Best BBQ in St Louis and KC please?

Im in the process of hitting all the MLB stadiums (not all at once) next trip is to ST. Louis the driving to K.C. What are the best spots for BBQ in both cities, definitely dont wanna miss out on great Q.

I like Phils BBQ, 9205 Gravois Rd (314) 631-7725 a real "road food" type of place. For a St. Louis style meal be sure to have the pork steaks. Phils is only about 20 minutes from the stadium, there is another location in Eureka but its not as good. It is also only a short drive from Ted Drews frozen custard another must stop.

Ask Kansas Citians about the best bbq in KC and you'll get a hundred different answers. But trust me, the two best are Fiorella's Jack Stack in Martin City, and LC's BBQ on or near Blue Ridge Parkway. Jack Stack is civilized, LC's a true dive. Both are in the the general vicinity of Kaufmann Stadium.

Many will tell you Arthur Bryant's or Gates BBQ. But Arthur Bryant's is an acquired taste, and Gates can be great but is hit or miss. Jack Stack and LC's are consistently excellent and very different bbq experiences. You'll love them both. Enjoy!

In KC I absolutely would make a stop at Stroud's for fried chicken.

In KC, certainly LC's. Get the fries and ribs. A newer and different kind of bbq, but really good is RJ's BobBQue at Lamar and Johnson Drive. It is very enjoyable and maybe a little more refined than the old guys, but high quality meats. And very good fries! it's 1.5 miles off I-35 south. I agree about AB and Gate's. These days it's hit or miss. If you have the time to spare, Oklahoma Joe's at 47th and Mission (the Shamrock station) is good. Calvin Trillin would not throw a shoe at their barbeque.

quote:

Originally posted by MarkinArk

Ask Kansas Citians about the best bbq in KC and you'll get a hundred different answers. But trust me, the two best are Fiorella's Jack Stack in Martin City, and LC's BBQ on or near Blue Ridge Parkway. Jack Stack is civilized, LC's a true dive. Both are in the the general vicinity of Kaufmann Stadium.

Many will tell you Arthur Bryant's or Gates BBQ. But Arthur Bryant's is an acquired taste, and Gates can be great but is hit or miss. Jack Stack and LC's are consistently excellent and very different bbq experiences. You'll love them both. Enjoy!

You are right on the money on all counts. And Bryant's acquired taste has left me on a couple of visits in the last year. Fiorella's Jack Stack is absolutely the best in KC, not just for their Q, but for their beans and other sides as well.

The best in St. Louis is Super Smokers BBQ, which has locations in nearby O'Fallon, Ill.; Eureka, Mo., and, best of all, Busch Stadium for Cardinals games. Super Smokers also has a stand in the Edward Jones Dome for Rams games. Super Smokers has one a championship at the Memphis in May contest, which is no idle feat.

Also good is Bandana's BBQ, which has several locations in the metro area.

St. Louis used to be pretty lousy for barbecue, but it's really come up in the past decade or so. Good for us.

RW,
Thanks for the Supersmokers tip. we have to do an ebay run to St Louis tomorrow and the OFallon stop will be just right for lunch. I'll report back on the place.

Just to be helpful , the O'Fallon Super Smokers BBQ is on U.S. 50, or Lincoln Trail, about halfway between the Illinois 159 and O'Fallon exits on Interstate 64. Just look for the big "BBQ" sign and a picture of a smiling pig.

quote:

Originally posted by Hillbilly

quote:

Originally posted by MarkinArk

Ask Kansas Citians about the best bbq in KC and you'll get a hundred different answers. But trust me, the two best are Fiorella's Jack Stack in Martin City, and LC's BBQ on or near Blue Ridge Parkway. Jack Stack is civilized, LC's a true dive. Both are in the the general vicinity of Kaufmann Stadium.

Many will tell you Arthur Bryant's or Gates BBQ. But Arthur Bryant's is an acquired taste, and Gates can be great but is hit or miss. Jack Stack and LC's are consistently excellent and very different bbq experiences. You'll love them both. Enjoy!

You are right on the money on all counts. And Bryant's acquired taste has left me on a couple of visits in the last year. Fiorella's Jack Stack is absolutely the best in KC, not just for their Q, but for their beans and other sides as well.

