The basic burger was great. Even the bun was good and toasted. The 1/3 pound burger is $9.50 with a side. I like to add my choice of cheese and grilled onions for 50 cents each. The fresh cut fries I selected were good as well.

Coming up with a neraby alternate restaurant, we drove a little over a mile away to Mad Jack's Fresh Fish, which has been run by the current owner, John Reed, since 1987.

We last dined here in February 2020 and were surprised to learn that they removed their tables during Covid and they never returned. Not that the little booths they had were very comfortable, but there is no outside seating and the parking lot is not very pleasent. We decided to go ahead and eat in our car, but this change will probably mean that I will return less often.

We had fried oysters, fried catfish, hush puppies, French fries and potato wedges. Our food came with sliced white bread. The oysters, catfish and hush puppes were all great. The potato wedges were adequate, but the fries were limp sub standard. The only good thing to say about them is that a small order was only $1.99.

Mad Jack's Fresh Fish

The entrance is a little odd, in that you walk in at the back of the hostess stand and where the live music (singer with guitar) is located. We were seated at a booth at the edge of the bar space. The bar was loud, but the type of noise didn't make it difficult to have conversation.

There was 15 minutes remaining for Happy Hour and I ordered a Barrel Aged Old Fashioned for $8 instead of the usual $13. Described as cognac, rye whiskey, champagne syrup, and bitters, it was sweet and I very much enjoyed it. I have sampled cocktails at a number of nicer restaurants in the past few months and this was my favorite.

I feel like the price points on food are quite reasonable for a nicer restaurant. We ordered fish & chips for $20 and Filet Deburgo with whipped yukon gold potatoes, roasted broccolini, and deburgo sauce for $33. I researched the sauce in advance and learned that Steak de Burgo originated in Des Moines in the 1950s and is a butter or cream based sauce with garlic and herbs. This was butter based, quite garlicky and very nice. We aren't usually broccolini fans, but this was roasted more than some and the stem was more tender.

The fried cod was good if not standout. The fries were well cooked but very salty. I like salt, but suspect that many people would be happier ordering these unsalted.

Old Fashioned

Today we had the pleasure of taking out two year old granddaughter to visit the Discovery Center. The first area she wanted to go into was restricted to prewalkers, but that was the only part of the interior of the center we didn't visit. There are also outdoor exhibits, which are more designed for older children and we didn't go to that area today.

Although there were several areas she visited more than once, her favorite appeared to be the Ramp Racing. While she didn't design her own magnetic raceway, she loved getting small cars from the bottom and setting them on the raceway.

Lunch was nearby at Herman's Meat & Smokehouse. There were out of the smoked half chicken I was looking forward to, so we had pork ribs, pulled pork and chicken wings. They were out of cobbler as well.

The counter service was slow. We ordered the food for dine in, but received it packed to go, which was less convenient. The fries were my favorite part of the meal and also my grand daughter's favorite. The wings were ordered buffalo style, but other than the smoked wings being sauced, there was buffalo sauce to dip them in and no blue cheese dressing.

Herman's is also a deli and I bought sweet horseradish pickles, ham salad and Polish sausages to take home.

My granddaughter loved Ramp Racing as her great grandfather watches

Chicken wings

There is a fairly nice cafe, though after you order at the counter, you will need to decide if you want your table to have a view and sound of the training in the martial arts.

We tried chicken escondidinho, beef escondidinho, and cheese bread. The escondidinho is like a shepherd's pie. They took longer than I expected, The beef escondidinho took about 25 minutes. The chicken came out a couple of minutes later. The cheese bread appetizer didn't come out until we were nearly finished with our main dishes.

This was a nice change of pace.

chicken & beef escondidinhos

Shortly after entering, I was greeted by one of the people behind the counter shouting out, "Hi, may I help you." Today I went with a smoked half chicken and fries ($11.99 & $5.25). It may have been the smallest half chicken I have received at any area restaurant. It is listed as anentree, but includes noting but the chicken.

The smoked chicken had good flavor, but was a little tough. It is was covered with a lot of sauce, perhaps a good thing since there is no sauce on the table. The large thick fries were meaty.

Arriving a little after noon, there was only one person in line ahead of me to order and several tables of the 8 or 9 tables were vacant. I ordered a short end and fries for $20.50. I asked for the ribs dry, as my past experience is that they are otherwise drenched in sauce. The meat was strongly flavored from the smoking, looking almost too cooked. I would not call them tender, but they were not too tough to enjoy.

The sauce is thin, sweet and slightly vinegary. It has a fairly strong flavor and I think that is necessary to balance the flavor of the meat.

I had the $22.99 chicken & ribs combination dinner. It comes with the choice of two sides and I went with beans and French fries.

The Combo included three ribs and a dark chicken quarter. The ribs were tender and smokey, but not strongly so. They had a rich flavor from rub and there was no need for sauce. The chicken was smoked similar, but with a little more heat in the rub. The pieces were rather small.

The beans were sweet and smokey with lots of pork. The fries were made from frozen, limp and not a treat.

There are four sauces. All of them are thin and very sweet.

The service was friendly and helpful. I will be adding this restaurant to our Kansas City BBQ Restaurant Guide.

Dining room