The Food Shop

For years the gas station at the corner of Gregory and Jackson was an abandoned eye sore. I drove by it every day on my way to pick my kids up from school. It had broken windows and litter would collect around it.

About a year ago I got a call at work. A water main had broken and school was cancelled. I took off from work and went to pick up my son and four year old daughter, Zoe.

Zoe wasn't too happy about leaving school early. It was a nice spring day and the kids usually worked in the school's garden in the afternoon. Zoe was not happy about leaving. On the drive away from the school she had a melt down. She took her seat belt off and began throwing a tantrum. I pulled into the old abandoned gas station and parked to wait out her tantrum. They usually last about 5 minutes and are followed by a two hour nap.

While Zoe was screaming in the back seat and I was trying to calmly wait the tantrum out, a man walked over a knocked on my window. He was dressed OK, had short hair and gold rimmed glasses and looked harmless enough.

I rolled down my window a little. The man leaned down, introduced himself as "junior" and asked me if I wanted some "stuff." I told him no, that I was just sitting here trying to calm my daughter down. He then said "do you like black women? I can fix you up." I told him no, that I was married and didn't need to be fixed up.

Junior then straightened up and said "you don't like black people do you?" I pointed out that I had just picked my children up from the school down the street and that my son was the only white kid in his class. At this point junior looked shocked and said "what, you send you kids to that school?" Junior then went on to philosophize about how blacks and whites needed to try and integrate more. Junior said, "Thats really good, black and white kids need to go to school together. If different races would come together more the world would be better and we wouldn't have all this racism."

Junior then gave me his number and told me to call him if I ever needed anything. I drove home wondering if I should call the police or not. In the end I didn't, for good or bad.

Well, now that old run down gas station has been replaced with a shiny new convenience store called "The Food Shop". As Bill O'Reilly would say "no one runs around asking for some M-Fing iced tea."

So if you are ever in that part of town and need some gas or a soda, give the Food Shop a try. And if you see junior, tell him I said hi.

Go ride the bus!

I ride the bus, because Al Gore said if I didn't that everyone would die. Add to that, my car just passed 172,000 miles and the last $800 repair bill almost broke me (thank goodness for credit cards with 20% interest rates). I kid myself in to thinking that each day I ride the bus, that is one more day my car will last.

About four times a week I ride the 57 from Waldo to downtown, to drop off or pick up my kids, then ride back before my transfer pass expires. Kids under 6 ride free, my 7 year old has only been carded once and that driver was a real witch anyway. Overall, KC bus drivers are some of the most courteous city employees I have ever met. They give out more directions than a gas station attendant and have to listen to more than their share of chatty passengers and crazy people.

The folks that ride ride the bus are mostly low income to middle class. Then sprinkle in a few non-conformist kids and crazy people. About every fourth trip their is a crazy person on the bus. Usually its not a big deal, your run of the mill talking about aliens type (last month a guy told me the world would end this September, keep your fingers crossed.) Every now and then it is the creepy kind of crazy and you wait patiently for your stop to come.

You might think that I would be a light rail supporter. But I have never met a light rail supporter that actually uses public transportation. The light rail proposal runs the same route as current bus lines. No one has said rail will run faster, cost less or have longer hours. So why would KC want to spend so much on light rail that doesn't have any obvious benefits? Some folks say that rail creates "destinations" and there are studies that some people who think they are too good to ride the bus, will actually ride light rail.

Maybe instead of spending the hundreds of millions on light rail we should expand the current bus system. That would help the people that need it most.

But hey, what do I know. So if you have never ridden the bus, then you should give it a try. If you are one of those that rides the bus, then Al Gore and I thank you.

KCMO schools

It is that time of year again for the KCMO School District. The time when the state releases the standardized test scores, the MAP test. This year had some good and bad news. Mostly bad news in that the district scored well below the state average on every subject. The good news is that the scores were a little better than last year.

The District has a new school superintendent. He promised a 5 point gain in reading scores, but delivered about a 1.9 point gain. Not the best, but at least in the right direction.

