Quick Bite: QuikTrip’s Blueberry Pancake Roller

Hey, Violet Beauregarde — rise and shine!

It’s well established that we here at LunchBlogKC are big fans of QuikTrip. And we get more than a little excited when there’s a new rolling food to be had. So when I spotted the Blueberry Pancake Roller sign on the way to work the other morning, I had to stop and try one.

I may have actually tried this new item three times over the past few weeks — and I’ll warn that it may not be for everybody. It depends on your affinity for bready breakfasts. The Blueberry Pancake Roller is pretty dense, and while it’s tempting to get the “2 for $2.22*” roller food deal, you likely won’t need the second.

Flavor-wise, it’s a nice balance of salty and sweet, meat and bread. I didn’t even run into any of the gristle bits typically found in this kind of sausage link. Gristle bits are the worst.

I couldn’t tell if there was any built-in maple flavor to the pancake part. While it's good by itself, more sweet-toothed patrons might want to add extra syrup. Maybe look around and see if QT has any complimentary syrup tubs at the condiment bar.

Overall, the Blueberry Pancake Roller is a fine addition to the morning lineup — probably my favorite of the rolling breakfast options. And I’m so happy to live in a world where it’s possible to eat blueberry pancakes while driving.

Rating: 3 sporks out of 5
$1.39 for one, $2.22 for two (the 99¢ price in the pic above was an introductory deal)

Quick Bite: Pub Nachos at Barrel 31

Who wants their nachos Irish?

Why does whiskey bar Barrel 31 put tomatoes and scallions on their pub nachos? Because otherwise this would simply be a pile of everything that’s good about the world — and such a thing may be too beautiful to exist.

The pub nachos are an artful arrangement of house-made kettle chips* topped with fondue, bourbon brat crumbles, bacon, jalapeno sour cream and blue cheese. In fact, there’s enough blue cheese that you won’t even have to stab your tablemates to get your fair share. (What, just us?)

The chips are cut thick to hold their crunch even as we scooped up every last bit of the fondue. There was also some jalapeno sour cream left at the bottom, but we weren’t as into that due to it tasting pretty much like regular sour cream. We sure do like the idea, though.

Of course, this isn’t nachos, per se. It’s a plate of chips. And if Barrel 31 thinks we’re smashed enough to let it slide if they load ‘em up with two kinds of pork — well, they’re absolutely right.

*A note on kettle chips — they’re pretty in right now. But what we really want are house-made Funyuns. Somebody hook us up.

Rating: 4 sporks out of 5

Pub nachos are $8.50, or $6 during happy hour.

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400 East 31st Street | Kansas City, MO 64108

QT Kitchens

Putting the gas back in gastronomy.

It may sound blasphemous, but if we’re being honest, QuikTrip is our favorite gas station restaurant. We love the roller grill wonderland, and QT certainly gets you in and out quicker than Oklahoma Joe’s, even if they don’t have a Z-Man.

And now they’re launching QT Kitchens with a slew of new made-fresh-to-order items in a bunch of locations around town. Your Lunch Bloggers were excited to attend a tasting event where we could check some of them out.

Held at a new QT the day before it opened, we arrived and were told to step up and use the touchscreen to order whatever we wanted. This may be the closest we ever get to a Wonka’s Chocolate Factory experience.

We even got to hang out with an anthropomorphic ice cream cone who didn’t seem to mind a bit that Robert ate a tiny him. He gets it. He’s delicious. Here’s the rundown on everything we had.

Bac’n Shake ($3.49)
Despite the event being in the a.m., we started things off with a milkshake, as it is totally legal to get a milkshake for breakfast if it has breakfast food in it. Of course, we were going to get this first anyway, because bacon.

Chef (A Lunch Blog Movie Review)

The most smoking hot pork action you’ll see in a movie all summer. 

Chef is the story of a dad, his son and a food truck. When the credits roll, you’ll find yourself craving a Cubano.

Writer/director Jon Favreau stars as Chef Carl Casper, a Food & Wine Best New Chef winner whose talent has been going to waste in the kitchen of a trendy restaurant for the past 10 years. After inadvertently starting a Twitter feud with local food critic Charles Ferruzza Ramsey Michel (Oliver Platt), Carl gets fed up and quits.

His plan after that? Get a run-down food truck from his ex-wife’s ex-husband, clean it up, name it El Jefe and travel cross-country making sandwiches with his son. Like you do. Robert Downey Jr. plays Marvin the ex-husband, who is secretly Tony Stark undercover. (This is never stated outright as such, but come on. Also, I’d love to see how Iron Man would trick out a food truck.) 

2014 Chef's Classic Knock OUT 'Bout

Eight chefs take on the savory science.

It’s a tough job judging the Chef’s Classic Knock OUT ‘Bout. You must be prepared to gorge yourself on 16 appetizers, and then still be ready for the incredible responsibility of deciding the ultimate victor in the chef vs. chef head-to-head final battle.

Or so we thought. It actually turns out we’re not required to eat any of the appetizers in the first two rounds, since it’s the audience vote that counts in determining who advances. But what were we going to do? Not eat some small bites from eight of Kansas City’s finest chefs?

That’s not how we roll at Lunch Blog. Here’s a rundown of everything we tasted on the road to the main event.

Taco Bell Breakfast

I have run for the border in the cold, harsh light of morning.

From whomever’s mind sprung forth the Waffle Taco, I would like to shake what I’m guessing is your sticky, syrupy hand.

Ever since my friend Josh and I heard about it, we’d been jonesing to try one. We were deep into planning a road trip to a Taco Bell breakfast menu test location when the news hit — First Meal was rolling out nationwide on March 27, 2014.

And that is how Josh and I ended up at Taco Bell at sunrise on a Thursday.