All About Beer Magazine

The best part about crashing along the Strip is that it’s a five-block walk (though it’s true, nobody walks in LA) to what is probably my favorite breakfast place on the planet: The Griddle (7916 Sunset Blvd., thegriddlecafe.com). Arrive early or expect an hour wait; either way it’s worth it. Among the decadent pancake and waffle menu you’ll find Saturday Morning Fever, buttermilk pancakes with Bailey’s and Kahlua mixed in. If you’re traveling with kids, order them a single flapjack instead of the full stack since even my two nieces couldn’t polish off the Black Magic short stack stuffed with crushed Oreos. The omelets are equally gigantic and amazing and they serve the best coffee in town, brought to you in a French press.

Having said that, elect to get away from the congestion and stay in Santa Monica. There are very luxurious hotels such as The Viceroy and the Marriot-Le Merigot, but for one-third the price, you can stay a few blocks south along the very same stretch of the beach at the Sea Shore Motel (2637 Main St., seashoremotel.com) with rates starting around $125 a night. Not only is it two blocks from the Pacific Ocean, it’s across the street from the Sunday Venice Farmer’s Market, which has several fresh, cheap and tasty breakfast options. It also happens to be two blocks away from the Library Alehouse (2911 Main St., Santa Monica), home to Santa Monica’s best and most relaxing place to grab―what else―a great variety of craft beers and healthy burgers.

Kansas City, MO

Maybe it’s because the first time I ever drove through Kansas I remember seeing on the front end of a truck, in lieu of a real license plate, one that was made to look like one that read “EAT BEEF” and underneath it read “Kansas Livestock Assn.” Maybe it’s because Kansas was an integral part of cattle drives from Texas to the railheads in Wichita, aka, Cowtown, through Missouri and the Midwest, resulting in KC BBQ prominently including beef instead of just pork the way Memphis and Carolina barbecue does.

The brisket, burnt ends and the beef ribs at Oklahoma Joe’s (3002 W. 47th Ave., Kansas City, MO, oklahomajoesbbq.com) are worth the trip alone. Located in an actual gas station, it doesn’t hurt that it’s located three and a half miles from KC’s Boulevard Brewing, which offers tours and tasting but no pub. Anyway, it just stands to reason that people here can work wonders with some ground beef then slide it onto a bun baked with the grains that the Great Plains are renowned for.

JB Haught, better known by his nom de blogBull E. Vard (in deference to KC’s oldest craft brewery and the Midwest’s largest) of the KC Beer Blog, unabashedly calls his hometown “the ideal beer and burger city in the U.S.,” stating that Midwest-wise, they are almost on par with Chicago. He says it all starts with Blanc Burgers + Bottles (4719 Jefferson St., blancburgers.com) in the Club Plaza―the first shopping centerin the U.S. where “about half of all KC postcards feature the Plaza.”