Road Tips

The Anchor - Wichita, KS

During a trip to Wichita earlier this year, I had a chance to get some lunch before I had meetings in the afternoon.  I had read about a place near downtown Wichita that had a good beer selection, as well as a good burger, a place called The Anchor.   I ended up going there for lunch on that particular day.   

Schane Gross had a pretty interesting background story before she ended up as the owner of the Anchor.  An army brat who moved from place to place as a youngster, she started working in the restaurant business at a Wichita area Mexican restaurant when she was 14 years old and decided that she hated it.  She felt overworked and underpaid working at a restaurant.  But after stints working at various auto parts stores around Wichita, she ended up as a tattoo artist/piercer, eventually owning her own tattoo/piercing parlor in the city - Hell Bomb Tattoo and Holier Than Thou Body Piercing. 

Gross leased the space for the tattoo/body piercing parlor in a building along E. Douglas Ave. with her husband.  One day, the landlord came to her and said that the rent for the space was going to go up precipitously.  Gross made a counter offer - she wanted to buy the building from the landlord.  The deal went through and suddenly Schane Gross found herself as a commercial property owner.  

The space next to the tattoo parlor was open and the space was perfect for a restaurant/bar.  She went to the bank to get money to open her new business, but they didn't give her all the money she needed to open a full restaurant.  She opened the Anchor as a bar only in October of 2004.  A few years later, Gross expanded the Anchor into food service.

Pictured right - Schane Gross.  Photo courtesy Wichita Eagle.

Gross got burned out on running both the tattoo parlor and the Anchor, so she sold the tattoo/piercing business to her ex-husband who continues to run the operation next to the Anchor.  In March of 2014, she opened up Douglas Avenue Chop Shop, a high-end boutique-style butcher shop in the same building as the Anchor and the tattoo shop.  And in the fall of 2014, Gross opened a new restaurant in Wichita's College Hill neighborhood - Fork & Fennel, a French-style bistro that featured farm-to-fork foods.  However, less than two years later, Gross closed Fork & Fennel because she said she wanted to "focus on the Anchor.  That's where my heart is."

It was during the noon rush when I pulled up to the Anchor on E. Douglas just east of Washington.  (see map)   There's on street parking, but I was able to get the last space in a parking lot on the west side of the building.

Inside the restaurant, it featured a tin ceiling, exposed brick walls and an old-style bar.  I ended up sitting at the bar and was greeted by Daniel, the bartender.  He gave me a food menu and I ordered up a Stone IPA that they had on tap - one of over 50 beers the Anchor features on tap.  

At the top of the menu at the Anchor, you'll find a number of interesting appetizers including beer-battered jalapeño caps, truffle fries, and applewood-smoked chicken wings. They also had a number of salads including a baby wedge salad, as well as chili and a soup of the day.  Also prominently featured toward the top of the menu was the Anchor's roasted mac & cheese - cavatappi pasta made with four different types of cheese and topped with garlic bread crumbs.  Extras that could be added to the roasted mac & cheese included ham, bacon, grilled mushrooms, kimchi, pulled pork and grilled salmon.  

I had gone into the Anchor with the idea of trying one of their burgers.  The Butcher's Grind burger featured end cut Black Angus Certified Beef from the Douglas Avenue Chop House butcher shop and wrapped in bacon, then topped with white cheddar cheese and a Chambard onion jam.  The Anchor also featured an Akaushi Beef burger - a Wagyu-style beef raised in Kansas by Texas-based HeartBrand Beef.  The Akaushi Beef burger was ground in house, grilled and topped with pimento cheese, garlic aioli, and blackened tomatoes.  They also had a smoked beef burger topped with aged cheddar, bacon, smoked  caramelized onions and a barbecue sauce.  

In addition to their burgers, the Anchor also had some pretty interesting sandwiches.  They had a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich made with sliced Creekstone Farms beef and topped with provolone cheese, caramelized onions and grilled green peppers.  They had a smoked pastrami sandwich that caught my eye, as well as a couple of sandwiches - a pulled pork and a panko-crusted pork tenderloin sandwich that were made with locally-raised lean Red Wattle pork.  