Hillbilly:

I always feel guilty about dissing Bryant's because of their reputation (sorry, Calvin Trillin) but I have also had some really off-tasting Q there. I, like you, love Jack Stack. Their beans are the best (my 12 year old daughter makes sandwiches of the beans and the toasted french bread they serve), their burnt ends are fantastic, and their lamb ribs are indescribably delicious.

Although I live in VA now, grew up in KC, moved to VA, moved back to KC, and moved back to VA (weird company mergers!!). Bryant's (despite all the Food Network hype) was never a favorite. We always enjoy Hayward's in Overland Park. Yum... even thinking about it makes me wish I was there...

OK Thursday, after making an ebay delivery with my son to St Louis, we stopped in O'Fallon IL on the way home for some SuperSmoker BBQ. Easy to find, even in the 5pm rush traffic. It is just a block off I-64 between the 12 and 14 milepost exits. Despite being uncrowded at the time, the service seemed slow to the point of Sluggish. We did get some decent 'Que' with Josh's Pulled Pork rating about a 6.5 to 7 on my 10 scale and my brisket doing a bit better at 7.5 to 8. One of the things that helped were the Sweet Potato Fries served as one of our side dishes. They were quite good. Here is the sign out front and our dinners, with the pork being in the upper left and my Brisket down front.
Not to bad a stop , We would try again for better service.

I would like to recommend Smokin Guns BBQ in North Kansas City. I know many of you have never heard of them but I think you will be pleasantly surprised with their que. Their website is http://www.smokingunsbbq.com/

They also got, in my opinion, a very good review on the GAS site. The link is http://www.gasbbq.net/smokinguns.htm

Check it out. Tell Linda that RibDog sent you.

John

This is a tad off-topic, but one of the best BBQ places I've ever, ever been is 11th Street Barbecue in Murphysboro, Ill. It was started by Mike Mills, the three-time national BBQ champion. The ribs are big, meaty and tasty with the dry rub on it. Murphysboro is about 2 hours from St. Louis, in Southern Illinois.

went to KC in the spring just to eat BBQ . If i went back tomorrow I would eat every meal at LC's . It was the best food I ever had !!

For a genuine KC barbecue hellhole (my favorite kind), LC's gets my vote, hands down. Twenty years ago, I've have said Bryant's or Boyd's, but those days will never return. LC's is the closest now to what those places used to be.

If you want your barbecue joint less of a joint and a tad more yuppified, try Oklahoma Joe's. If you want to entertain others at a regular sit-down, middle-class restaurant, I'd suggest Jack's Stak in Martin City.

For a great BBQ joint just outside of KC, you can't beat Smokey's in Wellsville. Old fashioned Kansas barbeque in an old fashioned unyuppified town.

If you're driving between KC and St. Louis, stop in Columbia (in the 120 exits, smack dab in the middle of the state). The Buckingham at the Providence Road exit makes some good ribs. There's a Bandana's at the same exit, and I like their pork and brisket, but the ribs always seem pretty sparse to me.

As for Arthur Bryant's, I can't help it, I still love the place. It seems to me there's a lot of different categories in what we call barbeque, and Bryant's is a lot different than some of your smokehouse-type places in my opinion. Besides, that's a helluva lot of meat they give you on those tiny slices of bread.

I thought this would be a pretty cool place to check out when in K.C.

http://www.gasbbq.net/woodyard.htm

This is what I look for in a bbq joint.

LC's is my favorite BBQ place of all time. See here for pics:

extramsg.com/modules.php?set_albumName=album102&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php

Look at these burnt ends:

Listen, the best most unique and THE reason KC is known for bbq is Arthur Bryants. Period. Sure it is not as strong as it was before the great man died, but it is still the only KC pit to rank in the top 5 or 10 nationally. And those of us who love the sauce would eat an old shoe if the sauce was "painted" on it. If you want nice neat bbq that will not be vastly different from "bbq" restaurants in Indianapolis or Oakland or Connecticut than Jack Stacks is fine - not vastly different from KC Masterpiece. BBQ on the Country Club Plaza?? Please!! By the way the new Bryants in KCK is not good. Thick bread, bad fries and the meat from their oven isn't quite right yet.

hi JS, have you tried Vermont St. in Lawrence? My friends back there reported good things.
To the outside world Bryant's may be the reason KC has become a BBQ stop, but I would disagree that it is now or ever was the "best". I was always a Boyd's fan, but if you stacked up most joints in KC, they would wipe the floor in other locales. It was much more common for us to hit Quick's or Rosedale when I was a youngster, since they were neighborhood eats. Bryant's was something to hit on the way to or from
Municipal Stadium.
To me, KC has a self contained BBQ culture that doesn't really care what the outside world thinks, which is a good thing.

