El Patron Cocina and Bar is located on Southwest Boulevard, across the street from Ponak’s. My friend and I sat on the roof, even though it was a breezy night in November, and the tequila master came out and helped me choose a tequila. The one he recommended, Clase Azul blanco, surprised me. I usually prefer aged tequila, but this blanco was really smooth.

I ordered Los Tres Grandes, and my friend had rather bland but creamy guacamole and a tostada. Of my three tacos, my favorite was the carne asada (left), which was spicy and a little burnt, followed by a tasty taco al pastor (right), and then the taco marinera, which had a sweet and spicy sauce. The fish was cooked properly, but the entire package didn’t come together for me.

By the time we finished, we were glad to get off that roof and into a warm car. We drove northeast to Crossroads, and I was stunned to see people filling galleries, crowding the sidewalks to listen to the bands scattered about, and tumbling into the streets. What a change from my weekday visits!

I’ve been to one or two First Fridays in Denver, but I don’t remember crowds like this, perhaps because Denver has several such events every month.

The only difficulty was finding a parking space (and then remembering where it was at the end of the night).

At the first gallery we visited, the theme for the night was established: brightly colored abstract art. We visited several galleries, including Blue Gallery, where a William Rainey painting reminded me of Denver-area artist Catherine Carilli’s Abstract Symbolist phase; Elements of Green, featuring countertops made from recycled material and an anemone by Margie McDonald; and Kemper Gallery, where the minders in shockingly blue shirts reminded me of the line from Firefly or Serenity (I can’t remember which), “Two by two, hands of blue.”

My friend commented about Side Show 2009 by Keltie Ferris, “I’m seeing a really advanced form of tagging here.”

My favorite artists were twin brothers Paul and Phil Gayter. I liked the self-conscious, playful aspects of their work.

Five galleries were my friend’s limit after a day spent watching six toddlers. But driving from Crossroads to Overland Park turned out to be a breeze. I can see why so many people live in Kansas and commute downtown; it took less than half an hour.

***

On an earlier trip to Crossroads, I visited Hilliard Gallery at 404 18th Street and loved this found-object horse by Guinotte Wise.Turns out it’s a great way to get a weapon across state lines.

When I walked in YJ’s and asked them how late the place was open, the man behind the counter said, “Sunday.” I did a double take because I was expecting to hear an hour, not a day. Then he explained that they are open 24 hours on the weekend.

YJ’s is a tiny place at the corner of 18th and Wyandotte, and it was full of people, young and old, black and white. Now by “full” I mean there were about 15 people crammed in at-elbows. To get to the bathroom and get your advice for the day, you have to turn sideways and sidle by the people at the bar.

I asked about dinner, but it was a little too early for that. Counter-Man cobbled together a lunch plate for me: your basic ravioli, spicy sausage, salad, and grilled bread. Later I wished I’d skipped the ravioli and had more salad, but everything tasted fine and it filled me up.

One thing about Crossroads: it’s as splattered as a Jackson Pollock painting. It needs infill. Perhaps Denver Infill should open a branch office? There are lots of businesses on Main, Baltimore, and Wyandotte, on 18th Street, and on Southwest Boulevard (not to be confused with Southwest Trafficway). Not as much on other streets.

One reason for that may be the Power and Light District (named after the multicolored Power and Light Building in downtown Kansas City, north of Crossroads). One of the staff at Peruvian Connection lamented the city’s decision to pour a lot of money into Power and Light. City council brought in chains, she said, nothing related to Kansas City, and drove up real estate values so much that artists couldn’t afford studio space in Crossroads. According to her, they’re migrating to the West Bottoms, northwest of Crossroads, nearer the Missouri River.

I walked up to Power and Light late Friday afternoon, and I liked it. Yeah, there’s a Gordon Biersch, a Chipotle, and so on, but I liked the look of the buildings, and there were actually people strolling the streets (apparently, after I took this picture). A band was setting up in a large courtyard. It wasn’t crowded since there wasn’t a show at the Sprint Center, but I felt more comfortable walking around there than in Crossroads or downtown.

Kansas Citians also flock to the Plaza, which I’ve been mostly ignoring during this trip because I liked it better in the 1980s than I do now. It has upscale chains like Burberry and Marmi (there’s one in Cherry Creek North in Denver). It still retains local businesses like Hall’s (the family that founded Hallmark) and Winstead’s, a burger joint.

If I were to pick a Denver counterpart to the Plaza, I suppose it would be the 16th Street Mall. It too is chainified and busy. Other areas of central Kansas City (from the river to 79th Street) should more properly be compared to Denver neighborhoods like Uptown and Capitol Hill and Jefferson Park and the South Platte River Valley. Those areas don’t generally have crowded sidewalks, though people are out and about at certain times of day.

Kansas City also has a more intense car culture than Denver. I’m not sure why, because both had trolley systems until the mid-twentieth century and then changed over to buses.

I hope that more motley areas of Kansas City like Crossroads and downtown near the river will continue to develop and fill in with unique local attractions.

When I had a rosemary caramel latte at LatteLand on the Plaza, it was his infusion in the latte. He also offers caramel with Tahitian vanilla bean, citrus caramel (my least favorite since I dislike orange-flavored chocolate), strawberry balsamic caramel…and the list goes on.

