By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

The Power & Light District's bars get some love -- but also some criticism -- in a recent St. Louis Post-Dispatch article. The writer's tactic: He spent one night bar hopping to chug down drinks at 18 places in KC's entertainment district. What a job!

The article by Tom Uhlenbrock is entertaining and was popular with readers. It was one of the most e-mailed stories on the paper's web site in recent days.

Uhlenbrock was joined on his pub crawl by Laren Mahoney of the Kansas City Convention and Visitors Association.

Uhlenbrock also says he gained a small advantage by linking up with Jon Stephens, Cordish's marketing director, at one point.

The author says Stephens became "an important cog in our crawl because lines were forming at the doors to the district's trendier clubs. Stephens could get us through the crowds of bikers and their babes with a wave of his hand."

St. Louis officials are working with Cordish to develop a similar entertainment district in their downtown.

In this case (as in many others), KC can boast it's more up to date than its smaller east-Missouri neighbor.