Cutest and I enjoy a good adult beverage now and then. We occasionally find ourselves diligently searching for the perfect establishment. The one that can be lively yet not raucous. One that has a bona fide happy hour where the drinks are cheap AND GOOD. Also a pub that offers small plates that make you crave more. And especially a bartender who knows their craft and is backed up with a broad array of wines and spirits.
This past week’s search led us to Shawnee, Kansas. Probably most folks don’t strike out for Shawnee in search of a good drink. However, the bar’s name, Wild Child, intrigued us.
Unfortunately it failed to check off some of the boxes from the previous paragraph. Wild Child sits rather meekly on the corner of Nieman Road and Johnson Drive, just down (or up) from the award-winning Drastic Measures, both ventures of Jay Sanders and partner.
Stepping through the doorway, we saw a chatty room of patrons nearly filled the small room. Quickly we secured seats at the bar, our prime spot to do detective work.
At a bar you soon become besties with those seated on either side of you and with the bartender. Up close and personal, the barkeep’s skills or lack of can be quickly dissected and judged. Do they have a mental encyclopedia of drinks or do they require a cheat sheet? Can they do the rumba while manipulating a cocktail shaker in one hand, filling a beer mug from a tap with the other, all while chit chatting with the couple on the other side of the bar?
Wild Child had the gifted bartender. A point for them. She was definitely needed as forty to fifty folks soon maxed out the capacity, a little surprising for a Thursday night. No quiet rendezvous spot here tonight.
Wild Child leaned heavily into dress-to-impress cocktails. A flask inserted into a martini glass filled with ice, a confectionery cloud hovering above a martini glass, a self-propelled ice crusher, a shell glass for a lavender drink and a latte looking cocktail. For a girls’ night out or bridal shower outing or just as a curiosity, this could be your place.
Prices were average, alcohol content was satisfactory. Food is not available on the premises but a taco food truck conveniently sat right outside. My recommendation: smile at the menu’s broad range of concoctions and their names, meet new friends and savor the experience.
Cutest and I shall continue our quest for the perfect tavern. I know, it’s a difficult, exhausting, time-consuming task, but someone has to do it.
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