{"id":29658,"date":"2014-10-23T19:15:33","date_gmt":"2014-10-23T11:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=29658"},"modified":"2014-10-23T16:57:19","modified_gmt":"2014-10-23T08:57:19","slug":"in-kansas-city-where-barbecue-a-fightin-word-bryants-remains-legend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/10\/23\/in-kansas-city-where-barbecue-a-fightin-word-bryants-remains-legend\/","title":{"rendered":"In Kansas City, where barbecue a fightin\u2019 word, Bryant\u2019s remains legend"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"BBQ<\/a>
BBQ spare ribs at Arthur Bryant’s. Mike Willis<\/a> \/ Flickr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

KANSAS CITY, Mo.\u2014I learned an important lesson from a food blogger in Kansas City: Talking about barbecue in these parts may involve \u201cfightin\u2019 words.\u201d<\/p>\n

Case in point: When I mentioned on Facebook that I was heading to Kansas City, one friend sent me to Arthur Bryant\u2019s barbecue restaurant, quoting Calvin Trillin\u2019s famous line that Bryant\u2019s was possibly \u201cthe single best restaurant in the world.\u201d But another friend declared Bryant\u2019s sauce \u201cgross.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the blogger, Mary Bloch, along with a local acquaintance, confirmed that Bryant\u2019s has earned its kudos across the decades and remains one of the best barbecue places in town. But both felt that its top-dog status has been eclipsed by others, including Oklahoma Joe\u2019s, Fiorella\u2019s Jack Stack, Danny Edwards and Gates.<\/p>\n

But what do I know about barbecue? I\u2019m a tourist from New York, where fightin\u2019 words are reserved for bagels, and barbecue is often disappointing. I was with my sister on our first-ever visit to Kansas City\u2014which included classic tourist stops like the Nelson-Atkins Museum and Blue Room jazz club\u2014so we opted for the old-school legend and headed to Bryant\u2019s.<\/p>\n

To further prove my ignorance about the Kansas City barbecue scene, I even called ahead for reservations. I have great respect for the person who answered and didn\u2019t hang up laughing. Instead he paused and said, politely, \u201cWe accept walk-ins.\u201d<\/p>\n

They sure do. As we drove nearer, I wondered if we were lost. There wasn\u2019t much nearby and the brick building it\u2019s in looks like a forgotten warehouse. We stepped inside and realized why they don\u2019t take reservations: It\u2019s one room, cafeteria-style, with a line and counter in the back where you order, and a few tables scattered in front.<\/p>\n

But I like holes in the wall as much as I like icons. And Bryant\u2019s is \u201cboth the icon and the hole in the wall,\u201d said Bloch, who writes the AroundtheBlockKC.com food blog and the Kansas City Star Restaurant Guide.<\/p>\n

Either way, it was obvious that other diners were loving their food, chowing down and licking their chops over plates piled high with meat. We might not have ordered the turkey sandwich, but a tableful of construction workers raved about it. We also ordered a pound of mixed meat\u2014ham, brisket and ribs\u2014plus coleslaw, potato salad and beans. Call us ignorant New Yorkers, but we absolutely loved it\u2014except for the stack of white bread on the side, which we ignored. It was also way too much food, so we saved the leftovers for a next-day picnic. It was even yummy cold.<\/p>\n

Bloch later told me that Bryant\u2019s is the undisputed \u201cgrandfather of all barbecue places in Kansas City.\u201d Its founders, Arthur and Charlie Bryant, were African-American brothers who worked for Henry Perry, the man who opened what\u2019s considered Kansas City\u2019s first barbecue stand in 1908. The Bryant brothers eventually took over the business, which moved in 1958 to its current location. Calvin Trillin, the humorist and food writer who was born in Kansas City in 1935, said Bryant\u2019s was also one of the city\u2019s few integrated restaurants when he was growing up. And it\u2019s a must-stop for politicians, having hosted everyone from Harry Truman to Sarah Palin to Barack Obama.<\/p>\n

Bryant\u2019s has also long been a favourite among baseball fans. Municipal Stadium, which was home to a Negro Leagues team and later several Major League Baseball teams, was just a few blocks away. Municipal closed in 1972, but the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is close to Bryant\u2019s, as is the American Jazz Museum and the famous intersection of 18th and Vine, for decades the centre of a thriving African-American neighbourhood. Bloch says Bryant\u2019s still \u201cgets a line out the door\u201d before every game at Kauffman Stadium, which replaced Municipal, even though it\u2019s a 10-minute drive from Bryant\u2019s on Interstate 70. With the Kansas City Royals in the World Series this year, business at Bryant\u2019s is likely to be robust.<\/p>\n

If You Go…<\/h6>\n

ARTHUR BRYANT\u2019S: 1727 Brooklyn Ave., Kansas City, Missouri;\u00a0http:\/\/www.arthurbryantsbbq.com\/<\/a>\u00a0or 816-231-1123.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KANSAS CITY, Mo.\u2014I learned an important lesson from a food blogger in Kansas City: Talking about barbecue in these parts …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":29659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-food","mauthors-beth-j-harpaz","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}