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I can be reached by e-mail at barnett@ku.edu |
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| [format (the bend)] Alvamar Country Club Dining Room (Quail's Nest) 1809 Crossgate Drive www.alvamar.com tportela@alvamar.com 785-842-0004 |
This
private club's dining/social membership monthly dues are reasonable (no I am
not a golf member). If you join, you can
dine in the clubs dining room for lunch and dinner on most days, when it is not
in use for a private party.
Unfortunately the dining room often is not available for open dining on
Friday or Saturday evening. When open,
the hours are the following: Tuesday buffet 5:30 pm - 8 pm. Sunday brunch The
dinner includes a soup or salad, so you may wish to pass on an appetizer.
Regarding their salad dressings, they say that their balsamic
vinaigrette is their special dressing.
But their version is much of nothing.
Any of their other salad dressings would be a better choice, including
their regular Italian dressing or their miso dressing. Their side salad, included with every entree, is
what a salad should be: an excellent
small artful arrangement of very fresh salad greens and vegetables, instead of
the large pile of stuff that now passes for a side salad in most American
restaurants. In my opinion, the side
salad at this club is among the best in A
particularly
good sauce on the current menu is the tomato basil sauce, including
large leaves of fresh basil, that you can cut up and mix into the
sauce, if you especially like basil. Although that sauce
currently is listed on the menu only with chicken, you can request it
on any other of the entrees, such as the scallops or salmon,
either of which also can be blackened, if you like spice.
Alternatively, you can ask for olive oil, capers, and herb sauce.
It's not on the menu, but the chef does it very well. Another new
preparation on the menu that I like a lot is called "copanada." It is perhaps the one I like best on the current menu. Their fish usually comes in on
Friday and they then freeze it. So Friday is their best day for
fish, but since frozen the fish usually is OK on other days, especially
with their preparations, which are very good. Regarding wine, their wine by the glass is a better buy than by the bottle (very unusual pricing). Their best cabernet by the glass is Diablo, which is much better than their Beringer Stone Cellars, and their best chardonnay by the glass is Kendall Jackson. You can spend more on their Blackstone Merlot, but the Diablo cabernet is a much better buy. |
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Applebee's Grill and Bar
Corner of 6th St. and Monterey 3900 W 6th St. www.applebees.com 785-312-9856 |
This chain is very vegetarian and pescetarian unfriendly. They have weight watcher's choices on the menu. Many of the employees say they grill the shrimp, vegetables, and fish
separately from the meat, when listed as a weight watchers choice. In
fact they often claim that the weight watcher's rules require
vegetables and fish to be grilled separately from the meat. But a
manager recently told me it is not true. Also they have a saute
pan that they can
use to saute dishes, if you wish to avoid having the flat-top grill
used. Perhaps it is used to boil the water needed to make the
pasta. But do not assume that anything on the menu listed as
"sauteed" is actually sauteed separately from the meat. For
example, the menu says they have sauteed mushrooms and portobello
mushrooms. But in fact they are cooked in advance in the morning
on the grill along with meat. When ordered, they are microwaved. I do not trust what the employees of this chain say. In fact I recently ordered a salad in a Kansas City Applebees. I told them to make it without bacon. Evidently the bacon must alreade be in the salad and get picked out, if you don't want it, since there were small bits of bacon still buried in the salad. |
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El Mezcal
804 Iowa Street 785-331-2710 They have another location at: 1819 W. 23rd St. 785-832-8775 |
This modest little Mexican restaurant is better than you might expect. They have a huge shrimp cocktail that is available as an entree, excellent corn tortillas, reasonably good catfish, and other such indications of authenticity missing in many other Mexican restaurants in Lawrence. They have only Sutter Home (groan) house wine, but it is priced very low. The selection of beers is better. |
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Henry T's Bar and Grill Corner of Kasold Dr. and 3520 W 6th St. Its menu from Lawrence.com | This restaurant/bar is certainly not "fine
dining," but is a pleasant place for a casual meal or drink. The wine prices are particularly
reasonable. They have grilled shrimp and
tuna, but my preference is their blackened tuna, and I also request their hot
wing sauce to add even more spice. In
fact you can get that particularly good wing sauce on the side to add to any of
their sandwiches, and it is vegetarian (no chicken stock). But I like their Tabasco better anyway. If you are a vegetarian,
you likely will particularly appreciate their micowaved veggie burger. Their
green beans are fine, but provided in a surprisingly large quantity, so
if you get them, expect to have more packed to go for lunch the next
