Cirque d’Alex

Big place, not busy at lunch on a rainy Wednesday. Clean, looks new. Menu is simple — hot dogs, personal pizzas. People were friendly. I had a Chicago dog with cole slaw — tasty, slaw is vinegar-​based and although fresh, lacked taste. Dog was very good, but it’s never enough to fill my fat belly, so I tried to order nachos afterward. They were out, so I had a bbq chicken personal pizza — pretty good.

It’s hot dogs. And ice cream. Other than the nearly 20 minutes it took for us to get our two hot dogs and one ice cream, nothing else stood out. For some weird reason, there were about 4 people ahead of us and the grill cook made each individual order one at a time. Basically we waited about 20 minutes because of this. That was 2 years ago and I never went back.

Not gonna go into too much detail here. Everything I have had was good and I have returned a couple of times. Only complaint is that the prices of some things are a little on the excessive side for what they are. No matter how good a chili dog is, it’s only worth so much.

Saw this place as we were arriving at our hotel. It’s tucked away just off I-​29 but well worth a stop. We walked over and was treated to a very friendly staff and FABULOUS ice cream. After several samplings, my husband and I both opted for Irish Coffee ice cream. He took his straight up and devoured it. I got one scoop Irish Coffee and one scoop Burnt Sugar. It was like drinking a cup of Irish coffee with a caramel drizzle. Definately planning on stopping in again for ice cream and to try their hot dogs.

A hidden gem, indeed.
When we make our way down to Kansas City, I always make it our mission to try a new place and I came across Cirque d’Alex online and refused to go back home until we made a stop there (I was also 7 months pregnant, so my husband couldn’t refuse my cravings and my daughters couldn’t refuse an ice cream stop).
We weren’t the best in following our GPS’ directions, but we finally found the location and it was well worth the hype. The hot dogs and ice cream were delicious. I’m not going to lie, I was a bit disappointed that I couldn’t try the alcohol infused flavors, but I have no doubts that I’ll make a stop again when we’re in the area.
The staff working that afternoon were so friendly and courteous. Can’t wait until we find ourselves in the KC area again, so we can make a detour here.

Gourmet hot dogs and ice cream. Genius!
Good for adults and kids. Kind of an out of the way location, but it appears popular with the local work crowd.

Every time I come to Kansas City, the only thing I can think of is getting to the Cirque. I wish we had one of these places in the Bay Area… I can’t LIVE without the tasty goodies that you get here.
1: BEST. HOTDOGS. EVER. Period.
2: BEST. ICE CREAM. EVER. No, seriously. I was a die hard Cold Stone fan until I was introduced to Cirque d’Alex last year. Now I can barely touch the stuff. The ice cream here is heavenly — creamy, smooth, subtly and richly flavored. I love that the owner personally creates every recipe, and painstakingly perfects it before throwing it out to the public.
3: BEST. CHILI (and beans). EVER. Am I getting repetitive here? I don’t really care!
Also, vegetarians? This place has you 100% covered. Veggie hot dogs to die for, veggie beans, veggie chili. You will be in soy-​hog heaven.
In short: Cirque d’Alex is the best thing to happen to ice cream and circus-​type food in a long, long time. Get your butt there if you want your taste buds to thank you.

I simply cannot understand why people are not raving about Cirque D’Alex. This place is YUMMY!
They use truly top-​quality ingredients (ask them to talk about it), creates highly imaginative and delicious flavours and sells it all for a fraction of what you would shell-​out at Coldstone. In fact, all the ‘chain’ ice cream brands pale in comparison.
Go on — live a little. Branch out to Apple Pie, Blueberry muffin or — best in my opinion — one of the fiendish alcohol-​based creams. Or, if that sounds too exotic, try their Tahitian vanilla (the Tahiti vanilla bean grows only a few times per year — this is the second most expensive spice in the world, after saffron — yours for $ 3).
I have not tried the savoury dishes but, frankly, why use up valuable stomach space with hot dogs when one can gorge on ice cream?
ADDITION: I’ve since tried the hotdogs. Forget what I said earlier. Leave space for these. They’re phenomenal. With the new décor, it’s a lovely place to visit for a quick and tasty bite.

The five stars are for the ice cream because we just discovered this place and haven’t yet tried the hotdogs. I bet they’re great too. The place is as sterile as an operating room… not a problem but it would have been nice if there had been more people in there. I sure hope it catches on. The ice cream is really like authentic Italian gelato– dense, rich, no artificial-​tasting flavors.

They call themselves a ‘Glacier’
Pretty simple little joint, the people are all really nice. They have lots of homemade specialty ice cream, including several alcoholic flavors, which I have never tried. I hear it’s great. They have the ice cream shop food you might expect – hot dogs, chili, baked beans, potato salad, chips, salad.
My favorite thing about this place is that they have veggie dogs AND veggie chili, in addition to some fun stuff like NY-​style paprika onions, neon green pickle relish, celery salt, and hot peppers, and pita.
It takes longer than you might expect for a hot dog, as they seem to steam them one by one, but I know from working at Sonic that being in a steam thing all day certainly kills hot dogs and toppings alike.
The pita is a neat option if you plan to pile on more than a bun can handle.