Before #vanlife, Jon and I lived in Los Angeles and San Diego. To make up for the high cost of living in these cities, we rarely ate out. Instead, we loved to cook delicious, (sometimes) healthy and budget-friendly meals in the comfort of our kitchen. Mmm, our former kitchen, with its regular-sized fridge, regular-sized oven, and regular-sized sink. Umm, excuse me while I momentarily pine for my old kitchen…

Anyway, going out to eat was a treat largely reserved for traveling. We could indulge in going out, and we avoided the logistical complications of cooking in hotels and hostels.

But now that we’re bringing our home with us in our travels, we can comfortably and conveniently prepare our meals. When grocery shopping and cooking for ourselves, we average about $2-$3 per meal for both of us, which is pretty darn good!

And yet, we still want to try local restaurants! With our housing and grocery savings, we feel content and justified to spend on other meals that bring us joy – such as seeking great BARBECUE!!!

One of Jon’s favorite (read: obsessive) activities while traveling is to find delicious BBQ. Not just “good” BBQ, but mouth-watering, line-waiting, first-come-first-served kind of barbecue. In Kansas City, Missouri, we certainly had many options, like kids in a candy store! Here’s our review of the BBQ places we visited during the first month of our sabbatical:

BBQ in Kansas City, MO

Kansas City is famous for its burnt ends. In a short and non-technical explanation, burnt ends are made with the triangular cut of meat at the end of a brisket. Because of the higher fat and collagen in this part of the meat, it takes longer to cook to tenderness. Historically, BBQ cooks would keep only the brisket piece; the end piece would be thrown away, given away, or hidden in stews, beans and other dishes where non-descript meat could only be eaten after hours of simmering.

Nowadays though, burnt ends are a specialty in their own right. There are two ways to cook the (burnt) end: 1) cook the entire brisket + end piece together, then remove the brisket and leave the end to cook further, or 2) cook the brisket and burnt end separately with different cooking times. The result of so much cooking time is (hopefully) a tender, moist and bark-covered piece of beef that tends to be fattier than brisket.

So, we went to find the best burnt ends that Kansas City could offer!

Must-Have BBQ in Kansas City!

• Q39 – Q39 opened in 2014, making it a relatively new restaurant to throw down on the KC BBQ scene. It’s been described as “chef-driven” BBQ, whatever that means.

We ordered the burnt ends, mac and cheese and a couple of beers. It seemed to us that the burnt ends here used the freshest meat of all the BBQ places we tried in KC. Traditionally served chopped into cubes, they were moist and lightly saturated with smokey flavor. The mac and cheese was so delicious we had to accost the waiter about which cheeses were in the recipe.

• Char Bar – If we could return to one restaurant in all of KC, it would be Char Bar. Every item we ordered was creatively interpreted, handsomely built, and deliciously memorable. We had the burnt ends, kale slaw, and mac and cheese.  Everything about the food was perfect.

Char Bar also has a huge outside patio, including shaded tables and outdoor games, like lawn croquet, ping-pong and bocce ball. Willie certainly enjoyed hanging out (ahem, begging) under the table as we ate. And, it’s one of the few great BBQ places that offer vegan, gluten-free and vegetarian options, so no one need be left out. It’s the perfect place for a hang out with any crowd – family, date or coworkers. It’s safe to say, we recommend it!

When we return to Kansas City, we’ll definitely have to patronize both these spots again!

It’s Not Bad BBQ in Kansas City, MO

• Joe’s Kansas City BBQ – Joe’s is among the BBQ brands that have expanded locations and ships BBQ to anywhere in the country. The most popular Joe’s location is the original, opened in 1996 inside of a gas station (both BBQ and gas are still serving). But I preferred the Olathe location; it had a shorter line, more seating options, and fresher BBQ. While ordering, you can see and hear the cooking, chopping, and serving. There’s a down-home, casually fun – but clean! – dining atmosphere that is most fitting for a finger-licking BBQ sauce kind of meal. Standing in line here feels as natural as standing in line at Disneyland. We ordered burnt ends, sausage and onion rings. I would describe our meal as respectable, better-than-average BBQ. I’d highly recommend it if your primary intention is to sit down for a nice meal with friends and family.
• Slap’s BBQ – Did you know that Slap’s stands for “Squeal Like a Pig”? Slap’s is one of the few BBQ places on the Kansas side of Kansas City, yet it bravely follows Texas BBQ’s first come, first served, until-we-sell-out business model. For our experience, it was good, decent barbecue with an offering of traditional sides. We found the burnt ends and the pork spare ribs very moist, but we came early enough to ensure we got the freshest picks!

Don’t Bother BBQ in Kansas City, MO 🙁

• Jack Stack – Jack Stack touts itself as a “Kansas City tradition” because it first opened way back in 1957. It ships BBQ anywhere in the country; we even found its BBQ beans and cheesy corn bake stocked in the local Costco. Jack Stack is wildly popular and is mentioned in almost every comprehensive discussion of KC BBQ. So, my only explanation for our ‘meh’ experience is that we must have caught them on a bad day. For our Sunday lunch, we ordered lamb ribs, burnt ends, deep-fried mushrooms and mac and cheese. The lamb ribs were fun, but only because we don’t often see smoked lamb. The burnt ends, served un-chopped in its original form, was very dry and barely warm. They must have been quite old. Jon had expected great things from the reviews, but to me, the restaurant had more of a Cheesecake Factory feel than a pit master’s pride and joy. I didn’t expect much and did not get much. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
• LC’s BBQ – Another bad day perhaps? In our opinion, the burnt ends could have used more cooking time. At first, I reasoned it was a timing oversight – they were serving us whatever they had, even though it wasn’t yet cooked to perfection. But the meat was also cold! That could only mean the burnt ends were removed from the heat to stop cooking – prematurely, it seems, based on how cold and chewy the meat was – long before we ordered and received our meal. Another thing to note is that LC’s isn’t the kind of place that hit it big with fame and fortune, then reinvested it in updating the restaurant, branding, and expansion. They’re the kind of place that still serves the local neighborhood first and foremost, that still has its grimy, dirty restaurant of decades past, and that provides Styrofoam everything because it’s fast and easy. The restaurant is smoky, dimly lit and insufficiently air-conditioned – suffice to say, it is vastly different in atmosphere than the other places we went to. Perhaps that’s the reason we saw so many locals coming in to pick up or place to-go orders.

Drum Roll Please!

Those were the six BBQ establishments we visited in Kansas City. We would rank them as:

1. 1. 1. 1. Char Bar
         2. Q39
         3. Slap’s
         4. Joe’s Kansas City BBQ
         5. LC’s BBQ
         6. Jack Stack

We are excited to continue our search for the best BBQ. Do you have a recommendation for us? Please share!