day. But sometimes instead I order the sliced tomatoes. Alternatively, you can substitute sauted mushrooms or one of the other "add ons," such as guacamole. With any main
course you can double the meat for a modest upcharge. What is
more impressive is the fact that you can pay that upcharge to get two
different meats on your plate. For example, you can get both
shrimp and tuna. But the shrimp entree includes 10 shrimp, so
doubling up on this is excessive. Doubling up on the tuna is a
possibility. They have a pinot noir on the menu, but when I ordered it recently, what I got was something very different. So I ordered a cabernet. I returned the glass of pinot noir that I was served, and was told that it was a different brand pinot noir from the one on the menu. If so, it must have been a really bad one, since it did not taste anything like a pinot noir wine. But the last time I checked, they had the good pinot noir. So just make sure it is the one on the menu. The side salad has improved here. I tell them to skip the cheese and the bacon. Unfortunately you cannot get plain vinegar and oil, since they do not have separate olive oil, and their regular salad dressings are nothing special. I order the salad "Mexican style" (i.e., no salad dressing at all). But a small amount of their nonfat Italian dressing does add to the salad, but not the usual amount they provide. So I ask for it to be on the side, and I use about half of what they provide. Sometimes I ask them to blacken the shrimp, but usually not. It's surprising what you can get here for dinner at a modest price. BEWARE: The last time I was there, they added a 50 cent upcharge for packing food to go. It costs less for a restaurant to pack food to go than to serve customers taking up table space. I refused the takeout food and told them to trash it. In addition, the added an upcharge for the change in vegetables to mushrooms, as I suggested above. They've never done that before. There seems to be a new policy here to add in unexpected upcharges and wait to see if the customer complains. I complained, and they refunded the upcharge and the cost of the refused takeout food in cash. They said they had already run through my credit card, even though I had not yet added a tip or signed it. The same think recently happened to me at One80 in Westport. This kind of mistreatment of customers is growing. I find to be especially offensive the upcharge for packing takeout food to go. |
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HH Bar and Grill 6th and Wakarusa 4931 W 6th St., #126 Its web site emailclub@herefordhouse.com 785-856-1080 | This restaurant now is closed. |
2907 W 6th St. | This restaurant is no more. It now is Kobe Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar. See below. |
| [format (1)] J. B. Stout's Bar and Grill (Now changed to Johnny's Tavern West) Corner of 6th St. and Wakarusa Dr. 721 Wakarusa Dr. | This
restaurant has been converted to a Johnny's, which is a local
chain. It is a downscale change from the prior incarnation as J.
B. Stout's.
Surprisingly this Johnny's has some upscale wines by the glass,
including Angeline Pinot Noir. When they first opened at this
location, the chef was surprisingly good and included on the menu very
good salmon. But there has been a change in chef, and he deleted
the salmon from the menu. I do like the pizza here and some of
the other choices. |
| Kobe Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar 2907 W 6th St. Lawrence, KS 66049 785-838-3399 web site |
This
restaurant is in the location of the former Imperial Garden Chinese
restaurant. Kobe is a
spinoff of a restaurant of the same name in Topeka, which provides
teppanyaki/hibachi style cooking at the table. Alternatively, you
can sit at separate tables not
including the built in grill, or at a sushi bar. But you can only
use those separate tables, if you are ordering from the sushi
bar. In contrast the nearby Kokoro's will permit you to sit at
separate tables regardless of whether you are ordering from the sushi
bar or from the teppanyaki menu. While Topeka is
not known for fine dining, this contribution to Lawrence from Topeka is
OK and competes directly with nearby Kokoro's. While
Kobe has wine and beer, the wine list is more downscale than at
Kokoro. Hopefully in the future Kobe will offer a better
chardonnay than low end Sutter Home. In fact you can get better
wine next door at Willie's Bar. Oddly Kobe shares with Kokoro's
the tendency to serve its soup barely warm unless you make your
preference for hot soup clearly known in advance. As usual, there is no privacy at teppanyaki tables, at which you are seated with others to share in "the show." Otherwise this style of preparation has both advantages and disadvantages. The most conspicuous advantage is --- you get to see everything that they put into your food (e.g., the big chunks of butter, etc.). The most conspicuous disadvantage of this style is --- you get to see everything they put into your food. |
| Kokoro Japanese Sushi and Steakhouse Kasold Dr. and 6th St. 601 Kasold Dr. 785-838-4134 | This Japanese restaurant is an average American
Japanese restaurant. But it does have
some high points. The
teriyaki tofu and the kara tofu (spicier and sweeter)
dinners are very good.
