E.J. Becker

remember the kitchen sink?  see below if you don’t.

one of the goals in my glorious romp through life is to find the best saturday morning breakfast in kansas city.  if you’re asking why is has to be a saturday morning breakfast and you don’t know what i do for a living, then i forgive you.  just accept that it’s gotta be saturday.

-succotash (or however it’s spelled).  did it. reviewed it. haven’t had the inkling to go back yet.

this week: town topic.  what?  it’s a burger joint.  but, okay.  why not.

i chose the town topic on johnson drive (not this one but i dig the lincoln) because i knew the likelihood of getting a place to sit was higher there.  it’s not huge, but bigger than the two downtown. i go in, i look at the menu and there’s the truck stop omelet. 4 eggs, meat of choice (sausage of course), hashbrowns (in the omelet), peppers, onions and toast.  just to keep things even, i ordered some gravy on the side.

the omelet was huge. easily enough for two.  the potatoes were crispy, the onions and peppers done just right and the omelet itself was perfect (you know, perfect color, consistent thickness and perfectly removed from the griddle making you wonder how they do that?). the additional gravy was non-descript and required salt.  and, actually it was unnecessary.

town topic’s truck stop now floats highest in the saturday morning kitchen sink. total price, just north of 10 bucks.  seems steep to me considering we’re talking about town topic, but in the end, absolutely worth it.

rock’n'roll

saturday morning breakfast breakfast, omelet, town topic

first off, if you missed any of our day at the dole broadcast, you can find pictures and podcasts on our rundown page.

when you take the entire show on the road, there’s alot of behind the scenes stuff that makes the show interesting.  i can’t possibly remember it all so here are some of the highlights from our 20 hours in lawrence and our visit to the bi-partisan dole institute of politics.

-bill lacy has a picture hanging in his office where he’s talking to ronald reagan on air force one.  pretty cool.

-ellen took part in a media panel in front of about 100 people on wednesday night.  the dinner that preceded split 30 of us up among 5 tables and dole staffers led discussions about the media and the race.  each table had a nice mix of media folks, staff, donors and students. pretty cool stuff.  and ku’s catering’s good too.

-ray strother is the democratic fellow at the dole this semester and told us at dinner that the way obama has run this election will change elections forever.  his use of technology will forever change elections from presidential races all the way down to dog-catcher.

-senator bob dole never threw anything away.  they have a white glove tour at the dole that displays every trinket, gift, paper and thing that he ever received.

-mary matalin is a huge fan of bob dole.  and she does a great interview while travelling on a train between new york and washington.

-at least one of the ku students who took part in our town hall discussion is now a dedicated listener.  (thanks annie.)

-mark can fly the plane from an hour away and we still hear him jump up and down and flail about when he wants us to break and go to commercial.

-and the dole institute puts on a good breakfast.  the cheesey potatoes and gravy were great.

rock’n'roll

behind the scenes bill lacy, breakfast, dole institute, e.j. and ellen, ku, mary matalin, politics, ray strother

if you’ve listened to the show for any length of time, you know that i like food.  i like good food…and it doesn’t matter if it’s cheap or expensive.  i’m just as happy eating a double cheeseburger from the mcdonalds dollar menu as i am eating a kc strip or pot roast nachos at the m&s grill.  every meal is an event.  so i make the most of it.

getting up between 2 and 3 in the morning really can put a damper on the first big event of the day…breakfast.  during the week, my first meal is usually prepared and consumed at 4:30am.  it’s often leftovers from a previous event (thursdays are the best because i eat the leftover burnt ends from the gas station) or a salad and chicken (i do try to eat healthy on occasion gary, but i won’t eat a protein waffle).

so when saturday rolls around, i’m always on the lookout for the best breakfast in kc.  what i’ve found is great variety (from andre’s to the blue bird bistro, from hy-vee to jerry’s woodsweather cafe).  but i’ve also found one particular kind of breakfast offering at numerous b-fast joints…i call it the cholesterol catastrophe. the restaurants that serve it call it something else.

last saturday it was succotash in the city market.  they call it “the kitchen sink.” it’s a pile of meat (in this case ham), potatoes, eggs, onions and peppers topped with cheese and then gravy just in case your heart is still beating. i am drawn to such breakasts because i like meat, potatoes, eggs, cheese, gravy, onions and peppers.  throw in a cupcake and we’re really in good shape!

the kitchen sink was fine. a relatively spicy sausage instead of ham…that would have made the difference.  (it also would have helped if i hadn’t had to send a plate back twice because it was dirty…and if the orange juice hadn’t tasted like celery — they use one juicer for everything).

still, i’ll probably give it another try.  they make pancakes as big as truck tires. i’ll probly give those a shot.  also, the menu has some interesting variety…so i gotta try again.  and…and they have BLUE velvet cupcakes…yes…i have my primary colors right.  last time i went, they were out, so i have to go back for one of those.

there are at least two other joints in town with cholesterol catastrophes and i definitely have my favorite.  watch for it!

rock’n'roll.

saturday morning breakfast blue velvet, breakfast, city market, kansas city, kitchen sink, succotash