While driving from Liberal, Kansas (actual town name) to Kansas City on Monday my wife and I got hungry about 50 miles before Witchita. This was a natural consequence of the fact that it was two hours past lunch time. I wanted to stop at some reliable convenient place like one of the many golden arches and KFCs. This never works when traveling with my wife. She feels that every meal may be our last or at least our last in that part of the world and thus must be special. It must be delicious, low caloried, and memorably representative of the character and history of the region. This causes her to research all our AAA books and interview numerous passers by in quest of the ultimate dining experience. It drives me nuts.
As we were approaching Wichita, she read all the quick histories and restaurant reviews of Wichita from our AAA and other reference guides. She came up with the "must eat at" restaurant, Willy C's. We dutifully programmed the address of Willy's into our trusty new Garmin GPS. Ms. Garmin got us off at a certain exit then immediately directed "Turn left…" on some street then, "Arriving at destination on right." when we were in the left lane with lots of traffic on the right and no sight of anything called Willy. Almost immediately it was into, "Recalculating: Turn right on Elm St. Recalculating, Turn Left on Oak Street. Oh Golly, Go back". Then my wife starts in with, "No it's got to be on West street; go under the freeway." I respond, "I can't go under the freeway; I'm in the left turn lane." Then all hell breaks loose (this happens all the time) with wife, Ms. Garmin, and me all squawking at each other hysterically and wife insisting that I'm losing my temper and becoming an unsafe drivers so I should stop there in the middle of the freeway ramp and let her drive.
So, to make a long story more tolerable we somehow moved wife into the driver's seat and caught a few honks and middle fingers as we headed off with her in pursuit of Willy's. This time she resolved to stop right where Ms. Garmin said, even though it definitely did not say Willy C. (a rare moment of agreement with Ms. Garmin). It turns out that this was not Willy C's but the Rowdy Beaver. We went in and learned that Willy's had gone bust and the Rowdy Beaver had just opened two weeks ago in its place.
In the end it was good. The Rowdy Beaver was my kind of place. They had much paraphernalia for sale including, prominently, manikins with tiny very narrow-fronted thong bikinis that said Rowdy Beaver on the front. They had many micro brew beers and ales to choose from with good names like "Flying Dog Doggy Style pale ale". They had big burgers with thick beef patties and they weren't all soggy with that crappy mayonnaise and pickle relish that runs downs your forearms when you try to eat burgers at most of the fast food chains. There were lots of flies but we were able to swat them with carefully aimed blows of our menus. I really liked the place. I think my wife did too; she figured it was soooo authentic Witchita.
9 comments:
do you remember who ur server was? I am going to show this blog to my manager...(I work at the Rowdy Beaver). It tickles me pink to know that someone loved it from outta town that though it was really Willy C's. LOL...that was great...anyhow, e-mail me...daprince2007@gmail.com. My name is Valentino.
We would love to see your wife and you stop in again to see us if you are ever down here again.
Valentino,
Amazing to discover that someone actually found and read my blog post. We'd love to go back to the RB but it may be a long time before we pass through Wichita again because we were on a cross country drive.
I don't remember the server's name but she had brown hair, was a student, and was attractive. We liked her.
Johnny
I went to the Rowdy Beaver in Eureka Springs a few months ago and it was awful! the steaks were not godd, the salad bar sucked, prices way too high, etc. Then I see they were opening a location in Wichita... hmmm this ought to be interesting. My sone went last week and pretty much gave it the same review I gave the E.S location. The good thing is that there are several placen in Wichita to get a good steak, so the Rowdy Beaver better step it up, or they wont be around long. Oh dont get me wrong... Wichitans will come in droves the first few months, but if they dont get there act together and serve a better steak, then I guess natural selection will prevail.
My wife & I recently ate at the Rowdy Beaver in Wichita, Ks. We ordered the 16oz. porterhouse. Niether steak looked like it was 16oz. more or less the quality of which was not good. The waitress did not tell us there was an extra charge for the sides which she said we would get our choice of 2 with the meal. $24.99 for a steak dinner is a lot to pay not to count $1.99 for the sides which should have been included with the meal. We will never go back & will recommend that no one try it. What a rip-off. The waitress could not even bring us the steaks as we ordered them, med. rare & well done. Duane Beltz, unhappy in Wichita,Ks.
I just got home from eating at the Rowdy Beaver and it was horrible! I had the grilled chicken breast with red beans and rice and a salad. The salad dressing was the worst I've ever tasted (it was the balsamic vinaigrette). Then the meal came out and the chicken breast was very small, like 3-4 ounces. But the worst part about the meal was the red beans and rice. It was very old - the rice was so old it was crunchy and tough. Plus it was made with what I'd call "pizza sausage" - you know, those little nuggets of crappy sausage you'd find at one of the corporate pizza restaurants. I complained to the waitress about rice, and told her to make the chef try a bite. He did, and said it was fine, only a little salty. What an idiot!
WOW! What a bunch of complainers! My family and I have eaten at RB a handfull of times and it was great! I was never charged 1.99 for extra sided with my steak, as the menu clearly states that it comes WITH two sides! Sounds like a case of a new server not knowing how to ring up tickets? Either way new businesses always have a trial and error period just after opening, and that's just the chance you take going to a brand new restarant. It's been open 9 months or so now, and they have a much better handle on things now! The steaks are AWESOME!!!
Well my review of Rowdy's has been getting mixed reviews. So, I tried another nice restaurant in the vicinity, Flying Saucer in Kansas City, MO. The burgers were good and they were served by the nicest young ladies in tiny little plaid micro-skirts. You will surely appreciate all the frisbies glued to the ceiling.
i have to say... the firs time I ate at the beaver, i thought it was horrible, but every resturant has a bad day so i decided to give it another chance. BLECH horrible again. the prices are way to high for the quality of food that you get. the staff was horrible our steaks were both cooked wrong, had no flavor and the sides were just about as exciting. tell me? what kind of place doesnt salt or season their fry's? YUCK. so bland. i will not go back to give them a 3rd chance. and i have told everyone i know how horrible my experience was.
Anonymous, I'm sympathetic to all you have reported except maybe the salt on the fries issue. As someone who has to reduce salt intake, it's hard to eat out or buy processed food without finding food already salted enough to pickle my guts. Can't you just sprinkle a little salt on the fries from the shaker?
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