But the sushi is not comparable to at Cafe
Beautiful. Nevertheless, it seems to be getting better
here. Recently I asked the sushi chef to make sushi wrapped in
cucumber and sushi wrapped in radish (daikon sushi),
rather than in rice. He did both well, and he can do the radish
wrapped in raw white radish or pickled yellow radish . I like the
pickled yellow radish and the cucumber wrapped best. Both have
become common in Kansas City, but Kokoro's now is the only place in
Lawrence that can do it. The salad with ginger sauce as salad dressing is fine, but if you don't want the mayo that is in their ginger "dressing," you can ask for the ginger "sauce" that they use on meat instead. Vegetarians should be aware that the gyoza (dumplings) that are provided with most dinners contain beef, and the onion soup contains chicken stock. You might want to request vegetable gyoza instead of the usual gyoza. Their sake is good and their wine list is small but surprisingly well chosen (including a pinot noir). I previously complained that the soup came out only warm, as oddly seems common in Japanese restaurants in the US. But Kokoro's now has fixed this problem. I also have noticed that the service seems to be improving. |
| <code=lindsay> Marisco's Restaurant Corner of 6th St. and Wakarusa Dr. web site 4821 6th St. 785-312-9057 |
It is
difficult to label this very nice restaurant.
Its decor is Southwestern, but its menu is a fusion of Southwest,
Italian, and seafood. The food has tended to be somewhat
uneven, but can be very good, if you know what you are doing. The shrimp bowtie pasta with white
wine sauce is excellent. The
crab stuffed flounder is excellent, but I prefer to have them change
the sauce
to olive oil, white wine, parsley, sundried tomatoes, and garlic.
Their sole is less reliable. But in either case, or with their
fish of the day, it is worth keeping in mind, that their fish comes in
on Tuesday and Friday. If you are there on a Thursday, Sunday, or
definitely on a Monday, it would be best to avoid their "fresh" fish
and go for the smoked salmon, if you want seafood. The fish can
be very good on the right days, but on the wrong days, the fish can be
disappointing at Marisco's. If they have a fresh fish of the day,
and it came in that day, you will likely be very happy with it.
