This post was originally published two years ago. In spring of 2018, unfortunately, The Doughnut Lounge abruptly closed the doors for good, right after they had began expansion plans. You can still read my love for what this place once was in the article below. -Sept 25th, 2018
This is for the spontaneous and fast travelers. What you take in obviously depends on what you’re most interested in seeing and doing. Allow me to highlight how I spent 6 hours on a beautiful sunny spring day.
I have a dangerous love for donuts and if I could eat them every day all day, I just might do that and I’m not talking about any old regular donut, it must be fresh, artisan and have a total hipster appeal. Even Voodoo donuts don’t make my list. Anyway this is not a post about donuts. I’ll write one in the future. All this to say, my first stop was for donuts. The Doughnut Lounge is located in Westport, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Kansas City. This charming area has a few antique shops, second hand stores, several eateries and pubs. The Doughnut Lounge is an excellent option for creative eats. We spent about 1 hour altogether for breakfast and exploring the area on foot.
Every city I go to, I always check out the public market. On this Saturday morning, it was nice to take a stroll through the Historic City Market, also known as the River Market. Here you will find local vendors selling produce, artifacts, and a plethora of eateries for you to grab a quick bite including Brazilian, Middle Eastern, and Italian and more. We were already stuffed from the bite we had at the Doughnut Lounge, so we didn’t indulge here. To my surprise, I found a Ghanaian grocery store there and bought the Ghana yam, which usually cannot be purchased in regular grocery stores. Ghana yam has a buttery nut flavor and is packed with vitamin C and iron. It sells for $1.99/lb and I bought a 4 pounder to take home with me. The Steamboat Arabia Museum is here too. We didn’t make time to visit the museum, but I’m sure it is pretty cool. We spent about 35 minutes in this neighborhood and moved on.
Our next stop was to the Ermine Case Junior Park. You can probably skip this one. It has a view over the city, but not as nice as the lookout from our next stop, which was at the Scout view. We then made it over to the Liberty Memorial for the World War I Memorial. We didn’t go in the museum. We spent about 10 minutes at each of these sites and snapped a few pictures. These destinations are fairly close to each other (with a car).
A friend recommended LC’s BBQ and while we were not overly hungry, we knew we could not leave Kansas city without tasting some BBQ. We ordered the burned ends beef plate and a beef and turkey combo brisket. I see why this is ranked a top 10 destination for BBQ. The burned ends were doused in sweet bbq sauce, which paired perfectly with the smoked burned meat. I found the portions to be very hearty and I couldn’t finish my meal. My husband couldn’t finish his either. We were fortunate to arrive at a time when it wasn’t too busy, so we were in and out within 30 minutes and we took what we couldn’t finish with us. I’m smiling because I don’t have to make lunch tomorrow!
At this point it was time to walk off all of that meat. We heard about a great classy neighborhood called The Plaza. As we drove into this area we loved the architecture and scenery and quickly located a place to park. This 15-block district is filled with major fashion stores, like Gucci, Coach and Forever XXI. There are a ton of restaurants, boutiques, and cafes. Tesla has also made their mark in this area. If you don’t care to shop, it is still nice to see this area. Also, take a few minutes to walk to the riverwalk nearby. You will love it
Don’t worry about parking in this city. Everywhere we went, parking was free for 2 hours.
Another short and sweet trip covered!
Travel n Inspiration 
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