Cultural attractions, entertainment venues and dining delights await groups in this ethnically diverse urban fun spot. Don’t miss the barbecue and taco joints.
Everyone has heard of Kansas City, but did you know there are actually two different municipal entities with that name? Two places right across the river from each other?
The one in Missouri is bigger and gets most of the attention. And then you have neighboring Kansas City, Kansas (KCK), where I recently spent three days delving into its pleasures and treasures.
Most important to me, lip-smacking barbecue has always highlighted the metropolitan area’s food scene. Visit Kansas City Kansas, the local visitors bureau, last September unveiled the self-guided KCK BBQ Trail to celebrate the city’s pitmaster heritage and promote its famed BBQ restaurants. I had a chance to sample two of the trail’s 13 stops.
Good eats await along the KCK BBQ Trail. (Photo credit: Visit Kansas City Kansas)
BBQ places are reason enough for me to visit KCK, but during my stay based at the new Margaritaville Hotel Kansas City, I found it has much more to offer. The city of 152,000 is the No. 1 tourist destination in the state of Kansas.
Village West: Where Fun Rules
Located in the fast-developing Village West area, my hotel was a good jumping-off point for attractions like the new Atlas9, a high-tech wonderland just a block away. At this combination fun house, escape room, art museum and entertainment venue, you might catch performances by musicians, dancers, aerialists and contortionists, and even get into the act yourself. Next door to Atlas9 is the new KI Speed indoor go-kart track.
Village West also is home to Kansas Speedway, which hosts NASCAR races twice a year and offers ride experiences—with or without a driver—at certain times. Gaming enthusiasts flock to Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway. A short drive from the racecourse are Legends Field, ballpark of the minor league Kansas City Monarchs, and Children’s Mercy Park, home to Major League Soccer’s Sporting Kansas City.
Today’s Kansas City Monarchs team honors the Negro Leagues franchise of the same name that played baseball in Kansas City, Missouri from 1920-1965. It nurtured legends like Satchel Paige, Buck O’Neil, Jackie Robinson and Ernie Banks.
An attractive open-air shopping mall, once known as Legends Outlets and recently renamed Tanger Kansas City at Legends, has long anchored the city’s western side. Images, statues and sidewalk plaques recognize famous Kansans like U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, pioneer aviator Amelia Earhart, Western lawman Wyatt Earp, race car driver Rick Mears and chocolate company honcho Russell Stover. Mega-stores Nebraska Furniture Mart and Bass Pro Shops are major draws, along with familiar names like Polo Ralph Lauren, Nike, Under Armour and Old Navy.
Margaritaville Hotel Kansas City. (Photo credit: Visit Kansas City Kansas)
The 228-room Margaritaville Hotel Kansas City, one of the brand’s 39 resorts, offers free shuttle bus service to the mall and other attractions in Village West. But I wouldn’t blame anyone for staying put at this laid-back, beach-themed chill place that embodies the spirit of singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett, a vibe reflected in hit tunes like “Margaritaville,” “Come Monday” and “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere.” Guests can frolic in an indoor pool, enjoy a lagoon-like outdoor pool ringed with cabanas and fake palms, and choose from the extensive margarita menu at Landshark Bar & Grill.
Tropical design motifs—parrots, sandals, surfboards, seashells, dolphin fins, palm fronds—adorn guest rooms and public areas. Pretty pastels, in shades of turquoise, cream and lime green, lend a light, airy feel. The lobby chandelier consists of upsidedown margarita glasses.
KCK’s Cultural Tapestry
In downtown Kansas City, Kansas, the eclectic Strawberry Hill neighborhood is best known for its Eastern European roots, a heritage that dates to the late 1800s, when immigrants—many of them from Croatia—came to work in the meatpacking plants along the river. Strawberry Hill Museum & Cultural Center, housed in a Victorian mansion and former orphanage, preserves the area’s Slavic culture. Next door, St. John the Baptist Catholic Church serves parishioners of Croatian descent and has a six-lane bowling alley.
Krizman’s House of Sausage. (Randy Mink Photo)
For treats and meats on one block of Sixth Street, stop by Hey Sugar Ice Cream and Krizman’s House of Sausage. The latter shop, a third-generation family business founded by a Croatian immigrant, makes 24 varieties of sausage—from bratwurst and Polish to andouille and cheese jalapeno—and supplies some of the area’s top barbecue restaurants.
The KCK Legacy Trail, a series of self-guided audio programs using a cell phone, spotlights the city’s diverse cultures. On “Eastern European Journey,” centered in the Strawberry Hill and Russian Hill neighborhoods, one of eight stops is the former Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church, now a gym for dance and acrobatics. The Legacy Trail’s 10-stop “Latino Journey” also has been launched, and in the works is “Indigenous Peoples Journey.”
The tour company Urban Hikes KC offers a 4.5-mile, 3½-hour downtown walking tour that tells the stories of various ethnic groups. It includes visits to Strawberry Hill, Russian Hill and Wyandot Native American National Burial Ground.