Although they are open all afternoon and evening, the special of the
day, which usually includes the "catch of the day" is available only
after 5 pm. The salmon patty sandwich is very good, but
you may wish to have them substitute grilled vegetables for
the fries. I ask for their "Cajun Chef" Their house wines are good, but the upgrade to the excellent R. H. Phillips cabernet is worth the additional cost. Unfortunately they no longer have Meridian chardonnay, but they have some good buys in Spanish white wines by the bottle, especially the Rueda white wine. They have an excellent Chilean malbec by the bottle here at a very reasonable price, but they do not offer it by the glass. The best malbec's come from Argentina, but Chile is producing excellent ones, and sadly they are hard to find in Lawrence restaurants, except at Marisco's. Regarding their salad dressings, I suggest their roasted red pepper dressing, which is outstanding. If you request it, they'll bring out a bottle of habanero hot sauce, which is far better than the red or green Tabasco that is available in almost all other restaurants. While straight habanero extract is literally dangerous to consume, if not mixed with something to tame it, habanero peppers are used in the best blended hot sauces available. The choice of sides is interesting, including spaghetti squash and sweet potatoes. I wish both were offered more widely by restaurants in Lawrence. This restaurant has had its ups and downs. But at present, it is at one of its highest "ups." So if you have not been here recently, I recommend that you give it another try. Regarding service, as in any college town, there tends to be high turnover of waitpeople. At present, the one we prefer is named Taylor. We ask for her, but there also are other fine servers here at present. They have farm raised salmon on the regular menu every day. It is good, but it seems to have a sweet glaze on it. If you don't want that glaze, you will need to tell them in advance. |
| Molly McGee's 2412 Iowa St. 785-841-9922 |
This restaurant now is closed. |
| This
chain of streak houses is far from fine dining. But it is very
popular, since it provides excellent value. For example, they
have good quality wines as house wines at the lowest prices I have seen
in Lawrence, including Blackstone merlot and Kendall Jackson
chardonnay. But don't order by the bottle. Their
bottles are wildly overpriced, while their glasses are priced
modestly. Although the decor is Montana, do not be surprised if
some of the country western music they play sounds more like Texas than
Montana --- the chain is out of Texas. Although the restaurant is primarily a steakhouse, they have a surprising number of seafood choices, including salmon, trout, shrimp, and catfish, with the salmon and the shrimp being their best choices. In addition, they can accommodate different preferences. For example, they can grill the fish on a pan separate from the meat and can blacken with spice. Also they can provide olive oil instead of butter. In addition, this is one of the few restaurants in Lawrence that offers sweet potatoes (but somewhat overcooked). The mushrooms and steamed veggies are particularly good choices as sides with any entree. If you want your food blackened on a separate pan, they have such a pan and can do it, but unless you are very insistent, they'll prefer to clean the grill and do it on the grill. Also the vinegar and oil that they can provide for salads include vegetable oil that is not olive oil. They have olive oil, but you will need to insist to get it, especially if you want that on an entree. The olive oil does not come out in a bottle with the bottle of vinegar. If you insist on it, they'll supply olive oil in a separate small bowl. |
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| Pachamama's New World Cuisine 2161 Quail Creek Dr. www.pachamamas.com info@pachamamas.com 785-841-0990 | This
West Lawrence location of Pachamama's now is used only for private
functions. For the regular restaurant in its new downtown
location, see the Downtown Lawrence section of this restaurant site. |
| Ruchi's Indian Restaurant 15th and Kasold St. 3300 Bob Billings Pkwy. Suites B11 and B12 785-312-9747 |
This restaurant sadly has closed in Lawrence. You would have to drive to its Kansas City location to try it. |
Stone On 3801 W. 6th St. www.stonecreekmenu.com generalmanager@stonecreekmenu.com 785-830-8500 |
This
pleasant Italian restaurant resembles restaurants in beach and ski resort areas. In the summer, they have jazz on Sundays from
6 - 8 pm on their patio. The country
Italian bread with olive oil "dipping sauce" is excellent. In fact that dipping sauce is so good, that I
often request it on pasta instead of any of their usual pasta sauces or on the
side to add to those sauces. It also is
an excellent sauce for any of their fish dishes or their pizza. They have another olive oil sauce with minced garlic, that they use on some of their pizzas. I also like their marinara sauce, which appropriately contains no chicken stock, but when I get the marinara sauce, I
usually ask that mushrooms, artichokes, and fresh basil be added. Unfortunately the marinara sauce comes with
cheese already added. Cheese should be
