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.