This weekend I went with a group of friends to Fiorella’s Jack Stack Barbeque on the Plaza. Before I walked in the door I could tell Jack Stack was not a standard Kansas City barbeque joint. Jack Stack is located on the Plaza in a white brick building with maroon awnings above the entryways. A simple red neon sign and bull statue lead you inside. The restaurant had no chimney from which smoke could billow, a bad sign.
When I walked through the door I did not enter a bbq joint, but a restaurant, an eating establishment with ostentatious chandeliers darned with fake electric candles. The walls in the foyer were brick and the floor was wooden. Right in front stood a large dark glazed wooden bar with a variety of bottles for mixing cocktails. The staff was polite as I told them I’d wait to be seated until my dining companions arrived. Yes, in Jack Stack they are dining companions.
Jack Stack represents most of the Plaza. Fake and fancy, an attempt to allow Kansas City’s ruling class a chance to eat “smoked” meat without having to leave the comfy confines of their Plaza. Jack Stack completely misses the point of what I’ve come to love about Kansas City barbeque. I mean, there’s a wine list for Pete’s sake. C’mon, man!
We sat in a dark red leather booth that wasn’t even ripped or torn once. The lights were dimly lit. Silverware lay on the table; yes the silverware was metal, rolled up tightly in maroon cloth napkins, no dispenser or roll of paper towels to wipe up gratuitous sauce. Against the wall, which separated us from the other customers, sat a shaker of KC All Purpose Rub, a salt shaker and a tall black pepper grinder. No sauce. You know how I feel about sauce.
My friends explained that Jack Stack is the place you take a date or client if you want to make a good impression but still eat bbq. Not my dates. Not my clients. Okay, maybe my clients, but if my date would prefer the soulless corporate experience of Jack Stack over one of the many old fashioned holes in the wall, I won’t be taking her out again.
The walls in the dining room were paneled with dark wood, halfway up switching to a soft dark yellow. Paintings and metal cow sculptures hang on the walls. Funny, I didn’t see any of the awards or newspaper articles that I have found at bbq dives like LC’s, Smoking Guns and Oklahoma Joe’s.
The restaurant was busy, even at 2 pm and filled with families, couples and groups, but not full to the point where we had to wait for a table. Each waiter wore black shoes, black slacks, a black apron and a black shirt.
The server was patient and polite while three of us waited for our fourth to arrive. The menus were oversized but extensive. Oh, and of course expensive. At least expensive compared to the portion size, although maybe I would have been more pleased had I gotten the combo special, but alas I have a control group to maintain.
I ordered the pulled pork as usual with a side of fries and got an order of cheese corn bake to go with it. The food arrived promptly and I immediately saw a difference between Jack Stack and most KC bbq joints. To start with, it was served on a glass plate. I was immediately disappointed by the portion, although you might not have been. I’m a glutton or else I guess I wouldn’t be blogging about bbq.
The sliced meat was served on a warm, fluffy French roll that had been cut in half. Between bread and meat was a plethora of lettuce, a few tomatoes and a pile of pickles. I despise pickles but this might be a plus for you. My fry portion was insufficient and the cup of cheese corn bake was small, but I ordered a small so I guess that makes sense.
What looked to be a manager in slacks, collared shirt in tie, brought the food to our table. A tie, at a barbeque restaurant you may ask? “Silly, pretentious and out of the barbecue’s character,” I answer. He asked us if we wanted more sauce so I lifted up the bun which revealed l lettuce and meat almost void of sauce. “Yeah, we’re going to need more sauce, I responded.” He returned with two small bowls, filled with the original and spicy respectively. Two small saucers for the WHOLE TABLE! This is the first time I’ve had to limit my sauce intake so as to be polite. Hell, it’s the first time I’ve ever felt like I had to be polite at all at any bbq institution.
The meat slices were neither thin, nor thick but they were fairly succulent. I barely tasted any smoky flavor, which is incredibly disappointing. I did enjoy the pork immensely. The meat was the tops if only it had been prepared with more care. It was hot, juicy enough, but just not prepared with the love you get when the meat is smoked for hours in an ancient smoker. The major complaint, other than the sauce deficiency, was that, when the meat was gone from one half, I still had bread and lettuce left over. At most KC bbq joints there is meat, having sloppily dropped on the plate, left after the bread has been devoured, to smother in sauce and wolf down with a fork.
