airport and vicinity restaurants

Fine Dining Restaurants in Parkville:

The quaint little city of Parkville is just north of the Missouri River, and is within an easy drive to and from the airport on Route 9, which passes through downtown Parkville. There are two excellent restaurants in Parkville with views of the river. If you are coming from the airport, take route 29 south past the Parkville exit to route 635 south. Take it onto 635 and continue on 635 for one exit to route 9 north, and then take route 9 into downtown Parkville. Both restaurants are downtown, and everything downtown is within walking distance of a few blocks. But Piropos is a bit more easily reached from its own parking lot, since that restaurant is on a small hill overlooking downtown. If instead you are arriving directly from Lawrence, take route 435 north towards the airport, and exit onto the Parkville exit (exit #22) onto 64th Street. Continue to route 9, and take it south (to the right) into downtown Parkville. Piropose us on a hill behind Cafe des Amis. You can walk up the hill or up the stairs, or drive to Piropos's own parking lot. Cafe des Amis is downtown on the main street among the shops. You usually easily can park on the street downtown.

Cafe des Amis: This bistro has very good French food, and is open both for lunch and dinner. The restaurant is open Tuesday - Saturday for lunch 11:30 am - 2:30 pm and for dinner 5:30 pm - 10 pm. The hours on Sunday are brunch 12 noon - 3 pm and dinner 5 pm - 9 pm. Closed Mondays. This very pleasant French café is authentic and enjoyable. It does not offer haute cuisine, but is unpretentious in the style of the cafés of Provence in the South of France. Although I like the food at Le Fou Frog better, Café des Amis offers an ambience and experience that is unique in its own way for this metropolitan area.

Piropos: This excellent restaurant has Argentinian food, which, as in Argentina, also includes styles from other countries, including Italy. This restaurant reflects Argentina's emphasis on beef, although beef in Argentina is more lean than in American. If in Buenos Aires you acquired a taste for Argentina's mixed grill, which includes some of the more "exotic" parts of a cow, you will not find that very unhealthy dish here. Unfortunately Piropos is not open for lunch. The dinner hours are 5 pm - 9:30 pm Tuesday - Thursday, 5 pm - 10:30 pm Friday - Saturday, and 4 pm - 8 pm on Sunday. Closed Mondays.

The Kansas City Star's restaurant critic rates this as a 3 1/2 star restaurant, putting it among the city's best. She is right.

