An Ode to Kansas City Barbecue
Arthur Bryant's Barbecue
Growing up in Kansas City, the barbecue smoke never leaves your veins. Your opinion of another city’s barbecue will always be layered with criticism and longing for what you grew up knowing to be the true way to season, smoke, and devour a rack of ribs or plate of brisket. You’ll relentlessly scour menus for burnt ends – most of the time your search will be in vain. If you don’t care for barbecue, you simply wont understand – skip this story and continue on with your sad life. But if you appreciate this culinary discipline, one of the oldest in America, you should come to appreciate the history and diversity of Kansas City’s barbecue scene.
To start, Kansas City differentiates itself from other barbecue meccas (i.e. Texas, Memphis, the Carolinas, Alabama) with its emphasis on a decadent tomato-based sauce rounded out by molasses, brown sugar, and spices, including paprika, onion & garlic powder, and cayenne – Kansas Citians scoff at the idea of eating their meat without sauce or dousing it in a vinegary concoction. While sharing this common base, each Kansas City barbecue joint’s sauce has an entirely unique flavor profile and consistency – Gates Bar-B-Q offers a thin, sweeter variation, while Arthur Bryant's Barbeque’s is thicker, spicier, and more savory. In Kansas City, cow is king, and while many restaurants offer pulled pork as an option, the best choice is almost always beef ribs, brisket, and burnt ends.
Historically, Kansas City was at the center of the country’s cattle trade thanks to its immense stockyards and a huge network of converging rail lines connecting the East with the West. One particularly irksome fact to many Kansas Citians is that the Kansas City Strip Steak was intentionally “rebranded” by New York City restaurants to what it is more commonly known today as the New York Strip Steak to make it more marketable to diners. With prime access to the country’s best beef, yet not always the most popular cuts, in the early 1900’s Black pitmasters singlehandedly developed the city’s barbecue scene, and continue to do so to this day.
“By 1950, over 4 million heads of livestock were being moved through KC every year…Meatpackers and butchers were often left with less desirable parts (ribs anyone?), providing a source of cheap product to anyone willing to make use of them…The Great Migration, the massive population shift of African Americans out of the South and into northern and Midwestern cities in the early 20th century, helped accelerate Kansas City’s culinary evolution. These new Black folks moving to the area came seeking work and business opportunities, and in the process, created KC’s signature style of barbecue (Michael Wells, The Kansas City Star).”
Kansas Citians have one man in particular to thank for their barbecue obsession: Henry Perry, the ‘father of Kansas City barbecue,’ in 1908 began serving smoked meats from an alley stand to workers in the Garment District in Downtown Kansas City. That same year, one of Henry’s employees, Charlie Bryant, would go on to create Kansas City’s most beloved and longest running barbecue establishment – Arthur Bryant's Barbecue – which was eventually renamed when Charlie passed away and his brother Arthur took over. To this day, the restaurant is still owned by members of the Bryant family and continues to be lauded as one of the best barbecue joints in the country.
Brisket Sandwich at Arthur Bryant's Barbecue
Kansas City, and all lovers of barbecue for that matter, owe a great debt of gratitude and appreciation for Black gastronomers who, out of necessity and ingenuity, created and perfected one of the most popular cuisines in America. If you’re interested in learning more about the history of barbecue and how Black barbecuers innovated and popularized this foodway, I highly recommend reading the book Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue by Adrian Miller.
In its most basic form, barbecue is an egalitarian eating experience where people come together united by an appreciation for the history, process, and the pitmaster’s unrelenting love off their craft. Today, you see this passion in the people who cook and dine in Kansas City’s bounty of barbecue options, whether its a modernized restaurant or an old-fashioned, no frills barbecue joint. Food is the product of culture, and when you dine at a Kansas City barbecue institution, you’ll experience firsthand why barbecue is so near and dear to those who live there. Ultimately, everyone thinks their own state, city, town, and favorite barbecue joint is the best, and that’s the beauty of this food. Barbecue in itself is a representation of each region’s culture, history, flavor preferences, and the ingredients that were most abundant at a given time. It just so happens I think Kansas City has the best barbecue.
The Menu at LC’s Bar-B-Que
Check out the list below for some of the best spots in Kansas City.
For those living in NYC, John Brown’s BBQ in Queen’s Dutch Kills neighborhood does a passable job at Kansas City-style barbecue.
