Coach's Secret

The other night we couldn't decide what to eat for dinner. We had steaks in the fridge but that really didn't strike either of our fancies. We had the kids to think of as well, where would they want to eat. And then it struck us, Coach's (414 W. 103rd, just down the street from Royal Liquor). This happens more and more in the Vard house. Coach's has become one of our favorite places to get a good dinner and beer.


If you've never been, you may think "isn't Coach's just some crappy sports bar"? It's not. When I moved to KC 10 years ago, it was one of the first places anyone recommended to me. I went a couple of times and really enjoyed it. It fell out of favor with me after several Sundays when I went to watch the Packers and they lost. I think I have a 4 game Packer losing streak at Coach's, but I saw my favorite shirt ever on one of those Packers Sundays "The Packers may suck, but the Vikings swallow."

When the kids were born and we didn't really like taking them out to restaurants, especially bar type restaurants, Coach's fell out of favor a little bit. But, over the past couple of years, it's become one of our favorite places to eat. The reason for that is simple, the blue cheese burger.

It's really a simple, classic burger, but everything about it is so right. It has a generous spread of bleu cheese covering the entire patty. It's a nice size, perfect for a good dinner and comes with house made chips or fries if you prefer. Everything goes together perfectly, a medium or medium rare bleu cheese burger is the perfect combination of meat and cheese. For my money, it's the 4th best burger in KC and cheaper than the top 3 (Bison and Kobe burgers at Blanc, Bravo burger at Beer Kitchen).

Coach's also has a pretty good selection of beer. When we went last week, we each had a Deschutes Conflux #2, still on tap and still wonderful. If you want something exotic or tougher to find, by all means, go to Beer Kitchen or Blanc, but if a Sam Adams Octoberfest or Boulevard Tank 7 are good enough for you and you want to save a couple of bucks or watch a game, Coach's is just about the perfect spot.

All the burgers are good, obviously the blue cheese burger is my favorite, but the California style burger or the bacon cheddar burger are pretty close to as good. If you really want to take the blue cheese burger to the next level, add bacon. If you're not on the red meat, all the burgers can be had with chicken as well. You'll end up surprised and delighted by Coach's secret.

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