Scooped by my mother-in-law

My MIL attended one of the private soft openings of the Gordon Biersch location in the Power & Light district last night. She knows one of the corporate peeps who flew in for the big opening, and got to try anything she wanted while the staff "practiced" serving for their grand opening this week. Officially, doors open on Monday, but they are having private openings all weekend. Because I think her enthusiasm is adorable, not to mention her turn by turn directions, I am copying & pasting her review below. Hope she doesn't mind! (She's not much a beer drinker, so I promise to provide my own beer feedback soon. )

We had dinner at a private party at Gordon Biersch at 200 East 13th Street. It doesn't officially open until Monday night, but our friends invited us to the private party. We could order anything free as it gave the staff "practice" for opening Monday. The food was great! You would like it. I especially thought the appetizer crab cake was the best in the city--large and moist with lump crab. I had the salmon with pecan topping and it was also good. Dessert we shared was the bread pudding with vanilla ice cream--again the best in the city I've ever had! We sampled their "beer sampler" of five little glasses of beer. All was good. We parked at the Town Pavilion Garage across from the HR Block one. Both were $10 last night because of the event at Sprint Center. No exceptions and validations after 6 PM didn't even count. I drove I-35 to 12th Street exit and went on 12th street to Grand. Turned right on Grand to 13th Street. Turned right again in the garage. Be sure to walk around a bit and see the "stage" area and also the pretty lighted blue trees. I think Gordon Biersch's is the nicest one on the block. Have a good time! Love, Mom

March Madness

I love March. I really do. And I love it more this year because the Big 12 Tourney is in KC, in the shiny new arena downtown. And my Jayhawks are on a tear. Which helps. And reminds me about the Alumni meet up next week:

Big 12 Tournament Kickoff Party
Young Alumni Members-only Event
5 p.m.
Thursday, March 13
The Cashew
2000 Grand Ave.
Kansas City, MO

I thought that I would do a PSA kind of deal for the locals. All of my suburban house-cat friends are askeered of the parking situation downtown. They seriously bring this up a deterrent to attending a concert, game, etc. Just because there isn't a parking lot that look like the mall or at the K doesn't mean you'll have to walk for miles in the dark & creepy downtown landscape. There are a TON of parking garages downtown. You just have to find 'em. It's like the Plaza, but with BIGGER garages! There are 2 garages below the district itself. They hold about 1,800 cars. There are garages EVERYWHERE. They cost a couple dollars. Welcome to being urban. You pay. To park. GASP! I know, right?

How can you lose? The lights are much brighter there...

The Pitch published a story just yesterday, written by David Martin, about beer, Kansas City entertainment districts, festival and open container laws. Interesting reading.

Lots of friends have been talking about whether the entertainment district downtown is sustainable. Is there enough visitor traffic downtown to hold them over when there is no big concert or sporting event? Will the people of KC actually change their habits and spend more time downtown? It's been promising for many of us to see places fill up on week nights and Friday, but sad to go almost anywhere on a Saturday and see everything empty. And even if the P&L district does succeed, what does that mean to areas like Westport? Someone's going to lose in this little game.

Snipped straight from the article:

Cordish, it appears, doesn’t want Waldo, 18th and Vine or Zona Rosa to enjoy the same sorts of privileges it won on an earlier trip to the capitol. Back in 2005, state lawmakers passed legislation making drinks portable in certain entertainment districts. The law was written in such a way that only the Power and Light District would qualify for the exemption.

Cordish’s unwillingness to share relaxed liquor rules is only the latest bit of discouraging news. Originally scheduled to open last October, significant pieces of the Power and Light District will still be dark when the Big 12 basketball tournaments come to town next month. Last November, Cordish announced that it wanted to charge $2 for parking in garages that were supposed to be free (“The Dance,” November 22, 2007).

Thank you sir, may I have another?

Bull & Wes over at the KCBeerBlog are the best little KC PR bloggers around. They pick up every downtown related story and post, post, post away. Which I appreciate. Because I sadly do not keep myself as well-informed. Oddly enough, a steady diet of the local FOX news morning show does not make for an educated person. Who knew?

