Lemon Pepper Wet

So first I saw the scene in FX's Atlanta.
Then I heard Rembert on House of Carbs. And found Rembert's article.
So tonight when I saw Lemon Pepper at Buffalo Wild Wings I ordered it.
Then I came home and watched the Binging with Babish on it.

Now I have a lot to say about Lemon Pepper.

I'm pretty sure that tonight was my first time eating Lemon Pepper seasoning in any form. It's great. I wouldn't be writing about it if it wasn't. But my Lemon Pepper Dry at BWW had two clear flaws.

First, wings are better wet. These were crunchy which is good, but too crunchy. All crunch not enough flavor. The texture is just off.

Second, lemon pepper, like any seasoning, needs to stick to something wet/sticky. It's obvious, sure. If they were fresh coming out of the fryer, you'd get some decent seasoning to stick, but if you wait a minute, not much is going to stick. I had a huge pile of lemon pepper left over at the bottom of my plate. (Which I then dipped my Jerk wings and fries in—both were great.)

I also noticed flaws in Babish's preparation as far as I'm concerned. For one batch he tossed the the wings in lemon pepper dry and then coated with buffalo sauce. This may be authentic, but I'd flip it. Toss the wings in buffalo sauce, get them sticky, and then hit them with the lemon pepper.

His second batch he added dry seasoning directly to the wings, then added butter and tossed. Which I feel like would sort of work. Again, flipping it would get more of a coating...but there's a huge missed opportunity. He peeled lemon zest and did all this stuff to make his own lemon pepper seasoning. Instead of doing all that work to get to a dry powder, why not create one lemon pepper sauce from the beginning. Something with lemon juice, lemon zest, butter, olive oil, garlic and lots of black pepper would make a killer wing sauce. (Or the lazy way would be to melt some butter and stir in lemon pepper seasoning.)

So here's what I'm thinking moving forward. I'm going to pick up some lemon pepper. I imagine being able to season cut up chicken for tacos and other things.

Next time at Buffalo Wild Wings I might get some medium or hot wings and ask for lemon pepper on the side so I can coat how I want to.

Some day I should try to at least make the lazy version of lemon pepper sauce.

EDIT: So 12 hours later, I made some Lemon Pepper Wings 2 ways.

I wasn't trying to impress anybody, I just wanted some quick lemon pepper wings. So I bought some frozen Friday's ready to eat buffalo wings. Microwaved them up. Half of them I just sprinked generously with the dry lemon pepper seasoning. Because they were fresh out of the microwave, they were soft, sticky, ready for seasoning to adhere. The other half I wiped with paper towels and made a quick lemon pepper butter sauce and coated them.

The butter sauce ones looked better.

As for the taste, they were both really great, but the butter sauced ones tasted like too much butter. A little too greasy. Turns out adding lemon pepper to buffalo wings is fantastic, much better than adding it to bone dry wings.

Solar Eclipse - August 21, 2017

So the two best photos I took of the eclipse weren't that great:

But the cool thing about the internet is that I don't need to take a great picture myself. I can just find and enjoy the best pictures from all over. 

Best Seats I've Ever Had at a Royals Game

I got free tickets through a production company and they were awesome. Before the game, I walked around the stadium.

And then I found the seats. Section 129, Row P. Incredible. They even have waiter service.

Pub nachos.

Royals won 6-4, a comeback win, their only win in their last 5 games. Sweet.

2017 Master Kansas City Barbecue List

I like the idea of a master BBQ list that I can continually update, but I also like the ability to look back at previous lists. So I'll leave the 2016 post as is, and this will be a flexible document throughout 2017.

Previous Years:
2016

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Places I've Been

1. Q39

Visited their original location (on 39th street) on 7/15/16. Brisket and ribs were both killer. They're opening a second location that just happens to be minutes from my apartment. Weird.

Went back for the first time as a resident on 2/4/17. Ordered the appetizer labeled: best wings on the planet. Also, got the brisket/burnt end plate, fries and beans. First time having their burnt ends. Wings were good but nothing that special.