Suddenly, I was in a quandary.  While the burgers sounded good, they weren't my only option.  The smoked pastrami was calling my name, but a couple of other things - fried flour beef tacos and a smoked maple/bourbon Red Wattle pork chop - caught my eye.  When Daniel came to take my order, I was at a loss as what to get.  I took a page from my wife when she finds herself not knowing what to get at a restaurant she's not familiar with and I asked Daniel what they were known for.  "The reuben is probably our best seller," he told me.  "Our burgers are great, but the reuben is my favorite thing on the menu."  

And that's what I ended up getting.  It was a basic reuben - slow-cooked corned beef topped with Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and a house-made reuben sauce.  It came on marble rye bread and was lightly grilled.  A side of hand-cut fries came with the sandwich, but there was a large amount of beef on the sandwich and the fries basically became a throwaway as soon as I started to dig into the sandwich.

The beef was tender and flavorful - I love a good tender corned beef.  And this was very good.  Even though it was a messy sandwich - it was a multi-napkin affair - the bread held together very well with the juicy beef, sauerkraut, sauce and the Swiss cheese all blending together.  Daniel came over to check on me and asked if his recommendation was worth it.  It was - and then some.  This was a very good reuben sandwich.  

I'm hoping to get back to the Anchor at some point to try a burger, but I was thoroughly impressed with the top-notch reuben sandwich that I had on my first visit.  I liked the atmosphere of the restored building, the service at the bar was very good, and it was tough to beat the beer selection they had.  The Anchor is one of the more popular restaurants in Wichita - a city with a surprising number of good restaurants. And it's easy to see why with the meal I had this particular day.  The Anchor is a great little pub-style place with a laid-back vibe. 

Yolo Grill - Wichita

I was talking with my dealer in Wichita on a visit there late last year and he was telling me of a place over on the west side of town that had great reuben sandwiches by the name of the Yolo Grill.  I had to be back in Wichita a few weeks ago and I decided to seek out the Yolo Grill to get a reuben.  However, when I got there I found that they didn't have reubens any longer.  And here's the back story as to why they didn't have reubens on my visit.  

Aaron and Cindy Cline both had longtime jobs that began to bore them.  They decided that they didn't want to work for anyone any longer and they looked for opportunities to become their own boss.  They thought about opening their own little restaurant and looked at a small drive-in on N. West St. in Wichita.  (see map)   The building had originally been one of the first Sonic Drive-In franchises back in the 60's.  When the franchise owner closed down that location for a larger location, the building started on a long revolving march of restaurants that included a burger joint, a couple Mexican restaurants, a Chinese food restaurant and a place that specialized in Sloppy Joe's.  I'm not kidding.  So when the Cline's decided to lease the building for their endeavor, they were met by skepticism from friends who felt the building was cursed.  

I believe it was one of their children who came up with the Yolo name - an acronym for "You Only Live Once".  They opened their restaurant in August of 2013 and quickly became famous for not only their reuben sandwiches, but their flat grilled burgers, as well.  

Things went well for awhile, but suddenly Yolo would be closed for periods of time throughout the summer of 2014.  The Cline's finally closed Yolo in October of last year adding to the lore that the little building is cursed.  It wasn't long after the Cline's closed their door when one of their regular customers, Chris Byars, took a chance on the place and bought the kitchen equipment from the Cline's and leased the building.  Cline had no restaurant training - he calls himself a "home cook" - and after some cleaning and touch-ups, he reopened Yolo in December of last year.  

I got into Wichita around 1 p.m. and headed over to Yolo to get a reuben.  But, as I said, their menu doesn't feature any reuben sandwiches.  But they do have burgers and that's what I ended up getting.  They have fresh cut French fries and real homemade onion rings, but I just just went with the burger.  