I was in KC in June and it was a great city , below is an email account of my eating exploits , hope that you enjoy it


I recently went to KC for a BBQ weekend and had gotten some advice from site members . I sent back emails to a couple of friends to give them blow by blow descriptions and thought everyone might enjoy them.

1)
Subject: Fast out of the gate

Ok , so we land and within 25 minutes we are standing in line at Arthur
Bryants , the place is in some not so nice area but even at 2 on a friday
afternoon it is jamming. We belly up to the counter grab three plates and
hand them to the guy waiting behind the counter.We order a brisket sandwich
, a burnt ends sandwich and a large fries. He takes two of the plates slaps
some wonder bread, yes actual wonder bread and then barehanded piles the
meat on top of the bread in a portion equivalent to a small childs b-day
pinyata. We sit down douse it with some of the original BBQ sauce, a
tomatoe based but definitely vinegary brew.

I dig in ..... 47 seconds later I sit back , smile and revel in the
knowledge that I am right were I should be.

Spend the afternoon walking off lunch and will now head out to BB'S
lawnside for some ribs and live music. Though I am really not sure why they
have music.

2)

After a long walk and a few hours of recovery from Arthur Bryants we headed
to BB'S lawnside BBQ . It was a small cinderblock building with long
communal tables and every inch of every wall was covered with old blues
posters. There was a blues guy playing and we ordered away. Kelly going
with the pulled pork sandwich with cole slaw and I went with the smoked
meat platter, it had ribs , brisket, smoked ham , pickles and white bread.
Belive it or not the pickles and white bread really make it awesome!

3)

Subject: Chicken


Pan fried chicken to be exact. That is what they are famous for at Strouds
, last evenings choice for dinner.

We arrived at about 7 and there were cars parked about 100 yds in each
direction on the road . We waited patiently as almost every table you
looked at had the family style chicken dinner. Finally it was our turn. We
started with a bowl of chicken noodle soup in which the noodles were more
like dumplings. Then came a platter of the golden brown chicken, each order
individually cooked in a cast iron skillet , green beans , mashed potatoes
and gravy. The chicken was incredibly crisp and the gravy was the nectar of
the Gods. As soon as we finished eating we were treated to hot homemade
cinnamon rolls and then we rolled on out of there extremely satisfied!!!


4)

Subject: An exit strategery

The tarmac looks like a mirage with the midwest sun shrimmering off it. In
a few more minutes we will take off and KC will only be a memory, ahh but
what a memory it is.

Today started rather uneventfully with what would have seemed like an
ordinary breakfast at the classic cup cafe , that is until the pancakes
came out . Large , fluffy and misshapen witha a taste second only to the
missisipi pancakes I prepare. Kellie did the traditional eggs benedict
route and we both finished with a cappucino. It seems kind of unfair that
breakfast is the only meal that is not served with a dessert , well we
would quickly remedy that!

We hopped in our rental car and made our first venture out of KC proper and
headed towards Stephsons apple farm, a family run apple orchard that has
been in the same family since the late 1800's.We get there and the place is
huge,rambling and pretty well empty. It has a certain scatman cruthers
shinning feel to it which is further enforced when we enter, unsure if they
are open and come upon three young women who are acting as hostess, I ask
if they are open and I am told they are, I ask for a table for 2 to which
they respond by asking my name and telling me it will be a few minutes. I
nod and begin to walk away befuddled since I do not see any other
customers. Approximately 34 seconds later I am shocked back to reality when
she yells , David party of 2 ! We are brought into the back and seated .
Roland , our waiter, introduces himself and begins rattling off the
bruncheon specials. I inform him we will only be having appetizers and
desserts. He nods politely and walks away. Once he returns I place an order
for apple fritters (something that stephsons is famous for ) , a hot apple
dumpling and a piece of apple pie with ice cream. Did you know that at one
point missouri had more apple trees than are currently in Washington State.
But back to Roland who trying to be helpful informs me that the apple
fritters are really like a dessert too. At that point I , also trying to be
helpful , inform Roland that I have been on a three day food jag and that
unless he would like the snot beaten out him he should probaly just get my
requested items and keep his hands and feet away from my mouth.

