Kansas City becomes Basketball City this week and since I'm sure the very first thing all our out-of-town visitors will do upon arrival is check in here at Tir na Blog, I wish you all a warm Cowtown welcome. And I assure you, as a proud graduate of the Kansas City Art Institute (The Fighting Picassos), I am completely neutral in the upcoming Big 12 Championships. Just ask my Jayhawk wife who I constantly piss off by daring to occasionally root for Mizzou because it's my home state.
The first thing I do when I'm visiting a city is find an Irish bar, preferably two. If you're the same way, out of town visitor, you're in luck because you can't swing a cat around here without hitting an pub of the Gaelic persuasion. I'll make just two suggestions of because A. I know you're not going to travel too far from your teams and hotels. And B. I'm biased because of Irish Fest connections. First of all, you're either staying downtown or will be spending a lot of time there since that's where the basketball is, so stop in to Raglan Road at 14th and Grand. Open almost exactly 2 years now, Raglan is a spectacularly beautiful place modeled after the classic Victorian Dublin pub. Great, upscale food, live music and Irish dancing with my friend Brigid Driscoll, Raglan Road is in the Irish heart of Basketball City and the home of the KC Irish Fest's offical after-parties Labor Day weekend. The champagne battered scallops will change your life.
You won't want to spend all your time downtown though, so tell your cab driver to take you Kelly's. That's all you'll need to say, I guarantee it because there's no more famous pub in town. Stylistically, Kelly's and Raglan Road are at opposite ends of the spectrum. When you've occupied the oldest building in the city (corner of Westport and Pennsylvania) since 1947, you're bound to get a little...well, let's call it "seasoned". Kelly's feels like the bar you've always gone to. Like the bar your grandfather always went to. No fancy food here, (you can get a slice of pizza on a paper plate) but great staff, cold beer, KC history out the wazzoo and a brand new roof top deck. And, effective this week, take your beer out on the sidewalk if you want to. Kelly's is owned by Irish Fest co-founder Kyle Kelly, which is reason enough to go right there.
So welcome to town. Have a good time. Hope your team wins. Come back for Irish Fest. And while you're here, drink Irish.
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3 comments:
Danny, don't forget to send them to O'Dowd's! When their teams lose, they can drown their sorrows while listening to Eddie Delahunt. Wish I was there, the Razorbacks have lost their last six games. :(
Good point. Eddie plays tonight and Sunday at O'Dowd's on the Plaza.
OK, can't miss an opportunity for a completely-unrelated-to-anything-Irish plug...The Good Foot (my son's awesome Motown revue band) tonight, Czar Bar, down the street (15th & Grand) from the Sprint Center.
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