After I looked at this years scores, I began to wonder. Even if KCMO improves to an acceptable level, will people care? Will the wealthier, whiter parts of town start to send their kids to public schools? Or will they continue to send their kids to private schools or move to Johnson County when their children reach school age?

Unlike Forest Gump's proverbial box of chocolate, with Kansas City schools you know exactly what you are getting. The Missouri Department of public education publishes a mountain of information on each school in the state. All you have to do is look, to find out how good or bad your neighbourhood school is.

The Kansas City school district as a whole, performs well below the state average in every area. That being said, a number of schools in the district perform at or better than the state average.

An example is Holliday Montessori. It scores at or above the state average in every subject. In 5th grade communication arts Holliday had 31% of its students score as advanced, the state average is 18%. So Holliday had almost twice the percentage of students score as advanced. Holliday is a themed magnet school. It uses the Montessori teaching method and is one of the few magnet schools the District has left. They have always had a very advanced pre-k program, starting child at 3 years old.

I once talked to a parent about schools. I told him about how Holliday had great test scores and I thought it was in part from their pre-k program. His response was that Holliday's pre-k program was just "an inexpensive day care for poor people."

So we have a school that has a pre-k program and has above average test scores. What is different about Holliday than most suburban schools? Why would he dismiss Holliday so easily when all the data shows they are a good school?

Academie Lafayette is a charter school in Kansas City. It is a French immersion school. All of the classes are taught 100% in French and every student becomes fluent in French within the first year. For 2007, Academie Lafayette scored above the state average in EVERY tested area. Not just a little above the average, but way above the average. I once spoke to a parent about Academie Lafayette and she said it was the "best of the worst." So we have a school that scores above the state average in EVERY area, but a local parent still labels it the "best of the worst." Why would she label a top performing school as the "best of the worst"?

Many white, affluent Kansas Citians view of the KCMO School District can be summed up in what one parent said to me. This parent told me he was worried about sending his child to Academie Lafayette because there was so much "diversity" there. He actually said "diversity" was worrying him. When I told another parent that I send my kids to KCMO public schools, she said "are they safe, do they have to go through metal detectors". I pointed out that many schools shootings and all the big ones, have occurred in predominately white schools.


The KCMO District has plenty of problems, from the administration up to the school board, but it is completely wrong to say that the drop in attendance is completely due to the performance of the schools. Few people want to admit that a lot of parents won't send their kids to KCMO schools simply because of racism. For a significant number of parents, it doesn't matter how well the school performs. They simply don't want to send their kids to a mixed race school.

So if you have kids that are reaching school age, take a look around your local public school. Look past the race of students, and talk to the teachers and look at the test scores. It may be a better school than you realized.

You can look up the scores here.

Jerusalem Cafe

About a decade ago I used to make the trip from Texas to Kansas City pretty frequently to see my sweetheart. It was about a 9 hour drive in a little pickup. Usually I had black lab laying in the bed of the truck. He'd put his head through the back window and lick me on the ear to keep me awake. I'd roll in to my sweetheart's place in the middle of the night and try to look as cheery as you can after a 600 mile drive.

One of our favorite places to eat back then was the Jerusalem Cafe. The Jerusalem Cafe was the first place I ever tried hummus. I still think it has the best hummus I ever tried. As the years went by I eventually moved to KC. The Jesuralem Cafe stayed one of our favorite haunts. Eventually kids came around and we ate there less and less. My son Kai doesn't take much to strange foods, he's more of a hamburger and hot dog boy. My little girl Zoe likes the food, but just can't seem to keep still.

Well things change and sweetheart's don't always stay together. Anyway, tonight I ate alone at the Jerusalem Cafe. It was the first time I had been there in years. I'm happy to say the food was still as good as I remember. The service was a little slow, but the staff was friendly and I wasn't in a hurry. I decided to skip the hummus this time and just have a falafel sandwich. It tasted just like it did back in the day.

So if your in the mood for a good gyro, falafel or hummus, then give the Jerusalem Cafe a try. It's located in Westport at 431 Westport Rd.

