Pork spareribs trimmed St Louis-style, dry-rubbed and slow-smoked over hickory until the meat pulls cleanly, glazed with thick Kansas City sauce in the final 15 minutes.
Kansas City pitmasters built the spare-rib programme out of the African American barbecue tradition Henry Perry brought from Shelby County, Tennessee in 1908. The cooking method spread through the Bryant, Gates and Stehney families to the modern competition circuit. Burnt ends get the headlines; ribs are the locals' second-favourite plate.
5 editor picks for Kansas City-style ribs in Kansas City, ranked by editorial score. All Kansas City signature dishes · Kansas City-style ribs across every city.
Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que ★ 4.8
kck · 3002 West 47th Ave, Kansas City, KS 66103
Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que runs out of a working Shamrock gas station at 47th and Mission in Kansas City, Kansas, where the Stehneys opened in 1996 and invented the Z-Man sandwich.
Arthur Bryant's Barbeque ★ 4.7
18th-and-vine · 1727 Brooklyn Avenue, Kansas City, MO 64127
Arthur Bryant's on Brooklyn Avenue in Kansas City is the canonical BBQ address, with roots back to Henry Perry's 1908 pit and the Bryant family's takeover at the Brooklyn Avenue location in 1958.
Slap's BBQ ★ 4.7
kck · 553 Central Ave, Kansas City, KS 66101
Slap's BBQ on Central Avenue in Kansas City Kansas runs a competition-pitmaster operation since 2014 and sells out daily by mid-afternoon, ribs first.
Gates Bar-B-Q ★ 4.6
18th-and-vine · 1325 Emanuel Cleaver II Blvd, Kansas City, MO 64110
Gates Bar-B-Q's Emanuel Cleaver II flagship in Kansas City has run the city's tomato-sweet sauce style since 1946, with the famous greeting at the door.
Q39 Midtown ★ 4.5
midtown · 1000 W 39th St, Kansas City, MO 64111
Rob Magee's Q39 on 39th Street in Kansas City applies a competition-circuit pitmaster's discipline to weeknight barbecue, with a full bar and table service.