On Kansas City BBQ
Jan. 19th, 2015 09:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tbutler(Following up on a comment on yhlee's journal)
Barbecue is one of the two or three foods Kansas City's known for. (Kansas City's got a pretty good selection for a lot of different cuisines, but it's only really noted for a few, from what I've seen around.) KC barbecue goes back for around a century, to Henry Parry's place in the now-historic 18th & Vine district; there are at least a hundred restaurants across the city today, with a wide variety of flavors. For some people, it can almost be a religion; pilgrimages to favorite restaurants, debates on the style of sauce, the quality of the baked beans...
Once in a while I'll find a good KC-style restaurant outside of the area, but it's very rare. The things that set KC BBQ apart are: long, slow smoking, usually with a dry rub; use of sauce, almost always tomato-based (as opposed to the vinegar or mustard sauces I've seen elsewhere) and usually thick - but typically only applied after cooking, not as it smokes; sliced meat (not pulled-meat, as you find in many other areas of the country); and, hardest to duplicate, a wide variety of high-quality meat. As a stockyard town, KC has access to some of the best, and that's where I see out-of-town fall down more often than not.
My favorite BBQ is smoked turkey, though I also like lean smoked beef; several restaurants in the area will do smoked sausage, but sliced thin instead of in the usual chunks, and that can also be quite good. I'm not generally a fan of ribs, as they're usually too little meat for too much fuss; but there's one place about an hour southwest of KC, Guy and Mae's in Williamsburg, that does really juicy and thick-cut ribs.
Sauces can vary widely. Rosedale's sauce is very peppery, to the point of overwhelming the tomato flavor; Arthur Bryant's original is fairly thin, dry, almost tabasco-like; Gates' is tangy and fairly hot, without overwhelming the rest of the flavors; KC Masterpiece is very sweet, with a strong molasses flavor. (And despite the name, it's more representative of generic 'nationwide' BBQ sauce than it is of Kansas City, though I do like it in some recipes.) Most sauces fall somewhere in between; strong tomato, hint of vinegar tang, hint of sweetness, some spicy 'bite'.
A rundown of some of the places I've been to and like, behind the cut:
Most KC BBQ restaurants are counter-style; stand in line, place your order, pick it up and then find a table. A few are traditional sit-down restaurants, and I'll note them as appropriate.
These places trace their lineage back to Henry Parry; Arthur Bryant took over Parry's original restaurant, while Gates was founded by one of Parry's cooks. There's a mild rivalry there, but they're both good.
Arthur Bryant's - Known for decades as a hole-in-the-wall place with formica tables and linoleum floors, the original Bryant's restaurant was eventually joined by a sister location in the suburbs next to the Kansas Speedway. In the words of a friend, Bryant's doesn't sell sandwiches so much as sandwich construction kits; a slice of white bread, slap about 1 to 1 1/2 inches of meat on top, then another slice of bread and cut. There's easily enough to make two sandwiches. Meat is generally excellent, though the sliced pork can be fatty; the smoked turkey is about the best I've had. Sauces are the original, dry and thin and not sweet at all (or very tangy); 'Rich & Spicy', which is thicker, a little on the sweet side, some tang with a notable bite aftertaste; and 'Sweet Heat', a recent addition that I don't really care for. Dine-in is served plain, with sauce at the table; to-go has the original sauce unless you request otherwise. (To-go is also wrapped in red butcher paper, for a traditional feel; if you have leftovers - and there's a good chance you will - you can go up to the counter and tear off a hunk to wrap yourself.) Without sauce, the meat is flavorful, well-smoked but without obvious contribution from the dry-rub spices. Fries are made on the premises; if you look back behind the counter at the original location, you can sometimes see one of the cooks putting the potatoes through a fry press. Oh, and Bryant's has been the site of many Presidential stops, and the wall has signed pictures from a number of celebrities like Steven Speilberg.