Yolo Grill is not very big.  There's - maybe - six or seven tables in the place.  I took a seat at a table in the back room that had only four four-seater tables in it.  There was some artwork on the wall in sort of a hodgepodge way, but the place was far from spartan.  

The girl who took my order at the front counter brought my burger out to me.  It was a 1/3 pound flame-broiled burger that was topped with Swiss cheese, fresh lettuce, onion slice and a slice of fresh tomato.  This thing was tall on its own - you can almost imagine what Yolo Grill's gargantuan burger, the Tombstone would be like.  It features 6 of the 1/3 pound burger patties with cheese on top of them.  I saw a picture of it.  It looked huge.  

The taste of the burger was very good.  I'd rather have a flat-grilled burger over a chargrilled burger, but this was juicy and tasty.  The veggies on the burger were very fresh and crisp giving the burger a good outdoor/summery taste quality.  The bun was light and held together very well.  I was impressed with this burger.

Even though I went in with the idea of getting a reuben - even my stomach was craving a reuben - the consolation of getting a burger didn't dampen my feelings about my visit to Yolo Grill.  The place is pretty basic. The menu is basic, but everything is fresh and house-made, and it's a great place for a fast-casual meal without going to a chain restaurant.  I hope that the new owner is able to make a go of this quaint little place because he has a very good burger.

 

River City Brewing Co. - Wichita, KS

I put on a new dealer in Wichita late last year and they're already turning into a promising account for me.  I've had to make a couple three trips to Wichita and on a recent trip I had time to grab some lunch at a brewpub in Wichita's Old Town shopping and entertainment district - River City Brewing Co.  

River City Brewing Co. is the oldest brewpub in Wichita and one of the oldest in the state of Kansas.  It was founded in 1993 by Monte Griffin whose passion in life prior to opening a brewpub was to visit breweries of all sizes when he was on vacation.  For his brewpub, Griffin found an abandoned warehouse in Wichita's downtown area - one that had been around since 1905 that originally housed a paint company before being the home to a grocery store, a tanning company and - up to the late 80's - a warehouse for a paper company.  

Working with craftsmen, Griffin found leaded glass for the building's entryway from an old mansion in Wichita, wood for the bar came from the old Salvation Army building in Wichita, some of the seating for booths and overhead lights came from an old church in the area, wainscoting and flooring were saved from a house that was undergoing demolition, and wood trim and other materials for the booths were salvaged from old mansions that were being demolished in the historic Quality Hill neighborhood in Kansas City.     

Along with partner Bill Shea, Griffin ran River City Brewing Co. for four years before selling his shares to Shea.  In 1997, Shea sold the brewpub to a group of Wichita businessmen who called upon local native Chris Arnold to run it for them.  Arnold had been running a restaurant in Arkansas - in a dry county, no less - and he knew absolutely nothing about running a brewpub, and not much more as how to work in a restaurant that sold alcohol.  

The biggest problem that Arnold faced was the reluctance for locals to try a craft beer that was brewed in house.  Customers continued to buy Coors Light and Budweiser, but River City's own beers weren't selling.  Not only did Arnold have to educate himself on the brewing process and what made a handcrafted beer special, he had to do the same thing for his customers.  He eventually installed former River City Brewing Co. server and home brewer Dan Norton as the head brewmaster for the brewpub.  It was Norton's passion for brewing that eventually turned around the fortunes of the brewery part of the business and today the brewpub sells only beers that are brewed in house.    

In 2001, the group remodeled the upstairs floor of the building and opened Loft 150, a combination live music venue, dance hall, billiard room, cigar bar and outside deck.  Arnold eventually bought into the partnership as some investors dropped out and today he is the managing partner in the business.  The brewpub is now producing up to 800 barrels of beer annually including special edition barrel-aged beers developed by Arnold and Norton.  

I found River City Brewing Co. on N. Mosley St. near the corner of E. 1st St. N. (see map)  There's a parking lot on the north side of the building and it was just past the lunch rush so plenty of parking was available.  Walking inside, I found a space that held the historic value of the building.  Beer vats were located behind a couple large glass windows behind the bar area.