The sauce was bland and disappointing. Maybe that’s why they give you so little. I could barely tell the difference between the spicy and the sweet and I used one for each half of my sandwich. The original sauce was light, thin, paprika based as is custom, and slightly sweet. I found the flavor to be as insufficient as the quantity. The spicy was bland too. This sauce had a little more vinegary taste and it was okay. Neither was bad, but neither was anything special. There was a little smoky taste to both sauces which I noticed when I dipped a French fry in them. Smokey sauce is a bad sign because it means that the meat is not smoked sufficiently or at all.
The fries were very good but nothing special. They were crispy, had a fresh potato taste and seemed homemade from the brown skin on the ends. They were not salty at all but that issue was easily remedied so I have no complaints about those.
The cheesy corn bake was deliciously creamy and had the consistency of a thick French onion soup. I tasted mainly corn and cheese, but really that’s all you need.
Some onion rings were carried by me, stacked on what looked like a ring toss pole, ascending inversely by size and looked to be thickly breaded and thickly cut. I immediately wished I had ordered some, at least as an appetizer.
My friend Nolan Lawrence, whose idea it was to visit Jack Stack, ordered a combo special with lamb ribs, beef burnt ends, beans, fries and a slice of bread. “Always get the lamb ribs,” Nolan suggested, explaining how they are tenderer than the other ribs, how the meat easily slips away from the bone.
Nolan further explained that he liked the burnt ends at Jack Stack better than anywhere else because he didn’t need to separate the fat from the meat. Here, he mentioned, “The fat is a treat,” as opposed to a hindrance, “That’s what keeps me coming back.” “It’s chewy, not stringy like you get at some other places,” he elaborated.
Nolan’s roommate Ryan Engels, ordered the trout with the cheesy potato bake for a side. The waiter did mention that you can have a choice of any side on the menu, even where it lists fries in particular. “I like to mix it up here. I’ve had the barbeque a number of times, but I’m going running tomorrow and this will drag me down less,” Ryan explained. Ryan enjoyed his meal but did not mention anything in particular. I’ll take the blame on that one. I should have asked him more questions, but hey, if you’re reading this to see how the trout is at a barbeque restaurant, I can’t help you.
Ryan brought up a good point though. Jack Stack subscribes to the standard Appleby’s, Cheesecake Factory corporate game plan, an impressive variety, where you can take a large group or a bickering family, and everyone will be satisfied, but nothing in particular sticks out.
Hampton Williams ordered the combo special, burnt ends and baby back ribs, with cheesy corn bake, baked beans and a slice of bread. I had two people at my table who ordered the beans and I didn’t even ask about them. I’m sorry and that’s all I have to say about that.
When I asked Hampton about the burnt ends he replied, “They were fine,” and say any more. He gave me the last two ribs which I gladly gobbled. The meat was a little dry, had no smoky flavor, but the skin which coated the bone was crispy and I greedily scraped it off with my teeth. The meat, again, was quite tasty, although it could have been juicier and should have had some smokiness to it.
In general, I’ll admit that Jack Stack does have an original dining experience. While most bbq restaurants in KC concentrate on the meat’s preparation and the sauce, Jack Stack concentrates on tendering high-quality meat and presentation.
Nolan explained, “You may like it prepared better somewhere else, but as far as ingredients, what they [Jack Stack] bring to the table is better.” I agree with this statement, but to me Jack Stack misses the point. In this blogger’s opinion barbeque IS about how you prepare it, not about the ingredients you start with. The care that is put into the sauce, the flavoring, the fact that your meat has been smoking for hours before you arrive is what makes Kansas City barbeque the best I’ve ever had. Jack Stack not only loses this, but scoffs at it.
In general though, all the sides and meals were solid. Everything looked good, but not a single dish made my mouth water. Further, this was the only time I’ve ever left a bbq restaurant in Kansas City without being completely full. I wasn’t still hungry but I could probably have eaten another whole sandwich.
Now if you’re on the Plaza and you don’t want to drive a short 10 minutes out of your way to either LC’s or Oklahoma Joe’s, or you’re with a client who might want a more formal atmosphere for a meeting, then go to Jack Stack. But, if you have friends from out of town, or you’re vising Kansas City, don’t be drawn in by the convenient location, the name-brand or the locals who tell you how great it is. Find a barbeque joint with some soul, with some style, with some backbone.
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