The burnt ends are really great, brisket is good. Beans weren't my favorite. I feel good about having Q39 in the top spot now, but there are a couple of cons. There's always a wait, it's pricey. Parking is tight. Only one sauce on the table and isn't as good as Char Bar's.


Just ordered a half rack of ribs for the first time, (3/23/17 carryout):

SO GOOD. SO MANY! I couldn't even at them all. Saved a big one for later. Fries were good, beans still not that good. I guess I should stop ordering the beans. But damn. 1/2 Rack is a great freaking order.

Took my Mom here on 4/22. I had a 1/2 rack of ribs w/fries at the restaurant and then I ordered a Mr. Burns sandwich to go. It was the first time having the sandwich and it was brilliant.

Took Mark here on 7/27. We got the Macaroni and Cheese to start, and then we split a half rack of ribs and the Mr Burns sandwich. It was all so good, but the Mr Burns sandwich was the star of the show. Mark called it "one of the best sandwiches he's ever had."

2. Char Bar

Just tried this place for the first time on 12/6/16. Mercy. The burnt end and ribs were stellar. Brisket and beans, also good. But I'm going back for the burnt ends and ribs. And the atmosphere/drinks is the best I've been to.

Went here on 1/13/17 and had the Burnt Heaven sandwich and fries. Quality was still very good, but it was hard to taste the meat because there was so much going in that sandwich. Fries were awesome and this place has a killer spicy sauce (I had to buy a bottle to take home). Even though the sandwiches are good value and the descriptions are awesome, I think it's better to just get the meat on a plate. 

Took Mark here on 7/25. We split a Holy Trinity plate as well as a pulled pork and sausage plate. Burnt ends are still the star here. Ribs great too. Love the sides and the sauce. Nothing to complain about.


3. Jack Stack

Bridget came to town and we got carryout for everyone (2/19/17). I had the KC Combo with burnt ends and pork ribs, fries, coleslaw and bread. We also had beans and potato salad so I got to try a ton of food.

Ribs were great. The beans were truly incredible, the best beans can be. Some burnt ends were good, some were a little tough and stringy. If it wasn't for that, I'd be considering #1 or #2 spot.


With Bridget in town we got another round of carryout 9/2/17. Ribs, brisket, chicken. Beans, potato salad, cole slaw, cheesy corn, fries.

Everything was solid. Really loved the beans and potato salad. Liked all the meats, but not as much as my top 2.


4. Burnt End BBQ

Tried this place on a whim on 7/16/16, burnt ends and brisket, beans and fries. Burnt ends were the star of the show, hence the name.

Turns out my apartment is just a few minutes away from this place as well. Weird. Dropped in for the jumbo burnt end sandwich and fries today 12/11/16. Since I knew what I liked, I didn't feel pressured to get the 3-meat combo with 2 sides like I usually do when I'm trying a place. Great burnt ends and plenty of meat on the sandwich. I like their sauce assortment and nice atmosphere. Very chill.

Took the boys here on 1/7/17. Burnt ends were much drier than pictured above. Seemed to just get an off portion. I'll still go back, but it seemed to solidify that this place isn't going to be breaking into the top 2 spots any time soon.

Got carry out on 1/28/17. Real good. Ribs and burnt ends are good, as they are at Char Bar and Q39. Guess I just like ribs and burnt ends a lot, eh?!

5. Arthur Bryant's

Went with co-workers on my first day at work, 11/30/16. Didn't take a picture but had the burnt end sandwich and fries. Funny thing was I ordered the lunch special: brisket sandwich. But they gave me a burnt end sandwich. It was awesome, so I should be thanking them. Their sauce is distinctive, and I like it, but it's not my absolute favorite. Still, this is a classic.

(gaping chasm)

6. Joe's

If you ask around, this is many people's favorite place. For me it's always been solid, but never amazing. Had the brisket, ribs and beans on 7/14/16. I don't think I've had their burnt ends because they only serve them on certain days. I'll certainly go there but I doubt this will ever be my favorite place.