The main dining space features the bar, a number of high tables and chairs, and an area on the other side of the room with booths.  I was greeted by a hostess and I asked if I could sit at the bar.  She said it was no problem.  After sitting down, a bartender came over to greet me and dropped off a menu.  She asked what I wanted to drink and a quick look at the beer menu showed me that they had an India Pale Ale by the name of Tornado Alley, one of over a dozen beers they had on tap that day.  

Most of the food on the menu at River City Brewing Co. consists of pub fare including appetizers, soups and salads, sandwiches and burgers, as well as pizzas.  They do have entrees including steaks (the Cowboy Ribeye is rubbed with a housemade ancho chile seasoning), pork chops, barbecued ribs, chicken and some seafood items.  What caught my attention were the grilled tilapia tacos.  Always a sucker for good grilled fish tacos - plus the fact that I really needed to eat something more light for lunch that day - that's what I ordered.  

The grilled tilapia tacos were topped with fresh Mexican white cheese, an avocado relish, and a creamy chipotle sauce that had a nice spicy bite on the back end and some chopped lettuce.  The fish and toppings were tucked inside a couple flour tacos and a side of rice came with the meal.  I contemplated putting some rice in the tacos, but they were so full already with a good amount of grilled fish and the toppings that I just let the rice sit on the side.  The tacos were going to be enough. 

And the grilled tilapia tacos were very good.  Surprisingly very good.  The fish was light and flaky with no hint of a fishy taste.  But the creamy chipotle sauce had a pretty forward bite to it, enough to get your attention that it was spicy but not overpowering.  The Tornado Alley IPA did a good job of knocking down the spiciness of the sauce as the hops mixed well with the sauce.  Compared to other IPA's, the Tornado Alley had a good hoppy taste, but not so much that it had an overly forward hoppy taste.  The beer was as good as the fish tacos.  

Wichita is a long way from my home - about 8 hours one way by car - but it appears that I'll be making regular trips to the city thanks to the growing business I'm doing there.  My goal is to get back to River City Brewing Co. to enjoy a beer on the upstairs deck on some warm summer evening.  While the menu isn't going to win many awards for uniqueness, what I had on my visit was very good and I'm sure the rest of the food on the menu is of the same level.  River City Brewing Co. wouldn't be in business for nearly 22 years if the food and beer weren't good. 

Bomber Burger - Wichita, KS

I just put on a new dealer in Wichita.  It had been some time since I was last in that city, so I decided to look for a good burger place.  Checking out some local reviews on line I found a rather intriguing place where people either hated the place because of varying reasons (owner was crude and a opinionated redneck, place was dirty, too long of a wait for a burger), or they absolutely loved the place (excellent burger, charming dive bar, coldest beer in town).  So with a combination of apprehension and anticipation I sought out a place called Bomber Burger on the far south side of Wichita.  

(WARNING - If politically incorrect and some foul language offends you, stop here.  I'll spoil the ending - it's a great burger.)  

Bomber Burger has been around since 1951, undoubtedly named for the bombers that were made in Wichita and flown out of the nearby McConnell Air Force Base.  The small place garnered a reputation for making a good burger and served civilians and Air Force personnel alike.  It had gone through a series of owners before Paul Rickard bought the place in 1985.  Paul's son Chris - who was going to college at Wichita State in the physician assistant's program - ran the place at night.  

Paul died in his sleep in 1997 and Chris decided that he'd rather cook burgers than work with sick people.  At that point, Chris' "Burgernazi" persona was born.  Chris Rickard took what was a pretty darned good burger already and knocked it a notch or two up by using a special 81/19 blend of fresh Kansas Angus beef, using only high quality oils in the deep fryer, and buying a more heavy duty and dense bun to be able to handle his 1/2 pound burgers.  When more restaurants in the area went to a 1/2 pound burger, Chris upped his burger size to 2/3rds of a pound.  Recently, he decided that there were now too many 2/3 pound burgers in the Wichita market so he went to a 3/4 pound burger.  "And if they start going to 3/4 pound burgers, f*** 'em," Chris told me.  "I'll just go to a one pound burger patty."  

