10-29-11 Beer Kitchen

Keeping with our scary theme, we were really scared when we entered this Westport restaurant -- because it was packed! Usually when we eat out early on a Saturday, we are the only people there. Plus parking in Westport sucks.

Maybe we are spoiled by too many "ah-hah" moments and that's what we were expecting here after reading Urbanspoon and Yelp reviews. But we were simply underwhelmed.

It was the Saturday before Halloween and the servers were in costume (or most were) which was fun. But they have an attitude so be prepared. Our server noticed another server delivering food to one of her tables and mumbled under her breath, "why the f*ck is she doing that?". And JE who I swear needs a hearing aid sometimes, heard it.

Beer Kitchen reminded us of BRGR in Prairie Village, just less snooty, but just as loud. A bonus is that it is closer to home. Another bonus was there were no screaming children running all around like BRGR gets sometimes. But that does mean you have the company of pretentious hipsters and college boys reminiscing about the night before.

JE ordered the BRAVO! burger. It's a burger with crispy prosciutto, maytag blue cheese, fontina, sun-dried tomato relish, baby arugula & roasted garlic aioli on brioche bun (I love it when online menus are helpful). He was excited to try the house blended ground meat from McGonigle's, but for some reason, this place doesn't believe in seasoning the meat. Ugh. He ordered it with a mini truffle fries and water to drink. It would have been nice of the server to tell us that the mini fries you could add were another upcharge for the truffle fries, but oh well. He thought the pickles stole the show.

I ordered what the server suggested, the Hogtied sandwich with a side of mini truffle fries. This sandwich has
black forest ham, bbq burnt ends, smoked bacon aioli, chipotle white cheddar, pickle relish & cider slaw on grilled sourdough bread.

The sandwich was ok but I was underwhelmed by the size and the almost lack of burnt ends on it. This is definitely not what you would get if say a BBQ place had this sandwich. As JE says, "I ate it didn't I?". Yes, I did, but it was just so-so. The pickles were good. The truffle fries were great dipped in the roasted garlic aioli  and smoked chipotle aioli sauces we ordered. They also make their own ketchup and have three different types at the table: old school, chipotle and some kind of whisky BBQ. The chipotle was the best in our opinion of the three.

Beer Kitchen is good enough but over priced and not a place that would make you feel the need to have a seizure or testify. It is good though if you have been constipated for about a week because you will find great relief after eating there. JE thinks it's the greens on the burger.

We feel that the gourmet burger craze is near it's end or should be. Beer Kitchen has some specialty burgers but again our food didn't hit a home run with us. They have brunch on the weekends and an extensive beer menu (as the name suggests). It's close enough we may try it again sometime, but we will try to avoid the crowds.

Beer Kitchen is located in Westport at the corner of Westport Road and Pennsylvania (435 Westport Road) in KCMO.