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Providing Convenience

Filling Station is a local chain with three locations. Currently, they are found in Westport, Midtown, and the location we visited in Mission, Kansas. Touting themselves as a “Coffee Garage” it is obvious what type of business the building used to hold. The large windows and open floor plan are a perfect fit for its new purpose. The Saturday morning we visited the sunshine was glowing through the huge southerly facing windows. This natural lighting makes the space quite inviting and comfortable. It certainly makes us want to linger over a cup of Joe and some conversation.

Minimal Menu

The menu at the Filling Station is minimalist, but don’t let that influence your opinion of the quality. Obviously, they have the hot drinks area well covered, but also offer up some interesting juice combinations. How about a cucumber, mint, and apple juice? Too minty, well then order up a sweet potato, pineapple, and lime juice for a tasty treat. These 16 oz. drinks are a great addition to the morning and offer a healthier addition to our coffee routine. Don’t be surprised to find a line at the shop, but it moves pretty quickly.

Satisfying Start

We like to find coffee shops that include some delectable bites in their offerings. Filling Station has a handful of dishes designed to help jump start the morning. Our choices the morning we visited were breakfast burritos, quiches, bagels, yogurt parfaits, and a selection of pastries. Crystal is a huge fan of quiche, so I already knew where she was heading. They have a rotating selection and this day she picked one with bacon. I had to sample a bite (For the sake of the article!) and it had a nice firm texture with good flavor. I didn’t eat much crust, but Crystal ensured me that it was well made. For my morning start I chose one of their scones. This one had a combination of cranberry, almonds, and chocolate chips. It was a quite delightful flavor combination with plenty of each ingredient in each bite. With our bodies fueled up, we were prepped to head down to the Merriam Farmers Market for some shopping. Our search had been fruitful, and now we have another nice breakfast stop to add to our list. What other great coffee shops would you like to see us feature?

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A Busy Morning

With the event preparing to begin, the area was pretty busy. We made our way in to Third Space Coffee, and found the place buzzing with customers. The first area we came upon was a comfortable seating spot with a modern wall fireplace. The stark white walls were a perfect backdrop for the dark wood and leather furniture. Comfortable seating is certainly the theme throughout the space, as we would soon find out.

The unexpected crowd made the morning hectic for staff, but they were still smiling when we made our way to the counter. After explaining the purpose of our visit, we discussed some of the breakfast specialties that the locals normally order. Even though we had started our day with some coffee at home, we were willing to make a sacrifice for the purpose of the article. (Okay, it’s not much of a sacrifice for coffee lovers.) We ordered a couple of lattes, as well as our breakfast dishes, and then went to find seating.

Space Abounds at Third Space Coffee

The restaurant has a variety of seating areas, and just as many chair options. In the middle of the back portion of the room is a large wooden table. This is large enough to seat eight, but there are also smaller groupings. Along one wall is an area that has tables with booth seating on one side, and chairs on the other. This was perfect for us, and we claimed our stake. While we waited for our meals, I took the opportunity to explore in more depth. A small children’s area is stocked with toys to keep small ones occupied. Out the back door I discovered a second story deck with more comfortable seating. This place has lots of options for their guests.

I heard my name called out, which meant that our drinks were ready. The guy who prepared the lattes told us that he had only been doing this for about four months. We were quite impressed with the beautiful appearance, as well as the over-sized cups that the drinks are served in. After taking some pictures, we headed back to our table. Just as we sat our drinks down, they called us back to pick up our meals.

Hearty Starts

When we asked about the favorites there were two dishes that ranked high with the locals. The first was the Biscuits and Gravy. This can be ordered as a half or full order, which is the difference of one or two split biscuits. We decided to go with the full order, since we wanted to get a solid start. The gravy had a nice texture, and the flavor was good. It was not too heavily salted, and complimented the biscuits. We each ate one of the biscuits, which were quite filling.

Our other dish was the Breakfast Bite, which is what they call their sandwich. The version we chose had egg, bacon, ham, and cheese. This was all piled on some fresh wheat bread. The flavors blended well without any one being overpowering. This sandwich can also be ordered as a veggie version, but we like the protein for staying power. As we dined, we watch the steady flow of customers come through the door. It was interesting to see how organized the staff seemed to be, as they churned out order after order. Soon we had finished our meal, and we were ready to start our shopping excursion. Outside we discovered a wide array of boutiques, and our breakfast supplied us with the energy to finish our list.

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We want to thank Visit Kansas City, Kansas for sponsoring our visit. As always, the opinions are our own.

A Long Tradition

For years this area of KCK had just existed. Nearby is the I-70 exchange, which whisked people East toward KCMO or West toward the speedway. Except for the locals, people for the most part avoided the area. Quietly the neighborhood has been slowly transforming. The Strawberry Hill area has a long, and storied history in KCK. Most people in the area know the Slavic connection, but fewer recognize the significance of the name Splitlog. We covered it in a little detail during our article on the Strawberry Hill Museum. (You can read more here>) Sitting near the southern edge of Strawberry Hill, Splitlog Coffee joins some other recent additions to the area. Many of you are familiar with SLAPS BBQ, which has made quite a name for themselves in the KC restaurant scene.

Bringing A New Vibe

Splitlog Coffee is housed in a smallish shop, but has ample room for what it serves. A good selection of tables are available for patrons, as well as window view seating across the front of the store. A picnic table outside offers some fresh air seating during nice weather, and a drive-thru option is available for those on the run. We wanted the full flavor of the place, so an indoor visit was in order. Our stop was on a Saturday morning, and the place was already half full upon our arrival. Couples lingered over coffee, while nearby some others worked on laptops. It had all of the markings of a true 21st Century coffee shop. The barista on duty explained the menu, as well as a little of the back ground of the business.