Finally tried their burnt ends on 12/14/16. I've given this place so many chances over the years, and it never quite matches up with the competition. It's never bad. Just a 4-star place in a 5-star city. You can see it the picture. Compare Joe's burnt ends with Burnt End BBQ. See how uniform and cube-like they are at Joe's. They're dry. See how unique and juicy the ones at Burnt End are. I'm not eager to go back here. If I do go back, I think you have to stick with the Z-man sandwich. It's tasty, but I still think it's the barbecue sandwich for people who don't really love barbecue.

I've had this a few times at work (carryout) and it continues to be good not amazing. I think because people say it's their favorite and it's not my favorite, I'm always going to be a bit resentful and knock it down a peg.

7. Gates

My only review for this place that counts (2016-present) is a bad one. I went on the way to the airport, so I went to the State Ave location on 12/2/16. Ordering was a mess. I got a beef on bun with fries and the beef was dry, and a weak portion. Unsatisfied. And then I remembered my other trip to this location was bad as well. So I'm optimistic that this is just a poor spot and I'll try elsewhere.

This one hurts. Just two years ago, I was convinced Gates and Arthur Bryant's were the two best barbecue places on the planet. And I thought if I could only go to one, I'd pick Gates. I had the burnt ends at my usual Overland Park location on 12/15/16. Disappointed. Just not in the same ballpark as Char Bar, Q39, Burnt End BBQ or Arthur Bryant's. Next time I go, I think I should stick with the Double Decker, but man...I'm wondering what happened. Was it just that nostalgia and vacation excitement blinded me in the past, or did it really go downhill? Either way, I'm not dying to go back. 

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Places I Want To Try

Danny Edward's
Slap's
Brobeck's
Plowboy's
Jon Russel's
Woodyard
Blind Box
Roscoe's

Official BBQ Map

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I've gotten pretty good and being able to look at yelp pictures and tell if the burnt ends look good or not. This post was created 12/11/16, but I expect to edit and repost occasionally. And the good news is that even not-the-best barbecue is still pretty good. 

Mark Fever 2017

The last time Mark came I wrote "2015 was a short trip, but we jammed as many games as we could into it." That's a pretty good description for 2017 as well. 

He landed Tuesday afternoon and Brit picked him up with the boys and went to Legoland. I met them for dinner at Char Bar. Burnt ends, ribs, good stuff. 

That night we started in on games: Codenames with Brit, Ice Cool, Tsuro (gang war variant after boys went to sleep), Sushi Go, Burgle Bros.

Wednesday we went to Dave & Busters and did an Escape Room (The Cure: Prevail or Perish at Breakout KC) (We perished) and then hit Boulevard for a flight and then had Pizzeria locale before playing more games. 

Thursday we built an American Gladiators assault course with nerf guns and had lunch at Q39 before taking him to the airport. Mr Burns sandwich + ribs were big winners. 

Always a blast.

Trump's Insults Invariably Apply To Himself

Sometimes I think things are so obvious that they need not be said. This is one of those things that it is feel is obvious, and has been alluded to before, but lately I haven't heard this said a lot. 

Trump loves to attack and insult. And yet virtually everything he says is bad about other people applies to himself. 

His favorite thing to say about every news organization that isn't Fox is Fake News. He lies more than anyone and literally has fake Time magazine covers hanging up. 

He attacks the Washington Post for not paying taxes. 

He said Hillary was a liar. Unfit to lead. Corrupt. He said Hillary was Putin's puppet. 

He attacked Samuel L Jackson by calling him unathletic.

Here's what he attacked Comey with: 

“better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!”

“will be replaced by someone who will do a far better job”

“lost the confidence of almost everyone in Washington”

This is the equivalent of an obese man shouting "Hey Fatty" out his car window. 

He's a bully with the biggest microphone and there's seemingly no way to call him on his bullshit. 

Work Trip to LA

Now that I'm actually making real life commercials, occasionally they send me to shoots. Just got back from a week in LA. 

MONDAY

Arrived in Santa Monica Monday evening. Our hotel (Loews) was amazing and right on the beach. 