Gates' and Sons - Where Bryant's tends to focus, Gates goes for variety. Bryant's didn't open up a second location until relatively recently; Gates has had several restaurants scattered across the metro area. Bryant's has one sandwich size; Gates goes from a small bun to a double-decker sandwich-and-a-half. Bryant's stuck with one type of sauce for decades; Gates has several varieties. In general, you can eat cheaper at Gates by picking one of the smaller sandwich sizes, but Bryant's gives you a little more for your money. Meat quality is equal to Bryant's; Gates uses a thicker and spicier dry rub that is more notable in the final sandwich, and the sauce is also generally 'hotter' (and served on the sandwich by default, even dine-in). Fries are probably Gates' weakest spot; standard steak-cut fries, they aren't bad, but obviously aren't fresh-cut like Bryant's. OTOH, they have good baked beans, a good selection of sides, and 'yammer pie' that's quite good.
Rosedale BBQ is another historic restaurant, founded in 1934, that never seems to get the attention that the Big Two do. Possibly because it's even more unassuming than Bryant's; sandwiches are good but simple, fries are basic crinkle-cut served up in wax paper bags, and soda is cans or bottles pulled straight out of a refrigerated cabinet. More than anything else, it's the 'value' BBQ; everything's a la carte, priced low and not fancy. As I mentioned above, the sauce is very peppery, with almost no vinegar or tomato flavor. Still, I like stopping by when I'm in the area.
Oklahoma Joe's (now simply Joe's Kansas City BBQ) is an example of the new kid that did good. The team came up through the local barbecue competition scene (KC has two big BBQ contests, the American Royal and the Lenexa BBQ Battle), until they finally decided to open a restaurant inside a local gas station. That location's still open, and is kind of a neat place to visit (imagine your typical gas station/convenience store shelves filled with various kinds of BBQ sauce), but be warned - seating is tight and parking is even tighter. After the first location did well, they opened two more 'traditional' restaurants in the south and southwest parts of the metro area. Joe's has good meat and good sauce, although the sauce is more 'generic good KC bbq' without anything that stands out like the prior entries. Fries are good (if not as good as Bryant's), with a nice season-salt; a single order is usually enough for two people. Joe's has more of a 'southern' style to it than any of the other KC restaurants I've eaten at; some sandwiches are topped with slaw (which I typically see in Memphis-style BBQ), and they have other typically 'southern' sides like red beans and rice.
Fiorella's Jack Stack is another long-term'er, splitting off a family restaurant chain going back to the 50's. It's a sit-down place, in contrast to most of the restaurants I've covered, fancier and more formal (and sadly more expensive) than the others, with waiters and cloth napkins. That does mean a somewhat more substantial menu, to its credit. Good meat and good sauce, though again it's not 'distinctive' the way some of the others are; it generally does give you the 'cut above' feeling in presentation that you'd expect in a sit-down restaurant. Somewhat better selection and quality of side dishes. One location is in the 'Freight House' district downtown, in a renovated historic building with high ceilings and very nice decor.
Smokehouse Bar-B-Que is where I went most often in the years I lived in the northeast corner of the metro area. It's another sit-down place, and it's where I first encountered the long-sliced smoked sausage. Quality can be variable; sometimes very good, sometimes the meat was a little fatty or greasy. A friend of mine once dubbed it the 'house of the psychotic pig' (see the logo on their website for why).
Zarda's BBQ is probably the one I go to most often, simply because it's very close to my place and is a convenient drive-through when I'm heading somewhere. Side items are decent but not spectacular; sauce is OK by KC standards (which puts it at 'pretty good' on the nationwide scale), but not something I'd buy to use straight - unlike most of the others mentioned here. The main notable thing about them is they slice their meat very thin, almost shaved. This works in favor of the beef brisket (at least when you order it lean), but hurts the turkey.
