Foodies' Secret?

I suspect with some pride, my sister recently sent me an article about the restaurant selections in my home town of Wichita, Kansas. The 14 April 2010 article, Wichita Named "Best Kept Secret" For Foodies, posted on http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/90901159.html states: "A nationwide study reveals Wichita as a 'best kept secret' when it comes to food. Wichita was named among ten top cities for foodies. The study based its findings on unique and gourmet restaurants."

Home town pride is generally a good thing. The population in Wichita probably eats out more often than in other cities and supply meets the demand. The entrepreneurial spirit that created White Castle and Pizza Hut remains alive. My favorite Cal-Mex chain restaurant, On the Border, was in Wichita well before it came to the Chicago area. Nonetheless, the survey results surprise me and must be taken in the context of the size of the cities. There are far more unique and gourmet restaurants in Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Seattle, and even Kansas City than there are in Wichita. The home town pride must be tempered with reality. While you can get good food in Wichita, generally speaking the food has the characteristics associated with Kansas and it residents: solid, safe, and good-value. Like Kansas though, there is nothing that particularly stands out for which people will travel there (e.g., such as in Seattle you must eat salmon, in New Orleans you must eat the barbeque shrimp). Other than Scotch and Sirloin, can one even get a great steak?

The article did bring back memories of places I have frequented that are no longer in Wichita. Amarillo Grill, for example, even though it was Texan in both its name and flavoring (mesquite) was always a place I greatly enjoyed. I have yet to find a Mexican restaurant in the northwest suburbs of Chicago that favorably compares to several restaurants in Wichita, but only Felipe's is still around. Grandy's was a fast, inexpensive, tasty way to clog my arteries. Well, at least Nu-Way remains.