Restaurant	Review
Airport Restaurants Marriott Airport 775 Brasilia Ave. http://marriott.com 1-816-464-2200 Hilton Airport 8801 NW 112th St. http://www.hilton.com 1-816-891-8900 Radisson Airport 11828 Northwest Plaza Circle web site 1-816-464-2560	Hotel Restaurants at the Airport There are many restaurants within the three terminals of Kansas City International Airport, but all are "modest," at best, although convenient, if you are in a rush. If you have the time for a leisurely meal at the airport in a reasonably good restaurant, I recommend the restaurants at the Marriott KC Airport Hotel or the Hilton KC Airport Hotel. For fine dining nearby, the closest that you will find is in Parkville (see below). Marriott KC Airport: This hotel has a buffet for breakfast in its Homestead Café. The hotel's better restaurant (the best at the airport) is its T-Bone Charlie's, which is open until 10 pm every night. Sometimes they are open for lunch, sometimes not. Although primarily a steak house, T-Bone Charlie's has a full menu. In fact the two restaurants are connected, and you can request either menu in either restaurant. I prefer the atmosphere in T-Bone Charlie's, unless you can get a table next to the window with a view of the lake in the Homestead Café, or one of the two huge booths in the buffet area, or one of the smaller booths in the more private partially-enclosed area at the front of that café. However, T-Bone Charlie's is also a lounge/bar, which allows smoking. While T-Bone Charlie's specializes in steaks, their halibut is better than you might expect (but of course not comparable to the halibut in Alaska). They also have a large number of excellent sides, and appetizers, including their "awesome salad" and their crab cakes. If you prefer the crab cakes to be served Maryland style, rather than New Orleans style, you can have them substitute cocktail sauce (and add some tobasco) for the remoulade sauce. There is a big difference between the good shrimp they use in their shrimp cocktail and the tiny shrimp they will add to salads, if you ask. Don't order the tiny salad shrimp, which are not as fresh as the ones they use in the shrimp cocktail. The salads without shrimp are fine. The Marriott does not offer park-and-fly for non-hotel guests. Although you can use the van to and from the airport, you cannot leave your car in the hotel's parking lot, if you are departing on a flight. If you need to leave your car while out of town, you can park at the airport's own economy parking lot, which is a short drive from this hotel. The easiest way to drive to the Marriott is to leave Interstate Route 29 at exit 15 onto Mexico City Avenue, then left onto Bern Street, and right onto Brasilia Avenue. The hotel then is on the left (east) side of the street. When leaving the hotel for the airport, continue along Brasilia south towards the terminals, and make a left onto Paris St. You will shortly see signs for a right turn onto the main road (Cockingham Dr.) to the terminals. Hilton KC Airport: This hotel, although not on the grounds of the airport, is very close to the airport, just on the other (east) side of Interstate Route 29, at exit 12 onto 112^th Street. The main entrance to the airport is just north at exit 13. It is possible to get from the hotel to the airport terminals on airport roads without using the highway. The Hilton not only offers free van service to the airport for anyone having a meal at the hotel, but also the Hilton offers an excellent fly-and-ride arrangement permitting you to leave your car in their lot for long term parking at a better rate than offered by the airport's Economy Parking Lot. In particular, the Hilton does not charge for the first and last day of parking, while matching the airport's long term parking rate for the other days during which your car is parked at the Hilton's lot. If you should decide to use their lot for park-and-fly, you should inform the hotel at its front desk. Their restaurant, Cafe Weatherby, is open every day from 6 am to 11 pm. The lunch menu is OK, but the dinner menu is better. Technically the dinner menu is not available until 5 pm. But if you ask, you will find that you can order some of the items on that menu earlier in the day. Radisson KC Airport: This hotel, although not on the grounds of the airport, is very close to the airport, just on the other (east) side of Interstate Route 29, at exit 13, which is the main entrance to the airport. The hotel is on Northwest Plaza Circle just south of the main drive entering the airport (on the east side of the highway). The hotel has a restaurant, called the Garden Café. They do not offer park-and-fly for those not staying at the hotel. Although better than those at the airport terminals, this hotel's restaurant is not as good as those at the airport Hilton or airport Marriott. I do not recommend the airport Radisson's restaurant, except for breakfast, if you happen to be staying at that hote
