Salutations.

I know I said I was going to post more.

I lied.

There’s no good excuse other than me getting really into reading The Popol Vuh and thinking about Viracochas, the old gods, pre-history and how well pizza rolls have stood up against the test of time. I’m a weirdo and don’t integrate super well into most societies.

My wife finally told me that I needed to be more normal so I brushed aside my esoteric scrolls and glyphs and decided to try out a new place we haven’t been to yet. So we picked EJ’s Urban Eatery in the West Bottoms.

For those of you that don’t know, EJ’s is a Meat and Three.

This makes us happy as Katie grew up in the South. We both went to school in Nashville and have GREATLY missed Meat and Three’s (shout out to Barbara’s in Franklin).

What’s a Meat and Three? It’s a place that serves southern food where you pick a meat and three sides. Thus, the name.

Do note that three of the six sides involve potatoes. We would love to see some okra, collards or even sweet potato sides represented in the future. Just saying.

What did we order?

I went Blackend Catfish with Squash Casserole, Mac n’Cheese and Creole Fries.

It tastes homemade and wholesome. The catfish was good. Seasoning was on point but was a little overcooked. No biggie. Mac n’cheese was what you’d expect. Gooey and comforting, like my body. The fry seasoning fantastic but they could have been warmer. Flavor was great though. But the squash casserole? That shit was fantastic. Like, top 10 sides I’ve eaten this year. I was all about it. I couldn’t tell you a damn thing that was in it other than squash, but it was so so good. And judging on how it tasted, was probably about 3,782 calories.

Katie went with shrimp with lemon-herb butter, potato salad, the squash casserole and mac n’cheese.

The potato salad was definitely more southern. Very similar to how Jack Stack does it – heavier mustard color/flavor where you get a good taste of the potato. Was pretty great. The Shrimp was nice too. Had some deep flavors but the acidity of the lemon made it feel like a lighter dish.

The space itself was larger than expected. It’s a great place for a group to eat if you happen to have friends. Also, the tables all have lazy susans. HANDS UP FOR LAZY SUSANS.

Other than the tables being insanely wide.

But maybe this image is just a metaphor for my wife distancing herself from me as I delve deeper into arcane thought-forms. Nah. Just big ass tables and the Arkansas game was on.

Overall, this place was great. BUT, there is something we need to address.

How you order.

Because it sucks.

You walk up and order your food up front. No big deal. BUT, they don’t take your drink order there. You sit down, then place your order with your server. I imagine this is scheme to incorporate tipping into the equation. Fine. But the problem in our case was that our server never came to our table and the ordering process moves pretty slowly. I ended up going to the bar to place a drink order myself as I, similar to a soccer mom with a bob haircut, do not like to wait for things I pay for. We actually got up eventually and moved to a different table to be move visible. We did eventually get a different server who was great and apologized for the other server. Not sure if he was new or what, but it was weird.

Suggestions for EJ’s –

Change how patrons order. It’s a weird hybrid that did not feel good. Either order everything up front and just use food runners, or let us order everything with servers.

Feel Goodies for EJ’s –

Your food was great and we will come back.

Now how were the restrooms? Good. Clean. Discriminatory mirror placement for short people.

That’s the top of Katie’s head in the mirror there.

So how would we rate it?

Taste: 8/10

Environment: 7.5/10

Bathroom: Ryan – 8/10 Katie 4/10 HELP I CAN’T SEE!

Service: First Service – 0/10 Second Service 8/10

Ordering: 3/10

Verdict? The food is great. Try it out. They’ll work out the service kinks soon enough I bet.

EJ’s

1414 W 9th St, Kansas City, MO 64101