The lost meals entries consist of meals that occurred at various times throughout 2012 which, for any number of reasons, escaped my documentation – some due to a cross country move and a new job, some due to the Los Angeles Kings run to the Stanley Cup, and some simply as a result of too much travel. Having enjoyed many of these meals with friends or family and with some of them amongst the year’s very best the reality is that with time my memory has deteriorated and as life moves forward I’ve realized there is little hope to ever “catch up” or document these experiences as well as I’d hope, yet in order to preserve them I present these pictures, notes, and thoughts on the experience.
The Donut Whole
Sandwich Cookie, Key Lime Cheesecake, Cherry Bomb, Cherry Cordial, Maple Bacon, Oatmeal Cookie
The Pancake House
Bacon and Biscuits
Apple Pancake with Cinnamon Glaze and Apple Syrup
Dutch Pancake with Lemon and Powdered Sugar
Admitting that we went slightly out of our way to visit St. Louis and Kansas City during our westward route there was one small problem in our plan; the state of Kansas – a veritable food wasteland outside of Wichita and Topeka (and a great place to get a speeding ticket, to boot.) Having left KC late the previous night and spending the night in Wichita our first stop the following morning was at The Donut Whole and…well, it was actually really quite good.
Locally focused both with regard to their small batch donuts and freshly roasted coffee (from The Spice Merchant) perhaps my favorite aspect of the Donut Whole (aside from the unique, moist, and incredibly light cake donuts) was the kitschy décor and pleasant staff – both adding to the fun of a place with nearly forty donut options ranging from simple glazed to hydrox cookies to vegan options. In the end we settled for a half dozen, most enjoyed in store as we used the restaurant’s free Wi-Fi, and with the fruit options spot on to their namesake flavors and both cookie based options equally good I only wish we’d bought more.
Moving on down the road to the Pancake House, located in at 640 E Pancake Blvd in Liberal – a city who pronounces themselves as some sort of pancake capital of the United States – I’ll simply say that from the moment we walked in I wanted to leave – and wished more and more that we’d have ordered the full dozen at the Donut Whole. Stating up front that I really did not expect “great” things from The Pancake House, what I did hope for was good service and decent pancakes – the first inexplicably absent as our server essentially threw menus on the table before us before sauntering off and subsequently offered only the bare minimum of human interaction necessary to fulfill her duties as she hammed it up with a table of septuagenarian men at the table across the way.
Moving onto the food – focusing on the options deemed “house specialties” on the store’s menu – I was admittedly pleasantly surprised by my mother’s $5.50 Dutch Pancake which was crispy on the edges and pillowy soft within, but my “massive” apple pancake (a pancake for which the restaurant has a ‘wall of fame’ praising those who finish it) was doughy, largely flavorless, and the apple almost imperceptible without the apple syrup. It was also quite small – I finished it on principle along with two buttermilk biscuits and could have easily finished another, though I’m not sure why anyone would want to…though I guess it’s nice to know that my name exists in the bright lights of Liberal, Kansas for my efforts.