When I was in high school, I used to visit my cousin in Northern California. She lived in the Central Valley where the summer days were long and hot. Our grandma had willed a large collection of dolls to my cousin after she passed. So, my cousin had a floor-to-ceiling display case of different types of dolls. All of the dolls were vintage. Some were Barbies, some were porcelain and probably date back to the turn of the century. One of them was an Alf doll (remember those? I wish I still had mine, he. was. awesome). One day, we decided to examine the contents of the doll case and there was one small doll–no bigger than a foot tall–tucked away in the case. It had evilly-violent red hair and these teeth that looked…real. They looked like baby teeth in a porcelain doll, tucked into an even creepier smile (a smile similar to Chucky’s). “Look at this one,” said my cousin. “Oh wow, it’s teeth are so…wow…” I said, at a complete loss for words. She tipped the doll upward to get a better look and suddenly, the doll’s eyes sprang open!
My cousin threw it across the room…and that was the last day that doll ever opened its eyes…
This. is. happening.When we visited Kansas City, we decided we were going to make it the weekend of eating (bear with me, the creepy little doll is going to tie in to this blog post soon). Our first stop was Oklahoma Joe’s. The thing about Oklahoma Joe’s is that it’s casual dining at its best: the restaurant shares its space with a gas station. So you could fill’er up in your stomach and your car. Standing in a line that took nearly two hours to finish, I pondered why this place was so famous. There were even people who literally drove up from Oklahoma to get a taste of this place.
Nearly two hours later, several minutes dodging hot summer rain, and making small talk with that one family who drove up from Oklahoma to try the place, we made it to the end of the line…or the beginning of the line…we made it to the part of the line that matters: where we get the food.
Breaking your braces? Totally worth it at OK Joe’sWe contemplated stocking up on a rack of baby-back ribs, burnt ends and what not. We instantly regretted not doing that when we received our food; purely because it was so good, we wanted more. Moral of the story: choose wisely when you make it to the front of the line at Oklahoma Joe’s, because waiting two hours in line again would be cray-zay.
What we did get was ribs, pulled pork, a side of dirty rice, Texas Toast and sweet tea. Some would call that a perfectly proportioned lunch. Others — yeah, yeah, we saw stares… –would call that cray-zay, because, hi, this is Oklahoma Joe’s for crying out loud. The ribs came right off the bones. They were a perfect mix of sweet barbecue and deliciousness. The ribs were so good, I broke a bracket on my braces.
Totally worth it! I would do it again.
We went to our first anniversary dinner at Novel, the restaurant whose owner was an apprentice of David Chang, famous chef mentor and owner of Momofuku, NYC. Walking into Novel is like walking into someone’s home. In fact, it was an old Victorian home at one time. Novel is New American cuisine, redefined.
I’m often asked what kind of food I cook at home or what I really enjoy. Husband can speak for himself and he gladly chooses Taiwanese cuisine every time. But, my favorites vacillate. Sometimes, I love Italian. Sometimes, I love French. Sometimes, I love booze….wait a minute. But most times, I love good ol’ American cooking. I love pork chops, collared greens, fried chicken, mashed potatoes and all those fulfilling fatty American foods (ladies and gentlemen of non-American descent: we’re fat because we love fatty food…mystery solved).
Novel is like my favorite cuisines all wrapped into one place. from pork chop sided with fancy baby bok choy, to delicate hamachi topped with peppers to crispy duck egg with bacon hushpuppies, Ladies and Gentleman, once again I implore you to understand that I broke not one–but two–brackets that weekend and I’ll do it again. Novel was like our Communion in Split post: two people coming together to understand that we’re different people who love different things, but they mesh quite nicely on our worldly palettes.
bacon hush puppies?!?! Sold! American meets Asian. Kinda like the story of how we met…. Mmmm….. Dessert was so good!The next day, we dined for brunch in a castle. Renee Kelly’s Harvest in Shawnee, Kansas was surrounded by exactly what I thought Kansas would look like: giant houses, wide lanes and Costco. Inside Renee Kelly’s was a veritable castle. The former owner of the castle built it as a loving tribute to his wife, kind of like an American po’ man’s version of the Taj Mahal. If I lived in Kansas City, I think Renne Kelly’s would be our new brunch place every Sunday. The food was fulfilling just enough to satisfy, but not exactly the “All-American”-sized. Our waiter was friendly, too. People can dig that kind of friendliness when they’ve had one or two –or five–mimosas.
Brunch! Because my husband likes to be healthy: a side of fruit.Then there was Le Fou Frog, our second first anniversary dinner. We started our journey to marriage by getting engaged in Paris. It was a pleasant dinner to continue that French voyage de mariage that happened just a couple of years ago. It was also at Le Fou Frog that I discovered the delicious summer treat: a shandy. Shandies are beers usually mixed with lemonade. We had lobster tail, oysters and lamb chop. I was so happy from this amazing dinner that Frank took this photo: …but I think the Shandy might have had a hand in that.
Good food and good shandy makes Nicole happy. lamb chop Larry the Lobster is on my plate. This is a good look for you, man…Our last stop was the City Market. The market was crowded as we huddled out of the warm summer rain, trying to get glimpses of organic cherries, onions and other things that were vibrantly-colored. Just past the habanero chili pepper stand was a place with the only beignets I will ever tip my hat to and it had a name simply called: “Beignet.” Like a proper gentleman at Sunday Morning service, I tipped my invisible hat to the creative concoctions listed on the menu and to the ones sitting on peoples’ paper trays. Before we visited Beignet, and even before we visited New Orleans for their famous beignets at Cafe Du Monde, I simply thought that a donut was just that: a donut. It could be glazed, it could be filled with jelly, it could be covered in chocolate, or it could be sprinkled. But, it was just that: a donut. And a donut was good enough for me.
This. is. donut! But all fancy and stuff.Then we came here to Beignet, and I saw all that could be done with the simple donut: You could cover it in cinnamon, you could stuff it with bananas, or lobster, or apples or make it a po’ boy, or all Cajun. We decided to make ours cajun’y and lobster-y. It was a delicious, gluttonous creation that I would have happily ordered three or four more just to eat. I would’ve even eaten my invisible hat if it meant I could have an endless supply of these beignets. As we sat there dining on these delicious donuts, I admired the artsy design of this cafe that was literally a hole-in-the-wall. Until I looked up and saw it: a clown doll staring down at me, smiling similarly to the red-headed doll who surprised my cousin and I so long ago. It stared. I stared back. It continued to stare. I broke my gaze and looked around, then looked back up….It was still smiling….
Wanna Play?…No good sir, I would not. Thank you.Share your favorite culinary experience!
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