Kansas City 'Cue
I spent most of last week in the Kansas City area visiting my family for Christmas. And since neither kin nor Claus left me a slab of ribs or a plate of burnt ends under the tree, I had to go fend for myself. My friend Andy, who smokes meat as part of a local KC barbecue team, accompanied me to three joints he said were currently the "holy trinity" of KC 'cue. Here, in words and pictures, a belated gift for you.
LC's BAR-B-Q
Address: 5800 Blue Parkway, Kansas City MO 64129 [map]
Phone: 816-923-4484
We tried to start at Kansas City institution Arthur Bryant's, but the line was out the door and down the block—a queue of such a length neither Andy nor I had ever seen at Bryant's. We chalked it up to barbecue-starved out-of-towners getting their fix (like me) and drove on to LC's Bar-B-Q, on the southern edge of the city and a little more hidden from tourists.
As usual, LC himself sat at a table in the small and spartan dining room while his pit masters tended the smoker and its meaty contents. We ordered a short end of ribs and a pulled-pork sandwich to split. (Yeah, yeah, so our order was modest—we had to pace ourselves for the day's eating.)
I'd never had the ribs at LC's before, having always been steered toward the pulled-pork or brisket sandwiches by friends in the know. The ribs were a disappointment. Much too lean and none too meaty, they drew most of their flavor from the outer char, put there, Andy speculated, by some time on the grill.
The pork sandwich, however, was perfect, as usual. Piled high as a triple decker on soft slices of white bread, the meat was tender and juicy, with a good balance between fat and lean, and the flavor was smoky with a faint applelike finish.
