[Mark]

Interesting read. Several famous ones, in addition to a few I hadn't heard of.

http://www.budgettravel.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2010/02/02/AR2010020201758.html

[AZWildcat]

Visited Arthur Bryant's. Meat was okay, but the sauce almost makes it inedible. More cafeteria style w/ tourists like me, no love in the Q. Big disappointment in my book.

[kckid5az]

Bryant's sauce is a very distinct taste that lots of people can't deal with, but way more people LOVE it and go to AB's craving that taste.  The meats, especially the burnt ends, are to die for!

[Crash]

Someone gave me a bottle of AB's sauce a few months back.  Right out of the bottle...terrible.  On the meat...it was better, not great but better.

Guess that's what they mean about regional differences.

[jmcrig]

Visited Arthur Bryant's. Meat was okay, but the sauce almost makes it inedible. More cafeteria style w/ tourists like me, no love in the Q. Big disappointment in my book.

I'm sorry to here your experience at Arthur Bryant's was so terrible. For a BBQ Joint that's been there since the early 1920's, and still has people lined up out the door for lunch when it's 10 degrees with 5 foot of snow on the ground. I guess they don't have a clue about BBQ.

[Mark]

I also went to Arthur Bryant's with great expectations, but was disappointed. The burnt ends were like eating pencil erasers and the fries were flaccid. As I recall, a sandwich, fries and a Boulevard beer set me back around $15. Due to the vaunted reputation, I had expected to practically hear angels singing with each bite. Hombre, a KC native, suggested that I would have been better off going to Interstate BBQ.

It wasn't BBQ, but my best meal in KC was the pan-fried chicken at Stroud's.
http://stroudsrestaurant.com/

[kckid5az]

As a KC Native I've been to Bryant's a few hundred times and never had a bad meal.  If you get a chance, there are obviously BBQ joints on every corner so maybe try another one.  One of my favorites is LC's.  At least you got a taste of Boulevard Beer and Stroud's Chicken

[squealers]

 I was at Arthur Bryant's too and I agree, it is a major tourist place, but the food was very good. for my taste buds not exceptional, but a very good...

the price was a touch expensive, but expected with that kind of history. I met the 74 years old pit master with a few teeth missing and he had been working the pit for 60 years... wow! try to imagine doing your current job for 60 years:)

The highlight was the lady behind the counter taking your order:) she asked if I wanted fries and after getting my yes she turned around and grabbed with her two BARE hands a wak load of fries and plunked it on top of my order... 25 years as a chef and I had never seen the bare hand fries move before:) funny!

all in all a great experience for a Q lover... a must... it's like visiting ROME for catholic

[jmcrig]

I also went to Arthur Bryant's with great expectations, but was disappointed. The burnt ends were like eating pencil erasers and the fries were flaccid. As I recall, a sandwich, fries and a Boulevard beer set me back around $15. Due to the vaunted reputation, I had expected to practically hear angels singing with each bite. Hombre, a KC native, suggested that I would have been better off going to Interstate BBQ.

It wasn't BBQ, but my best meal in KC was the pan-fried chicken at Stroud's.
http://stroudsrestaurant.com/

Mark, sorry to hear about your experience. I first went there in the early 1950's. Stop there and get a sandwich and walk up the hill to the ball park for a baseball game. If you went to the Bryant's by the race track, I'll agree, it is crap. 18th & Brooklyn is the only one to go to. And yes, Stroud's is excellent. Also, Interstate BBQ is very good, just 600 miles away in Memphis.

I was at Arthur Bryant's too and I agree, it is a major tourist place, but the food was very good. for my taste buds not exceptional, but a very good...

the price was a touch expensive, but expected with that kind of history. I met the 74 years old pit master with a few teeth missing and he had been working the pit for 60 years... wow! try to imagine doing your current job for 60 years:)

The highlight was the lady behind the counter taking your order:) she asked if I wanted fries and after getting my yes she turned around and grabbed with her two BARE hands a Wake load of fries and plunked it on top of my order... 25 years as a chef and I had never seen the bare hand fries move before:) funny!

all in all a great experience for a Q lover... a must... it's like visiting ROME for catholic

I bow to your 25 years in the food service industry. I think if we go back to the origins of BBQ and it's traditions is what some of these well established restaurants have tried to maintain. The BBQ teams that win the big events all buy special meats. As a whole, we have genetically taken pork butts from 80% to 90% lean. So they buy pork that hasn't been genetically changed. I'm sure the woman that did that had been doing that for 50 years. And I'm sure the Kansas City Health Department knows about it and they don't seem to have a problem with it. If we allow it to happen, we'll have to start wearing a body condom just to go outdoors.

[Mark]

I went to the original one on 18th. It was about 8 to 10 years ago when I went to check out the Royal. I'm mistaken on the one that Hombre had mentioned. It was in KC and not Jack Stack, Oklahoma Joe's nor Gates, but well known enough that I had heard of it when he mentioned it. It's gonna drive me crazy!

[jmcrig]

You've also got Quicks, Rosedale, and KC Masterpiece. And I'm sure I've left some other good ones out. They're like Circle K's here. Didn't mean to drive you crazy.

[AZWildcat]

I'm sorry to here your experience at Arthur Bryant's was so terrible. For a BBQ Joint that's been there since the early 1920's, and still has people lined up out the door for lunch when it's 10 degrees with 5 foot of snow on the ground. I guess they don't have a clue about BBQ.

Sorry for not liking it, nothing against the KC BBQ scene, just a regional thing. The sauce really is different for someone who grew up in the SW. I guess I probably built it up to be the holy grail, so it had high expectations. The locals took me to another joint in a strip mall, not famous, that i'm trying to remember. I've spent the am looking for it on the net, no luck. That was far more to my liking. KC has probably forgot more about Q that I will ever know, just wasn't to my taste.  I can attest to its popularity, as the line was almost out the door.

[jmcrig]

With the popularity of BBQ and the news media, this simple thing we all love, is being blown out of proportion. BBQ is simple, it's a regional way of preparing food. When every other BBQ show on television tells you how great a place is, it can never live up to the hype. Have I had better BBQ on any given day somewhere else, probably. I guess with Bryants it's more about the history and the tradition. They have been there since the early 1920's. Maybe I set in the same seat as one of our presidents. But you have to admit, where else in the world can you get fries cooked in pure lard.