Snowed in today, I also added a page about Reformed Presbyterian Church in Winchester, Kansas, which was built in 1903 and is quite handsome. Kansas Artist John Steuart Curry is buried in church cemetery.

The chicken pieces were quite large. This is an excellent choice for someone who likes smoked dark meat. I enjoyed the strong smoky flavor, but my favorite part of BBQ chicken is the skin and this skin was so tough that it required sawing with a serrated knife and there was little flavor. They do not serve white meat.

The juicy smoked pork belly was wonderful! I cut it into small pieces so I could savor every morsel.

They still do not offer French fries and I had the beans and cheesy corn the previous time, so I ordered Potato Salad and Cole Slaw for my sides. These are dishes which have a lot of variation and different people's opinions of what is good have a lot of variation. One bite of the slaw and two of the potato salad were enough and I did not take the rest home with me. The slaw was neither sweet or vinegary, it just tasted like cabbage. The large pieces of potato in the salad seemed far undercooked and it was lightly seasoned.

You order and pickup food at the counter, so there is minimal service, but the woman at the register was friendly and ready to answer questions or make suggestions. She was good about refilling Coke products when I took the glass back up and on the second time offered a to go cup as well.

There are (presumably house made) hot sauces next to the silverware, as well as two sizes of boxes for carry out. I took a small sample of each of them home to taste later and liked the Chipotle Hot Sauce and Habanero Hot Sauce. The Fresno was kind of fruity. OK, but not one I would use again. None of them are excessively hot.

Hot sauces

Three of us had supper at Paulo & Bill's in Shawnee, Kansas, though only one of us chose one of the four meal specials offered for Restaurant Week. They were happy with their $28 Grilled Bone-In Pork Chops, served with Yukon gold mashed potatoes, green beans & red peppers, topped with brandy mushroom cream sauce. They were permitted to substitute roasted red potatoes for the mashed potatoes and they ordered the sauce (which they enjoyed) on the side.

The meal also came with with a Mini Triple Chocolate Cake or Mini Tiramisu. The serving of cake was bigger than expected, chocolaty and light. Customers could also order the same dessert special as part of the Restaurant Week menu for only $5.

Pork Chops

We had a $15.99 Kalua Pig sandwich and $13.99 Loaded Baked Potato Meal.

The Kalua Pig is a fabulous sandwich. Pulled pork & pork belly with pineapple salsa on a brioche bun. I had already had and enjoyed the pork belly, but I'm not a bug pulled pork fan and hadn't tried it before. I enjoyed the  pulled pork more than any I have had before. It is most and has a good smoky flavor. The combination is great. It wouldn't have needed sauce, but I lived it even more with some of the house made habanero hot sauce.

The Loaded Baked Potato Meal is the potato and the choice of pulled pork, brisket, turkey, ham, or sausage. We asked if ribs were an option and the cashier said it wasn't an option on the register, but they would do it. It was a generous serving of ribs with great flavor and texture. The potato could have used more cooking and loaded was cheese, sour cream, butter, and green onions,

We passed Sar-Ko-Par Trail Park in Lenexa after dinner. The moon was rising and looked spectacular through the beautiful Christmas light filled trees around Rose's Pond in the park and we pulled off into the parking lot at the fire station to take photos from my phone. I had to go out into the snow covered field, but the surface was fairly hard from melting and freezing of the surface and I was able to walk without getting my pants and shoes wet.

Loaded Baked Potato Meal

Sar-Ko-Par Trail Park

All of the meats were good. Neither of us are big pulled pork fans and although it was moist and well flavored, we preferred the other meats more. The sausage is very well seasoned. The ribs had a great flavor from both rub and smoking. They managed to walk the fine line of making them very tender, but not committing the sin of falling off the bone.

The burnt ends were less fatty than many places and did not have a smoke ring. The sausage was the favorite meat for both of us.

Our sides were fresh cut fries, house made onion straws and BBQ pit beans. The fries were my favorite. The onion straws are good, but more salty than either of us would choose. The mixture of beans is not one I would select, either, but they were still good.

I added a new page devoted to three small attractions in Cuba, Kansas. They are the Cuba Country School Museum, Cuba Heritage Center and historic Blacksmith Shop.

