The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

Okay, so I don't know Kansas at all but am planning to spend a few days up there next week.  Mainly interested in shopping, museums, eating out.

Which area is supposed to be the one that's famous for all of the above? 

Both.  It's one big metro, but KC, MO has The Plaza which is like a Utica Square on steroids.  There's also a Farmer's Market area in the downtown area of KC, MO with the Arabian Steam Boat Museum.  The Westport area used to be big for entertainment, and nightlife, no idea if it still is.  It's been close to 10 years since I spent any time there.

(KC, Miss would be Mississippi, which does not have a Kansas City, FAIK)  ;)

They are known as KCK and KCMO and they are right across a river (and stateline)from one another. KCMO has more of what you are looking for than KCK, but most of the nicer suburbs are on the Kansas side of the line.

Tulsa and Kansas City are pretty similar cities. Kansas City (MO) has a great midtown with the Plaza (Utica) and Westport (Brookside). Overland Park/Johnson County is a suburban area to the southwest that is a lot like south Tulsa/Broken Arrow. Most of the shopping will be at the Plaza or in Overland Park. The north side has an industrial area around the river, kind of like west Tulsa, the casinos are in that part of town. The Amusement Park and football/baseball stadiums are in a kind of East Tulsa like run down area to the east of the city. The Nelson-Atkins is a great museum. There are a bunch of really good hotels near the Plaza.

No trip to Kansas City is complete without taking a short drive over to Lawrence where KU is. Lawrence is a really great college town with a great quaint downtown.

Westport is still hoppin'.  The new entertainment area is the Power and Light District in downtown MO.  Embarrassingly, I can speak to some good bars, casinos, and other entertainment outlets in KC . . . but no museums.  Wait, I've been to the zoo . . . it's ok.   :-X

Savoy Grill still in KC?

KC rocks and rolls....much nicer than going south to Dallass

I agree.  Used to have many friends there, but they moved away.  I used to frequent the Station Casino (now Ameristar) about twice a month.  And Arthur Bryants.  Yum...

I always said if I had a choice of places to live other than Tulsa, KC would be right at the top of the list.

Sorry about the Miss.  I was in a hurry and didn't want to write out the whole word.

I'm so glad to hear the reviews.  Kansas somehow never had any appeal and silly us spent our time going to Dallas/San Antonio (loved it), Austin (loved there too), Branson and Eureaka springs for short trips.

I figured it was time for something different.

So you would say it's okay to stay on the Kansas City, KS side?  Someone at work said that side is dumpy, but I'm betting she hasn't been back there for over 20 years!  I noticed hotels were higher on the MO side too.

Finally found a good web site and was reading about the Farmer's Market which I won't miss.


http://www.visitkc.com/things-to-do/index.aspx

I'm actually looking at making a weekend trip up there soon. I like to stay downtown (which is in MO), the Kansas side is suburbia. Nothing wrong with that, but not really where I want to visit.

I ususally stay at the Hilton Garden Inn in KCK.  It usually has lower rates and free parking than all the places in downtown KCMO or down by the Plaza.  It is not all that far from anything either.  You will find that on weekends the hotels down in Overland Park,Leawood,Olathe have better prices than downtown KCMO/Plaza area. 

As to the museums, the Nelson Atkins is excellent and the new Block Addition is spectacular.  The Kemper is more modern art and has a highly rated dining room.  The Liberty Memorial and National WWI museum, go to the top for the view.  The Hallmark museum is not worth the time. 

The Plaza has become filled with a lot of national shopping mall stores but it does contain a number of high end stores you don't find here in Tulsa.  There are several chain restaurants as well as local places like Starker's Reserve to dine.   

Restaurants I like in KC (both) Bluestem - the best in KC located in Westport.  The Chef/owner was nominated for a James Beard award the last two years.  Lidia's for Italian, in the Railyards across the tracks from Union Station.

Blanc Burgers and Bottles - also in Westport, great burgers and the Adult Milkshakes are potent and delicious.

For bbq i go to Oklahoma joes, I like their bbq better than the older well known places. 

Pizzabella in the Crossroads, best Pizza in KCMO,  Spin, best pizza in Overland Park.

Le Fou Frog,  a funky french place in the same area as the farmers market, cool bar interesting collection of customers.

Aixois - south of the Plaza, if the morning is nice, a great place to go for breakfast.

Bluebird - Just off the Crossroads on 17th and Summit I think,  for a healthy breakfast and if the bread bakery next door, Fevere, is open get a loaf of bread, the best in the city. 

For a fun night, the Blue Room adjacent to the American Jazz Museum is a great bar to go listen to some good local Jazz.  No Smoking allowed so you can breath.   This is located at 18th and Vine.  Usually a small cover $10 or under. 

