How was the BBQ spaghetti?

Too bad you only went to the newbie "white folks" BBQ restaurants in KC on the preppy Kansas side.  The best 4 BBQ places here are all older and on the Missouri side, 3 of them owned and operated by African-Americans.  You got little atmosphere and none of the soul where you went.  Oklahoma Joe's is an uncomfortable place without aesthetics, teeny tables so jammed together people can't even move through.  Not only do you have to listen to others' conversations, you are so close you can hear them breathe.  Dave Edwards' new place is a little better for atmosphere.  But you missed all the classics: Gates, Arthur Bryant's, LCs, and the amazing Fiorella's Smokestack.  You sampled bland sauces and the thin smoke rings of electric cookers and never made it near a real pit...

I am sorry if anyone read ironhorse post cause it was both mean and racist. Oklahoma Joe's is the best BBQ in Kansas City hands down. Ironhorse real BBQ does not need sauce but when you are at Gates and LC's you need all the sauce you can get to cover up the horrible taste of there food.

I've actually been to a pig roast with Michael and his family.  I am still holding on to the last bit of homemade bar-b-que sauce in my refrigerator.  I can't stand the thought of finishing the most amazing taste of bar-b-que perfection. 

Michael knows I was a big fan even before the world knew him!  :)  Bethany

NO problem w/ Michael or Bryan.  They're going to Rendezvous in Memphis.  Just a problem with whoever the contact person or production director was for KC.  How can you "review" BBQ in KC and not at least go to the classic places that made our reputation nationally?  It doesn't advance anybody's credibility to only review white chefs or places and shut out minority owners and joints.  Everybody's list would be different with all the alternatives in KC.  Dave Edwards (old location on S Main...Missouri side) gave us sweet potato fries 2 decades before they were trendy, a wood-fired pit, and deserves to be reviewed.  Oklahoma Joe's gas-fired production does not make my list at all.  But other white-owned place I frequent and mentioned are wonderful.  The best BBQ restaurants in KC are Fiorella's, which I cited.  Tremendous variety of deep-smoked meats and well-perfected sides.  "Cheesy Corn Casserole" at Fiorella's is a KC treasure.  BB's Lawnside (another wood pit in use for 60-70 years) is also more worthy of review than Okie Joe's IMHO.  It comes down to what BBQ is and should be, and the stainless steel gas and electric units just don't put a deep enough smoke ring in meat for me to rank them with the classic pits of KC or any other great BBQ town.  I mentioned LC's because it makes a lot of people's lists, even though it's not high on mine.  But at least LC uses wood....just a zero for atmosphere, like Okie Joe's.  Still, if you don't deal with Gates and Bryant's, you have been dishonest about reviewing KC BBQ, just like if you went to Memphis and didn't do Renezvous or Interstate...or Salt Lick or the joints in Lockhart in Central Texas...or Goode Company in Houston.  Nothing racist here, just an objection to the approach of the "Fire and Smoke" tour that shut out all the black-owned pits here.  I am white, but I'd be worse for knowledge and experience and taste without the classic places on the Missouri side.  Wish Brian and Michael had a guide here as good as mine when I got introduced to Bryant's and Gates over 40 years ago. 

Maybe they did not go to LC's cause it was closed that day due to the several health code violations they seem to get often. I really do not get how you can come on here and cry they did not go to any black owned BBQ places or missouri places. You cay that Oklahoma Joe's is not real BBQ but here is a list of awards they have won including the grand champ at the american royal (If you know your BBQ history you would know the american royal is the world series of BB@) http://www.oklahomajoesbbq.com/awards/. If you dont like Oklahoma Joe's that is fine but dont get on here acting like you know it all and that it is not real bbq.

This is part of the e-mail I got from ironhorse

Just a problem with the original racist choice to only review two new, clinical places in white parts of town and not give even a nod to the classic places that made KC's name in BBQ nationally.

Like I said before this guy is a racist and does not speak for Kansas City. Please ignore this man and I am sorry any of you had to read his post.

Voltaggio Brothers need to come to San Diego and experience Phil's BBQ!!!