Reply to Columbia - places to eat that are close to the trail spur

Does anyone have any recommendations for places to eat that are close to the Columbia/Katy Trail spur?

Once you're on the Katy:

Lucy's Bar and Grill in McBaine isn't that far if you're heading east.

Trailside Cafe in Rocheport if you're heading west isn't too far from the Columbia/Katy Trail intersection.

Both have great food and love bikers!

In Columbia? The only time I have ridden the spur, I found it just dumps you out onto a busy
street with no guidance of where you are or where to go. So, we went across the street and
rode around for awhile until we found a block with some bars on it and just picked one out
and had bar food. I have been told that the trailhead is actually at the brewpub in Columbia,
but I have no idea how to get there. Maybe it is better marked now or someone on this
forum can give directions.

If you're going to ride all the way into downtown Columbia on the MKT, you'll basically end up at the corner of Providence and Stewart Roads. There is a little more trail on the other side of Providence that will end up in a little park I believe. Some of it is on sidewalk and street.

In my opinion, there are 3 good choices of food near there. You can't beat Shakespeare's Pizza that is at the corner of 9th and Elm. This is 4 or 5 blocks east of where you will be at the end of the MKT. Also on 9th street are Booches and Columbia Billiards, which both have awesome cheeseburgers.

I hope this helps.

Ken

Actually, Columbia is working on the northern end of the MKT spur. It will soon go under the streets and end up at FlatBranch Park, right across from the old Katy Station, which has been a restaurant for many years. I am not sure of the timetable, but they have moved a lot of dirt and debris to for the tunnels, and I imagine it will be done in the next few weeks/month or so. I agree that before this work was started, it was not marked well and hard to follow once you hit Providence Road. The new underpasses will be a great improvement.

Columbia has pretty much all kinds of food, from vegetarian, to Thai, Italian, Albanian, Arab, Greasy Spoon, bar food, chains, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Mexican, steaks, coffee shops, candy stores and on and on all located up the hill from the trail head. It has something that fewer and fewer towns seem to have these days. A vibrant downtown area. I guess having a major university and two small colleges bordering it helps a lot.

At Stewart and Providence, just keep heading north on Providence for like two blocks, turn right, and you are on the southern edge of downtown and the northern edge of the MU campus, head into town, and you will find all sorts of food and bars/music venues to suit your tastes.

LOL, I sound like the chamber of commerce, and I promise you, I am not! lol

I agree with the above--downtown has many excellent places, and you can basically just follow the construction to figure out where the trail will go. I don't think the work is going to be finished until mid- to late- June. If you want something before downtown, you could get off the spur at Forum (there's a parking lot and an underpass there), and follow Forum up the hill to the north or left (if you're riding toward Columbia) to Jazz, which is a pretty good cajun place. There are also restaurants up the hill to the right, but they are a mile or more away, and I would recommend going into downtown over that option.

I recommend Flat Branch Brewery as it's always my final destination after my Friday trail
rides. As stated above, the trail dumps you out at Providence and Stewart. Go east on
Stewart (up the big hill in front of you) and left on Fifth. Flat Branch is on the left 3 or 4
blocks down Fifth. They have a great outdoor seating area and tasty brews and food.

I know this thread is focusing on getting to downtown Colubmia, but here is a map showing the MU and county connector trails to the MKT spur.
http://www.gocolumbiamo.com/ParksandRec/Documents/mkt_mu_conect.pdf
You may find that the MU connector trail dumps you to calmer streets. That is, until the tunnel is completed.