Their Brookside area is also cool, Cosentino's is a great grocery store. 

Here is a link to check things out - [url]http://www.visitkc.com/things-to-do/attractions/index.aspx/url]

KC is known as the "city of fountains". The weekends are the best time to visit, I have never stayed there but passed thru the city many times and on weekdays it's traffic choked and the metro area seems to go one forever. St Louis is the same way. Traffic on I-70 does not thin out till your around 30 miles out of the city. I like Dallas/Fort Worth better, but that's just me :-X

I'm more of a skyscraper and architecture tourist, but I did enjoy visiting the fountains while I was there.

I like Dallas/FT Worth a lot too.

We can't go on the weekend, has to be from Tuesday to Friday :-\   

Hope we won't regret this trip! 

Thanks for all the museum, hotel, and restaurant tips!  Sure appreciate it.

About the traffic problem.

Where would be best to stay in order to avoid the traffic?  I assume we'd be in it when trying to get to the museums, parks, gardens or whatever, but I'd hate to be in a hotel downtown.

There are several Hilton, Marriott and assorted other hotel properties located along I-35 going into the city starting in Olathe.

 I always go up via 169 through Coffeeville to Garnett, take 59 from Garnett up to I-35.  I find that a much faster and more direct route.  Mostly farmland and such.  Iola is a cool little place to stop off in. 

As for the traffic around the city, it is usually only bad during rush hours.  I take a map and tend to stay off the freeways anyway, driving the local streets I see more.  Stateline is an interesting road so is Wornall and Ward Parkway,  that is 3 major north south streets.  We get so spoiled with our lack of traffic here in Tulsa.  Besides, I learn a heck of a lot more about a city by traveling the city streets as opposed to only using the freeways. 

Going during the week is not bad at all.  Have a good time,  oh, there is a Dean and Deluca in Overland Park that is always my last stop before heading home.  I pick up a sandwich or two and a beverage and sometimes a dessert so that I will not have to stop at a McDonald's on the drive back down.  My favorites are the Tuna/White Bean and the Italian Sub. 

KC drivers tend to not be as aggressive as the DFW drivers.  I would much rather drive I-35 than drive the Central expressway (75) during rush hour. 

+1 on taking 169 to get there.  I like it a lot better than 44 and 71

If you want to avoid traffic stay out of the suburbs...with most of what has been offered up as far as attractions go you will be driving more and confronting more traffic if you stay out in the burbs.  There are very many many many nice and relatively inexpensive hotels around the Plaza District, Wesport, and downtown.  For the most part, my experience, if you stay off of the highways you won't encounter much mind numbing traffic.  Both Main St. and Broadway will get you back and forth between many of the attractions in KC.  The last time I stayed at a Residence Inn literally in the Plaza District for something like $109 a night.  The Hotel Savoy (downtown) was very reasonable with a very good breakfast included. 

You might also check out D'Bronx for pizza - it's at a funky little section of town on 39th St. and Bell(?) just north and west of Westport, cool little used book store across the street with a musical venue in the basement (or at least informal - there's been someone gigging down there the few times I've gone in). 

There's a BBQ joint on the opposite side of Union Station (north side of the tracks) that is fairly well known for their fare. 

If you're a fan of architecture and grand train stations you should visit Union Station which is on Main St. next to Hallmark's Hqtrs (Crown Center).  There is a mall at Crown Center as well.  I don't remember much more than typical shops but Hallmark has their Halls Department Store there and they have a really fun/free arts and crafts workshop intended for kids but I know adults (including me) that have gone in and seemed to have as much if not more fun creating stuff, it's call Kaleidoscope.  Union Station and Crown Center are halfway between downtown and the Plaza (47th St.) on Main St. (you can't miss either).

I would stay out of the burbs particularly if you're going on a week day.  You'll stand a good chance of getting caught in traffic hell.

+2 on the 169 route but make sure you go north on Hwy 59 at Gardner.  Route 169 gets real windy between Gardner and Olathe.  Hwy 59 will save you 20 - 30 minutes.

Have fun!

 

Worlds of Fun?  I lived off Parvin just west of WOF and unless things have changed a lot in 7 years, that was a pretty nice area. 

+3 on the 169 route -  it's not that bad anymore between Garnett and Olathe, I was pleasantly surprised a few years ago when I wanted something different than the 169/59/35 route. 

You will not regret a trip to KC.  I lived there for about 3 years and continue to go back once or twice a year.  Dallas, I only do about once every 10 years. (DFW stops don't count)

Stroud's is a must dine for me.

