Gates BBQ is a KC institution. It’s all about the sauce.

And the struttin dude makes a nice logo.

Here I present top view and side view.

Whenever I travel for business, I find time to explore.
I research ahead of time, set my targets, then see what happens.
I found out I would be in good ol’ Kansas City for a few days and before this, it was not on my radar.
Well…what a cool city. Lots of photos in the next few days.

For the insider’s lowdown on KC, I knew who to ask for insider tips.
Cara and Brian got married almost a year ago…here’s what they look like:

Brian grew up in KC, so when I asked for the best BBQ joints, he gave me a long list,
but with the best at the top.

This just shows you what you’re getting into if you hire me as your wedding photographer.

I will honestly email you after the wedding if I think you know the best BBQ joints
(or taquerias or dim sum restaurants) that I should go to.
Hell, I may email you because after getting to know you and
photographing your wedding, I just plain like you!

Ok, back to the story…off I went to Arthur Bryant’s BBQ.
Brian figured that I would love the old school look of the place (I did!)
and he even told me what to order.

Burnt Ends.

Everyone else had amazing plates of food, but with an intriguing name Burnt Ends,

I knew I had to order that.
The cook asked me “how would you like that…you want fries, bread, sauce?”
I, being clueless about just what I was getting into, replied “well, what do you think is the best?”
The cook sized me up, smiled and said, “just a minute” and disappeared.
He came back with a huge plate of sloppy joe-looking food.
I knew I was in good standing because it was exactly what
most of the people there were already chowing on.

It was an enormous amount of food for little me, but I did my best with it because it was so freakin’ yummy!
Also funny, when I photographed the plate of food, pretty much everyone stopped eating to gawk at me.
One person even exclaimed, “goodness gracious…she’s taking a picture of her food….”

Thanks to Katherine, Jeff, Thea and Mathilda for introducing us to a Buda yummy.

Not the most successful Cheeseburger Crew night.
First off, minus 10 points for not having beer. We all had to caravan over to a bar afterwards.  Shocking, I know.
Secondly, it’s a chain restaurant. Blech.
Thirdly, it was in a strip mall and while that’s usually a good thing, this was one of those clean, bland strip malls that could be Anywhere, USA.
Fourthly, that had to be one of the most disheveled cheeseburgers I’ve seen in my copious nights spent on the Cheeseburger Crew Tour.
I will say that the fries were yummy and the decor was nifty.
But you could tell it was a chain. Everything was just a little too clever. And no beer!

p.s. Rachel brought her pretty neat kitty cat purse.
p.p.s. the Crewmembers were in good form despite the aforementioned handicaps

Super yummy vegan food at Pure Luck in Los Angeles. Hand model = Janet.

oh my, oh my. So good. Giving Bi-Rite some competition. Crazy combos of flavors.
I would say these are the more tame combos that were there that night.
Thanks for Al and Janet for driving me across town from Venice to Silverlake.
All of you SoCal people know what an effort that can be.
Just for ice cream.
Guess what? I think I’ll be doing it again, and soon!