Parkville Restaurants Café des Amis 112 Main St. Parkville, MO http://www.cafedesamiskc.com 1-816-587-6767 [format (71)] Piropos 1 West 1st St. Parkville, MO http://www.piroposkc.com 1-816-741-3600	Fine Dining Restaurants in Parkville: The quaint little city of Parkville is just north of the Missouri River, and is within an easy drive to and from the airport on Route 9, which passes through downtown Parkville. There are two excellent restaurants in Parkville with views of the river. If you are coming from the airport, take route 29 south past the Parkville exit to route 635 south. Take it onto 635 and continue on 635 for one exit to route 9 north, and then take route 9 into downtown Parkville. Both restaurants are downtown, and everything downtown is within walking distance of a few blocks. But Piropos is a bit more easily reached from its own parking lot, since that restaurant is on a small hill overlooking downtown. If instead you are arriving directly from Lawrence, take route 435 north towards the airport, and exit onto the Parkville exit (exit #22) onto 64th Street. Continue to route 9, and take it south (to the right) into downtown Parkville. Piropose us on a hill behind Cafe des Amis. You can walk up the hill or up the stairs, or drive to Piropos's own parking lot. Cafe des Amis is downtown on the main street among the shops. You usually easily can park on the street downtown. Cafe des Amis: This bistro has very good French food, and is open both for lunch and dinner. The restaurant is open Tuesday - Saturday for lunch 11:30 am - 2:30 pm and for dinner 5:30 pm - 10 pm. The hours on Sunday are brunch 12 noon - 3 pm and dinner 5 pm - 9 pm. Closed Mondays. This very pleasant French café is authentic and enjoyable. It does not offer haute cuisine, but is unpretentious in the style of the cafés of Provence in the South of France. Although I like the food at Le Fou Frog better, Café des Amis offers an ambience and experience that is unique in its own way for this metropolitan area. Piropos: This excellent restaurant has Argentinian food, which, as in Argentina, also includes styles from other countries, including Italy. This restaurant reflects Argentina's emphasis on beef, although beef in Argentina is more lean than in American. If in Buenos Aires you acquired a taste for Argentina's mixed grill, which includes some of the more "exotic" parts of a cow, you will not find that very unhealthy dish here. Unfortunately Piropos is not open for lunch. The dinner hours are 5 pm - 9:30 pm Tuesday - Thursday, 5 pm - 10:30 pm Friday - Saturday, and 4 pm - 8 pm on Sunday. Closed Mondays. The Kansas City Star's restaurant critic rates this as a 3 1/2 star restaurant, putting it among the city's best. She is right.
Zona Rosa Restaurants Bravo 7301 NW 87th St. Kansas City, MO web site 1-816-741-6583 Also brief comments on other restaurants in Zona Rosa Plaza	Restaurants in Zona Rosa Plaza Zona Rosa is a relatively new outdoor plaza in the North Kansas City area just at the southeast corner of the airport grounds. Zona Rosa is closer than Parkville to the airport. If you are stuck at the airport for a few hours, perhaps to change planes with a long connection time, you could take a taxi there or drive, if you have a car at the airport. To get there from the airport, take I29 south to the Barry Road exist (exit 8). Take a right at the exit onto Barry Road and then the first right (onto NW Prairie View Road) into the plaza. Zona Rosa is Northland's version of the Country Club Plaza, but it more resembles a renovated warehouse district. There is much at Zona Rosa, including many restaurants, bars, and stores, but is not really comparable to the outstanding Country Club Plaza.. Zona Rosa covers about 10 blocks of outdoor walking, so is not the best place to be in bad weather. But it is a very pleasant place to spend some time on a nice day. Bravo: This Italian restaurant is among the best at Zona Rosa. It is part of a Columbus, Ohio chain including fours styles of restaurants. Another of its Italian chain styles is Brio, which is somewhat more upscale. You can find a Brio at Country Club Plaza. While very enjoyable in many ways, Bravo leans towards American-Italian more than towards the Tuscan style mentioned in its advertising. In particular, Bravo uses more butter and less olive oil than is common in Florence restaurants. For example, all of their fish dishes are served with a lemon butter sauce. While it is true that Northern Italian restaurants use more butter than Southern Italian restaurants, no self-respecting upscale Italian restaurant anywhere in Italy would serve fish with plain lemon butter sauce (except in Milan, which is hardly an attraction for Americans familiar with NY City; Milan's most conspicuous attractions, outside of business, are its airport and opera). But if you make your preferances known, the chefs at Bravo are fully capable of provide Italian-Italian sauces in place of the menu's Americanized-Italian sauces. If you are not in the airport area and are looking for the real thing, head for Jasper's in Johnson County. There is another Bravo in Leewood at 4004 West 117th St, on the northern border of Town Center. A few of the other restaurants at Zona Rosa are: Tomfooleries: An American restaurant known for its Sunday brunch. This restaurant can be crowded and noisy, and is not among my favorites. Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy: The best Mexican restaurant in the Kansas City/Lawrence area. It is well worth a try. There is an outdoor parking lot directly behind it. As you enter the Plaza, you will see it on the right side of the street. The address is 8541 NW Prairie View Road, and the phone number is 816-584-8557. It opens daily at 11 am. Mimi's Cafe: An American restaurant which claims to be influenced by Louisiana style. Perhaps the dining room may have some of that appearance, but the food does not.
North Kansas City Area Restaurants Trezo Mare Briarcliff Village 4105 N. Mulberry Drive Kansas City, MO web site 816-505-3200	In the North Kansas City area, the best restaurants are just to the west of North Kansas City in the trendy, upscale Briarcliff Village mall. The two best restaurants in Briarcliff Village are the second Piropos (see the Parkville section above regarding the first Piropos) and Trezo Mare, which emphasizes fresh seafood and sophisticated preparations, often with an Italian flair. The owners of this excellent restaurant also have another restaurant, with a somewhat different name and nature, in Leawood. Now that they have done this north of the metropolitan area's core and south of it, perhaps they will take a shot at the center with a third restaurant (I hope).