They are in a small strip center shop. So small that there is only one table and all of the food is served packed to go.

I had the $13.99 burnt end dinner with two sides. The side dish choices are cheesy corn, BBQ baked beans, potato salad and mac & cheese. I had the cheesy corn and beans. The corn tasted good, but not cheesy. The beans were extremely sweet (much like the sauce) and had no noticeable meat. I liked them as well.

The burnt ends were tender and tasty, though more the flavor and texture of good roast beef than burnt ends. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't what I was looking for.

The servings seemed small.

Ribs are only available on Saturday. The other meats are limited to chicken, pulled pork, brisket, sausage and burnt ends.

burnt end dinner

The menu has a lot of appealing choices and we went with the Mongolian Pork Duo and Cast-iron Bistro Steak & Frites. Both dishes were good. The only thing I would change is the frites - I'm not a fan of extremely thin shoestring potatoes.

The dinner menu drops a few entrees and adds even more. Some dishes run about $3 more.

For supper we had another first look. This time it was Tabard's Ale House in Overland Park, named for an inn from  Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. We started with Korean chili chicken wings, 6 for $5.75 and so very good! I wanted to cancel my entree and just get more of these spicy wings.

Our entrees were the $13.50 herb & garlic shrimp and the $16.95 mustard grilled pork chop. The shrimp was basically a shrimp scampi, served in a little pot with the sauce filled with garlic butter.

The pork chop was a 12 oz. bone in pork chop marinated in dijon and fresh thyme, grilled, and topped with caramelized red onion. I enjoyed it, but not quite as much as I expected. This is the dish many people have raved about online.

Tabard's Ale House
 

For supper, we paid a long overdue revisit to ABC Cafe in Overland Park. The past two times we tried to dine there, they were unexpectedly closed, the most recent time being for the last half of January.

I really enjoy this restaurant which offers both meal sized dishes and dim sum. We had $7.95 XO Chicken Wings, $3.28 Shrimp Fried Wonton, $13.88  Salt & Pepper Shrimp and $16.88 Salt & Pepper Soft Shell Crab.

The chicken wings are one of my favorite items and I was delighted to find that they have returned to the current menu. They are lightly battered and deep fried, with most of the heat coming from jalapenos which can be avoid by those who do not want that much heat.

This was the first time that I had the soft shell crab, which I really enjoyed. Again, the heat came from crumbles and jalapenos which could be avoided, but which I made a point of including with each bite.

XO Chicken Wings and Shrimp Fried Wontons 

We had two appetizers and one entree. The $12 Whipped Goat Cheese which came with Italian cured, smoked meat, local honey, greens and grilled garlic crostini was a real treat and included a generous portion of the goat cheese. Al though we didn't think it was unusually slow coming out, the server did and the charge for this appetizer was taken off the bill.

The $9 Lemon Garlic Hummus with grilled flat bread, fresh & roasted vegetables and aged cheeses was much less interesting. The hummus was OK, but the vegetables were a little bit of roasted red pepper, a lot of cucumber and some olive. the aged cheeses were cubes of one rather nondescript white cheese.

The $22 signature Silo Half Chicken had cast iron seared chicken, crispy fried chicken, poached chicken salad, whipped potatoes, pan gravy, and seared brussels sprouts with bacon. The seared chicken was very good, but the crispy chicken was all coating and the chicken salad could have come from a supermarket. The brussels sprouts were good.

At supper time a friend joined us for our annual follow up at RJ's Bob-Be-Que Shack in Mission, Kansas. Between us we had pan seared Atlantic Salmon, pork ribs, beef burnt ends, fried corn on the cob, cheesy corn bake and fresh cut French fries.

Each of the sides was a treat. The meats were all good, but with no real stand outs.

We added a new page devoted to the strangely moving Osawatomie State Hospital Cemetery in Osawatomie, Kansas, where the unclaimed bodies of patients at the Kansas Insane Asylum and later Osawatomie State Hospital were buried with no names, just a number of which sequential they were buried.

Silo Half Chicken

Ribs, burnt ends and fried corn on the cob

We enjoyed the food, though not to level of the hype we have heard about. We liked the place and will return, but would not make a special trip to Ottawa to dine there.

The meats sampled (pork ribs, brisket, pulled pork and jalapeno sausage) didn't have as much smoke flavor as I was hoping for and the brisket & pork were a bit dry. They improved with sauce, going with the house sauce on the beef, mustard bbq sauce on the pulled pork and chipotle sauce on the sausage.

The fresh cut fries were very good and we both enjoyed the onion rings. The fried corn on the cob (in the foil) was a bit mushy.

I enjoyed the crispy spicy wings, though they were more crispy than spicy. The sauce on the side was sweet and just a little spicy.

I ordered the $10.95 chicken phad Thai hot from the choices of hot, medium or mild), but it was mild and not very interesting as to flavor.

I found the chicken far superior to the burnt ends I had the first time,

I was in a mood for Korean food, so for supper, Linda and I went to Korean Restaurant Sobahn in Overland Park, Kansas. I dined there twice in 2010 when it was new, but didn't care as much for the food here as other area Korean restaurants. 

We had jogi guee (grilled fish) and o jing uh bokkeum (spicy stir fired squid with vegetables). The fish was Ok, but the squid was very disappointing - like something thrown together. It lacked the blend of rich flavors that I expect from this dish. None of the banchan (assorted side dishes) were a treat. The best part of the meal was a stew which came with the fish and was not mentioned on the menu. It was spicy and had more flavor than anything else in the meal.

This restaurant has a loyal following, but doesn't work for me.

Korean Restaurant Sobahn

I had the same ojingeo bokkeum (spicy stir fired squid with vegetables) I had at Sobahn and the difference was like night and day. This time the sauce was a complex bend of flavors which was so good that I wished I could lick the plate.

The banchan (assorted side dishes) also appealed more to me, though none were as exciting as the the squid. One of the things that I appreciate about Korean food is that vegetables I normally wouldn't want to eat, taste good. I avoid celery, but the celery dish was so good that I ate all of it and asked for more.

Supper was a revisit of B&C BBQ Pub & Grill in Wichita. I have loved this restaurant since my first visit in 2006 and it was one of the first restaurants on our list of Unique Kansas Restaurants. B&C was in the middle of an expansion a year ago when we ate there last and it was time to check out the changes. After years of offering a barbeque buffet and only being open on Monday - Saturday from 11AM - 2PM, they now are open from 11AM - 10PM, with a menu during the additional hours.

After supper I went to the confluence of the Big and Little Arkansas River near downtown Wichita. It was too late for the "Ring of Fire" at the Keeper of the Plains, but it was a beautiful, still night.

Before going to my hotel, I made one last stop at the 88 year old Nu-Way Cafe. I love this place, but with so many other restaurants to check out in Wichita, I can only get here about once a year to see if things have changed. My Nu-Way burger and root beer frostie (blended root beer float) were both great. Would love to eat more often at both of the restaurants I visited tonight!

Keeper of the Plains