Continuing the tradition from my New York work trip, first stop is Umami Burger.

After that we went to West 4th and Jane, a bar associated with the founders of Untappd. Had a Pliny and a Modern Times beer. Walked back to the hotel...

...and enjoyed the fire pit on my private patio.

TUESDAY

Grabbed some breakfast on the way to the casting session. Darren took a behind the scenes shot of our commercial shoot for social media. So I took a behind the scenes shot of the behind the scenes.

After seeing casting videos of 74 actors (for two roles) we brought in 24 for "callbacks" so we could see them live and give them notes. From there we selected our two guys.

After casting, I had time to go to the Santa Monica pier.

I spent $8 on ten plastic balls and got one in a prize hole which won me this. Upon arriving home, I cut the baby panda away from his mom so each boy could have a panda.

Tuesday night we went out to the Den on Sunset, Laurel Hardware and Rainbow Room.

WEDNESDAY

Spent the morning working in the hotel room and then had a little time to kill before our pre-production meeting.

After pre-pro, we took the client out to dinner at Brick + Mortar. 

And walked back via the beach.

Did spend Wednesday night working on McRib commercial scripts pretty late.

THURSDAY

Bright and early on the road to the Simi Valley for our shoot day. 

The first hour of a shoot is just getting the set ready.

After an 11-hour shoot, had our wrap dinner at Tavern. Had a $60 bottle of wine and a $95 steak for two. 

By the end of that, I was exhausted and had to get up early for our Friday flight. Good shoot, good trip.

Took A Walk Down The Plaza

So Here's Something Stupid

Everyone pretty much agrees that the NFL organization is flawed in many ways and that the game of football itself is pretty much perfect. (Except for the whole thing where the players get concussions and die early. But I meant just the gameplay.)

Today, the NFL made a drastic change to overtime cutting it from 15 minutes to 10 minutes. The move will make more games end a tie. Many people have discussed if the NFL should adopt the NCAA overtime rules where teams alternate possessions. I just read a 538 piece talking about that and it referred to that as baseball-style alternating possessions.

This is where we get to the stupid part.

I first thought that the NFL might in the near future switch to the NCAA overtime rules. It would likely be very popular. It's both pretty fair and has lots of scoring. Tons of fantasy points. People like scoring and fantasy points.

All of this is very realistic. The next part is not realistic in the near future at all. But on the scale of 100 or 200 years, it's possible. It's also stupid. I feel like I've covered that.

The NFL in it's infinite wisdom could decide to switch the entire game to have alternating possessions that start at the 50, 40, or even 25.

Let's see what this would look like. 

Currently teams get about 10 possessions each per game, many of them starting around their own 20. Switching to a system where teams get 10 possessions each starting at the 50, by itself would increase scoring. I've always preferred starting on the 50 (vs the 25) because it takes work to get into field goal range. So you have the real possibility of 7, 3 or 0 points. Starting on the 25 almost makes the 3pts automatic.

You would still have a halftime after the 5th possession. What you wouldn't have is a game clock at all. No more two minute warning or hurry up offense to work the clock. No spikes to waste a down.

Here's what also goes away: all punts. Drives will either end in a touchdown, field goal or a 4th down attempt (or turnover). No more kickoffs. You'll still have field goals and extra points but that's it for special teams. No returns outside of turnovers. (By eliminating most special teams plays, it would probably make the game slightly safer, which increasing the possibly of this stupid thing ever happening.)

By starting on the 50, safeties would be incredibly rare.

Gone is any sort of "field position battle."

Defenses could still score on a pick six or fumble scoop n score. But an interception return that gets tackled at the 1 is no better than a 4th down stop. What that means is defenses would be incentivized to return any turnovers for scores, potentially creating more laterals.

In today's game after a pick-six, the team that scores kicks off. In this system, the team that scores would get the ball for their possession, creating opportunities for double scoring.

The biggest downside is that an early blowout could be more easily protected, with less chances for late game comebacks. But not impossible.

Anything I missed? Your thoughts?