Kansas City
I'm a New Yorker, but I might as well admit it here and now: I love Kansas City barbecue more than anything. (See this issue's "Smoked Signals" to experience my road trip to this barbecue heaven.) Give me a sauce so thick it sprints at a slow ooze, and hand over the hickory-licked St. Louis–cut ribs. Or maybe the slow-fired brisket. Am I loyal to the barbecue home of the Royals? Let's just say, I'd give up the Yankees, throw over the Jets, ditch the Giants, and forgo the Mets just for the pleasure of eating my every meal at a Kansas City barbecue place.
1727 Brooklyn Ave.
816-231-1123
There's just no other way to say it: This is everything barbecue should be. Sell a kidney or crawl over cut glass to get here. (I recommend the original location, but there are two others in town that are just fine.)
>> Visit the Web site
1221 Brooklyn Ave.
816-483-3880
The yin to Arthur Bryant's yang, just up the street and worth saving (at least a little) room for. Multiple locations.
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5800 Blue Pkwy.
816-923-4484
A whole different kind of barbecue, hotter, faster (almost to the point of grilling), crazier-but still darn tasty.
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13441 Holmes Rd.
816-942-9141
For an upscale place, this is some of the best barbecue in the country. Though they have no plans to expand beyond Kansas City, the good news is that you can get some of über pitmaster Tim Keegan's excellent 'cue delivered right to you-and yes, they have burnt ends! This address is for the original; check the website for other locations.
>> Visit the Web siteSo what, you may ask, is the finest of the fine here in the beating heart of barbecue life? If I had to choose one place and one dish to carry me over into the next life, it would be the burnt ends sandwich at Arthur Bryant's. Burnt ends are what you get when the smokiest, most charred ends of the brisket are trimmed away, cubed, and stewed in sauce. The thin end is often the most charred and the thick end the fattiest: combine the two and you get a perfect happy medium. The good news about Kansas City, though, is that the barbecue is so bountiful and varied, there's no reason to choose just one place.
