Just another frantic Friday
Perhaps it was because I went straight from work to my son's basketball game. Perhaps it was because the basketball game ended a little too late to be going home and cooking. Or perhaps we just didn't plan ahead well enough. No matter the reason, we once again find ourselves with a desire to eat out on a Friday night. Have we learned nothing?
No, we did learn something, I promise. Instead of heading to a busy sit-down restaurant, we decided to go Fast Casual. In case you don't have the joy of living with a full-on restaurant nerd and aren't sure exactly what Fast Casual is- it's all those restaurants where you walk in and have to immediately turn left and walk around the outskirts of the restaurant (menu along the way somewhere, either on the wall or in a little cubby, or both) and arrive at a counter where you either order or progressively build your meal buffet style, except you're not aloud to touch the food. Ok, I jest- you don't always turn left and walk around. Sometimes you turn right.
In a nut shell- you order at a counter, but it's not fast food. Think Chipotle, Panera, I could go on and on and on- it's the fastest growing market in restaurants right now. Or something like that I'm told.
So we went to Zoës Kitchen. Right off the bat, I appreciate this place. Recently, I have been "leaning into" the plant-based diet. A pretty good, haven't had my V-8 today, kind of leaning. I've been calling it vegan-ish. I eat mostly vegan, but still eat fish. And butter. ANYway- this place marks it, right there on the menu- vegan, vegetarian and gluten free. I love that. There were so many items that sounded good. It usually takes me a while to narrow down, but with the help of the little "v" in the green heart, I decide to stick to totally vegan. We head up to order and as I hem and haw a little still over my sides, she happily lends a hand. She says the potato salad (which is vegan, so I know it's not creamy) is grilled and served hot. Hmm, that's new. Gotta try it. After briefly wondering what to do with our menus that we were still holding, I walk them back to the front of the restaurant to put them back in the cubby. Weird, but hopefully just an oversight on my part, because I am really liking the vibe here and I want to like this place with it's bright orange and green everywhere and descriptive and delicious-sounding menu. We sit and wait only a few-5ish minutes. I wouldn't have complained if we'd even had to wait a bit longer. Totally worth it. Everything was fresh and delicious. The hot potato salad is worth getting. I promise, for all you meat-eating vegan-haters, this is a potato side dish for you too. Kabobs, steak roll-ups, several sides and soup- we all 3 enjoyed everything and would order it all again. Please, if you live in Overland Park, go patronize this restaurant- I don't want it to go anywhere. Real food, real fresh, real delicious.
The only negative of the night- and it was so weird that I'm willing to chalk it up to... what, I don't know, but I'm willing to forget about it- the gentleman that was clearing tables and I think taking out trash, dropped a bag on the ground. Not a big deal, stuff happens. It was a brand new big plastic trash bag, still folded up, laying on the ground just right there in the path of people walking. Two employees, one of which I'm pretty certain was the manager, both notice it, comment on it even, and then leave it there, laying on the floor. Whatever. It was weird, but then the nice gentleman that came back to tend to it, picked it right up, and also asked if he could take our dishes out of the way and how did we enjoy our meal. He also informed my son that if he was into playing chess, that they were starting chess nights- Wednesday-Friday... 5-8 I think he said. That guy ruled. Above and beyond and took the level of customer service up a notch. An all-around great night.
Oh yeah- I actually did not go to the bathroom there. Not enough water yesterday. I'm so sorry I have failed you. I'll be back though- I'll keep you posted on bathrooms. :)
No, we did learn something, I promise. Instead of heading to a busy sit-down restaurant, we decided to go Fast Casual. In case you don't have the joy of living with a full-on restaurant nerd and aren't sure exactly what Fast Casual is- it's all those restaurants where you walk in and have to immediately turn left and walk around the outskirts of the restaurant (menu along the way somewhere, either on the wall or in a little cubby, or both) and arrive at a counter where you either order or progressively build your meal buffet style, except you're not aloud to touch the food. Ok, I jest- you don't always turn left and walk around. Sometimes you turn right.
In a nut shell- you order at a counter, but it's not fast food. Think Chipotle, Panera, I could go on and on and on- it's the fastest growing market in restaurants right now. Or something like that I'm told.
So we went to Zoës Kitchen. Right off the bat, I appreciate this place. Recently, I have been "leaning into" the plant-based diet. A pretty good, haven't had my V-8 today, kind of leaning. I've been calling it vegan-ish. I eat mostly vegan, but still eat fish. And butter. ANYway- this place marks it, right there on the menu- vegan, vegetarian and gluten free. I love that. There were so many items that sounded good. It usually takes me a while to narrow down, but with the help of the little "v" in the green heart, I decide to stick to totally vegan. We head up to order and as I hem and haw a little still over my sides, she happily lends a hand. She says the potato salad (which is vegan, so I know it's not creamy) is grilled and served hot. Hmm, that's new. Gotta try it. After briefly wondering what to do with our menus that we were still holding, I walk them back to the front of the restaurant to put them back in the cubby. Weird, but hopefully just an oversight on my part, because I am really liking the vibe here and I want to like this place with it's bright orange and green everywhere and descriptive and delicious-sounding menu. We sit and wait only a few-5ish minutes. I wouldn't have complained if we'd even had to wait a bit longer. Totally worth it. Everything was fresh and delicious. The hot potato salad is worth getting. I promise, for all you meat-eating vegan-haters, this is a potato side dish for you too. Kabobs, steak roll-ups, several sides and soup- we all 3 enjoyed everything and would order it all again. Please, if you live in Overland Park, go patronize this restaurant- I don't want it to go anywhere. Real food, real fresh, real delicious.
The only negative of the night- and it was so weird that I'm willing to chalk it up to... what, I don't know, but I'm willing to forget about it- the gentleman that was clearing tables and I think taking out trash, dropped a bag on the ground. Not a big deal, stuff happens. It was a brand new big plastic trash bag, still folded up, laying on the ground just right there in the path of people walking. Two employees, one of which I'm pretty certain was the manager, both notice it, comment on it even, and then leave it there, laying on the floor. Whatever. It was weird, but then the nice gentleman that came back to tend to it, picked it right up, and also asked if he could take our dishes out of the way and how did we enjoy our meal. He also informed my son that if he was into playing chess, that they were starting chess nights- Wednesday-Friday... 5-8 I think he said. That guy ruled. Above and beyond and took the level of customer service up a notch. An all-around great night.
Oh yeah- I actually did not go to the bathroom there. Not enough water yesterday. I'm so sorry I have failed you. I'll be back though- I'll keep you posted on bathrooms. :)
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