Barbecue is messy. There’s no denying it. It has a way of getting all over everything, including the local food scene. There are over 100 barbecue joints across the metro, but there are still plenty more restaurants working Kansas City’s culinary calling card into their menus. Here are four great unexpected spots to grab some great ’cue.
Rye
At Rye, white oak-smoked meats appear throughout the menu. The lunch lineup features a pulled pork sandwich while brunch offers a smoked beef short rib hash.
“We want to have odes to classic Kansas City dishes while putting our own spin on them,” says Benjamin Wood, the executive chef at Rye’s Plaza location.
One such spin is a smoked fried ribs appetizer. “We smoke the ribs as a slab in the traditional way but then slice and fry them individually,” Wood says. The method adds a satisfying crunch to the Duroc bones while sealing in the smoke flavor and juices. In lieu of sauce, a bed of snappy buttermilk red cabbage slaw and a tangle of pickled peppers usher in sweetness, spice and vinegar to round out the dish.
Pigwich
When Alex Pope launched The Local Pig, barbecue was the furthest thing from his mind.
“We were a whole-animal meat market,” says Pope. “We opened Pigwich because we needed an outlet for the parts of the pig and cow we weren’t selling.”
Shortly after sandwiches hit the menu, one of the chefs suggested pulled pork as a daily special and “it just kept selling.” These days, the pulled pork is the foundation of their namesake sandwich, but it’s another smoked cut that sets them apart in Kansas City ’cue.
“We take it from the picnic [shoulder],” Pope says. “It truly is a pork brisket.”
Deli-sliced and topped with their special recipe barbecue sauce, this “underutilized cut” stars in several of Pigwich’s most popular dishes.
The Fish Market
1120 E. Old State Route 210, Liberty
Unlike Pigwich, barbecue was always part of the plan for The Fish Market in Liberty Bend.
“It’s always been on the menu,” says owner Darla Staton.
The first thing many guests notice about Staton’s marina-themed eatery is the aroma of hickory smoke. The late Jeff Moore, a Liberty native and hobbyist smoker, combined his local craft with his wife Rae’s Louisiana roots to create a barbecue po’ boy lineup. Smoked pulled pork, turkey or ham is served on an onion roll and topped with homemade slaw and house sauce. Diners can even opt for the trifecta of meats with the BBQ Fowl Hog.
“It hits all the flavors in one bite,” Staton says.
Smoked salmon, smoked catfish and pulled pork fries round out a barbecue menu hidden in plain sight.
Long-Bell Pizza Co.
3385 S.W. Fascination Drive, Lee’s Summit
Long-Bell Pizza Co. owner Jayson Eggers’ barbecue journey began in California, where he ran a catering company. Around 2021, his Lee’s Summit pizza shop began incorporating smoked meats—burnt ends, brisket, pulled pork, carnitas and chicken—into their tacos, sandwiches and, obviously, pizzas.
“It added a dynamic of flavors to our menu beyond what we or anyone else was doing,” Eggers says. “How many pizza places are smoking meat on their patio?”
The Risk It for the Brisket pizza—with a whipped cream cheese base seasoned with house rub and topped with smoked burnt ends caramelized in house sauce—is a testament to Long-Bell’s scratch-made philosophy.