Best McDonalds in town

Eating out will small children can be tough sometimes. You go to some snooty restaurant and the beautiful people hold up their nose at you or you go to some place like Chuckie Cheese and loose your mind between the chaos and bad food.

Luckily for folks like me there is the McDonald's on 7800 State Line. It is an oasis for parents. They have a giant play area. It's got tubes and slides and it takes up about half of the restaurant. The best thing is there is a glass divider between the play area and the restaurant. That way I don't have to hear the hipsters complain about how loud my kids are.

The clientèle is probably one of the most diverse of any food place in KC. It is kind of like the United Nations of KC. You see east siders, brooksiders and JoCo house wives all in the same place. For a McDonald's the service is pretty good.

So if you have some little kids give it a try. Just let the kids eat their Happy Meal, then sit back and enjoy some "premium" coffee while they run wild in the glass enclosed play ground!

"Jennifer Steinkamp" exhibit at the Kemper Museum

I took Kai and Zoe to the Kemper Museum to see the exhibit by Jennifer Steinkamp. She has this cool computer animation based exhibit. I had never been to the Kemper Museum before so I didn't know much what to expect.

When we got there we first looked at some modern art. Within two minutes a women in a museum uniform came up to me. She had this thick European accent (not sure which country) and said that if I wanted to wear my backpack I had to wear it on just one shoulder. First off, nothing sounds snootier than someone with a European accent telling you that your wearing your backpack the wrong way. I still don't get it. Lets say I was wanting to steal stuff. Having my backpack over just ONE shoulder would make it easier to stuff full of art.

So anyway there I am with two kids. All the museum guards are giving me the eye. So the kids and I go into the Steinkamp exhibit. It is just projections on the walls, so there is nothing to break or steal. The "guards" in that room seemed like they were there to get credit for art school and where a little less uptight.

The exhibit was pretty cool though. They have about 3 or 4 projectors in each room. Most project different computer animations on the wall. One projects a fields of flowers. The whole thing is pretty psychedelic. The only thing missing is the Doors playing in the background. The exhibit is in town until May 16 so check it out. Just watch out for the guards.

Foo's Fabulous

Foo's Fabulous Frozen custard is located at 6235 Brookside Plaza. They have been in Brookside since 1988. They make the frozen custard right there in the store. You can watch it come out of the machine. Probably the most asked question is do you have anything beside vanilla? No! The custard only comes in vanilla and they mix in other stuff like candy, chocolate, strawberries, rassberries etc. They probably have well over a dozen things you can mix in.

The store is a small place in the Brookside shops. It's usually staff by high school age kids that live in the area. The kids do a really good job. Usually when you go to a place staffed by 18 and 19 year olds, they care more about yapping on their cell phone than helping the customers. I can't think of a time when I went in and had the kids who work there give bad service.

One friday night, Zoe, Kai and I stopped in for a treat. It was a rainy night and business was slow. There were about 4 kids working, but we were the only customers. After we got our ice cream the kids just kind of sat around. As we left we met the owner. She's pretty cool and has owned the place for years. We chatted for a little bit then left. As she walked in and closed the door I heard her say something like "OK everybody get off your asses." Reminds me of a few of my old high school jobs.

In the summer time, people in brookside love to hang out on the sidewalk in front of Foo's. They serve a doggy custard too. It is a small custard topped with doggy treats. I know it sounds pretty pretentious to buy ice cream for you dog, but hey my dog likes them and my daughter told me it is only fair that he get ice cream too. There is a Baskin Robbins just a block away, but all of the cool people go to Foo's.

Foo's recently opened a second store in Leawood. I hope that doesn't mean they have jumped the shark. Johnson County seems to be able to suck the coolness out of everything.

Classic Cookie

The Classic Cookie is a small cafe at Gregory and Wornall. When I moved here in 98, I used to drive by it everyday. One Sunday morning, Jean and I stopped in for breakfast. For the next few years we had breakfast there almost every Sunday. They have good food. Your standard bacon, eggs and a special of the day. Lunch is good too, but I think of it as more of a breakfast place. Of course they have good cookies too.

