Kansas City.
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5 places
Rooms you can walk into, ranked the way I would send you.
Key: what the badges mean
★ Michelin star · Bib Bib Gourmand · Green ★ Michelin Green Star · Michelin in the Michelin guide, no distinction · J Jeff's own note · Jeff ★★★★☆ 2019 his own rating out of five, and the year he gave it · new the venue itself opened recently · just added recently added to Jeff's list, whatever its age · 2◆ independent chef/industry recommendations · ! hygiene caution in force · ? no current public hygiene record, not a caution · keep walking Jeff has been and would walk past it · the line under a name says when to go: Destination (plan around it) / Solid (the dependable send) / Listed (on the radar). Under it, where the entry states one: how the room takes bookings, and the date I last checked the entry.
Go here first.
Where I'd actually send you first: the rooms I'd put a visitor in on night one, in town rather than an hour down the highway, spread so six cards are six different answers. Producers, markets and the rest of the city are below.
LC's Bar-B-Qjust added?
Destination · Kansas City barbecue · South Kansas City · $$
walk-in
LC Richardson picked cotton in Mississippi as a boy and retired from Farmland Industries before he opened a barbecue counter beside a liquor store on Blue Parkway at 52.
Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Quejust added?
Destination · Kansas City barbecue · Kansas City · $$
walk-in
Jeff and Joy Stehney won the American Royal Open in 1993 with a competition team called Slaughterhouse Five, then put a barbecue counter inside a working gas station at 47th and Mission three years later.
Arthur Bryant's Barbequejust added?
Solid · Kansas City barbecue · 18th and Vine · $$
walk-in
Arthur Bryant took his brother's pit in 1946 and pulled the fire out of Henry Perry's sauce, and the grainy orange dip on the table is still his: vinegar, tomato, paprika, a hit of curry powder.
Boulevard Brewing Companyjust added?
Listed · Brewery · Westside · $$
walk-in
John McDonald was a carpenter with a shop on Southwest Boulevard.
Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue, Martin Cityjust added?
Listed · Kansas City barbecue · Martin City · $$$
book ahead
Jack Fiorella opened this room in 1974, worked out he could not beat Arthur Bryant's and Gates at the counter, and went the other way: gourmet meats over hickory, cloth napkins, a full bar, and salads that scandalized the purists.
Somewhere tonight.
One tap hides everything shut today and everything that needs a booking, then sorts the rest by how close it is to you. I don’t publish opening hours, because they go stale faster than anyone can check them. Check the door before you go.