Mini BBQ Tour

The weekend of the walk we spent the whole weekend in Kansas City with my parents. For the time we weren’t spending setting up/participating in our walk, or watching the Giants working their way towards their World Series title,  David came up with the idea to do a BBQ tour. We like a little show called Diners, Drive-ins and Dives so we researched the places featured on that show and picked a few favorites.

Friday Night

We went to Smokin’ Guns in Northern Kansas City and ate a full meal (which will make more sense later). I had the ribs and burnt ends and the sweet potato fries and coleslaw. They were alright. But not Oklahoma Joes (my favorite). Although I did love the sweet potato fries, cut waffle style. They’re currently building a larger restaurant and I can see us going there again.

Saturday

We had three places we planned to go to. We decided at each place we would get a rack of ribs, to share of course, and a side or two. Although each place we went to we kept increasing the number of sides we ordered.

First up, Woodyard BBQ. They, as the name implies, sell woodchips of lots of different varieties. And the place smells amazing.

Their ribs were, in a word, amazing. The best we had the whole day (and from the night before). They didn’t have a rub so it was just that pure smoky goodness. Their sauce, though, was meh. Although the ribs really didn’t need sauce. Something that David finds sacrilege. But I stand by my statement. The side we chose was a corn bake. Not that great. Although the ribs completely made up for it. Can you tell I liked them? We wish we would have gotten one more side as I’m thinking they’re not known for the their corn. Nevertheless we would totally go back.

Second up, Johnny’s BBQ. I’ll just say it. This was by far the least favorite of the day. Felt like an old restaurant that they just had taken over and kept the décor. The ribs, meh. The sauce, meh (looked and tasted like spiced ketchup) The service, meh.

For our sides this time we ordered the coleslaw, which was better than the night before, and baked beans, which were pretty good. You usually don’t go to a BBQ joint, though, for the sides. Don’t have a need to go there again.

Our third, and final, stop on the tour was to RJ’s Bob-B-Que. By this point some of us were getting a big full so it was getting harder to be objective. We pushed forward, though.

Their ribs were pretty good, about equal with those from the night before. Their sauces weren’t my favorite, although David liked them, but there again I’m not a huge sauce person. The ambiance was one of the best of the day. The service was wonderful. The cook even brought out little deserts, testers he called them, for the kids. David got the feeling they thought we were food critics. Aren’t we all!

For our sides we chose the sweet potato fries, which were A-mazing, the baked beans, which were pretty good, and the creamed style corn, A-mazing doesn’t quite cut it. Seriously the corn was magical. Even though the ribs weren’t our favorite I definitely think we would go back.

After all the places we went to I still think Oklahoma Joes is my favorite. Theirs a reason the line is always so long!

We like to eat, if you couldn’t tell. So this little adventure was a blast, for me. The kids thought we were a bit crazy, I think my parents might have thought so too, but it’s not as if we do this every day. That’s what made it of fun!

Hey, Happy Monday!