There’s a reason Danny Edwards BLVD BBQ only makes corned beef one day a week and only during the slower winter months. It’s not due to a paucity of demand or deliciousness. Even by the standards of the barbecue business—where recipes are measured by hours instead of minutes—scratch-made corned beef is an overly involved process, starting with extra-careful trimming and continuing with weeks of daily maintenance.
“It takes two or three weeks to brine one,” owner Joel Bremer says of the briskets his barbecue spot turns into corned beef. “We have to inject brine into the brisket every day—brisket is a tougher meat, so it doesn’t soak up juices like a steak.”
The result, which you’ll find if you pop by for an early lunch on a winter Wednesday, is worth it. Danny Edwards, which Bremer bought off the titular founder two years ago following sixteen years manning the pit, makes a corned beef sandwich that would earn a nod of recognition from the pickiest Katz’s customer.
This salt-cured smoked and sliced brisket is not exactly new to the menu, Bremer says.
Danny Edwards has been making corned beef as a St. Patrick’s Day special for as long as he can remember. But it’s found a larger following as a once-a-week special—given the effort involved, it would be impractical to do it more than once a week—with some customers coming in just to get it, often right when the doors open at 10:30 am.
As of press time, Danny Edwards charges the same for this corned beef as it does regular brisket, despite it being “twice as much work.” “People try it and say, ‘Oh yeah, that’s the good stuff,’ then they come back for it,” Bremer says. “Sometimes I have people who want five pounds to go. I hate it when they wipe me out for the day.”
However, taking it to go is tempting—mainly because Bremer refuses to put his sublime corned beef to its best and highest use as a Reuben sandwich.
“I look at Reuben sandwiches more as a deli thing, and this ain’t a deli, so we don’t go with all that,” Bremer says.
Besides, that would require making not just corned beef but also sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing—at Danny Edwards, they don’t like to serve anything not made in house.“We have enough things to make right now,” Bremer says.
GO: Corned beef sandwiches are served on Wednesdays at Danny Edwards BLVD BBQ, 2900 Southwest Blvd., KCMO. 816-283-0880, dannyedwardsblvdbbq.com.
