The Beginning: The Birth of Kansas City ’Cue

Pizza in New York started with one man: Gennaro Lombardi. Similar story for Kansas City. Henry Perry had tunnel vision, and filling his scope was barbecued meat.

It was 1908. Perry operated out of a city back alley, and sold smoked meats to hungry laborers. When he found success, he moved into a space with a roof. And with a team of then no-names in his stable—men like Charlie Bryant and Arthur Pinkard—he developed a reputation that continues to draw awe today. Perry was the architect of Kansas City barbecue, and thanks to his vision, a legion of followers would define this city as the greatest for barbecue in the nation.

The Difference

It’s not just the quality of Kansas City barbecue that makes it unique. It’s the geography. You don’t have to be a supertaster to know that barbecue in places like Texas and South Carolina is legit. But here’s the difference: the great barbecue joints in those places are often separated by hundreds of miles of pavement. Not the case here: the Kansas City region has the greatest concentration of barbecue joints (more than 100, aficionados claim) of any place in America. Visiting 15 in a day isn’t a question of geography; it’s a question of common sense. And stamina.

The House Specialties

Barbecue here is unique. For starters, Kansas City invented and perfected a delicacy called the burnt end. Expect to find it on just about every barbecue menu in Kansas City, and expect to crave it long after you’ve left the region. Its composition: that crispy portion of the brisket not suitable for slicing, but delicious and full of flavor on its own. Pitmasters will chop it into cubes or chunks, and then submerge it into sauce, often times returning it to the smoker for even more smoking.

Too, Kansas City is a sauce town. Here, meat is often seasoned with a dry rub, then sauced. It’s the sauce itself that defines so many of the restaurants in the region. Typically, the style is of a rounder, sweeter tone, as defined most notably by Hillsdale Bank BBQ and Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que. But the region’s most famous sauces are both, atypically, more savory than sweet, and come from the region’s two heavyweights, Arthur Bryant’s and Gates.

The Players

Debating barbecue dominance is a sport in Kansas City. Most followers will agree that each restaurant typically features that one item that defines the place—whether beef, pork, beans or sauce. And so, the best way to experience Kansas City barbecue isn’t to patronize one place, but to sample items from many places. Here are the highlights, in my humble opinion:

Arthur Bryant’s

• Henry Perry’s employee, Charlie Bryant, inherited the restaurant in 1940, selling it to his brother Arthur in 1946. It was then renamed.
• “The single best restaurant in the world,” according to Calvin Trillin in the ’70s.
• Tom Watson in Golf Digest: “I get withdrawal pangs if I don’t eat this stuff at least one a week.”
• Famous for sliced beef (also called brisket) and beef burnt ends.
• President’s Choice sauce, defined by its acidic vinegar tones, is unlike no other in Kansas City.
• The original location at 1727 Brooklyn Ave. is the standard bearer.

Gates Bar-B-Q 

• The other Kansas City barbecue heavyweight.
• Another Henry Perry employee, Arthur Pinkard, helped George Gates launch the original Gates Bar-B-Q in 1946.
• Six locations throughout the region.
• Famous for its ribs and Original Classic sauce.
• Battled Arthur Bryant’s in the Travel Channel’s “Food Wars.”

Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que

• One of Anthony Bourdain’s 13 Places to Eat at Before You Die.
• Flagship located inside a gas station in Kansas City, Kan.
• Famous for its pulled pork, ribs, fries and spicy slaw.
• Serves burnt ends in limited quantities on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
• Barbecue is “competition-style,” meaning it features those notes and flavors valued in national competitions.
• Multiple first-place wins at Jack Daniel’s World BBQ Championship and the American Royal (more on festivals later).

Fiorella’s Jack Stack Barbecue

• Kansas City’s most upscale barbecue.
• Noteworthy for its crown prime beef short rib, which is the largest single rib that man has ever seen. Unofficially.
• Contender for best baked beans in the region.
• Extensive menu features more than just barbecue, as well as wine and cocktails.
• Ships meat nationwide.
• Four restaurants in the region, including the original in KC’s Martin Cityneighborhood.

These may be what some deem the cream of the Kansas City crop, but the crop runs far and wide in the region, and includes a long list of other options. Make it through the aforementioned stops, then move on to the dozens of other restaurants, joints and shacks like Danny Edwards, Rosedale, Quick’s and Smokehouse.

View our full list of Kansas City Barbecue Joints for more!

The Parties

Being the leader in barbecue muscle means more than just fanning out a spectrum of top-tier restaurants. It means offering some of the nation’s best barbecue competitions and festivals.  

The American Royal World Series of BBQ –  Referred to locally as “the Royal,” this competition is also nicknamed the World Series of BBQ. In fact, with over 500 teams competing, it’s the largest barbecue festival in the world.

Great Lenexa BBQ Battle - From its humble beginning of 12 contestants and 12 judges, Lenexa today boasts 200 contestants and 240 judges. This “local” competition has become a national destination for serious meat magnets, and a competitive proving ground for anyone with a serious love of ’cue.

It’s only after an extensive tasting that one begins to realize the genius of the Kansas City barbecue arts, and the unknown entity that is the product of smoke and fire. That taste, that sensation—it’s the mystery that is the best barbecue in the world: Kansas City Barbecue.