An Artful Presentation

The building used to house Flywheel Coffee, so the owners are familiar with the coffee business. They enlisted Simeon Bricker, an award winning barista who has local history with The Roasterie, to manage the daily operations of the business. Splitlog Coffee doesn’t roast their own beans, and instead focus on the end processes of coffee making. The majority of their beans are a Kenyan or Ethiopian variety, which they have roasted by Messenger Coffee, which is a Kansas City craft roaster. These full flavored roasts are delicious, and a great start to the day. We opted for an artistic set of drinks, so that we could let the barista show off their flair. The prices for these lattes were very much in line with what we find at other specialty coffee houses.

Perfectly Presented Pastries

Splitlog Coffee offers up a handful of food options to accompany their drinks. These are made off site, so that staff can focus on the coffee. The morning we visited the options included donuts from Hana’s Donuts, which is a local favorite from our neck of the woods. They also had a variety of scones, muffins, and assorted pastries from Sunflower Bakery. Since we were not familiar with this place, we decided to opt for their goodies. We picked out a Cinnamon Apple Turnover, and a Blueberry Scone to share. Both of these were delicious choices, and went well with our flavored drinks. We struck up a conversation with a couple at a nearby table, who were first timers to this location, as well. They were just as enamored with the quality, as we were, which helped confirm for us. We savored our choices, before thanking the staff for the wonderful start to our day. Now that we were caffeinated, and our bellies filled, we were ready to begin the next phase of exploring. We are certainly looking forward to finding reasons to swing by Splitlog Coffee again, and sample some more of their intriguing offerings. Have you visited this new KCK landmark? Let us know your thoughts on them.

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Happy Hour in Village West

Many people had already caught on to the advantages of Happy Hour, so the Friday evening we visited was buy. Fortunately, our wait wasn’t too long, and soon we were sitting in the shade sipping a refreshing cocktail. The patio is a great place to do some prime people watching, so we were just about as happy as possible. We have had regular meals at Yard House, but for this evening we decided to piece together a meal from the appetizers on the Happy Hour menu.

An obvious beginning for our culinary experiment was the Onion Ring Tower. For only $5.00, this Happy Hour dish is quite a deal. These beer battered rings are dusted with Parmesan, which makes them tasty on their own. Of course, they are served with two dipping sauces, Chipotle and Ranch flavored. It’s hard to say which was best, but let’s just say the Chipotle version disappeared first.

More Happy Hour Deals

The original plan was to grab one main course to split. Once we started reviewing the Happy Hour food menu, the Vampire Taco caught our attention. We’ve tried many kinds of street tacos, but this name seemed unfamiliar. Come to find out, Vampire style means that the taco is wrapped in a tortilla that has been encrusted with cheese. To be honest, I thought it was the addition of roasted garlic cloves that gained it the unusual name. Whatever the reason, it was very good. Another $5.00 item.

The main course ended up being the Pepperoni and Mushroom Pizza without the mushrooms. Crystal isn’t a huge fan of mushrooms, and I am okay to skip them when it comes to pizza toppings. This menu item was $6.00, but certainly a lot more filling than the taco. It was a good finish to our eclectic dinner. We sat for a bit, as we finished our cocktail, but soon we decided to walk off some of our meal. Next visit we will have to trial a few different items, and have ourselves another appetizer meal.

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Social Sipping

Happy Hour at Paulo and Bill runs from 3:00 to 6:00, so it gave us ample time to relax and enjoy our early dinner. The restaurant’s bar has an assortment of high-tops and normal tables. Our visit was on a Friday evening, so the place was fairly busy. Even with that, we were promptly seated. Our high-top table was close to the bar, so it afforded us a good view for people watching. We started our visit by focusing on the drink menu. Our server stopped by to check on us, and had the same look we see at a lot of places when you are carrying a camera. After explaining why we were there, it seemed to ease her concern. Of course, it never fails that word gets around, and we get a lot of side glances from various staff members. Fortunately, we have gotten used to this.

The drink menu at Paulo and Bill has a handful assortment of beers, and wines by the glass. They also offer a decent number of specialty cocktails. This is where we concentrated. Crystal chose the Lemonade in Paradise, which has a lemon and coconut flavor. I was intrigued by the Sweetart drink description, so I ordered one. While it has a good mix of sweet and sour, it didn’t really taste like a Sweetart. At $8.00 per dink, the prices are not that low. Of course, they are down a dollar from our last visit, so that was a positive.

Good Eats at Paulo and Bill

This was a Friday evening, so that means “date night”. Yes, we still do research during our dates, because we wouldn’t want to miss the opportunity to share a new find with all of you. For our early dinner, we decided to each pick a flatbread pizza. Crystal chose their Caprese (pictured at top of article), which came with the standard cheese, basil, and tomato. We sometimes see this called a Margherita, to represent the colors of the Italian flag. At Paulo and Bill you can jazz it up with the addition of caramelized onions. It certainly added another layer to the flavors, and made a nice addition.

I opted for the Bacon-Cranberry flatbread. We were surprised to see they use full strips of bacon as toppings. It also has plenty of diced dried cranberries, which adds a touch of sweetness to the salty undertones of the meat. The crusts were thin, but not too crackery, so it held up well to the toppings. We munched on these, as we visited and people-watched. Both pizzas were delicious, and soon disappeared. By the end, our appetites were completely satisfied, and we were content in knowing we had another great Happy Hour location to add to our list. Now it was time to put the camera away, and continue with date night.

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