Some-place in the state of Kansas is the world's largest ball of string or is it called "Ball Of twine"? I dunno where it's at.

I also love the 169 route. With a required pit stop in Garnett for some DQ burgers since there's no DQ food in the metro area.

It's a far more relaxing drive than I-44 to US 71, especially at night when you can go miles without seeing another car.

I actually prefer Kansas City to DFW. I still haven't found much in the way of urbanity in DFW. I have to drive everywhere and their light rail doesn't seem useful at all to me, not when nearly every station is surrounded by parking lots. Not at all walkable.

Kansas City has done a pretty good job of turning the downtown/crossroads/crown center area into an urban oasis. You can actually hail a cab pretty much anywhere in that area, which is a big plus in my book. When I visit KC, I don't take the car out of the garage the whole trip. I don't think that's possible in DFW.

How come? I only know of one DQ within 100 miles of Tulsa. It is in Okmulgee.

Update...I see there is a Dairy Queen at Woodland Hills mall. I never go there and had no idea.

Maybe the market for a D.Q. in Tulsa is not there. Tulsa is flooded with Sonic food joints, just about one on every main street in Tulsa. I'm not a big Sonic fan the wait for the food is long. WhataBurger is one place I like for fast food. The burgers and fries are good. other fast food joints have fries that taste like cardboard. :-[

It seems many cities have their own stand out fast food  joint. In Indianapolis it's White castle & Shake & Steak, Columbus, Ohio has White Castle joints all over. Cincinatti has Hardees, Las Vegas has Carl's, Tulsa has Sonic and so on. :-X

Maybe because Sonic got it's start in OKlahoma?  Every Sonic I've been to I've never had more than about a 5 minute wait.  Even during lunch rush.

Oh yeah, you don't live here.

The one in Woodland Hills doesn't serve food. The one in Okmulgee serves something they call "non-system food" meaning they serve burgers and fries, but not DQ burgers and fries.

The nearest DQ with actual DQ burgers is in Independence, KS or Grove, OK.

Here's a list of DQ's non-system food stores.
http://www.dairyqueen.com/upload/NC_DsclmrAttchmntA.pdf (http://www.dairyqueen.com/upload/NC_DsclmrAttchmntA.pdf)

And in all actuality, I lived in Houston for three years which was bigtime DQ country and never really saw the draw, other than the Hydrox Blizzard I had once a week.  I didn't really think their food was all that special.

My wife and I actually missed Braums more.  So much so that one year we drove 2 and a half hours to Corsicana TX so she could buy 4 gallons of Braums Ice Cream, and I had a Braums hamburger.

Then I moved back here and it solved my problem.  I don't miss WhiteCastle that much, but will go to it if I'm in St. Louis.

What Sonic are you going to?  Maybe it is one in Omaha?  You definitely haven't tried to get through the Whataburger on Peoria off 15th in a hurry.  Good luck on a quick drive through experience. 

I go alot to the one on 41st near that Reasors Store. I found the service slow. There's one in BA near the Wal-Mart that I go to now & then. I normally perfer WhataBurger over other burger joints. About Sonic foods- I use the drive thru or the walk-up area I don't park at the car-hop stalls & eat. It could be the car-hop stalls give faster food service, I always end up waitting a long time to get food. The walk-up zone seems the slowest for food service. :-X

Sigh.

I wish you'd quit being disingenuous about the fact that you don't live here.  You make posts like this to try and give yourself credibility, but we all know different.

Please put a disclaimer in your sig line at the very least.

"I'm Sauerkraut; I don't live here but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night".

 ::)

Unfortunately, we were not able to make it to KC!  I will keep the information for later on this summer when we try to go out there.  Thanks all.

When you do get to go, try Lidia's (http://lidias-kc.com/ (http://lidias-kc.com/)) or Cascone's (http://www.cascones.com/ (http://www.cascones.com/))for Italian. It's close to Union Station and has some amazing food. There's a California Pizza Kitchen in the Plaza, and Minsky's Pizza (http://www.minskys.com/ (http://www.minskys.com/)) is very good.

And though someone said to go to Arthur Bryant's for barbecue, I say Gates. Bryant's v Gates is a longstanding KC rivalry... if you go to Gates, just be prepared for "CAN I HELP YOU?!!!!" as you walk in.

As far as cultural sites go, the Truman Presidential Library is pretty cool, and is just east of KCMO.
And if you want to see a quaint little village, travel north to Weston (check out some of my pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dscott28604/sets/72157606032893602/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dscott28604/sets/72157606032893602/)). On the way are lots of tobacco fields, a brewery and nice countryside. Then there's the overlook, from which you look across the Missouri River into the forest. Lots of deer...