A local barbecue pit just got its ribs on the cover of a top national mag

A Kansas City barbecue operation just landed its tender smoked ribs on the cover of a national magazine.

Harp Barbecue is featured in this month’s Cooks Country magazine—that’s the magazine affiliated with the PBS series of the same age, from the same company that does America’s Test Kitchen and Cooks Illustrated. If you’re not into fancy food magazines—and if you’re on our site this would of course be a ridiculous assumption—Cooks Country is the top name in the game.

As is Harp. The barbecue pop-up by pitmaster Tyler Harp, which draws hours-long lines at Crane Brewing in Raytown on Saturdays, was named tops in town in our 2019 barbecue issue and has helped spur a renaissance of cheffy ‘cue at local breweries.

Harp has been all over the media lately. But for every thin listicle placing him alongside, uh, Salt Lick [nervous gritted teeth emoji], it’s amazing to see the pit get recognition from very knowledgeable people like Cooks Country food editor Bryan Roof, who personally penned the piece. (He visited more than a year ago, Harp says.)

There is, of course, a lot of great ‘cue in KC. But we’re lucky to count Harp as a fresh-faced ambassador. Which is, he says in the story, part of the job as he sees it.

“Everything I’ve done in the last five years has been for barbecue,” Harp says in the story. “I knew one day all that money I invested would come back. My barbecue has never been about me. It’s always been about Kansas City.”

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