The new location was briefly the home of Scimeca's Ristorante, a couple years ago. It is a much nicer dining room than Toni's has in Olathe. The tables are packed in fairly close to each other, but that was not an issue. The front door is just a few feet from some of the tables and at least one party near the door complained about it being too cold.

A highlight of the Olathe location has been the wonderful free garlic bread knots and olive oil, balsamic vinegar, seasonings, and shallots. Unfortunately these knots were so hard they couldn't even soak up oil. When I tried to cut of a slim sliver, the knife could cut it, the piece broke off.

We ordered two of the house specialties, the Chef's Favorite (sautéed garlic, chicken, capers & jumbo shrimp served with alfredo sauce & totellini pasta) and Pasta Sampler (two pieces of cheese ravioli, lasagna, & a manicotti served with marinara and mozzarella cheese).

The alfredo sauce was garlicky and very nice. The lasagna sampler made a poor presentation and the lasagna (which I heard a server tell another table was the best they will ever have) was average at best.

Pasta Sampler

The first stop in Wichita was at Station 8 BBQ, which had many positive comments when I recently posted about B&C Barbeque. The two restaurants are less than 2 blocks apart.

I arrived just before they opened at 11 AM and there were already a dozen people waiting in line at the front door. The restaurant is in a former firehouse and three rough looking old fire trucks were parked together in the lot across the street. 

They opened before I found parking and finished taking exterior photos, but the line, which went the length of the restaurant continued to be out the door, not just when I joined it, but when my meal was over an hour later. During the 20 some minutes I was in line, I considered the menu, looking for a combination meal with multiple meats, but the only options were a maximum of two meats and one side.

At the suggestion of someone in line ahead of me, I went crazy and ordered The Yeti. For $75 you get all 5 meats (brisket, bologna, pulled pork, turkey, ham), jalapeno cheddar link, hot links, 3 ribs, 3 sides pickles, pickled onion, sauces and homemade bread. It does not include burnt ends, but they threw in a sample of that days special molasses glazed pork belly burnt ends, plus a fourth rib. They don't have French fries or onion rings, so I chose cornbread pudding, smoked mac and beans.

Every item was good, none were over the top, but I was particularly impressed with the cornbread pudding, pork belly burnt ends, bologna,  and jalapeno cheddar link. If they had a three meat and one side plate, those are the ones which I would go with. The bologna surprised me. I couldn't see the list of meats from my table and wasn't sure what it was. It reminded me of a sausage loaf.

The meats were all quite fatty, which I enjoy, but may not be everyone's first choice.

There was no sauce on the tables. When they were making up my tray, the counter person told me which sauce was which, but they had been moved around the tray when it was filled with meat and except for the spicy chipotle, I wasn't sure which was which. The other sauces were sweet, sweet peach, and spicy vinegar. All were fairly sweet and not that spicy, though the chipotle came on a little hotter after I swallowed.

The person bussing the tables in the dinning room was attentive and good about bringing boxes so I could pack up the vast majority of the meal. We will be eating BBQ for much of the next week.

The restaurant has a lot of old fire station and Texaco memorabilia, but the line and mass of people kept me from seeing much of them or getting photos.

Before leaving the neighborhood, I took photos of a large, old, empty dinner across the street and the lunch BBQ buffet at B&C Barbeque.

I had read that the nearby Central Standard Brewing Company has some art by the late M. T. Liggett of Mullinville, Kansas, and found two pieces at the edge of the patio. After taking photos of them, I went inside to see if there were more.

One of the owners showed me the art in the brewery. There are two dark metal bats placed where they are hard to see and a large wooden piece of a type I have not seen before. He explained that he was a long time friend of the artist and had more of MT's art at his home.

It has been 19 years since my first visit to the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum, so it is time to update its page. Items which were either new or caught my attention more this visit included a working phone booth where you can make a phone call for 10 cents (dimes are available at the front desk) and a typewriter you are free to use. If you type a letter and place it in an addressed envelope, the museum will stamp and mail it for you. Ingenious!

On my way to other nearby places to take other photographs, my route took me past Doo-Dah Diner. Remembering that I didn't have good interior photos of the popular breakfast and lunch place, I stopped to have a piece of pie. They no longer have pie, so I settled for a chocolate malt. It was good, but seemed just a little pricey at $7.99.

I made a brief visit to Snicks Cat Cafe, which opened in December. Those photos have been very popular on our Facebook Page.

