Blue Moose Thursdays

I decided to go to lunch today with DLC, he still hadn't gone to The Blue Moose Bar & Grill in Prairie Village and amazingly neither had I (even though it is literally 5 minutes from my house). You would think that since we set up the meeting on Twitter, the fine folks at Blue Moose would have the red carpet out to welcome the best lunch place reviewer in town and the eighth best beer blogger in KC (Okay, that's not true, I think we should be happy they even let us in).

Since I've been to 75th Street Brewery, McCoy's, Barleys and River Market Brewery (in Wichita) I felt that I had a pretty good idea what I was gonna get at Blue Moose, a pretty good meal a couple of dollars more than I wanted to spend. I was half right on that guess.

For some reason the hostess said she could only seat us in the bar (I was wearing Madras shorts and a t-shirt, I think she may have been looking to hide me) even though the restaurant was only half full. While I waited for DLC, most of the people going into The Blue Moose were either old or wearing a tie so dress a little better than I was if you want to sit in the restaurant. I don't care anyway, I don't need no fancy dinin' room you uppity PV snobs.

We sat down at a fine booth at the far edge of the restaurant. Our waitress took our drink orders, a Coke for DLC and 75th Street Raspberry Wheat for me (I hear you snickering). They also had a couple of other 75th Street brews on tap at Blue Moose, so if you don't want to be bombarded with hipsters wearing t-shirts and jeans but still want a 75th Street beer, then Blue Moose is the place for you.

DLC asked me what our waitress' name was after she was gone. He likes how I include waitstaff names in my reviews because he never remembers their names. I told him my ability to remember names has a direct relationship to how hot they are (I'm looking at you Nate from The Foundry). Our waitress on this day was Erin.

When Erin brought out our drinks she casually mentioned that beers are $1.50 all day on Thursdays. Holy Zeus' beard! What a great special. I told her Thursdays are my work from home day but I may change that to my work from Blue Moose day. At $1.50 a beer I didn't have to feel guilty about having a second one (or third or fourth for that matter). I think my beer was actually cheaper than DLC's soda. Blue Moose = Europe (beer and wine are about the same price as soda in much of Europe. This was a PSA for our Independence readers).

I had a panini and DLC had some sort of a sandwich, I wasn't paying attention. I did hear him order fries and got chips instead. I thought the chips were an attractive side for my panini after Erin informed us that they are indeed fried at The Blue Moose and don't come from a bag marked Lay's. Some of the fries were even soft and undercooked the way they are when you fry them at home. Some people may be grossed out about that, but I kind of like it (kind of like how XO kind of likes it when Michael Phelps is walking around in his snug swimsuit).

Over lunch DLC and I discussed our mutual hatred of our parents' cooking, frozen and processed food and my dislike (I spent so much time talking about it, I don't actually know how DLC felt) of denim clothing other than jeans.

Like most places in Johnson County, the interior of Blue Moose was corporaty*. If you dropped me in any bar & grill in Johnson County, I wouldn't be able to tell you which one I was at unless I saw a menu or signage. Blue Moose did have a blue moose head sticking out of the wall, but that was as distinctive as it got.

*I called it, corporaty is mine. corporaty (adj.) - 1. of or feeling very corporate 2. sterile, unfeeling

Erin was nice enough to write on our receipts her phone number and the Wednesday special of $2.50 local pints (which I guess would include 75th Street and Boulevard beers). Okay, you caught me, she just told us about the Wednesday special.

Overall, the Blue Moose is stunningly average but has great midweek specials and a friendly waitstaff. If you absolutely positively have to be in Prairie Village stop in for a drink. Even if you are across the state line, it would be worth your while to come over to Kansas for a while and enjoy a $1.50 pint or 3. That seems like a good Kansas slogan: Kansas, $1.50 Pints.