Thursday, June 05, 2008

Quick Bite: Grinders

One of my favorite sandwiches in Kansas City is the Philly Cheesesteak at Grinders. I've never been to Philadelphia, so real live cheesesteaks are not something I'm well aquainted with - but when a restaurant goes to the trouble of getting the fresh bread for their cheesesteaks direct from Philly, then I'm led to believe that something pretty special is happening. My stomach totally agrees.

I get the turkey Philly (sacrilege!) with grilled onions, mushrooms, banana peppers and cheese whiz. An order of their perfectly crisp tots will help you mop up the dripping yellow cheese mess, and help you remember how much you love tater tots. I've eaten just about everything on their menu, but I just keep coming back to this deliciously messy sandwich.

Grinders
417 E 18th St in Kansas City
816*472*5454

5 comments:

Marko said...

I've not been to Grinders, but I have to say that the cheesesteaks I had in Philly are like nothing I've ever had elsewhere. I would love to find a close approximation (like how Spin Pizza is the closest approximation to the pizza I had in Europe). Street vendors in Philly made a good sandwich, but there was something even more special I had in a pub in Devon, Pa. (a suburb). What was that place called? Casey's, maybe. It had a baseball theme.

Behind the bar was a big roast. When you ordered, the bartender would slice the beef off and put it on the roll/bread. You had a choice of cheeses, and I think I got chedder the two or three times I ate there (it was down the street from the office I was working at for a project). I got the pickled banana peppers and the bell peppers and onions on there every time. To top it off, he would ask if I wanted gravy. Sure, I said each time, and he'd ladle au jus on the sandwich. It was not the ideal sandwich for someone trying to keep their sodium count down, but it was great.

(Just looked it up -- Casey's Ale House. Loved the spot. Talked about the Royals with the Phillies fans.)

Anonymous said...

I agree that the Philly rocks hard, and so do the tots but the wings are only second to the Peanut's wings. That is high praise, because I love the Peanuts wings they are so good.

Get the middle level heat, because the top end hot is silly hot (no joke do not get the top-end hot!!!!).

Sara said...

Gravy!! See, food memories like that are what make regional food an awesome thing. I'd rather not find any approximations close to where I live so that I'm forced to go back to places like that.
I'm writing Casey's Ale House down. Thanks, Mark!

Anonymous said...

That's it. I am going to Grinder's this weekend.

Rebecca said...

I too am a fan of the Turkey Philly, but can I just vent an eensy bit about the too-cool-for-schoolers who work at Grinders? Sometimes they are OK, sometimes they are downright assholes.