The applefritters arrive accompanied by homemade apple butter and regular
butter and coated in powdered sugar , they are hot and delicious . The
aplle dumpling is great and the pie is awesome but niether comes close to
the fritters.

Time is running out and I need to finish with some meat. We head down to
the freight district and go to a place called Jack's Stack BBQ. This is
definitely the fanciest place that we have been to. It is housed in a
redone freight yard down by the tracks and is really nice. Kellie orders a
BBQ meat salad , with pork burnt ends and I order the combination rib plate
that has pork and beef ribs. Kellies meal comes and looks great but it has
all this green stuff with it ( I think that is what salad means ) I get my
ribs and they are beatiful, especially the beef ones which have a certain
Fred Flintstone esque quality. We dig in and the food is awesome , smokey ,
spicey sweet and satisfying everything BBQ should be .

As I write this email KC is in our rear view mirror , a great city , not
only for its food but everything about it . I will definitely be back !

God Bless and may the Schwartz be with you.

I'd say that one of the best places one would easily overlook here in KC is the Smoke Stack BBQ around 85th & Hickman Mills or so, about a two-minute drive from my house. Generous portions and a sauce to die for.

Thanks for the suggestions! My husband & I will be hitting St. Louis in June for a Cardinals game, then it's off to Chicago to see the Cubbies. Having never been to that part of the country, I'm as excited about the food as I am about the baseball!

Dixie, If you're 4 hours from BBQ nirvana in KC, and you've come from SC to the Mississippi to see Baseball and BBQ, you HAVE to go west 4 hours to indulge. The baseball may be better in Chicago and St. Louis, but it's no contest when comparing Q. It's necessary. If you make a triangle to Chicago from KC, you can travel US 24, a roadfood route for sure, through Hannibal and on towards Chicago after you Eat Q, etc.

If you do make the big triangle through Hannibal, hit the Mark Twain dinette for some root beer and pick up some of their chili ranch dressing. You'll recognize it by the gigantic root beer mug that hovers over the building.

Not a BBQ post, I realize, but how often does Missouri cuisine get discussed?

Highway 24 was always our preferred route from KC to Chicago when we went to concerts up there. We would pick it up in Independence so we coud hit Ft. Osage & Lexington. It's one of my favorite roads, as it travels through only burgs and farms with great things along the way.
Any knowledge of this Missouri item?
http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=316

Someone mentioned 17th Street Bar and Grill in Murphysboro ,Illinois...well......just because they have won some contests doesn't mean they are the best Barbeque. You know you can win those contests by picking up points in showmanship and presentation?? I live near Murphysboro and have eaten there twice. Bad ribs...and a "shredded" pork that reminds us of ground wood shavings!!! They are notorious for slow/bad service. If you want to pay 20 bucks for a slab of boney ribs go for it. There are plenty of "Mom and Pop" places in the area that serve B-Bque that is ten times better and will cost you a 3rd of what 17th Street does. There is Larrys Pit Barbque in Carbondale Illinois,Midland Inn on the outskirts of Murphysboro, there's Mississippi Flyway in Carbondale,Triple E(three locations in Marion,Illinois) ,Ruperts in Harrisburg and Big Al's(Ruperts Dad)...our favorite place is Porky's in Herrin,Illinois they have been in business for more than 20 years. It's not fast-food Q like 17 Steet!! LOL You can get a St. Louis Style rib dinner(melt in your mouth,fall of the bone and meaty)with three sides for about 6.75. Most townies don't eat at 17th Street. I did a "unofficial" survey of my own. I asked 50 people if they had been to 17th Street and did they like it. 15 out of 50 said yes and 35 said...wasn't that good and definetly wasn't worth the cash!!!! I'll go to Mickey D's and get a McRib before I ever go to 17th Street again.

Hmmm ... as a longtime Southern Illinoisan, I've eaten at 17th Street Barbecue many times, and each time the service was good, the ribs were outstanding, and the pulled pork was terrific. And I didn't think $15 for a huge, full slab of ribs, along with fries and a side or two was unreasonable.

And it's certainly not just presentation that wins you a World Championship in Memphis. The judges do eat the stuff, you know.

Larry's BBQ is mediocre.

And anyone who'd rather eat a McRib, or call 17th Street Barbecue "fast food Q" (after saying it was slow) has dubious taste.