Q39 (Midtown, KC)

I'm thinking a good routine to stick to (for now) is to post my taco reviews on Tuesdays. Everybody knows about Taco Tuesday, and while I want to spread the word on great options for any day of the week, this will be perfect for now!

Similarly to the last post, this week covers another stop I made during KC Restaurant Week. Now technically, Q39 is a BBQ joint... I've been hearing about it for a couple years now (because KC people are obsessed with their BBQ), but being a pretty loyal customer to Bryant's and LC's, I hadn't ventured down to Midtown to try it yet.

Q39 was initially born as a competition BBQ team called the "Muchin Hogs." They won tons and tons of awards, people loved their rubs and smoked meats, so naturally the idea to build a store front came to light. People around Kansas City have great things to say about Q39. Most recently, Travis Kelce (TE for the Chiefs) told contestants on his dating show "Catching Kelce," that it was the best in the city. With all the great press, the cool story, and friends recommending it, when I saw they had a lunch menu for RW I went ahead and made a reservation.

Because we went for lunch, rather than dinner, the meal was $15 and provided two courses. Best part is, even though they're a BBQ place, they had tacos! Based on the menu they provided, here's what I ordered:
- Course 1: Pulled Pork TaQos (with a white bean cassoulet)
- Course 2: Warm Chocolate Brownie (with vanilla bean ice cream)

I really, really loved the food at Q39! By course:
- Course 1: The tacos were of the pulled pork variety (perfect for my BBQ loving heart), with a slaw and chipotle mayo. I thought the combination of the ingredients was great and you could tell everything was created from scratch in house. My only complaint was the juice dripping from the tacos, just because they were served on a cutting board style plate so there was nowhere for it to go!
- Course 2: For the lunch version of RW you skip right to the dessert and I ordered the brownie. It came with chocolate sauce, caramel, and pecans, plus a couple scoops of ice cream. I'm not sure how to review brownies, because most of the time even a bad brownie is still a brownie that I would eat... but I guess I could say it wasn't the best brownie I've ever had?

Again, as far as service goes, I don't want to judge a restaurant's service based on their busiest week of the year. We waited, but we expected that. They were busy, so we expected that. There was a small flub with my meal, but the server fixed it and gave us a free Apple Crumble, so it was all good. I would definitely go back on a less busy occasion to try more!

Rating (out of 5):

Port Fonda (Westport, KC)

As you can presume, with me living in Kansas City, most of my taco stops will take place in the area. I have trips on the books to Houston, TX next month and then to both the Chicago and Orlando-areas over the summer though, so I will do my best to keep things well rounded (as long as travel budget allows).

This post is going to focus on my experience at Port Fonda. Port Fonda is a local joint, having only two locations - one in the Westport district of Kansas City, MO and one in Lawrence, KS. I would call its style of cuisine modern-rustic Mexican. Their chef is really well known, they've received so much positive press, and the restaurant literally used to be an Airstream trailer food truck. If you hadn't heard of this place, you hadn't been paying attention. So when restaurant week rolled around, I knew this was a stop on my list.

SIDENOTE: I'm not sure how all of you feel about restaurant week. I didn't know much about it until this year, honestly, but after doing some research I found that there were over 180 Kansas City restaurants participating and that three really awesome local charities reaped the benefits of me going out to eat. I get to eat for cheap and help some kids?? Done. Sign me up!

Upon arrival, I forgot to snap a picture of the menu because I was distracted, but I was able to find their Restaurant Week menu online to share with you. For dinner at Port Fonda you paid $33 for a 4-course meal. I took a photo of each course to share with you.

  

I know what you're thinking... this is my very first post, you were ready for a taco review, and yet, THERE ARE NO TACOS. You guys, I did not do adequate research and for that I am sorry. The RW menu did not provide me a taco option, leaving me up a creek. At first I was upset, but then I thought, why not enjoy the delicious Mexican food and tell you about it anyway? I like the idea of covering some other things every now and then, so we're gonna roll with it.

Based on the menu they provided, here's what I ordered:

- Course 1: Chips and salsas with guacamole and chile con queso (perks of eating with someone!)

- Course 2: Shishito peppers with mint crema

- Course 3: Chimichanga with tomato habanero cream sauce

- Course 4: Sopapillas

 

 

Overall, the food was good. By course:

- Course 1: The chips at Port Fonda are really thick. They tasted great and were hot, but I personally like a thinner chip. The salsas, guacamole, and queso were delicious.