I admit, I came into BBQ through the back door. Growing up, I never really cared for the spicy sauces, even though I loved the smell of smoking meat; I finally got into things in college, because I loved meat sandwiches and BBQ was one of the best ways to get them. (I also love Chicago-style Italian Beef sandwiches; maybe more on that another day.) Now, well, I wouldn't like to deal without it. :)
yhlee's journal)Barbecue is one of the two or three foods Kansas City's known for. (Kansas City's got a pretty good selection for a lot of different cuisines, but it's only really noted for a few, from what I've seen around.) KC barbecue goes back for around a century, to Henry Parry's place in the now-historic 18th & Vine district; there are at least a hundred restaurants across the city today, with a wide variety of flavors. For some people, it can almost be a religion; pilgrimages to favorite restaurants, debates on the style of sauce, the quality of the baked beans...
Once in a while I'll find a good KC-style restaurant outside of the area, but it's very rare. The things that set KC BBQ apart are: long, slow smoking, usually with a dry rub; use of sauce, almost always tomato-based (as opposed to the vinegar or mustard sauces I've seen elsewhere) and usually thick - but typically only applied after cooking, not as it smokes; sliced meat (not pulled-meat, as you find in many other areas of the country); and, hardest to duplicate, a wide variety of high-quality meat. As a stockyard town, KC has access to some of the best, and that's where I see out-of-town fall down more often than not.
My favorite BBQ is smoked turkey, though I also like lean smoked beef; several restaurants in the area will do smoked sausage, but sliced thin instead of in the usual chunks, and that can also be quite good. I'm not generally a fan of ribs, as they're usually too little meat for too much fuss; but there's one place about an hour southwest of KC, Guy and Mae's in Williamsburg, that does really juicy and thick-cut ribs.
Sauces can vary widely. Rosedale's sauce is very peppery, to the point of overwhelming the tomato flavor; Arthur Bryant's original is fairly thin, dry, almost tabasco-like; Gates' is tangy and fairly hot, without overwhelming the rest of the flavors; KC Masterpiece is very sweet, with a strong molasses flavor. (And despite the name, it's more representative of generic 'nationwide' BBQ sauce than it is of Kansas City, though I do like it in some recipes.) Most sauces fall somewhere in between; strong tomato, hint of vinegar tang, hint of sweetness, some spicy 'bite'.
A rundown of some of the places I've been to and like, behind the cut:
Most KC BBQ restaurants are counter-style; stand in line, place your order, pick it up and then find a table. A few are traditional sit-down restaurants, and I'll note them as appropriate.
The historic Big Two
These places trace their lineage back to Henry Parry; Arthur Bryant took over Parry's original restaurant, while Gates was founded by one of Parry's cooks. There's a mild rivalry there, but they're both good.
Arthur Bryant's - Known for decades as a hole-in-the-wall place with formica tables and linoleum floors, the original Bryant's restaurant was eventually joined by a sister location in the suburbs next to the Kansas Speedway. In the words of a friend, Bryant's doesn't sell sandwiches so much as sandwich construction kits; a slice of white bread, slap about 1 to 1 1/2 inches of meat on top, then another slice of bread and cut. There's easily enough to make two sandwiches. Meat is generally excellent, though the sliced pork can be fatty; the smoked turkey is about the best I've had. Sauces are the original, dry and thin and not sweet at all (or very tangy); 'Rich & Spicy', which is thicker, a little on the sweet side, some tang with a notable bite aftertaste; and 'Sweet Heat', a recent addition that I don't really care for. Dine-in is served plain, with sauce at the table; to-go has the original sauce unless you request otherwise. (To-go is also wrapped in red butcher paper, for a traditional feel; if you have leftovers - and there's a good chance you will - you can go up to the counter and tear off a hunk to wrap yourself.) Without sauce, the meat is flavorful, well-smoked but without obvious contribution from the dry-rub spices. Fries are made on the premises; if you look back behind the counter at the original location, you can sometimes see one of the cooks putting the potatoes through a fry press. Oh, and Bryant's has been the site of many Presidential stops, and the wall has signed pictures from a number of celebrities like Steven Speilberg.
