Good Food, Drinks, and Birthday Celebration for Carrie in Kansas City

To celebrate a birthday for Carrie, we took time and spent a few days in Kansas City February 8 - 10. We had a large time! We booked a house to stay in via VRBO. We went in with Greg and Erin to spend a few days enjoying good food, drinks, and getting away from our standard here in Topeka. Carrie had a great time as we all did celebrating and having fun.

Apps at P.F. Chang's

Thursday night, we talked about ordering Minsky's Pizza which, staying at the house we rented, and hanging out playing games and drinking. As we were preparing to head to Kansas City for the few days, we changed our minds and decided we would instead do P.F. Chang's where we had some apps, drinks, and a wonderful meal. 

Going on a Thursday night, people still being selective on where they go, it was not busy at all. We had no issues getting a table and felt comfortable throughout our meal. It was good to see the Country Club Plaza again as we had not been there in a long time.

Friday morning was our first trip to Snooze A.M. Eatery in Westport. Carrie, Javier, Brenda, and I had all first had Snooze A.M. Eatery in Colorado years ago when visiting. We just happened to come across the place, try it, and loved it ever since. Now they are in various locations of Colorado, Texas, and one finally opened in KC although a second one is going to be opening soon in KC too. We had about an hour wait, but it was so worth it!

More drinks and delicious breakfast to get our day started. If you have not been to Snooze A.M. Eatery, I highly recommend checking it out!

Us at Summer Moon

Following breakfast, we finally made it to the newly opened Summer Moon. We were first introduced to Summer Moon in Dallas, TX when we visited Javier. We are very excited to have it close and plan to make trips into KC for visits to Summer Moon and yes plan to do other things and not just coffee on those trips.

Our favorite drink to get at Summer Moon is the Summer Moon Latte. We got one before afternoon of going around KC and then the next day (Saturday), we went back for another Summer Moon Latte. Carrie and I both got two so we could have one then and one later. I had intended to have my second one later in the day on Saturday, but ended up taking it back to Topeka and having on Sunday. It was still really good. Thanks Erin for buying our two coffees on Saturday morning.

Following our Summer Moon visit, we did some shopping which amounted to walking around a few stores and me eventually going out to the car to sit. I did manage to get in a quick nap to prepare for the afternoon of tapas and drinks.

Drinks at La Bodega on the Patio

What other way is there to celebrate a birthday than to spend a few days eating and drinking. Friday afternoon, we went to La Bodega which is a favorite. The sangria was going down easily. We had a pitcher of white and a pitcher of red. Both were very good, although, I think Greg and I preferred the red sangria. They had completely redone their patio area since the last time Carrie and I were there with everything happening in COVID times, so it was really nice sitting on the patio and having space to ourselves. The tapas were just as we remembered where they were delicious. We did try pork fat which while Greg said he liked, we did not finish that dish. It was a little odd. Carrie only took a bite and I managed to finish the one I picked up. We left two on the plate that were not finished. Likely not something we would get again, but the rest of the tapas and sangria were fantastic!

Sangria at La Bodega

We spent a few hours at La Bodega before heading back to the house to clean up and prepare for dinner. If you are in the Kansas City area, passing through, or making a special trip, we highly recommend checking out La Bodega if you have the chance. Worth the stop and worth spending some time there to enjoy the environment and be with family or friends.

Friday night we had dinner reservations for the Bristol Seafood Grill. Never a disappointment, we had a wonderful meal. Greg and I saw a former Kansas basketball player eating his meal as we entered and had to spend the first few moments of our time there trying to remember his name. It as Jeff Gueldner who played for KU 1986 - 1990. 

Carrie and I got fried oysters which was a good change. Dinner was delicious where I had swordfish. Another one of our favorite spots to visit when in KC. Hoping at some point, the Bristol Seafood Grill goes back to having Sunday brunch again and you will definitely see us back there again when that returns.

Mini Cupcakes to Celebrate

Friday night following dinner, we went back to the house to play games and have fun. It was pouring down rain most of the night and into the next day, but we did not mind. Erin and Greg got mini cupcakes for Carrie for her birthday celebration. It was a fun night and wonderful couple of days off of work and celebrating Carries' birthday.

The next morning (Saturday), we made a trip back to Summer Moon as previously mentioned to get our coffees before heading to BB's Lawnwside BBQ as we all wanted to try something new and can never go wrong with BBQ. It was a fun experience as we found that they had been to the King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena, Arkansas a few times. They had a poster from an early festival in the '80s and then a recent one from 2018 or 2019 I believe.

BB's Lawnside BBQ

It was a fun way to end our couple of day celebration for Carrie. I know Carrie had a lot of fun... oh, and she was very excited to finally be able to buy multiple packages of her Stiegl Radler Grapefruit beer that she loves but has been unable to get here in Topeka from any location. We stocked up from Trader Joe's by buying ten packages of Stiegl Radler Grapefruit on our way home on Saturday. Perfect end to a perfect couple of days.