Leslie is the owner and knows most of the customers by name. The cafe's only downside is that as time went on, the place got more popular. In the old days you could go in, sit, eat and have a relaxing conversation. Now on the weekends there is usually a wait with people hanging outside waiting for a seat. During the week theres not much a crowd.

We went there last month after about a years break. The food was still great and everyone remembered us and asked how we had been doing.

So give the Classic Cookie a try.

The Roasterie Cafe

The Roasterie Cafe opened up in Brookside about a year ago (at 6223 Brookside Blvd.).

The building where the Roasterie is now was once a gas station. It was not your standard Quickie Mart, but an honest to god gas station. The kind of place that could fix a flat, change your oil etc. The kind of place where the guy had his name sewn onto his shirt. From what I heard, the gas station was one of the oldest businesses in Brookside. Back around 2000, I don't remember the exact year, the gas station closed down. Rumor was that the local developers kicked the gas station out and wanted to put in a Starbucks. The guys who worked at the gas station didn't seem too happy about the deal. Before they moved out, they wrote on all the windows phrases like "developers want lattes instead of gasoline" or something like that.

Anyway, the Starbucks deal, if there ever was one, must have fell through. The building sat vacant for a couple of years. In late 2005 the Roasterie Cafe opened up in the building. They totally redid the building. It's impossible to tell it used to be a gas station.

The Roasterie is a pretty swank place. It has a very urban/chick style to it. Lots of black and stainless steel. The coffee and food is very good. The service is very good. The barista's look the part, your hip coffee shop type. They are all friendly and do good job.

The only real downside to the Roasterie Cafe is the clientel. You walk in and there is a sea of laptops and a lot the "beautiful" people. The crowd seems much more Johnson county, than KC. Maybe Brookside proper has more yuppie folks than I realized.

The last time I went there, some tanned blonde guy was talking a little too loud about a business deal he had and no one batted an eyelash. My four year old daughter Zoe explained to me that cookies eventually turn into poop and everyone gives me the eye. I've stopped by enough times to know that this is the normal crowd. The place just seems to attract a very yuppie crowd.

So the Roasterie has great coffee and really nice staff. If you can get past the yuppie crowd, then I say give it a try.

Linda's Winged Cup

A new coffee shop just opened up in the Brookside/Waldo area. It is at the corner of Gregory and Oak, right around the corner from SRO video. It is in the space that Makiatos Espresso Cafe was in.

Kai and I dropped in the other day. It looks a lot like Makiatos did. It is very clean and upscale. There is a lot of fancy art for sale on the walls. They have the nicest bathroom that I have ever seen in a coffee place. It had a scented candle going and the paper towels were neatly folded up in a wicker basket. The place is a really a little nicer and more upscale than I am used to.

The service is great, much better than when Makiatos was there. Some of the kids who worked at Makiatos seemed to really hate being pryed away from their books.

We met the owner Linda and her son Collin. Collin was the barista that day. They are cash only and all I had was a credit card. Collin told me not to worry about it and I could pay next time. They told us a little about themselves and that they lived in the neighborhood.

The coffee and cookies are good, what you would expect at a nice coffee place, but it's a little fancier than I like. Me and the kids will probably stop by every now and then because we live close by. If you want a nice place to have a relaxing cup of coffee where the service is great, then Linda's is for you.

Candidate Forum at Lesbian/Gay community center

Tonight I went to the 4th district candidate forum at the lesbian and gay community center in Westport. All of the candidates where there except Mel Solomon and Beth Gottstein. Mel was sick and Beth was stuck in an airport in Denver (or so they say).