Gates' and Sons - Where Bryant's tends to focus, Gates goes for variety. Bryant's didn't open up a second location until relatively recently; Gates has had several restaurants scattered across the metro area. Bryant's has one sandwich size; Gates goes from a small bun to a double-decker sandwich-and-a-half. Bryant's stuck with one type of sauce for decades; Gates has several varieties. In general, you can eat cheaper at Gates by picking one of the smaller sandwich sizes, but Bryant's gives you a little more for your money. Meat quality is equal to Bryant's; Gates uses a thicker and spicier dry rub that is more notable in the final sandwich, and the sauce is also generally 'hotter' (and served on the sandwich by default, even dine-in). Fries are probably Gates' weakest spot; standard steak-cut fries, they aren't bad, but obviously aren't fresh-cut like Bryant's. OTOH, they have good baked beans, a good selection of sides, and 'yammer pie' that's quite good.
Other notables
Rosedale BBQ is another historic restaurant, founded in 1934, that never seems to get the attention that the Big Two do. Possibly because it's even more unassuming than Bryant's; sandwiches are good but simple, fries are basic crinkle-cut served up in wax paper bags, and soda is cans or bottles pulled straight out of a refrigerated cabinet. More than anything else, it's the 'value' BBQ; everything's a la carte, priced low and not fancy. As I mentioned above, the sauce is very peppery, with almost no vinegar or tomato flavor. Still, I like stopping by when I'm in the area.
Oklahoma Joe's (now simply Joe's Kansas City BBQ) is an example of the new kid that did good. The team came up through the local barbecue competition scene (KC has two big BBQ contests, the American Royal and the Lenexa BBQ Battle), until they finally decided to open a restaurant inside a local gas station. That location's still open, and is kind of a neat place to visit (imagine your typical gas station/convenience store shelves filled with various kinds of BBQ sauce), but be warned - seating is tight and parking is even tighter. After the first location did well, they opened two more 'traditional' restaurants in the south and southwest parts of the metro area. Joe's has good meat and good sauce, although the sauce is more 'generic good KC bbq' without anything that stands out like the prior entries. Fries are good (if not as good as Bryant's), with a nice season-salt; a single order is usually enough for two people. Joe's has more of a 'southern' style to it than any of the other KC restaurants I've eaten at; some sandwiches are topped with slaw (which I typically see in Memphis-style BBQ), and they have other typically 'southern' sides like red beans and rice.
Fiorella's Jack Stack is another long-term'er, splitting off a family restaurant chain going back to the 50's. It's a sit-down place, in contrast to most of the restaurants I've covered, fancier and more formal (and sadly more expensive) than the others, with waiters and cloth napkins. That does mean a somewhat more substantial menu, to its credit. Good meat and good sauce, though again it's not 'distinctive' the way some of the others are; it generally does give you the 'cut above' feeling in presentation that you'd expect in a sit-down restaurant. Somewhat better selection and quality of side dishes. One location is in the 'Freight House' district downtown, in a renovated historic building with high ceilings and very nice decor.
Smokehouse Bar-B-Que is where I went most often in the years I lived in the northeast corner of the metro area. It's another sit-down place, and it's where I first encountered the long-sliced smoked sausage. Quality can be variable; sometimes very good, sometimes the meat was a little fatty or greasy. A friend of mine once dubbed it the 'house of the psychotic pig' (see the logo on their website for why).
Zarda's BBQ is probably the one I go to most often, simply because it's very close to my place and is a convenient drive-through when I'm heading somewhere. Side items are decent but not spectacular; sauce is OK by KC standards (which puts it at 'pretty good' on the nationwide scale), but not something I'd buy to use straight - unlike most of the others mentioned here. The main notable thing about them is they slice their meat very thin, almost shaved. This works in favor of the beef brisket (at least when you order it lean), but hurts the turkey.
I admit, I came into BBQ through the back door. Growing up, I never really cared for the spicy sauces, even though I loved the smell of smoking meat; I finally got into things in college, because I loved meat sandwiches and BBQ was one of the best ways to get them. (I also love Chicago-style Italian Beef sandwiches; maybe more on that another day.) Now, well, I wouldn't like to deal without it. :)
