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Travel Like a Local: Visit Kansas City for the World Series

By Nicholas Ian Allen

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The Kansas City Royals are in the World Series for the first time since 1985. The Fall Classic begins tonight at Kaufman Stadium as the Royals host the San Francisco Giants.

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The World Series is more than just the end of the baseball season – the culmination of 162 games in the regular season, plus three post-season series, and in the case of both teams this season, a one-game Wild Card Playoff. It is also an event that draws baseball fans from all over the world, both in person and on television.

Therefore, plenty of baseball travellers – either casual fans or San Francisco Giants fans – may be embarking on KC for the first time and need a few suggestions on what to eat, where to stay and how to play. Luckily, I’ve got a few pointers.

Prior to the beginning of the baseball season, I wrote about the Royals for Royal Revival, a fan blog run by my friend Landon Adams. As a diehard fan, Landon goes to games often and knows his way around KC. Also because of my time writing for Royal Revival, I was able to reach out to other writers from the site as well as Royals fans in general. When posing a simple question to Twitter, the restaurant recommendations were sweet and to the point.

  The Power & Light District is unquestionably Kansas City’s area hotspot.  In their own words:

"The Kansas City Power & Light District is a premier dining, entertainment and shopping district in the heart of downtown Kansas City. Offering over a half million square feet, the Kansas City Power & Light District is the Midwest’s premier entertainment epicenter. With more than 50 unique and captivating restaurants, bars, shops and entertainment venues, the Power & Light District offers something for everyone. Located in the heart of downtown, this vibrant, new nine-block neighborhood links the Convention Center to the Sprint Arena and is bringing the beat back to Kansas City."

As for the food? Barbecue is king, but you can’t go wrong with fried chicken either. If you are in Kansas City for the World Series, or just a weekend getaway, you’re bound to run into locals (and Royals fans as well) at these eateries.

  • Arthur Bryant’s BBQ opened in the 1920s and has long been associated with baseball. The original restaurant on Brooklyn Avenue was located near Municipal Stadium, home to the KC Monarchs and Athletics. Later, the stadium also hosted the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. Fans have flocked to Arthur Bryant’s before and after games for decades.
  • Stroud’s Restaurant & Bar is a James Beard Award winning restaurant in the “Home Style” category – the very first nationwide to be so honored, and the only restaurant in Kansas City to receive such a distinction. Stroud’s PAN fried chicken has been featured on the Travel Channel and Food Network.
  • “Okie Joe’s” is TripAdvisor’s top rated restaurant in Olathe, Kansas – which is a suburb of KC – and there are several locations scattered through the KC metro area, but the original location was set up inside a gas station in Kansas City, Kansas. From humble beginnings, Oklahoma Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que has been rated #1 in the city by Zagat’s each year since 2004, and the Z-Man is a legendary sandwich.
  • Fiorella’s Jack Stack Barbecue has been family owned and operated for more than a half a century, and the downtown location has been rated by TripAdvisor as a top ten restaurant in Kansas City, among more than 1,100 listed in the city. It’s Kansas City barbecue, but a little “fancier” than most, according to reviews.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to finding great food in Kansas City. But if you want a quality meal or a fun place to visit based on the suggestions of the locals, it’s a great place to start.

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