I found Bomber Burger on S. Clifton Ave. just south of S. 47th St. (see map)  A small sign on the door alerted potential criminals that the owner was packing a gun and that he would use it.  I walked into the place and found Chris Rickard behind the small counter.  The place was - and I'm putting this mildly - a dump.  The bar - with just seven stools in front of it was worn, the chairs and tables - four small two-seaters - in the front by the bar were old and mismatched, it looked like it hadn't been updated since - well, it's been around since 1951.  A small back room for overflow, well, that was just plain junky.  It was cluttered and featured a four seater booth and a circular five seater booth.  You would have had to move piles of whatever off the seats to sit down.  Now, if you're a regular reader of Road Tips, you know I like dive bars.  But this place was a REAL dive!  Yes, the place had character.  

The grill was a well seasoned flat-topped gas model.  The zest that was cooked into that grill from thousands and thousands of burgers over the years just added to overall flavor of the grilled meat.  It wasn't a large grill - I could easily see where people would be upset if it took awhile to get a burger.  I couldn't wait to try one.  

I sat at the bar and noticed that there was a fine layer of salt and pepper on top of it.  It hadn't been wiped off recently.  But for as dirty as the place seemed to be, I noticed that Chris Rickard had a near-compulsion with cleanly hands.  There had to be a couple three rolls of paper towels near a small sink off to the side of the grill.  Another six or seven rolls were wrapped up on a shelf above.  Each time Chris touched something - a beer glass, moving something off the bar, before he hand-pattied a burger - he washed his hands, thoroughly.  

I could tell from the posters and paraphernalia on the walls that Chris was a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan.  The NFL Network was on the small TV attached to the wall at the end of the bar.  He has a burger called the Bus #36 - it's a tribute to former Steeler running back Jerome Bettis and features three 3/4 pound burger patties each topped with two slices of American cheese.  (I was sick the day we had math in high school, but I think that's two and a quarter pounds of beef.)

When I sat down, Chris was kibitzing with four guys sitting at two of the tables and one guy sitting down at the other end of the bar.  He came down to my end of the counter and asked what I'd like to drink.  I saw that he had a Miller High Life sign and I said that I'd take one of those.  "Don't have High Life any more," he told me.  "They quit makin' High Life in kegs.  Just have Miller Lite."  He also had Boulevard Wheat on tap, but I don't care for wheat beers.  I took a pint of the Miller Lite.    

The menu at Bomber Burger isn't vast and is burger-centric.  A double cheeseburger is one and a half pounds of total meat.  The Pigburger is a ground pork burger.  The Gumby burger features jalapenos and guacamole.  The RoethlisBurger (named after Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Ben Roethlisberger) is basically a double Gumby burger.  Bomber Burger also has deep fried mushrooms and French fries to offer as sides.  Rickard has a special way that he prepares his fries, soaking them in cold water for a good amount of time before throwing them in the fryer.  

I ended up ordering a cheeseburger from Chris.  (Here he is showing me my hand-pattied burger that he was getting ready to throw on to the grill.) He seasons each burger with a special blend of spices, something that he worked on for a number of years before he perfected the combinations.  (When asked, he told me that the special ingredient was "nunya", as in "nunya f***in' business.)  

To cook a big fat burger like that takes some time.  While my burger was cooking, I was "entertained" by Chris and his observations of current events (his politics are firmly on the hard right, but not extreme), why American football is better than soccer ("Ever see a terrorist play football?  I rest my case!"), his disdain for his ex-wife ("She's a loser f***in' b***h.  If I could kick myself in the ass for marryin' her..."), and his complete and utter contempt of a local chain of burger joints called Spangles.  He went into lengthy detail of the burgers wars that he's waged against Spangles in the past who claims they have the best burger in Wichita.  He even has a sign on the outside of his building that declares Bomber Burger as home of the No. 1 burger in Wichita and that "Spangles can kiss our ass."  I thought to myself, "My God, this guy is ballsy!  I love it!"    

