return to the restaurant and try something new!
Gram & Dun was another one of our Restaurant Week stops.
My salad (below) was delicious!
This is Denise’s shrimp and grits.
I had the barbecue mac and cheese, which Julie highly recommended.
We finished things off with the Gram & Dun bar.
Our meal was pretty fab! Actually, all of our meals that week were very good. Denise joked that she probably gained more weight during Restaurant Week than she had the entire holiday season. She’s probably right. I skipped Monday night because it was too cold but she still went to Lydia’s.
That’s one of the reasons I came to the conclusion that Restaurant Week in Kansas City is a big deal. Despite the cold temperature and yucky weather that week, all the restaurants were packed. You could hardly get your reservation in on Open Table because all of the good restaurants were completely booked.
We figured there would be plenty of no shows too due to weather. No such luck. People made reservations and actually stuck to them. That’s how HUGE Restaurant Week is here. I’ll have to remember it for next year.
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Favorite Pics from Christmas
Posted on January 11, 2018 by Ching under Events, Family, Food and Drink, Zumba.
Christmas Eve was AMAZING! I completed two Zumba classes (Missy’s and mine) with a Sneaky Santa sandwiched in between. Some friends danced with me twice that day and we even took an after pic.
That night we went to my parents’ house for our annual Christmas Eve celebration (Noche Buena) where we feasted on lots of yummy Filipino food.
Brian and Quentin were both wearing their Shocker tees that night.
The next day we had grandma over for Christmas.
We had breakfast and then opened presents over video chat with Brian’s parents in Oklahoma. That took a lot out of grandma, apparently. Here she is taking an nap while Saki served as lookout.
You can see other pics that we took on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in our Flickr album. Enjoy!
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