PRAISE THE LARD
Barbecue starts with the pig but it certainly doesn’t end there. I’ve used my smoker from Burns, Kansas for twenty years. I can do thirty racks of lamb at once!! The Good One.
I’ve also perfected using the Weber and smoked a lot of ribs in my Traeger. Even the hibachi works when you don’t have the other BBQ contraptions. There’s no excuse for eating micro wave meat when you could be barbecuing. Park your car in the driveway and fill the garage up with different types of wood, pellets and briquets.
One of Dave’s BBQ Rubs
During the annual barbecue food tasting with Grande Ronde Cellars wine I hand out a rub. This can be stored in a cool, dry place for several weeks or months. Adjust it to your taste and don’t be afraid to make a big batch.
4 Tablespoons of salt
4 Tablespoons of brown sugar
4 Tablespoons of cumin
4 Tablespoons of chili powder
1 Tablespoon of ancho chili powder
2 Tablespoons of cayenne chili powder
3 Tablespoons of black pepper
3 Tablespoons of paprika
2 Tablespoons of garlic powder
2 Tablespoons of onion powder
Rub on ribs for 4 plus hours. Roast ribs at 150 degrees for ten hours and then finish off on barbecue with indirect heat(about an hour). Use your favorite wood for smoke (I like apple) and if you like a barbecue sauce (I like Memphis Hot Sauce) you can apply it during the last hour of smoking.
Houston
Goode Company —
Sausages, duck, beef and pork. You feel like you are eating in a smoke house.
Kansas City
Arthur Bryant’s —
The best ribs and you can’t beat the wonder bread and margarine served with every meal. They’ve been serving up slow cooked pork and beef ribs since 1930’s and you might not be able to get a cab to pick you up in the neighborhood at night so get your Uber app loaded onto your cell phone.
Back Porch Barbecue — Georgia has a way with her ribs and she does up a mean collard green side dish. Brisket sandwich was worth the trip for lunch.
Fiorella’s Jack Stack —
The best baked beans I had in KC and the corn on the cob wasn’t just a distraction to the ribs, it enhanced the meal. They also have lamb ribs (I had to try them and they were great), smoked trout, ham and turkey. A place where you can go for those who have not learned the culinary virtues of mostly meat, a little beans and wonder bread, you can get salads here if you must. More expensive than the dives but worthy of a night out for dinner and they actually treat dessert with some respect!
Gates– If there is fast food bbq in a slow smoked way it would be Gates but I like their slightly tangy, sweet sauce once in awhile with both their sausages and ribs. You can get a mixed plate of ribs, brisket and sausages, not a bad idea when you need some place to sit and figure out where to go for bbq dinner that night.
Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que — One of those smokey old places that Anthony Bordain has proclaimed one of the 13 restaurants you have to eat in before you die. Previously called ‘Oklahoma Joe’s,’ Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que serves contest-quality pulled pork, burnt ends, smoked chicken and much more. Composed of sliced smoked brisket, smoked provolone, onion rings, and barbecue sauce served inside a Kaiser roll, the Z-Man sandwich has an enormous following. Joe’s serves dynamite French fries too.. Barbecue champs many times over, owners, Jeff and Joy Stehney, have won big at the American Royal Barbecue, the Jack Daniel’s World BBQ Championship and the World Brisket Open. Smoked chicken gumbo or classic red beans and rice are warm and satisfying accompaniments or choose from two slaw varieties.
Q39– A slightly upscale environment with outstanding pork ribs and burnt ends. Traditional sides of beans, coleslaw and cornbread. And did I mention the outstanding sandwiches.
LC’s Barbecue — The menu features ribs, burnt ends and sandwiches piled with stacks of beef, ham or turkey. Sides include the classic items like coleslaw, potato salad, spicy baked beans and for those who need french fries with their bbq food you can get some worthy of the experience in this more “traditional” KC restaurant, we aren’t talking upscale here just outstanding food.
Rosedale’s — From their website, the story is worth repeating. I love this place.
Nestled in the heart of Kansas City, Kansas is one of the country’s finest barbecues. Located at 600 Southwest Boulevard, Rosedale Bar B Que boasts over seventy years of delicious barbecue and friendly, prompt service. Founded by Anthony Rieke and wife Alda and brother- in-law Anthony “Tony” Sieleman on July 4, 1934, Rosedale Bar B Que began as a neighborhood hot dog and beer stand known as “The Bucket Shop.” At the Bucket Shop you could buy a half-gallon bucket full of the coldest beer in town for a quarter.