The Big 12 tourney hits the new Sprint area on March13th, so everyone is in a race to get drinking holes ready for the crush. I am concerned that this is SO last minute. I can't imagine some of these places only being open for a few days before the hordes descend. Out of all the new stuff going in down at the new Power & Light District, the ones I am most excited about are below:

ChefBurger - Opens first week of March! Created by the same awesome dude (Rob Dalzell) who brought you 1924 Main, Pizza Bella and Souperman, so you know it'll be good. A locally owned build your own burger joint should do extremely well. Not to mention that you'll get to choose from 4 arty breads, different meat/veggie patties, 10 cheeses, 24 toppings, and 10 sauces!

Gordon Biersch Brewery - Opens March 10. Yes, another corporate brewery/restaurant, but variety is the slice of life, and I like options. This will be a full-scale brewery with a big outdoor beer garden.

Raglan Road Irish Pub - Opens first week of March! Another corporate, faux irish pub. Guess where this one comes to you from? Pleasure Island, Disney, Orlando, FL! Which fits, really, the whole feeling of the P&L district. Disneyland, KC. But lend credibility, KC chefs are being trained at the company's 5 star restuarant, Dunbrody House, in County Wexford, Ireland.

Flying Saucer Draught Emporium - Opening in early May. Lee posted a PR piece on the company before they opened in Austin. This is COOL. They will have 225 beers from more than 15 countries. They seek to "elevate beer."

Maker’s Mark Bourbon House & Lounge - No idea when this will open. Likely some time well after May. There will be an "upscale restaurant and swanky lounge subtly emphasizing the Maker's Mark Bourbon brand." End quote. All I know is that when I visited their main website, John Denver's Country Boy started playing thru my speakers. SWANKY!

The Living Room - No date yet. This will be seating area and prominent bar inside the LIVE! area, featuring plush cushions, ottomans, chairs and tables surrounding a flowing waterfall with a center flame. There will be space heaters and fire pits to keep everyone warm in the winter. When the KC smoking ban finally hits, I wonder if this will be a popular spot with people taking a break from the many bars & nightclubs.

I plan on spending a bit more time downtown to check it all out. Yes, it'll be tourist trap themed. There will be more nightclub concepts and Lucky Strike bowling lanes, and other silly things to compliment the other places. I don't care if any of those places attract, "douches," as some call them. I am pleased that the downtown bars are gaining traction. I am happy that there are young people living and working in our downtown, and I am glad that there will be more stores and services moving in to support them, like more regular restaurants, dry cleaners, and grocery stores. I hope that the area doesn't feel the pinch too badly AFTER the Big 12 tourney ends, and people go home. I'm just very excited to see it all roll out, and hopeful it is sustainable.

I already know what Bull is going to say

...but at least the McFaddens crew will have another stop in their tour of downtown establishments. Howl at the Moon opens this Friday! If you don't know, Howl at the Moon is a terribly popular place for Bachelorette parties in other markets. And like McFaddens, it is a chain. They sell strange colored liquid shots in test tubes, and jello shots in these weird, syringe-like contraptions, designed to shoot booze-laced jello down your throat. There's hardly a beer tie-in here, except that I know they sell it by the bucket. So head on out to the newest spot in town to watch large groups of drunken girls.

Grind it out

I love Grinder's, the sandwhich/pizza shop in the Crossroads. They have great food, wonderful beers, and they've actually opened a gigantic outdoor music venue. Last week they had hometown groups Pomeroy and Anything But Joey, but this Friday they've got Robert Randolph and the Family Band, AND Ziggy Marley. On Wednesday the 9th, George Clinton & the Parliament Funkadelic and Four Fried Chickens and a Coke are playing. I am so excited.

Bob Schneider is playing on June 1st, and that's a FREE show! Love First Fridays. So go reserve your G.A. tix now.

This picture from Grinder's MySpace cracks me up. Yay. Scooters. Really.