WELCOME to Lawrence  a very blue dot in a very red state

As a Lawrence native here s my list –

Wheatfields Bakery & cafe (www.wheatfieldsbakery.com) on Vermont St. should not be missed  the brick oven was imported from Spain. FoodTV has filmed there & Wheatfields has been listed as one of the top bread bakeries in the country.

Great Harvest Bakery  807 Vermont, not really a restaurant but they have great bread & give out free slices. Taps into the  hippy ness of Lawrence found nowhere else in Kansas.

La Familia Mexican on New Hampshire, run by the same family for many years

Rudy’s Pizza on Mass St.

Yello Sub 624 W. 12th (on the edge of KU campus) & 1814 W 23rd (in a strip mall) great sandwiches on fresh made bread. A funky place where the workers refer to themselves as  sub-humans

The Community Mercantile (referred to as  the Merc ) 901 Iowa  the local food organic co-op that has grown to include a wonderful selection of made on the premises food.

Lawrence has a great downtown for walking & window shopping. The people of Lawrence love to eat & it shows in the diversity & number of restaurants, esp. downtown.

The older part of Lawrence is set up as a grid, numbered streets run east/west; "state" streets run north/south. Downtown is the general area between 6th St. & 1Oth St. & the 3 blocks of New Hampshire, Massachusetts ("Mass. St") & Vermont. "Mass St." is the main street of Lawrence’s downtown because Lawrence was founded by abolitionists from the state Massachusetts. When traveling around Lawrence, learn  the square of Mass, 6th St. 23rd St. & Iowa St. & you ll be set to get anywhere.

My favorite place ever was in Lawrence in the 70’s. The Red Lion was in an old lunch spot downtown. No sign, just a Plaster Statue of a Red Lion.
Bill was a retired Navy cook and then chef who, along with his family, fixed the day’s offerings.
This was a place where students in search of cheap eats would come, and Bill would Banter with all, asking "What’ll ya have darlin’?" .
Usually funny since there was almost always only1 offering per day, occasionally 2.
It was the best home cooking of dishes like Meat Loaf, Roast turkey, Chicken, fish, but always served with that extra bit of pizazz. Cheap-Something like $1.50-$2.00 for a full lunch W/sides. Strictly word of mouth, it was a true hidden gem.
Then, after a couple of years, Bill picked up stakes, gone, along with the Red Lion statue in the window. End of a short era.

3418 W 6th St, Lawrence, 66049 – (785) 841-7044
2700 Iowa St, Lawrence, 66046 – (785) 749-2615

Everyone should try a Runza. Once:-)

Keith

I, too, recommend Free State Brewery. When I last visited my daughter in Lawrence (she works for KU), we had a party of ten including a native of South Africa and a native of Mozambique – with diners ranging in age from 6 to 62. Every one of us seemed to thoroughly enjoy what we ordered – and we ordered quite a range of dishes. I am not a great beer drinker, but I enjoyed my choice very much. With only a couple of days, I would definitely include Free State Brewery on my list.

An interesting Nebraska based fast food chain is Runza’s. Their take on bierocks are very good. The mushroom and swiss version is the tastiest in my opinion. They offer all of the standard fast food burgers and such, but I would highly recommend trying a Runza.

Check out Lawrence.com for good restaurant reviews. Zen Zero and La Parilla are both good. We ate at Vermont Street BBQ (which is actually on Massachussetts Street) a couple of weeks ago, and liked it quite a bit. My wife likes Mass Street Deli a lot, too.

Pretty much any place on Mass Street that’s not a chain will be worth checking out. Local Burger, a block over on Vermont Street, has a really interesting twist on burgers.

I must also highly recommend the Free State Brewery in Lawrence. Right in the heart of their downtown area, it is a beautiful space with great food and their own brews. It’s a great area to walk around if you have the time.

Lawrence has a wonderful downtown (Massachusetts St) with lots of good restaurants and the kind of main street businesses that most communities have lost over the last 30 years. The selection of locally owned restaurants is very large for the size of the community.

The Freestate Brewery is a fun mulilevel bar and grill with an interesting menu, good food and excellent service. It is the oldest brewpub in the state. I don’t drink beer, but I am told it is also good.

The Orient Vietnamese Cuisine is a small family run restaurant with great Vietanmese & Thai dishes.

For more upscale food, consider Teller’s (in a former bank – the restrooms are in the vault) or break open your piggy bank and visit Pachamama’s.

Keith

My daughter is a graduate of KU and I spent quite a few weekends in Lawrence. Midwest Express Airlines used to offer a direct, round trip flight from Milwaukee to Kansas City for only $79. I’m sure the price has gone up over the years. Here are a few places we enjoyed the KU Roadfood:

Free State Brewery: a great micro brewery http://www.freestatebrewing.com
Wheat Fields Bakery: the cinnamon buns are to die for http://www.wheatfieldsbakery.com
Vermont Street BBQ: http://www.vermontstreet-bbq.com
Ixtapa: good Mexican cuisine

CSD