Their opening statements were your typical politician stuff. Jan Marcason gave a quick nod to the forum hosts by explaining how she pushed for diversity in all the groups she had worked with. Doug Gamble asked if anyone had been a victim of crime or new a victim of crime, then promised to make crime prevention a top priority. I thought that was a pretty weak intro. I mean WHO doesn't know a crime victim? Rita Valenciano started off with a joke "I don't want to alarm you, but I am Mexican." She then went on to say she wasn't responsible for what her children did. Everyone got a good laugh. I would guess that at least half the crowd got the inside joke about her son's blog. Of the bunch I would say Rita had the most compelling opening statement.

Next came the questions. The moderator asked about some Urban Society plan. It had to do with not making urban areas look like the suburbs (aka big box stores and lots of parking lots). I thought Mark Forsythe had the best answer. He talked about how strip malls were bad and seemed to know his stuff. Jan, I thought had the weakest answer. She basically said, I am more involved with people, but I am learning about blah blah blah. I have to give credit to Deth, his answer was the most honest of the bunch. He basically said that we need less people to drive their cars, but how many people will give up their cars for mass transit? For all of the talk of mass transit and urban living, he is right, it ultimately comes down to individual folks willing to take the bus (or train).

Next question was on how the city used the health care levy money for regular city operations. Everyone said that was wrong and gave their spin on why it was so bad. This is something I didn't know about. I remember voting for the health care levy a year or so back. It really pissed me off the money wasn't going to health care and I wonder why it wasn't reported on more.

The next question they took was mine. "Do you (or would you) send your kids to KCMO public schools." The group was split. Jan sent hers to St. Paul, Doug sent his to Catholic schools, Mark said if he had kids they would go to Academie Lafayette. The best answer was from Deth. He talked about how the KCMO schools may not be great overall, but there are pockets of good schools within the system. Deth said his daughter will go to Border Star. The KCMO district on average performs way below the state average, but if you go school by school, you will find a few schools that outperform the local suburban schools. Deth seemed to get that. On the opposite side was Rita Valenciano . This was the only question where I didn't like her answer. She talked about knowing people who's "only" alternative was the KCMO schools, basically putting down anyone who would willfully send their kids there. My son went to pre-K in a KCMO school and they had him reading before kindergarten. I have been very happy with the school. Of course I didn't plop him in the nearest school, but looked very closely at all of the magnet schools first. Her comment just kind of struck a nerve with me.

Next was a question about whether any of the candidates had known about the Lesbian/Gay community center prior to this forum. Dough has the coolest answer. He said something like that being in the hospitality industry he know where all of the gay spots where.

The moderator asked each candidate if he would support a law to add gender id to the city's non-discrimination policy. The city already prohibits discrimination of gays. I had figured they would give different answers on this, but everyone said they would support a change in the city's policy. I was really shocked by this (in a good way). I grew up in a place were a hint of gayness would get you beat up and here were politicians saying that discrimination based on gender id was wrong. It really pointed out the differences between KC and west Texas.

When asked about light rail and gondolas, everyone thought the gondolas where a joke, but that we should look into light rail. Jan Marcason had a strange comment though. She said that someone was asleep at the wheel when the light rail proposal was put on the ballot. I mean didn't it get on the ballot because VOTERS SIGNED THE PETITION? So is she saying that most voters are asleep at the wheel? I am guessing she doesn't know how petitions like that can get on the ballot. Then again, maybe voters were asleep at the wheel.

Overall I liked Mark Forsythe for in district. He seemed to know his stuff and was very eager to talk policy. Doug Gamble really pushed his business background. That may be well and good, but I've never really gone for businessman turned politicians. Ezekiel Amador didn't say much that was exciting. He seems like a good enough guy, I just wasn't real impressed with his answers. Jan Marcason made the comment that she had been in politics for most of her adult life. That kind of summed her up for me.

For 4th district at large I liked both Rita and Deth. I think Rita was the better speaker. She had very heartfelt stories about her work experience and seemed to have great cred in working for the community. Deth seemed very enthusiastic and the type of guy you could actually call up if you had a problem. Of the whole group both in candidate and at large, Deth and Rita seemed the most genuine. Win or loose I expect that both will be involved in the community for years to come.

