Dodge City, Kansas

Dodge City is full of surprises, the sort of happy surprises we in the Chucklewagon (eating and laughing our way across the country) enjoy.  We’ve found really good food including Vietnamese spring rolls and bunh at the Saigon Café Bistro and burgers and tacos at Kate’s and an amazing wine store.  All this and some fun touring.

 

We found the wine almost accidentally.  From the outside the Commanche Beverage Center looks like an old fashioned beer depot, heavy on half-pints and 6-packs of Bud Light.  We stopped in hoping to find one of two OK white wines to re-stock our supply depleted by entertaining.  We were blown away by what we found:  a great selection of wine from all over including some of our favorites and a very knowledgeable owner who steered us to some new and fun bottles.  Then she told us that we’d get a 20% discount if we bought a case and the die was cast.  We should be in good shape for the next 1000 miles or so.   It was pushing lunch time as we checked out and the staff at the wine store suggested Kate’s for good food.  How could we go wrong with a place so perfectly named? 

 

Interior of Kate's

Kate’s is the sort of place you’d probably never go in unless you were a regular or someone sent you.  It’s a concrete block building in an industrial neighborhood with a small sign and a back door.  We girded our loins and entered and stepped into the sort of neighborhood tavern that was all over Milwaukee in my youth.  Sort of dark, sort of crowded, low ceilings, lots of beer signs, a bar, pool table and friendly people drinking beer out of schooners and hugging each other.  The burger tasted like beef!  Yes, the real meat, especially beef, is here in Kansas.  Great homemade fries, tater tots and a taco that, while not authentically Mexican, was really good.  A beer and a lemonade and a nice tip for under $20. 

We were feeling pretty bodged (our friend Simon’s term for feeling overfull) but set off touring anyway.  The downtown tourist area includes Boot Hill, famous for cowboys, gunfights and Texas longhorn cattle.  It’s attractively presented and on a beautiful day like today, it made for good touring.  After a couple of hours of playing tourist we headed home to Chuck for a nap and dinner of leftover Vietnamese food.  Tomorrow morning we continue west and will (hopefully) end up in Colorado.  In the meantime, drool over the photos.