A bone-in striploin steak cut traditionally with the side bone left on. The city's stockyards-era contribution to American steak culture, drier and beefier than its New York cousin.
Where to eat it: 4 restaurants across 1 city.
The Kansas City strip steak was born at the Golden Ox steakhouse in the West Bottoms in 1949, when the Live Stock Exchange held the second-largest cattle market in the country. The cut keeps the bone for flavour but trims more closely than the porterhouse. Plaza III and other Plaza steakhouses standardised the cut through the 1960s; the name persists today on every metro steakhouse menu.
Tip from the editors. The bone-in cut runs hotter at the bone; pull at 128F if you like medium-rare, carry over takes you to 134F. Compound butter optional but classic in Kansas City rooms.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
Golden Ox in Kansas City's West Bottoms opened in 1949 inside the Live Stock Exchange as the birthplace of the KC strip. Reopened by Gartner and Jill Myers in 2018.
Tip: The stockyards-era dining room is the destination; reservations on Tock. Voltaire is the sister wine bar.
The Capital Grille on Kansas City's Country Club Plaza dry-ages its beef in-house for 18 to 24 days and hand-cuts to order, paired with a 3,500-bottle wine cellar in glass.
Tip: The Generous Pour Sunday wine programme is the value. Lunch service runs business-friendly weekdays.
Anton's Taproom in the Kansas City Crossroads is a butcher shop plus steakhouse with grass-fed regional beef, in-house aging and a natural-wine programme rooted in growers.
Tip: Buy a cut from the case to cook at home and have the kitchen plate it for dinner first.
Stroud's Oak Ridge Manor in Kansas City sits inside a restored 1840s log-cabin homestead, the second Stroud's location since 1983; the original 85th and Troost room opened in 1933 and added pan-fried chicken during WWII beef rationing.
Signature: Pan-fried chicken, Cinnamon rolls, Country gravy
Order: Pan-fried chicken with mashed potatoes, country gravy and the cinnamon rolls.
Tip: Mon to Sat dinner, Sun lunch. The line wraps the porch on Friday nights; call ahead.
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