The Bad News Cafe

01/30/2023

Wow, it has been literal years since I've updated this page! The only news I have for THIS book is that 100% of sales at Parkville Coffee go straight to the tip jar. That has been the policy since covid began, but with progress on my next novel going well I'll probably have people popping in here. So if you're vetting me for some weird collab or scheme I'm up to for my side project or my next novel (the Pentecostal one), I'm just saying hi I'm still around and yeah this book is decent for a first shot but the next one is insane.

03/20/2020

Remember skipping school to head to the Fun Factory (w**d pickup optional), but first stopping to get gizzards down on 7th before it was the newer "fancy" building? Well, our childhood favorite restaurants could really use some extra love right now. Please consider using this time to spoil yourself with some of the best food in town at Go Chicken Go!

03/20/2020

If you have loved these folks since you ate calzones after shopping at Chess King or Walden Books at Indian Springs, please consider supporting one of the best restaurants in the world right now. Or if this is the first you've heard of them, order a calzone and a whole large pepperoni with 50% more sauce added.

https://www.facebook.com/149781797151/posts/10158100249967152/

Update: Starting 3/24/2020 our dining room will still be closed. We are still doing our full menu for takeout or delivery.

Our hours are currently adjusted to:
11:00am-7:00pm mon-Sat
Sunday closed
Until further notice

Curbside Pickup

Starting Monday 3/16/2020 Italian Delight will be offering curbside pick up for orders placed online only.

This is only for orders placed on our website, menufy app or by credit card over the phone paid for in advance. We will not be handling any cash or credit cards with the service at your vehicle.

Please add a vehicle description in the comments of your order. 

When you arrive please call us directly and let us know your here. Try to park as close to the front door as possible.

Here at Italian Delight we truly appreciate our customers loyalty overs the years and through these uncertain times. We will update as needed with any changes.

We are also doubling our already safe handling protocols and making sure all handles and surfaces are continually being sanitized.

Thank you from all here at Italian Delight.

https://www.italiandelightks.com/ #/

03/14/2020

Doing some serious KC Steak Soup prep with the very first custom, hand-forged knife I've ever owned.

11/13/2019

The Bad News Café is the first novel of its kind, written for service industry professionals hit with the unending fallout from Yelpers, “influencer” culture, and the nightmare known as Restaurant Week. Set in Topeka and Kansas City, it goes past the stale foodie trends straight into the heart of why we eat, why we cook, and how it centers us and keeps us sane through the worst that life throws at us. On the darkest day of your life, what meal helped you keep it together?

40% off for a limited time!

What makes food matter? Beyond the trends, fads, social media, marketing, and the endless programming…what is it about flavors, textures, aromas, and the act of dining that connects it to the core of your identity? That is one of the many questions a writer from Kansas City ponders on his drive t....

09/17/2019

As a former minister writing a less than flattering novel about modern church culture, I will always do my best to recognize religious organizations that serve the community in ways that make a difference in people’s lives. Despite what I view as the absolute sellout of the evangelical culture of my childhood to a fake and lazy Fox News gospel, there are plenty of churches that are actually doing what the self-serving politicos only use as lip service. Whenever I’m in town I always go by Topeka Rescue Mission on my way next door to the area around the huge AG silos (the site of the fictional church in my book), and it’s obvious they are walking the walk when it comes to their vision of the gospel. As I work on my new book, it’s good to know that these organizations exist, and if there is any “across the aisle” good that can come from what I’m doing I would like for it to benefit those I grew up knowing were “the least of these”.

Topeka Rescue Mission

08/22/2019

We were back in Topeka this weekend for some much needed R&R (snacks at The Pad and a night at The Cyrus Hotel), and of course a book related detour to North Topeka. Some will recognize this spot down on Curtis Street, down the street from the Great Overland Station. Recently I started getting into the actual writing phase of the next book, and these grain elevators sit exactly where the church and parsonage in my book will be. My photo session will do a lot to help shape Chapter 1...

07/14/2019

I love Go Chicken Go...there was no way it wasn't going to get a mention in The Bad News Cafe. I grew up going to the one on 7th of course, but took the kiddo to the one on State when we were done fishing at Wyandotte County Lake this morning. Their gizzards are a hallowed tradition, and I was proud to have most of mine stolen by the kid.

06/05/2019

I'm happy to let everyone know that Amazon just dropped the price for The Bad News Cafe by 30%...which makes it cheaper than both the brick and mortar price as well as my personal "service industry discount" price. My royalty remains the same no matter what Amazon charges, so this is a win-win!

What makes food matter? Beyond the trends, fads, social media, marketing, and the endless programming…what is it about flavors, textures, aromas, and the act of dining that connects it to the core of your identity? That is one of the many questions a writer from Kansas City ponders on his drive t....

05/12/2019

I've hit a couple of great book writing milestones in the past couple of weeks, due in no small part to another weekend in Topeka.

When I told people about the setting for The Bad News Café, most of the time they would ask “Why Topeka?” As I make progress on the new book (also set in North Topeka), and spend an increasing amou…

03/18/2019

I'm back home in Kansas City getting my brain reconfigured to keep working on the new book. Headed back to Topeka later this week, but as far as my travels go this is a huge 2 part recap of our Disney World vacation last week. Disney will not be sponsoring me anytime soon.

Marriage and kids are a slippery slope to doing s**t you never imagined in a million years. I am not the kind of man who would voluntarily travel to an overcrowded amusement park for a week and spe…