(This college football season, Arizona football beat reporter Justin Spears is trying out popular restaurants in towns the Wildcats are playing in. Up first: Kansas State.)
Manhattan, Kansas — Last season, I devoured my way through Starkville, Mississippi and Pac-12 country during Arizona's last year in the "conference of champions" to highlight the culinary scene and history of the towns the Wildcats played in.
After extensive research — aka asking Kansans and Kansas State media members — leading up to the all-Wildcat showdown between No. 20 Arizona and No. 14 Kansas State at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, the first installment of "This Ain't Tucson" is a review of Tanner's Bar and Grill near the KSU campus.
Restaurant: Tanner's Bar and Grill
Food: Bar food, burgers, sandwiches, wings
The rundown: Tanner's is nestled in the heart of "Aggieville," a historic shopping and entertainment district named after Kansas State Agricultural College Aggies, on Moro Street, the Manhattan version of Arizona's University Boulevard and Main Gate Square. KSU, which is ranked by Niche.com as the eighth-best university for agricultural sciences, changed its mascot from the Aggies to Wildcats in 1915. Besides Tanner's, popular spots in Aggieville include Taco Lucha, The Hi Lo and Auntie Mae's Parlor, a speakeasy bar that opened in 1930 during the prohibition era.
Tanner's is known for its chicken lips, which are fried chicken breast strips, and burgers or "boogas." One of the burgers is the "Fristo-tastic Booga," a half-pound burger with pepper jack cheese, guacamole, jalapeños and Frito corn chips
On Tanner's menu, chicken lips are "freshly breaded, deep fried and smothered (chicken strips) with your choice of buffalo, chipotle, garlic asiago, sweet chili sauce, jerk or teriyaki, with the extra step of char broiling the 'lips' to sear in the flavor."
Sweet chili chicken lips at Tanner's Bar and Grill in Manhattan, Kansas.
The order: Sweet chili chicken lips with fries and ranch and nachos
The final verdict: The nachos — with queso, shredded cheese, jalapeños, black olives, tomatoes, chives and sour cream — were a nice appetizer, but nothing to rave about. The chicken lips tossed in a sweet chili sauce made a strong impression and was the main attraction of the meal. Coupled with fries and ranch, it made for a perfect pregame meal. 7.2/10