Other stops included the former location of first White Castle restaurant, FireWorx repurposed 1930 fire station, the replacement Jackie Robinson statue at McAdams Park, and recently opened Wildflower Mercantile on west Douglas.

Finding myself near TJ's Burger House on West Douglas, I decided to try them again, since my last visit was in 2011. They didn't ask how the burger should be prepared and served the jalapeno cheese burger well done. I would have been happier with medium. but it was still decent, as were the fresh cut fries.

After checking into the Best Western Plus Wichita West Airport Inn for a couple of hours of catching up on work. I went out just in time to catch part of the Ring of Fire at the Keeper of the Plains on the Arkansas River and then paid a revisit to Georges French Bistro.

When we had supper at Georges in 2020, there were more appetizers which looked attractive to me, than entrees, but that time the only appetizer tried was the mussels. Tonight I sat at the bar and started with The Matty Boy (over proofed rye whiskey, amaro, brown sugar cinnamon syrup & bitters), which was slightly sweet and very enjoyable.

The escargot (stuffed mushroom caps roasted in garlic butter topped with provolone cheese) was less of a treat. The mass of cheese detracted from the snails and mushrooms and the garlic tasted off. Fortunately the beef tartare (shallots, capers, egg yolk. served with Dijon toasted crostini & truffle frites) was much more enjoyable and I would be happy to have it again.

Station 8 BBQ
 
 
 
 

The Yeti
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

M. T. Liggett Art
 
 
 
 

Pay phone & mail box
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Appetizers

On the way out of town, I passed the Sedgwick Historical Museum. The sign on the door said it is open Memorial Day, Fall Festival and by appointment. It gave three numbers to call for appointments and one was for the City of Sedgwick Office, which happened to be next to my vehicle. I walked in to ask if the museum could be unlocked, but they were uncomfortable doing that and called another person, who told them to go ahead. A gentleman from the office opened the museum and helped locate where to tun on the lights.

The main building has two small rooms, which many items, but they could use some organization and labels. The train depot behind the main building is larger and a little more organized. 

A marker from the Harvey County Historical Society, next to the front building, said that it was one of the oldest buildings in Sedgwick and was moved here from the former Park City Site, 8 miles southwest of Sedgwick. It was originally a dram shop saloon. There was no indication where the depot was originally located.

I drove on to Hutchinson to be there shortly after Roy's BBQ opened. The 43 year old restaurant changed owners last year and this was my first visit since learning of the change. I was pretty confident that it would still be good. The new owners, Kirk and Julia Johnson bought another iconic Hutchinson restaurant (R-B Drive In) in 2016 and that has stayed just good.

It was surprising to see only a few people there when I arrived, but the restaurant was busier by the time I left. With the exception of the tiny side dish bar being gone, the set up was the same as always. The smoked meats are displayed on at the counter and the meats are cut up for plating and the Texas toast is grilled in the small area behind the counter.

I had three meats - pork ribs, mild Polish sausage and bologna. The bologna is a new option and I might not have tried it, but I really enjoyed the smoked bologna yesterday and tried this one as well. Much as it was with the original owners, the meat was heavily sauced and next time I will order the sauce on the side. With three years since the past visit, it is hard to exactly compare the meats, but they were still good. The Texas toast was as good as I remembered.

After briefly photographing Cilla's Windmill Salon, in a Dutch windmill which had been built at a different location as a restaurant in 1937, I drove to the Hutchinson Community College Fire Science Center to photograph prairie dogs in the lot next door.

Then back to Fire House Cafe to sample a sloppy joe and fries.

Crossing Hutchinson to the next stop, I was amazed to see crushed cars stacked several layers high around an old brick building in a not terribly large lot at Sila's Enterprises Recycling.

The next stop was at Fire Station #7, where the Hutchinson 9-11 Memorial was erected in 2013. There is a replica of the twin towers, a small section of steel girder from the fallen towers and memorial markers.

Driving south to Yoder, is topped to photograph some of the downtown businesses and murals on both sides of a boxcar, then drove southwest of town to revisit Borntrager Dairy, an on the farm store selling raw milk and other dairy products, along with home canned goods and beef & pork.

Unlike many similar stores in central Kansas, which do their sales on the honor system, there was a freind young woman to answer questions and record the sale. Borntrager also offer farm tours by appointment for $75.

More to come...

Sedgwick Historical Museum