added to marinara sauce at the table, not in the kitchen. Their
penne pasta with shrimp is particularly
good as well as their fettucine with chicken or shrimp and spicy adobo
sauce. They add chicken stock to the adobo sauce before they
serve it, but can omit the addition of the chicken stock, if you
request. In fact, if you like spicy sauces, you might request the
adobo sauce on other dishes on the menu, as I do with their tilapia. You even could ask for the adobo sauce, the dipping sauce, and the olive oil with minced garlic sauce on the side, and mix and match as you like. I haven't asked that they also provide the marinara sauce. but maybe I'll try adding that as a fourth sauce on the side next. With all those sauces on the side, this restaurant is hard to beat .... All of their fish, whether on the menu or on a daily special, is frozen. Even when the fish comes in fresh, they usually freeze it in their kitchen. Nevertheless, I have only once been unhappy with a fish dish at this restaurant. It was halibut that had not been adequately deboned. They have scallops, but their scallops are typical for the Midwest: best avoided, if you are familiar with fresh scallops as available on a coast. On the other hand, if you are accustomed to frozen scallops, yiou will probably find the ones here to be fine. When they have fresh trout (ask when it came in), you will not be disappointed. The chipotle lime shrimp on a skewers with vegetables is a reliable winner on their menu (and even better, if you ask for the shrimp to be blackened). Their bruschetta is good; but if you avoid dairy, they will not be able to serve the bruschetta to you without the cheese. The Portobello pizza also is good, and they can serve that without cheese. For a casual restaurant, their wine list is better than one might expect, but unfortunately they have no bottled sparking water, such as San Pellegrino or Perrier. They previously had Guenoc chardonnay by the bottle, often overpriced elsewhere, at an admirably reasonable price. But they no longer have Guenoc. They now have house wines at moderate prices and other wines at prices that are no bargain. The house wines are Little Penguin from Australia. There is one feature of this restaurant that I particularly like. In the evening, they light candles on every table. Noteworthy is the excellent selection of large salads that can serve as a complete meal, with the addition of shrimp, salmon, chicken, or mushrooms. They are happy to make substitutions of ingredients in any of their salads, if you should wish to customize to your tastes. If you are concerned about health, you may be interested in the following: 1. The olive oil sauce with minced garlic is a winner. It contains nothing that you should want to avoid. 2. The olive oil "dipping sauce" is a winner. It contains nothing that you should want to avoid. 3. The spices that they use for Cajun blackening contain brown sugar. If you are concerned about calories or about Cajun authenticity, skip it. 4. The adobo sauce and the chipotle lime sauce contain honey. If you are contained about calories, skip both. 5. Any sauce that they call a "coulis" contains both salt and honey. This restaurant is very considerate, if you have special requests. For example, they'll use their own spices without salt, sugar, or salt to "blacken" anything, and they will skip any prepared sauce and use the olive oil with minced garlic of the dipping sauce, if you request. |
| Tanner's Bar and Grill Wakarusa Dr. and 15th St. |
See Zig and Mac's in the Bars and Lounges section. |
| Westside Deli and Bistro Wakarusa Dr. and 6th St. 4931 www.westsidedelibistro.com info@westsidedelibistro.com 785-840-9044 |
This
restaurant now has closed. |
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West-to-Far-West of West Lawrence:
[format (1)] New City 4005 SW Gage Center Drive Topeka, KS 66614 785-271-8646 NewCityOnline.biz Brick Oven 3030 SW Wanamaker Road Topeka, KS 66144 785-478-2742 brickovencourtyardgrille.com |
All the best
restaurants in west Lawrence are moving downtown. So if you live
in west Lawrence and are getting tired of driving east to the downtown
restaurants, you might want to know what you could find by driving
west. Manhattan, Kansas: For the very best choice, bypass Topeka and continue to Manhattan, KS to try Harry's restaurant. You won't regret the 1 1/2 hour drive. There are no restaurants in Lawrence comparable to Harry's. While the history of the Eldridge is more interesting than that of Harry's (formerly part of a historic old hotel in Manhattan), there is no comparison between their dining rooms. While Harry's menu is traditionally American and not high on innovation, the quality of the ingredients, preparations, and presentations are simply outstanding, and the dining room is arguably the most beautiful in the state of Kansas. I know that this fact may be hard to take for loyal Jayhawks, but even the Mobil Guide ranks Harry's better than any of the restaurants in Lawrence. Topeka, Kansas: The stereotype of dining in Topeka is not encouraging, and indeed that stereotype is usually true. But I was astonished recently to learn that there are exceptions (but not many). By far the best restaurant in Topeka is New City at Gage Center, where you also