- Course 2: I had never had Shishito peppers before and they were delicious and still felt fresh. They were a mild/medium pepper so there was no burning or anything like that.

- Course 3: The Chimichanga was also fresh, but the bottom was a bit too toasted for my liking - in turn, making it hard to cut through. The habanero sauce on the Chimi was delicious though!

- Course 4: I am a sopapilla lover, but I found them a little dry. I'm not sure if it's because they didn't give me much honey, or if it dripped off due to the plating (in a bucket), but I definitely wanted more.

As far as service goes, I feel like it's hard to judge a restaurant's service based on their busiest week of the year. I will say though, they included a non-alcoholic beverage with your $33 dinner, which was nice... but I had to ask for sweetener three times before getting it.

Rating (out of 5):
  

Taco Rating System

I haven't shared out my taco project on a huge scale yet, just because I know that most people think this is silly. They don't understand the things happening in my life, how doing something like this is a stress relief, or why in my right mind I think that maybe the right person will read it and I'll end up with one of those cool shows on the Food Network. (Think "Cheap Eats" or "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.") As I've worked on this project, honestly, I've been a little embarrassed about sharing this with friends or colleagues because, "omg what will they think of this silly venture?" Well... here goes!

One thing I've been stumped on since initially bringing this whole dream to life is a ratings system. How can one effectively keep track of taco places, how good the tacos were, organize findings, etc.? More than that though, how do I realistically share those findings with all of you in an easily accessible format? Sure, a spread sheet or chart on my computer works for me, but YOU GUYS don't want to feel like you're assessing data on a blog. I brainstormed and brainstormed and finally decided I wanted to do a rating like you would find for restaurants (1-5 stars), but not with stars. I wanted something more thematic, but not an appropriation of anyone's culture. After reaching out to a friend, she suggested peppers. It's perfect, right? So after promising her 10% of my profits if I every make it big, that's what we're going with. (Plus, there's a hot pepper emoji, which is amazing!)

Taco reviews will include the following:

• Photos
• Ingredient list/menu
• Review of tacos themselves
• Review of service/experience
• Rating of 1-5 peppers

My hope is having a streamline format will make Let's Taco 'Bout It, KC, not only a great resource for taco stop suggestions, but it will be user friendly.

I've already got TWO reviews coming your way, so make sure to keep checking back!

- K

Let's Taco 'Bout Why Tacos

Friends who have known me for a while know that I have tried my hand at a few different blogs. Lifestyle was my original venture, but I found myself having a hard time keeping up with the "trends" while trying to work full time. I love what I do, but teaching leaves little time to create new recipes, snap photos of every outfit, or craft. It ultimately turned into a blog that recapped the events of my life which, while I love looking back at, does not create the most interest from readers. After a while, I created a brunch venture, because it was something I loved and I thought could take off. Again, over time, with restricted schedules because of work, it became difficult to schedule in time to make brunches happen on the weekends, and then to catalog photos/write posts.

Over the last year, I've been trying to find my internet niche. Upon reflection, I know that the food review side is definitely something that draws me, but brunch wasn't for me anymore. Which lands me on... tacos. Wait, what?

Yes, tacos.

It all started last year when I traveled with a few friends to Houston, TX for a Kansas City Chiefs playoff game. Sadly, on this trip, we were limited on time and never actually made it anywhere to eat tacos... and I've been thinking about it ever since.

When 2017 came around, I sat to write out my goals for the year (something I do so I can share them with my students), and one of my "less serious" goals was to find the PERFECT TACO.

When the Chiefs made the playoffs this year, my friend Shelby and I made plans to make the trip to Houston if that's where they ended up playing. She had traveled there with me last year, and she too had taco regrets. The Chiefs ended up winning their division and playing at home, leaving us with a bitter sweet feeling of still wanting to redeem our Houston/taco experience. With that in mind, we booked a trip for the end of February to visit anyway!

All the talk about tacos and where to find the best ones is what ended up inspiring "Let's Taco 'Bout It KC." It is here that I will recap my taco ventures. The good, the bad, the ugly, the delicious. I will share it with you.

 

If you have taco recommendations, places you think I should avoid, whatever... shoot that info my way. I'll take all the help I can get! Along the same lines, if you're ever interested in being my taco eating buddy, let me know!

Until next time!
- K