Beer had just been made legal for a short time and the Rieke’s and Sieleman believed they could make a few pennies selling beer…but it wasn’t hot dogs that the partners craved. It was barbecue. On the way home each night they could smell “Fatty” Sharp’s smoking meats a half-mile down the road. “…and Fatty and his wife would get to arguing, it was like going to a show,” Rieke said.
So the following summer with $183 and some pocket change between them, the partners decided to start a new business about 100 feet from their beer stand. They paid their first months rent, bought a $20 occupation license, and their first 16 gallon keg of beer, nailed some tin siding on a 12 by 16 foot frame, moved in and fired up their first barbecue pit. During their first winter, they added sheets of plywood to the inside walls to help keep the customers warm at the nine-seat counter.
“It was 1935 and there was no refrigeration in those days. There was an icehouse down the street so we’d go over there and get a 300lb. block of ice for 75 cents and carry it back over. …that would make it sell, having it cold, real cold. And then people would get hungry while drinking beer. It worked together.” (Anthony Rieke)
The venture that was intended to help the partners survive the hardships of the Great Depression turned out to be an American Dream come true for them. As the years passed, business grew as well as the barbecue: initially with the 12’ x 16’ building and then with Rieke’s development of the first practical commercial rotisserie barbecue oven. “I had to make sure the meat would cook evenly so I did a test run personally. I crawled in and rode around in it kind of like a carousel, and it all worked out just fine.”
When asked what it takes to stay successful in the barbecue business for over 70 years, especially in a town known for barbecue, the family jokes ” We just have a different genetic composition …we have smoke running through our veins.” (Marisha Smith) The customers say that it is the value, service and continuous tradition over the years that keeps them returning for more.
Rosedale is a down-home place where patrons collect their order at the counter, take their food to one of the tables or booths and dig in. Rosedale has never felt the need to offer trendy items on the menu. They have just stuck to the traditional barbecue fare, thus maintaining a supreme quality in the meats they serve: Brisket, ham, pork and turkey as well as the ever popular ribs and chicken. Loyal to the restaurants inception, they still offer some of the best hot dogs in town. Today you can even top the hot dogs with barbecue style chili. Yummy! The side orders include barbecued baked beans, cole slaw, potato salad, onion rings, jalapeno poppers, corn nuggets, and some of the crispiest golden fries in town. Rosedale’s sauce is a spicy, mildly hot family recipe that compliments the meat to perfection. Many restaurants serve a “Smokey” flavored sauce but Mr. Rieke always believed the smoked flavor should be in the meat, not artificially put into the sauce. For the Rosedale experience at office or home, Rosedale also offers catering and event planning for all occasions.
Rosedale has served itinerants just off the trains, news crews, entertainers, businessmen, blue-collar workers, government officials and even a former president. “During the Depression I couldn’t get a job, and that was probably the best thing to happen to me. If I had …well they probably would have kept me on until I was too old and then laid me off.” (Anthony Rieke) He glanced around the restaurant with a slow smile “Then I wouldn’t have had anything.”
Anthony Rieke worked daily at the restaurant until his death at age 93 in 1997 at which time his wife Alda Rieke, Sieleman’s sister, continued to visit daily until her death at age 94 in 2002. Today the family tradition is being carried on by their daughter Janelle Brown, granddaughter Marisha Smith and her husband Bill.
Today, Rosedale Barbecue is Kansas City’s oldest major barbecue restaurant continuously owned and operated by the same family. Rosedale Barbecue has been recognized by Midwest Living, Bon Appetit, Gourmet, Saveur, Chili Pepper, The Travel Channel, Kansas City Public Television, and many others have written about the Kansas City barbeque institution – Rosedale Barbecue.
St Louis
Smoki O’s —
Ribs and beans.
Memphis
Corky’s
Racks of ribs (wet or dry) baked beans, cole slaw, sausage and fried catfish.
THE CEMETERY
East Coast Grill — Cambridge
Tamales from hell (takes two peole to eat one), seafood and amazing sauces. Tuna with black bean sauce, grilled sweetbreads, jerk chicken and if the tamales don’t get you maybe the pasta from hell will. If the restaurant is too busy you might try their take-out place next door, Jake & Earl’s Dixie Barbecue. If you can’t make it there you might try one of the cookbooks from Schlesinger like Thrill of the Grill. The East Cost Grilled has closed but you can enjoy their food by using their cookbooks.