can find McFarland's for less innovative American food (a "family restaurant" that appeals to senior citizens, and definitely not to me), and Jul's Grill Room and Cocktail Club. For live entertainment after dinner in Gage Center, you might see what is scheduled at Jeremiah Bullfrogs or the nightclub side of Jul's, which has a dance floor, or Annie's Place]. But I wouldn't get my hopes up about nightlife in Topeka (Gage Center is not comparable to Kansas City's Country Club Plaza). Regarding Gage Center's location, it is very convenient from Lawrence, since there is an exit from I70 onto Gage Blvd (exit 358B), and Gage Center is a short drive south of I70 on the west side of the street at the intersection with SW Huntoon St. New City restaurant really surprised me. It turns out that the restaurant at that location was founded by the eminent chef, Robert Krause, before he moved to East Lawrence, where he holds court for fine dining at the dining room in his home. In its current incarnation, New City's style leans toward Mediterranean, Caribbean, and Latin-inspired cuisine. So far, I've been there only once, but surely will return. We were served by Michael Taylor and Marisol Guillens, who is the wife of the Executive Chef and General Manager of New City. The food was innovative and of high quality and the service was more sophisticated than found in most of the restaurants in Lawrence. The background music on the sound system was excellent modern jazz, and the walls are decorated with local original art that is for sale. We tried three appetizers: gambas al ajillo, gazpacho soup, and the lobster-shrimp-scallops ravioli. We were impressed. We then ordered the tilapia that is always on the menu and a special of the day preparation of sea bass. We were even more impressed. The fish was fresher than found in most Lawrence restaurants, and the preparations were excellent. The special of the day was substantially more expensive than the regular items on the menu, but well worth it. In fact the gap between the regular items and the specials results from the fact that the regular items are bargain-priced. Similarly, the house wine is a good California choice at a reasonable price. The dining room at New City is not comparable to the beautiful large dining room of Harry's in Manhattan, but the style of cuisine at New City is substantially more innovative. Regarding the dining room at Jul's, I was impressed by the Yucatan shrimp appetizer, unimpressed by the salmon bites appetizer or salmon entree, pleased by the Alice White chardonnay and large bottles of Perrier, but had a mixed reaction to the Corvina sea bass, which was a high point of the dinner, except for the bones that had not been completely removed (a serious error by the chef). I was pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere, the wine choices by the glass, and the generous pours of wine by the glass. In short, the atmosphere and the menu are good, but the food tends to be disappointing. Another worth trying is Brick Oven Courtyard Grille in Southwest Topeka (south of Westridge Mall at 3030 SW Wanamaker Rd) and very convenient to Westridge Mall. The atmosphere is excellent, with wide booths, good recorded music, and excellent service (we were served by "Sam," if you wish to request a particular waiter). The menu says that the seafood is flown in daily, so I tried the scallops, which are high risk in the midwest (usually like rubber), but indeed proved to be a very pleasant surprise. The salmon on the menu, which I have not tried, is farm raised Atlantic salmon from Chile. While Chile has become a major exporter of farm raised salmon, I remain puzzled why there should be such a large market here, when farm raised Atlantic salmon is available locally and likely is much fresher. [On the other hand, Chilean farm raised salmon contains smaller quantities of harmful pollutants than farm raised salmon from any of the US states, other than Washington State.] The sweet corn tamale cakes appetizer is a house specialty and is definitely worth a try. But it is a bit sweeter than I'd prefer for a Mexican style appetizer. I had a somewhat similar reaction to the sauce that came with the scallops. My preference leans more towards more spice and less towards sugar. In contrast, as a vegetarian entree, the wood-grilled eggplant is excellent. The balance of spice in that preparation is right on. Another Topeka restaurant worth a try is the Falling Water Grille dining room at the Capital Plaza Hotel (at Topeka Blvd and SW 17th St, easily reached near exit 363 from I70), but so far I have only tried the hummus appetizer there, and it was disappointing. To get to the Capital Plaza Hotel, which has an attractive atrium lobby area including a very pleasant bar , Take I70 to exit 363 (the Adams St. exit), take a left off of the exit ramp onto Adams, then a right onto 15th Street, which will merge onto 17th St. The hotel and the convention center are on the SW corner of 17th St. and Topeka Blvd (shortly after Kansas Avenue). You may be surprised to find such an attractive modern atrium style hotel in such an otherwise undistinguished neighborhood.. |
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I can be reached by e-mail at barnett@ku.edu |