Urban Hikes’ strenuous 2½-hour tour of Quindaro Ruins, an archaeological site overlooking the Missouri River, sheds light on a thriving town that served as an Underground Railroad stop for freedom-seeking African Americans crossing the river to escape slavery. Buried in the hillside are pre-Civil War remains of a brewery, well and hotel. In a nearby former school, the Underground Railroad Museum is open by appointment.
Rock Island Bridge
Riverfront Magnets
For views of barge traffic and the Kansas City, Missouri skyline, head to KCK’s Kaw Point Park. This historic site at the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas rivers is where explorers Lewis & Clark camped in June of 1804. Educational pavilions and scenic trails commemorate the famed expedition into the wilds of western America.
An exciting new crowd-pleaser in KCK is an iconic bridge that’s being redeveloped as America’s first entertainment district over a river. Rooted in the history of the Rock Island Railroad, the Rock Island Bridge will include eateries, a beer garden-type area, a stage for live music, event spaces and kayak and paddle boarding docks. The top deck has a 50-foot-long bar that offers sweeping views of the valley. Spanning the Kansas River, the renovated steel bridge, built in 1905, crosses the Kansas-Missouri state line and has a landing in each state.
Once used to transport cattle from nearby stockyards, the bridge sat abandoned for many years, having seen its last train cross in 1979. The Unified Government of Kansas City, Kansas and Wyandotte County purchased it for $1 in 2022.
Nostalgia reigns at Moon Marble. (Randy Mink Photo)
Marble Mania in Bonner Springs
For an easy side trip from Kansas City, go west to Bonner Springs, home of the Moon Marble Company museum and retail store. At this hidden Kansas gem, you can shop for marbles, make your own marble necklace and see marbles made at a glassworking demonstration. The store offers a variety of retro toys and games, including Chinese checkers and other games that use marbles.
Nostalgia items at Moon Marble also include hula hoops, yoyos, kites, chess sets, juggling kits, and board and card games like Risk, Monopoly, Candy Land, Game of the States, Scrabble and Rack-O. Poking around the store, those of certain generations can often be heard murmuring, “Oh, I remember those” or “We had that.”
Best Barbecue in the Midwest
Promoting the smoky, saucy, slow-cooked legacy of Kansas City barbecue, the KCK BBQ Trail connects meat lovers with independently owned food businesses in neighborhoods throughout town. Visitors and locals can sign up online to receive a mobile pass that lets them earn points at the stops and redeem them for prizes, including locally made sauces and KCK merchandise.
Bring your appetite to Slap’s BBQ. (Photo credit: Visit Kansas City Kansas)
Kansas City’s tomato-based BBQ sauces are thick, tangy and layered with sweet and spicy notes. The sauce is so good that I don’t care if I am having it with beef brisket, pulled pork, chicken, Polish sausage, burnt ends or pork spare ribs.
At places like Slap’s BBQ in Strawberry Hill, the sides are just as tempting as the meat. You can’t go wrong with the cheesy corn or baked potato casserole. And the sauce on the baked beans is phenomenal. Other delectable choices include mac and cheese, coleslaw, French fries, fried pickles and fried cheese curds. (Slap’s, with picnic tables on the roof and main level, is an acronym for “Squeal Like A Pig.”)
My other meaty experience was at Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que, located at a two-pump gas station/convenience store. In fact, Joe’s started as a gas station, then got into the BBQ business.
Joe’s signature Z-Man sandwich, on a toasted Kaiser bun, combines smoked beef brisket with smoked provolone cheese and crispy onion rings. Some in my group raved about the Rocket Pig, a sandwich of pulled pork tossed in a sweet-hot BBQ glaze, with bacon, pepper jack cheese, BBQ mayo and fried jalapenos. I had the Hog Heaven sandwich—a bun stuffed with pulled pork and sliced sausage—and the best baked beans ever. I also could have chosen sides like dirty rice, French fries, red beans and rice, mac and cheese, smoked chicken gumbo and spicy potato salad. For dessert, there’s that BBQ joint staple—creamy banana pudding with vanilla wafers.
Taco Trail Adventure: Foodie Favorite
Hispanics make up about 40 percent of the city’s population, and there are more than 60 Mexican restaurants. As on the KCK BBQ Trail, individuals who sign up for the KCK Taco Trail’s digital passport can tally up points to earn prizes.
Weekly scheduled bus tours ($36 a person) visit four taquerias, each with their own vibe and menu items. The jolly taco mascot shows up to pose for pictures at one of the stops. On my group’s tour, I loved the taco at El Camino Real, where the marinated pork (al pastor) is infused with bits of pineapple as the meat and fruit revolve on a vertical spit.
Besides the scheduled tour, groups can book a Taco Trail bus anytime ($38 a person). The minimum is 15 persons, maximum 20. Larger groups can reserve two buses and rotate among the stops, joining together at a final restaurant that can handle 40.
The next time you’re in the area, follow in the footsteps of Lewis & Clark and take some of the trails that explore this Kansas city’s cultural and culinary scenes.
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By Randy Mink, Senior Editor
Lead Photo – Taquerias abound in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo credit: Visit Kansas City Kansas)