Chris served up the burger to me on a sheet of wax paper with the juices oozing out of the burger.  He put pickles and a sliced onion on it while I added ketchup and yellow mustard.  This was a big-assed burger.  

From the first bite, I could taste some of the seasonings.  At first I wasn't certain that I liked it, but as I went on I could taste garlic and some salt, but it wasn't overpowering. The burger was cooked to what I would call medium with a bit of pink showing in the center.  Even though he pressed the burger a couple times to let it cook in its own juices giving the outside of the burger a crispy texture, it was still juicy in every bite.  The bun was dense, easily holding together under the weight and juiciness of the burger, but it wasn't doughy.  Chris told me that he has to pay extra for the buns, "but they're f***in' worth it."  

As I was sitting there, Chris came over with a basket containing a handful of fries that he had left over from a previous order.  He sat them down in front of me and said, "Here, try some of the fries."  Well, it was all I could do to try and finish the burger, but I did try a couple of the fries and they were all right.  They were a little limp, but I still got a good potato taste out of them.  Having good oil - that's changed regularly - is a big plus to having good fries.

Chris was telling me that once he got the "Best Burger in Wichita" award, a number of people that he never saw before came to his place.  "These f***in' yuppies would come in here and there was no middle ground - they either hated it or they loved it," he told me.  "And most of them loved it."  

He said that on a Saturday he would sometimes be backed up for 45 to 60 minutes on the grill.  "That would piss a few of those f***ers off, but you know what?  Once they figured out that I don't work around their f***in' lives, they kept comin' back," he told me.  "Even if they get 'em to go, I don't give a s**t, they're still comin' back."  

The burger and a couple beers came to $13.50, I dropped off $15 bucks at the cash register.  (As it says on his "to-go" menu - "Cash only Dumbass!")  Chris asked me what I thought of the burger and I told him it was damned good.  "You're f***in' right it's damned good," he bellowed back.  If you can get past the fact that Bomber Burger is a real dive, that the owner is crude, opinionated and very right wing, and that you may be in for a bit of a wait at times, then you've got to try one of the burgers there.    

Update - April 2023

Chris Rickard was involved in a train/car crash on Thursday, April 6 after leaving work for the day.  It was reported that he drove into the path of an oncoming train and was hospitalized with what was then called minor injuries.  Up and walking the next day, Rickard was told by doctors that he could be released as soon as that afternoon.  He just needed to have a CT scan to make sure that everything was OK.

However, during the scan, Rickard fell unconscious and it was determined that he had bleeding on the brain.  There was evidence that Rickard may have suffered a stroke as witnesses to the car/train accident said that Rickard had initially stopped at the rail crossing, but then slowly drove into the path of the oncoming train.  Never regaining consciousness and on life-support, his wife and step-daughter decided to take him off the machine on April 22 and he passed away on Monday, April 24 at the age of 50.  The future of Bomber Burger is currently in doubt.

Legends - Wichita

I've eaten some good meals in Wichita over the past couple of times that I've been to the city.  My last trip, I took one of my dealers and his wife to Legends, a restaurant attached to the Hilton at Wichita's Mid-Continent Airport.  It was as good as any meal I've had in the city.

Legends caters to the travelers that use the airport Hilton to stay during business trips.  Most of the people who stay at the airport are connected to the air industry as a number of aviation companies are situated in the immediate area.  Legends offers a full service menu with breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Larry Walker, Jr. is the executive chef of the restaurant and he has some interesting dishes on the menu. 

Legends restaurant is open and spacey.  The booths and tables are big so there isn't any problem stretching out.  And it isn't a loud place so conversations can be had with no problem what so ever.

