There are plenty of delicious meals to be had in this great city, but some CoMo concoctions show up on everyone’s list of favorites. We went in search of that definitive list, talking to frequent diners, restaurant owners, chefs, college students and Columbia natives to find the foods — and a few drinks — that Columbians can’t miss when they dine out. From tasty to unique to probably impossible, this Top 100 list is a cornucopia of Columbia cuisine your taste buds must try.

There was a day in November when NASCAR driver Carl Edwards found himself in one of the major sports stories of the year. He was in Miami for the Ford 400 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, the final race of the Sprint Cup Series. The series is the most elite league in NASCAR, and Columbia’s hometown hero was favored to win the championship.

Anticipation is building in Columbia for the city’s ninth True/False Film Festival, which takes place this year from Thursday, March 1, through Sunday, March 4.

Real Advice From Real People Dating Today By Bailey Brewer Some book titles in the dating section of the library promise personal gain, others offer amusement, and still others have the potential to provide both: 101 Ways to Flirt, You Lost Him at Hello, The Panic Years, Getting Naked Again. And, of course: Dating Sucks.Read the Rest…

Pride For Your Ride Columbians Get Creative With Their License Plates By Whitney Dreier Less than 1 percent of the 142,766 sets of license plates registered in Boone County bear the logo of one of Columbia’s three colleges, yet these Mizzou, Stephens and Columbia College-themed plates are often the ones that grab our attention andRead the Rest…

By Anita Neal Harrison • Photos By L.G. Patterson There’s something about the New Year that makes more seem possible. As we take down old calendars and hang up new, we feel a chance to discard our pasts and begin our futures. We feel freedom. We feel empowerment. And we feel the need to remindRead the Rest…

Revved Up For Change Bikers Against Child Abuse Fight Back By John Littell It was an unusually mild March day when Mopar and his brothers and sisters kicked their bikes to life and headed to a small town in western Missouri. Although it was probably one of the best riding days of the year, theRead the Rest…

Grit and Glitz Columbia Volunteers Help “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” Rebuild in Joplin By Jessica Walsh When the tour buses and camera crews of the television show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” rolled up in Joplin last month, an estimated 10,000 volunteers from across the country poured in to help. They worked day and night toRead the Rest…

The Business Person’s Business Person Columbia Chamber Of Commerce President Don Laird Gives His Year-End Report By Mark Slavit | Photos By L.G. Patterson KRCG-TV’s Columbia Bureau Chief Mark Slavit recently sat down with Columbia Chamber of Commerce President Don Laird for a conversation about recent growth and opportunities for the local economy What holidayRead the Rest…

Going To The Dogs We knew Columbians loved their pets, but we didn’t know just how much until we send out a call for entries to our first-ever pet cover contest. We received more than 400 entries before we finally had to narrow the selections to make voting more manageable for all the many fansRead the Rest…

Drunken Squirrels … And Other Bizarre Wildlife Stories By Whitney Dreier Wild creatures and humans usually coexist peacefully, but every now and then they cross paths for better or for worse — or, in some cases, for laughs. Here are a few bizarre animal encounters that are sure to make you smile. Deer Crossing It’sRead the Rest…

Phone Home New Technologies Put Control At Your Fingertips By Rebecca French Smith Life just gets easier and easier. Forty years ago, the remote control was another person in the room you could tell to change the TV channel. Of course, since then, complex hand-held remote controls have become commonplace. From TVs to garage doorsRead the Rest…

By Anita Neal Harrison The University of Missouri is celebrating 100 years of Homecoming! With a tradition stretching back to 1911, Mizzou’s Homecoming is one of the oldest, biggest and most famous Homecoming events in the nation. A look back on Mizzou’s Homecoming pasts, as depicted in MU’s yearbook, The Savitar, reveals generations of MizzouRead the Rest…

Missing In Missouri: The Silent Epidemic By John Littell Each year some 3,500 adults and 7,000 juveniles go missing. After 12 months, the active cases police are still working number around 175 adults and children. Multiply those cases over a period of years, and these numbers begin to look like national statistics. But they’re notRead the Rest…

Go Nuts! The Downtown Optimist Club Wants You To Help Them Help Kids By Anita Neal Harrison • Photos By L.G. Patterson and Courtesy of Koeze Nuts The Downtown Optimist Club closes each of its meetings with a recital of The Optimist Creed. In addition to pledging such bright goals as “to look at theRead the Rest…

The Music Man Richard King Gets Ready For The Biggest Show Of The Year By Mark Slavit • Photos By L.G. Patterson KRCG-TV’s Columbia Bureau Chief Mark Slavit recently sat down with The Blue Note owner Richard King, promoter of this month’s fifth annual Roots ‘N Blues ‘N BBQ Festival, for a conversation about music,Read the Rest…

Living With Grace A Caregiver’s Story By Ashley Burden • Special to Inside Columbia Mary Ann Scheneman can’t recall the first time her husband’s memory began to change. “He’s just an absent-minded professor,” she thought. Stephen Scheneman was the director of the Professional Development Office of Extension at Kansas State University. He had a Ph.D.Read the Rest…

Called To The Principal’s Office One-On-One With Fr. Tolton Regional Catholic High School’s Kristie Wolfe By Mark Slavit • Photos By L.G. Patterson KRCG-TV’s Columbia Bureau Chief Mark Slavit recently sat down with Kristie Wolfe, principal of Fr. Tolton Regional Catholic High School, for a conversation about Columbia’s newest high school, set to open onRead the Rest…

19 Reasons We Love Columbia And Why You Should, Too By Haley Adams, Taylor Combs, Lauren Omahen and Abbey Sussell We already know Columbia is full of intellectuals, athletes and bike lovers, but what else is so special here? A lot, apparently. We searched rankings, lists, Google and that confusing Census data and discovered ColumbiaRead the Rest…

Fly Away Home Eagle Einstein Gets Some TLC From Raptor Rehab By Whitney Dreier The bluebird may be Missouri’s state bird, but the bald eagle was getting all the Show-Me State attention on July Fourth. More than 200 people gathered at Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area that holiday morning to watch the release of Einstein, aRead the Rest…