I have to apologize because this post is about a week late. My friend, Jess Langford, a local Kansas Citian and a sauce hound, and I went to Rosedale Bar-B-Q last Thursday right before I left town so I didn't have time to write it right away. I know I said that I'd only review a restaurant when the tastes were fresh in my mouth but I haven't had any BBQ since and I took great notes.
We went to Rosedale to fulfill a bet we made on the Super Bowl. The winner got to pick the sandwhich, side, and drink at the establishment of his choice. Jess picked the Giants thus he picked the meal. He wanted to go to Rosedale because he hadn't been in a long time and he remembered they had unique sauce. His memory was accurate.
I hadn't been to Rosedale before which is silly because it is incredibly close to my house. I rolled down Rainbow, turned left on Southwest Boulevard and shortly thereafter, among the aging brick and stone factories and a grain elevator next door, sat Rosedale, whose red brick structure matched that of its industrial surroundings.
It wasn't busy, but there was steady traffic. There were two registers on either side of the lunch counter, above which large pictures of smoked, sauced meat hung and a long bar on which sauce and ketchup were spaced evenly between every two stools. The cashier was friendly and patient while we stood meandering, unable to make up our minds. We examined the menu which was hung on the wall. Jess got the burnt end sandwhich, fries and and iced tea. I got my customary pulled pork sandwhich and fries, but also ordered the beans. Our food was ready before my receipt was printed to be signed.
We grabbed a light brown wooden booth, which matched the rest of the establishment. The bar, the walls, the floor, all wood, giving Rosedale an old fashioned feel. The walls were laiden with Budweiser and Bud Light signs, articles proclaiming the Rosedale legend, and artifacts representing various elements of Kansas City culture. As I lathered my meat in sauce, I glanced at one of these articles on the wall to my right. I read the first few paragraphs describing Rosedale's history.
In 1934 Anthony Pieke and Anthony Sielmann, brothers-in-law, opened a hotdog and beer stand, known as The Bucket Stop, to serve lunch to workers in the Southwest Blvd. area. A year later they took $183 and opened a BBQ stand 100 feet from The Bucket Shop after regularly smelling "Fatty" Sharp's smoked meat from a half mile down the road. They found their clientel was hungry for BBQ and decided to invest, according to the Rosedale BBQ website. http://www.rosedalebarbeque.com/the-rosedale-story.html
"If the barbeque is good you should have trouble deciding whether to eat or write," Jess proclaimed, noticing I was having such a difficulty.
As I chewed and took notes I examined the room which was mostly occupied by men with long beards, camo or trucker hats, overalls and flannel. I also saw a pair of older men, splitting a long thick slab of ribs, sandwhich, I think brisket, and sides. They looked like they'd been doing so for decades. I joked to Jess that that would be us in about 50 years. The blue collar clientele matched Rosedale's history of serving the working man on his lunch hour.
The restaurant's speciality seemed to be the lunch break. Clearly set up for efficiency, to quickly serve so its customers could fit in a hearty meal in a short time. The more than substantial portions were seemingly made to order and wrapped, easily pocketable to eat on the fly. Comparing portion, taste and price, Rosedale is some of the more affordable BBQ I've had in Kansas City.
Now, I'm big on efficiency. I think its my German genetic engineering, but I also believe that when it comes to art, creating maximum speed will sacrifice certain aspects of quality. Rosedale was no exception.
The food wasn't cold by any means, but I think it could have been hotter, fresher. The pork, laid between a white bread bun, was shredded, pulled finely, juicy and a little fatty, but the delicious kind of fatty, the succulent kind of fatty, the mouth-watering kind of fatty.
The sauce, as Jess put it, had a complex assortment of flavors. It was thick and looked like it could have been preserved jam, specs floating, tangled in jelly. The standard sauce had a quiet kick of spiciness in addition to the standard paprika backing. It had a bitterness, providing balance and complexity. We discussed and analyzed on and off throughout our meal, trying to determine what the balancing ingredient was. Jess, who had worked at a BBQ establishment in Springfield, MO as a meat smoker, and who is constantly cooking up new concoctions, finally found the secret, celery. He came to this conclusion by examing the individual specs and saw little green flakes that almost had to be celery.
He brought the premonition to my attention. I analyzed and agreed. We both really dug the sauce, in particularly its originality. "I'm a fan," Jess stated simply and I agreed. Too many sauces, not just in Kansas City, have the standard KC Masterpiece flavor and its always nice to have one that not only branches off but plants its own sapling.
We sampled the spicy sauce too which took the standard sauce's quiet kick to a yell. It didn't scream or burn but we could hear what it had to say. The makeup was similar to the standard sauce but brought the kick to a march and let the bitterness in the background. Jess was particularly fond of the spicy version and I enjoyed it too.
The baked beans were soaked in the standard sauce along with pieces of onion, celery, and chunks of pork that I found settled at the bottom of the styrofoam cup. The consistency could have been more homogenous but the contents were tasty.
Jess enjoyed his burnt ends which were chopped in large chunks and slopped on an eight to ten inch baguette looking bun. I had a piece and found it pretty dry which I understand may be common with burnt ends due to its burnt nature, but as Jess explained it doesn't have to be that dry. We agreed that this probably had something to do with Rosedale's efficiency. However, he did like that they weren't soupy as some burnt ends are due to being soaked in juice for too long. He enjoyed his meal but this was definitely not his favorite burnt end experience.
I have to say that Rosedale's fries were weak. They were crinkle cut and seemed to be taken from a frozen bag that you could get at Sam's. As a fry fanatic I was disapointed. They were fried, golden and crispy so they were prepared about as good as they could be, but in my opinion fries should be fresh cut and given a little more attention and respect than to be grabbed from a grocery freezer.
A general rule of mine for KC BBQ is that if its open every Sunday, it probably is not top tier. This being that the family owned and operated establishments usually close on Sundays, giving the clan a day off. Rosedale, open on Sundays, is among those that make me question the rule. I wouldn't quite call Rosedale as a whole top tier, although their sauce is definitely up there, but I'd be down to go back any time. Rosedale seems to be one of those places that probably used to be one of the best but has sacraficed some quality for speed, but if you need hearty, quality barbeque on the go or you want to try a unique sauce experience, roll down to 600 Southwest Boulevard.