It took some doing, however. After showing up in Crossroads a week ago Monday with an out-of-date map, traipsing down deserted streets searching for CE, and then, when I did find it, discovering it was closed, I had to satisfy my chocolate craving with the Sweet Guy (not a bad thing) until the Friday before Halloween. (Note: The Sweet Guy closed in spring or summer 2010.)

The chocolates at CE’s sleek shop were so pretty that I bought a 9-piece box, along with a cherry-flavored pate de fruit, and laid them out next to the Sweet Guy’s key lime and hazelnut truffles. If the Sweet Guy’s truffles look the worse for wear, it’s not the fault of their maker. I was carrying them in a bag in my pocket.

Yes, it’s time for another chocolatier comparison.

The word that best describes the Sweet Guy’s truffles: rich. The key lime (the patterned truffle) was rich and limey, and the hazelnut was rich and slightly crunchy. I was going to say it had a “quiet nut flavor,” and then I decided “quietly nutty” sounded better, and then I gave up and settled for this: “It tasted of hazelnut, but it didn’t beat me over the head with it.”

Sophisticated, that.

I would like to try the Sweet Guy’s pesto truffle sometime. And the pistachio. And the Anasazi. Pine nuts, anyone?

CE’s pate de fruit above tastes as dark cherry as it looks. It was the best PDEF I’ve ever had. Eating the banana curry (the brown, sparkly half-sphere in the lower right) was like sipping a good wine: the banana flavor came in, and then the curry took over. Same with the strawberry (upper left): first fruit and then a hint of balsamic vinegar. The Earl Gray truffle (top center) had a definite EG flavor, unlike most tea truffles, which taste vague to me.

There were some my sister and I didn’t like. The coconut, that odd duck truffle in the center, didn’t impress my sister too much, though she noted the contrast between the textured outer shell and the smooth yellow filling. I didn’t care for the Persian (bottom center). It had a marzipan center, which I liked when it was combined with pistachio in one of Dietrich’s truffles, but not when it was flavored with almond and wrapped in a ganache containing saffron, clove, cardamom, cinnamon, and orange blossom.

I appreciate your patience with my chocolate obsession. It’s one of the few food groups I feel I can discuss with any authority.

Christopher Elbow’s store, on McGee between 18th and 19th, also serves drinks and sells cocoa. If you go there, be sure to use the sink in the bathroom. It is the coolest faucet* I have ever seen.

*I still remember this rather abusive Englishman named James, who was one of my flatmates when I did a year at the University of Sussex. I made the mistake of saying the word “faucet” in front of him (instead of “tap”), and he made me repeat it while he laughed at my Americanism. Or was it a Frenchism? Anyway, I was afraid of him when I was 20.

Crossroads has some cool billboards (Abdiana is a real properties company)and a bit of a skyline. (Crown Center hotel, which is south of Crossroads, is on the left; the billboard above is on the right.)You can get to Crown Center, or the Liberty Memorial, or Union Station, via bikeor take this rocket if you’re in a real hurry (I believe that’s the old TWA building).Crossroads has design covered. Besides the office of the AIA (under construction here), there are also two “green building” stores, Elements of Green and Straw, Sticks, and Bricks.

There are new lofts with ground-level retail (the Peruvian Connection there on the right is an outlet store that sells samples and last year’s merchandise; you can order full-price merchandise through their catalog)and stand-alone stores like Michael’s that have been around for a while.

If you’re hungry, you have a variety of options. Bad Seed is a local farm. (I was hoping the actual farm was here at 19th and McGee, but no luck.)

This option is not as healthful but is probably open more often. (At the back of this photograph is a sign for the President hotel, although you probably can’t see it.)You know the area will stay clean with women in charge of it (even if this woman can’t frame her pictures correctly). I know someone who will be hopping on a plane to get to this store.Best of all? No bills are allowed. Everything is free.

The best intersections in Crossroads (going north) are at 19th and Main and 18th and Wyandotte. There’s a tapas place off Main called Extra Virgin that I want to try this week.

I had planned to inform you that Bob Jones Shoes was the most dangerous place in the universe, but now I’ve decided it’s Hathaway Shoe.

Located at 1914 Grand Avenue of the Americas, north of Crown Center,has been around quite a while because I remember shopping there in 1986, when I worked at the UMKC Dental School. Bob (or Jones?) sells Dansko and Sanita and Italian-made shoes with leather soles, as well as Maruca purses, which are made in Boulder. Here’s a sample of the wares (in which I unfortunately decided to focus on the center instead of on the shoes. Sorry).

But it was at Hathaway, on Wornall a block north of 75th,  that I laid down the money. Remember the days when clerks at shoe stores measured your feet and put them on you? And even used a shoehorn? I can. And on Wednesday I had that experience again, with a clerk named Gregory.

He must have looked through every section of the back room, and produced one beautiful shoe after another. If I had bought every pair of shoes that fit well, I would have had to win the lottery to pay for them.

I have never tried on so many pairs of shoes in my life: at least 20. Finally I told him I was overloading on shoes, and even then he brought out another pair. I found a pair of multicolored boots to go with my dark brown wool pants, and then I bought a pair of green suede shoes just because I’d never seen anything quite like them before.

All this happened at their “comfortable shoes” store, the one that sells shoes you can wear 3 to 5 hours, according to the British guy who called me “lovey.” Hathaway is opening a “fashion shoes” store, featuring shoes you can wear 2 hours or less. I’m not sure what people who want to wear the shoes longer are supposed to do.