SRO Video

SRO Video is a cool little video store on the edge of Brookside. Its on the corner of Gregory and Oak. In the age of Netflix and BlockBuster, it can still be cool to go to a local small time video store.

It's kind of cross between that music store in High Fidelity and the video store in Clerks. The clerks look like movie geeks. It definitely doesn't have that chain store feel. One of the first times I went there, Zoe needed to go to the bathroom. The bathroom is in the basement. So we went downstairs. Now the basement is this giant unfinished room. It has ancient rock walls and a low ceiling. The walls are plastered with old movie posters, videos and other stuff. You get this feel that people have either been murdered and buried there or that stoners hang out and stare at a lava lamp while listening to Bob Marley.

Upstairs in the back is a walled off room with a curtain in front of it. My wife keeps a sharp eye on me so I haven't gone in there, but I get the impression that is where the "adult" fair is stored.

Once a month they have free beer night. You go in and they'll give you a free beer while you browse. Not a bad deal, bear and movie for about 3 bucks. If you live in the Brookside or Waldo area, give Blockbuster a break and try out SRO.

Broadway Cafe

I really like the Broadway Cafe. The Broadway Cafe is a coffee house and roastery. They also serve premade sandwiches and the usual pastries and such.

If you are looking for a Star Bucks clone, this is not the place for you. It is the choice of ecletic folks. Growing up in West Texas, diversity meant wearing Levis instead of Wranglers. At the Broadway it is not uncommon to see a kid with a blue mohawk in line behind behind a guy with a suit.

One morning during the 2004 election season I was registering people to vote in Westport. I stopped in for a lattee and met a buddist monk who was getting his morning wake me up. He at least seemed like a real monk. He was wearing the orange robes and had prayer beads. I talked to him for a little bit. He was already registered and said he voted in every election.

In the summer, people sit outside drink coffee, smoke cigarettes and talk about whatever. You half expect Jack Kerouac and Neil Cassady to stop by.

The Broadway is not just a place for bohemians and hipsters, even family guys like me can feel at home. At the back of the cafe they have a bookshelf. There are number of childrens books. Zoe and Kai usually go with me. I have coffee and they have juice and cookie.


The staff is very friendly. Prices are average, probably about the same as Star Bucks. Speaking of Starbucks, they opened a store right next to the Broadway. So you have two coffee houses adjacent to each other. It is kind of neat to look at the two and look at the differences in each's clientel.

Anyway, the Broadway is a cool place to go and gets my recommendation.

Westport Coffeehouse

A cool place to hang out is the Westport Coffeehouse. Like the name says, its located in Westport. It's not quite as funky a hangout as the Broadway Cafe.

The barista's are you usual hipsters and art school students. They are always friendly and do a great job. They have a theater in the basement and usually have plays or comedy shows on the weekends. Upstairs they sometimes have bands play.

I remember my sister and I stopped in one saturday night when a local highschool band came to play. It was three guys with way more ego than talent. A couple of their friends came to watch them. It was all we could do to keep from laughing at them.

After my son was born, me and him would stop by every thursday afternoon. I would pick Kai up from daycare on thursday and we would stop in on the way home. I would have a latte and Kai and I would share a cookie. Kai would play with the jukebox and try to share his bottle of milk with any girls that might be sitting close by.

One day Kai dropped his cookie and it broke in half. Some little ones get very upset when their routine is disrupted and having a broken cookie was very upsetting to Kai. He started crying and I had to take him outside. The owner was vey nice, she brought out a new cookie and helped me calm him down.

The Westport is a cool place to go and I give it a thumbs up.

Oak Street Coffee Shop

The Oak Street Coffee Shop is a cozy little cafe in Brookside. It reminds me a little of Cheers, but with coffee. Martha, the owner, almost always greets you by name when you come in.

The customers are mostly Brooksiders who live close by. The Oak Street kind of acts like a community hub. About a year ago some school board members had a meet and greet there.

Besides coffee, they also have a kitchen. They make eggs and other breakfast stuff. I think they also have lunch food, but I haven't stopped by at lunch.