Senor Salsa in Bartlesville
Posted on October 26, 2023 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
I am quite disappointed with myself as I was not very good at taking pictures of my food/dinners this last trip to Bartlesville. We ate at Hideaway Pizza on Friday night but I have zero pictures from that dinner. Ugh.
After playing on Saturday night, Chris Wilson and I had dinner with Tiffany and Donnie Lesperance so naturally we ended up at a Mexican restaurant. Saying those two love Mexican food would be an understatement. They will literally eat Mexican food every single day if it were just the two of them. Actually, there were a few of us who traveled together in St. Louis for one of the regional tournaments a couple of years ago and we did just that – eat Mexican food every single day. I was impressed that they managed to find a different one for each meal but I guess there are a ton of Mexican restaurants everywhere because Americans love their Mexican food, authentic or otherwise.
The food was pretty good and I enjoyed my dinner. But you never can go wrong with Mexican food really. I think that’s why it’s the go-to cuisine of the Lesperances. LOL. More about the Bartlesville tournament/trip next post. Until then, GNG.
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First Minor League Pickleball Team Tournament in Wichita
Posted on October 23, 2023 by Ching under Events, Pickleball.
I was fortunate to be part of bringing the first ever Minor League Pickleball team tournament to Wichita earlier this month. The iPickle Nation team has been hosting these in the Kansas City area but this was our first one in Wichita.
We had quite a few hurdles to overcome but, overall, I think we had a pretty successful first event. The first hurdle was finding a suitable venue. Riverside Tennis Center had various events going on and was limited on dates that they would be willing to allow us to have. Besides that, we had to dodge a bunch of other tournaments in the region that were happening at the same time and we were running out of warm weather days. In the end, we ended up going with Crestview Country Club because Riverside was going to be too expensive (there was no way we were going to be able to have the event at Riverside and not lose money) and the rate we were able to negotiate with Crestview was much more reasonable.
We ended up with 8 teams each in DUPR 16 and 18 and 4 teams each in DUPR 14 and 20, which was perfect for the number of courts we had. Crestview has six painted pickleball courts and we taped up six additional courts for a total of 12 on event day. We taped up courts and set up nets on Saturday night and were all set to go first thing on Sunday morning.
Visit Wichita, our local visitors’ bureau, was a huge help as well. They set up group rates at a couple of nearby hotels for our out of town players. It worked out great.
I did host three players from a DUPR 18 team that I helped put together (Genevieve Eskridge from Tulsa, Craig Morford from Kansas City, and Gloria Knoles from Nebraska teamed up with Chris Wilson and formed “Strangers with Candy” team) and helped find housing for some others but for those players who we couldn’t find free housing for, Spring Hill Suites and Tru next to Chicken N Pickle offered really good rates for our group. It was perfect too because those who stayed there could easily walk over to Chicken N Pickle.
I always get super cranky and stressed out but thankfully I have Brian who is always such a huge help. He helped us set up on Saturday and Sunday and, although he left for part of the event to take care of some chores and honey-dos, he came back to help tear down after. He is the best!
Anyway, I dream of having many of these types of events here in the future. I feel like Wichita is the perfect location to bring players from all over — Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, and so forth — to compete with one another. I can’t wait to see what the future holds!
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iPickle Nation Dinner at P.F. Chang’s
Posted on October 19, 2023 by Ching under Food and Drink.
The Kansas City iPickle Nation team came down to Wichita a couple of weekends ago for the first Minor League Pickleball event of our city. Rick Fortuna, the owner, along with Duane Christian and Michael Cobb came down. Our local team has grown considerably since summer and now consists of me, Fernando Martinez, Amanda Ades, Angie Meyer, and Brian. Mike and Duane had met Fernando and Amanda before from playing in MiLPs and iPN tournaments in Kansas City but they’d never met Brian nor Angie before. It was the perfect opportunity for the Wichita and Kansas City teams to meet face to face.
I made an 8 PM reservation for us because I wasn’t sure what time we would finish taping the courts at Crestview Country Club (there were already six painted pickleball courts at the venue but we needed to tape up six more to make twelve courts total) and also the rest of the team was still playing at the charity event at Edgemoor Park which was running long, so I wasn’t sure when they would finish either. Everyone made it to dinner and it was great having everyone together. I was remiss in taking a group photo. I am always so much more focused on taking food pictures and often forget about the people. We really should have taken a group pic because I don’t know when we will have everyone together again.
We were all starving from having set up courts and signage and other things at the venue. We scarfed up some of the food before I remembered to take photos so I only managed to get pictures of a few of the dishes.
I had one drink that night, which I felt was very much earned because I was the only Wichita team member who actually helped with set up. Well, Brian helped a little bit but left as soon as he was told he was free to go.
The rest of the team was at the other tournament. Duane had the foresight to recruit Raven Peer’s assistance. I guess Raven has helped them with set up and tear down at previous events. We did have a few of the players help also but they had an ulterior motive. They want to get some practice games in after, which was totally fine. We appreciated the extra bodies.
We had a wonderful team dinner. Food was great. The only thing that could have made it better is if I remembered to take a group pic. Maybe next time.
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El Patio
Posted on October 18, 2023 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Went to El Patio for lunch a couple of weeks ago. We were looking for a Mexican restaurant close to work and I remembered this one from many years ago. I’m pretty sure the last time I ate here was over ten years ago. This place has been around forever. It doesn’t look like much from the outside but the food is actually pretty good. It’s gotta be otherwise it wouldn’t have survived the very competitive restaurant industry in Wichita all these years.
The interior is quite small so you’ll want to go early if you go. You’ll end up having to wait a while for a table if you go in the middle of lunch rush so either go early or go late. On the plus side, service is pretty quick so they tend to get people in and out but, of course, you can never control the diners who choose to linger. This is not a lingering kind of place, though.
Here are the pics of our food. The street tacos were mine.
It’s easy to forget about this place because it’s kind of a hole in the wall but I quite like their food. I wouldn’t object to going back at all. Until next time, GNG.
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Athens Gyros Express
Posted on October 16, 2023 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Chris Townley and I discovered a great new lunch spot close to work a couple of weeks ago. It’s only a two-minute drive. The food is cheap and it’s pretty good. I’m thinking it will be on the permanent lunch rotation from now on.
We actually came upon it because we need a super quick lunch and this place checked all the boxes. It wasn’t busy because we went I think after 1 pm but the interior seating area is quite small so I can see how they would be super packed over the lunch rush. Ordering your food to-go might be the best option on busy days. We were there after the lunch rush on the day we went so we stayed and ate at the restaurant, which was not busy at the time.
Here’s a picture of the menu in case you would like to peruse it before going to the restaurant to try the food yourself.
Chris and I ordered the exact same thing — classic gyro with a side of fries. It was surprisingly very good. But, also, I love gyros — both the sword-wielding, damsel-in-distress-saving, knight-in-shining-armor kind and the kind you eat. LOL. Jokes aside, this place is worth checking out. Until next time, GNG.
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