My dealer, whose business is located near the restaurant, said they'll come over for lunch from time to time.  And he told me they'll come to Legends for their seafood buffet on Saturday nights.  And he said their Sunday brunch is probably the best in Wichita.

We took a booth in the corner and ordered up a bottle of the Jordan 2003 Cabernet.  One of the reasons why I went with it wasn't because it was the most expensive wine on the list - it was because it was the CHEAPEST Jordan Cabernet I've ever seen on a menu.  They had it for $65 dollars.  My dealer said, "Oh, you don't have to get that expensive of a wine." 

I said, "Look, I'm not trying to impress you guys or anything.  This is one helluva price on a wine that I've got for upwards of $130 bucks in restaurants before.  I'm not going to let one for $65 bucks slide!"

There were many interesting things on the menu such as New Zealand lamb chops, Kansas grown venison chops, and fettuccine jambalaya. 

I was particularly intrigued by the Steak au Poivre.  I asked our very Greek waiter, Sami, how the Steak au Poivre was prepared.  He said it was cooked in a cognac, deglaze and served in a reduced cream sauce.  I asked if it was sprinkled with cracked black pepper and he said it wasn't.  OK, so that was out.

I almost went with the Key West shrimp - 5 jumbo shrimp with a crabmeat stuffing served in a light cream sauce.  It sounded good, but so did beef.  I ended up getting the Kansas prime rib, medium rare, with a side of vegetables and sauteed mushrooms.  I also ordered a Caesar's salad before the meal.

My dealer ordered the Steak Diane - two medallions of beef, butterflied and served in a wine sauce with sauteed mushrooms on top.  My dealer's wife got the Legends Trio - a filet of beef, a portion of the venison chop and two of the Key West stuffed shrimp. 

We finished the bottle of the Jordan cabernet and needed a second bottle of wine for dinner.  So I ordered up a bottle of the Rex Goliath 2003 cabernet.  Rex Goliath has a slight bite to it, sort of reminiscent of licorice, but a very smooth finish.  It would go great with our meat dishes. 

My prime rib came out a perfect medium rare.  They had a huge dollop of ground horseradish on the fatty end of the piece - it was a pleasant surprise as I forgot to order fresh ground horseradish when I place the original order.  I was flipping my dealer and his wife some good natured shit saying that Iowa raised prime rib is a lot better, but I have to admit this was very, very good. 

The Steak Diane my dealer had looked great and he said it was good.  And the Legends Trio was too much food for my dealer's wife.  The venison bone-in chop was not small, the filet was a five ounce filet and the jumbo crab-stuffed shrimp were huge.  She couldn't finish her meal. 

With tip - and especially with bottle of Jordan at $65 bucks, the bill came to a bit over $210.  Most of the entrees run between $17 to $29, so you can get out of Legends a little cheaper if you want.  The food was very good, and the service was great (although Sami's accent made it a little tough to understand him from time to time). 

I normally don't go for places that are attached to hotels, but Legends was a very pleasant surprise and a place that I would have no problem going back to. 

Ted's Montana Grill - Wichita, KS

You know, I'm not big on chain restaurants, but I have this thing about Ted's Montana Grill steakhouses.  The food is consistently good, the service - while it may be over the top at times - is good, as well.  If I'm hungry, but not in the mood to go out and try and find some place to eat that I'm not familiar with - and there's a Ted's in the area - I'll go there. 

However, I had gotten kind of stagnant in my ordering at Ted's Montana Grill.  It seemed all I ever ordered in the past was the bison filet with the garlic mashed potatoes.  The night I went to the Ted's in Wichita, I was in the mood to try something different.

Ted's Montana Grill actually calls themselves a classic American grill that specializes in comfort food.  Although I can't say that steak is what I would call comfort food, they do have comfort favorites such as pot roast, slow roasted pork, country fried chicken and some other "stick to your ribs" meals. 

However, they also have a variety of both bison and beef hamburgers on the menu.  I'd heard they cooked a pretty good burger and I was kind of in the mood for a good burger that evening.  So I sat at the bar and ordered just a good ol' fashioned cheddar cheese bison burger with a side of their "salt 'n' pepper" onion rings. 

