Barbeque Criteria

As I explained in the last post the point of this blog is to guide Kansas Citians and especially their visitors to the best BBQ establishment possible. I should have made this clearer when I started the blog, but then again, maybe I was still figuring it out.

When I'm in any city for a limited time, I want to get their best and I can come back for the rest. When I was in New York, I made an effort to find dining experiences that I couldn't get in Kansas City or anywhere else.

The goal of this blog is to guide visitors, and locals who should know anyway, to the best BBQ experience as possible. The best portrayal of any food style begins at authenticity so I aim to lead you in that direction.

I have researched Kansas City BBQ thoroughly, through practice in particular, but also through reading history and articles I found online. The base of Kansas City BBQ is slow-cooked meat, the kind of preparation that takes hours and in a few cases days, and sauce, lots of sauce.

Smoking the meat over a variety of woods will leave the meat with a special flavor that you just can't get with instant smoke spice. If you're wondering whether or not an establishment smokes their meat, look for a smokestack, but also try tasting the sauce and meat separately.

After the meat is smoked, it is lathered in and sometimes soaked in SAUCE. As I've mentioned before I love sauce so this category is particularly important to me. Kansas City sauce is usually tomato- or molasses-based and usually has a healthy portion of paprika.

I love KC style sauce, but I appreciate when an establishment wanders off the beaten path. I'm not looking for any kind of sauce in particular as variety is in fact the spice of life. While I know I won't like every kind, I'll try to give a fair description of it in general and will try to attend each restaurant with someone else in case our tastes happen to differ.

The meat doesn't need to be covered in sauce when I get it. I accept that not everyone wants their meat drenched in thick liquid, but the establishment should have their sauce readily available for over-consumption and on the table is preferable.

The meat doesn't have to be top grade if you prepare it well enough. Although no one wants to eat low-grade Subway-like meat or SoyBQ. If SoyBq exists, gross. If it doesn't, don't get any ideas. I find that the best pulled pork meat has a little bit of fatiness to it, which gives it an extra shot of succulence.

I find that sides can often make or break a dining experience. They way I see it, if an establishment makes the best sandwhich or ribs, then places crinkle cut fries from a frozen bag next to it, they are disrespecting their own dish. While the main course should be able to stand alone, even Batman needed Robin. For example, I like crispy homeade fries, or french fried potatoes I should say. I like to taste the potato's "meat," not just the oil or fat in which it was fried.

While taste is the most important part, atmosphere can be alluring. In general I like a restaurant with its own thing going on. BBQ joints are often divey and may seem a little dirty. BBQ is one genre, though, where these descriptions are a bonus.

Service is relevant, but again if the food is good, I really don't care if you treat me like crap, at least when it comes to BBQ. I'm not sure why I make this distinction, but I do.

I hope this post gives a little better guide as to how I have been/will be judging each BBQ establishment I've been to. Thanks for reading.