Actually, I ordered the burger medium rare - worried that it would be overcooked and not too flavorful.  However, I forgot that this was Ted's, the place that makes thick bison filets nice and juicy.  It was a little undercooked, but edible enough. 

And it was good.  It would have been better had it been cooked about another two minutes on each side, but it was as good as advertised.  But it wasn't cheap - with cheese the bison burger was $10.59. 

Once again, the service was good, but a little too fake.  The two bartenders were attentive, but a little too scripted to be sincere enough in their service. 

Next time I go to Ted's, I'll have to try the pot roast or some comfort food and then report about that in the "Comfort Food" category.  But for now, the bison burger was very good and I'd highly recommend it.  Just be sure to order it medium...

(Update - In the fall of 2010, Ted's Montana Grill closed a number of restaurants in the Midwest including the one in Wichita.  I'm sure the economic stress over the past couple of years had something to do with it, considering how the aerospace and aircraft industry had taken a hit during that time.  And since that's Wichita's largest economic sector, I'm sure places like Ted's suffered.)

Ted's Montana Grill

Ted's Montana Grill began in 2002 as a joint venture between media mogul Ted Turner and longtime restauranteur George McKerrow (of Longhorn Steakhouse fame). 

Turner is one of the largest landowners in the nation, owning over 1.5 million acres in 14 states.  And he's also the largest bison rancher in the country.  And with that, Ted's Montana Grill serves bison on their menu, along with beef, chicken and seafood entrees.   

The first Ted's Montana Grill opened in Columbus, OH and there are currently nearly 40 restaurants in 17 states.  I've eaten at three of the Ted's locations - Omaha, Wichita, and in suburban Chicago.  Each one is very, very good.

I was told a couple years ago that Ted Turner's goal was to have 225 restaurants within five years.  They aren't growing quite that fast. I hope they don't grow that quickly as it will be difficult to keep tabs on quality control.

I've had bison steak before and I can say that I wasn't that big of a fan of it.  One of the biggest problems with cooking bison meat is that it is so lean a lot of the natural juices cook out of it making the meat tough and flavorless.  Ted's came up with a unique way to keep the juices from escaping during the cooking process.  They cook their bison meat on a flat grill at a high temperature and they put a lid over the top of the meat while it's cooking to keep the bison steak from drying out.

All the Ted's Montana Grill restaurants hand cut their own beef and bison in house.  They offer steak cuts and burgers in both bison and beef.  One person can have the KC Strip in beef, while the other can have it in bison. 

I was kind of skeptical of getting a bison steak at the first Ted's I ate at in Wichita about two years ago, but the waitress virtually guaranteed that I didn't have to pay for it if I didn't like it.  So I got the bison filet. 

She didn't have to pick up the check that night.  The bison filet was juicy and tasty, very much unlike the bison steaks I've had in the past.  And it's been that way at the other Ted's I've been to, as well.   

They also have pot roast and made-from-scratch meatloaf on the menu, although I've yet to try either one.  Maybe one night when I'm in severe need for comfort food when I'm near a Ted's I'll have to give them a try.

Ted's Montana Grill's decor is designed to make you feel like you're eating in a western lodge.  It's heavy on the woodwork throughout the restaurant.  The place can get a little loud so sitting in a booth is good if you're there for business or for conversation. 

There's a big bar in each Ted's that handles the overflow and people waiting for tables.  One of the best things about Ted's - all their restaurants are smoke-free. 

I've been told that Ted Turner personally inspects each restaurant and makes it to the individual grand openings across the country.  He's been known to show up unannounced for dinner at various Ted's, as well.  I suppose if the restaurant has your name on it, it's good to be checking up on them from time to time. 

Ted's is a unique place that keeps me coming back.  Besides, bison meat is good for you and Ted's makes the best.  It's definitely worth the visit if you get around one.