- Bruce's and Jon's Kansas City BBQ Adventure!

[Jon Tofte]

A few weeks ago, @Bruce and I had the opportunity to do a whirlwind tour of KC BBQ restaurants and stores. Bruce was visiting his sister in St. Louis, so I was able to meet him there on the way from central Indiana so we could drive together. We also had the opportunity to meet up with @Dave in KC. The three of us have chatted in private messages for some five years, so it was great to all meet in person!

Our first stop was Slap's BBQ. It was a recommended place that I hadn't heard of. It is located in a less than upscale part of town and features fast service and both inside and outdoor seating.



Our BBQ - especially the burnt ends - tasted very good, but truthfully, it was barely lukewarm. We attributed that to arriving at the tail end of the lunch hour.



Our hotel was on Kansas side of KC, and not far away was a Feldmans. It is a store that Bruce and I had never heard of but which came up when I searched for BBQ stores. It was a good place, similar to Rural King, Tractor Supply, or Fleet and Farm. They had an extensive assortment of BBQ rubs, spices, and accessories - not so much of grills. We got into a friendly chat with a couple of the employees who noticed us wearing the same design TVWBB T-shirts - an unplanned but funny coincidence! They gave us their opinion on some KC BBQ places including one guy going to great lengths to convince us to avoid Joe's. (More on that later.)



TO BE CONTINUED

 

[Jon Tofte]

After a short break, that night we went downtown to Jack Stack Barbecue.



This is a very well-known place that I had heard all about from a co-worker in Florida who had moved there from the KC area. She and her husband LOVED Jack Stack, and they were the ones who introduced me to burnt ends. They even brought me back a selection of seasonings after a visit back home that I have kept for years. They were getting pretty old and stale, so this trip was a great chance to get new ones:

The location we picked was in an upscale downtown shopping district. Excellent service and a pretty classy decor for a barbecue place...Our food was very good, but the ribs on the sampler platter we shared didn't look as good as the stunning rack I saw a waiter carry past us to another table! Dave told us that places like Jack Stack are Chef prepared food with an emphasis on consistent quality vs. old-time KC pit master bbq. (More on that later.) I think we would both give Jack Stack a thumbs up.



The next morning we went to the Kansas City BBQ Store - a whole store devoted to bbq rubs, sauces, accessories, and, of course, grills.



This was a great place to just take everything in! About anything barbecue you could think of. On the grill front, they were strong on Napoleon gas grills, but sadly very little of Weber. Naturally, they also had some monster carbon steel offset smokers.







We liked the store and the owner and employee there that we chatted with. Now it was time to go to Joe's for lunch and see if the guy at Feldman's was right!

TO BE CONTINUED

 

[Jon Tofte]

We arrived at Joe's - the ORIGINAL location where Joe's started out of a gas station - before noon, but there was still a good crowd. This location is still a Shamrock gas station even today.




I don't know what happened to the guy at Feldman's, but Bruce and I both agreed this place had AWESOME BBQ! We each got a sandwich - coarsely chopped, wonderful pork and a saucy "Smokey Joe" that combined beef and pork. We cut them in half to share and added an order of their outrageous French fries that feature their house special seasoning. I bought a bottle of that! Everything was first class and the best meal we had so far...



We were scheduled to meet up with @Dave in KC that afternoon, but we still had a little time to kill. Bruce did some searching and found an Ace Hardware nearby that said they had a good selection of grills and BBQ stuff. So off we went!

This Ace made up in spades for the deficit of Webers at the last store:





One special Weber grill they had was the new Spirit 3 burner + 4th sear burner/"Sear Zone". This was the extra nice version with stainless rather than painted steel shelves and an electronic thermometer. I really liked this grill.
Grates are on wrong, left to right :



Well, we were then off to meet up with Dave at the Independence Porcelain Enamel shop where he kindly arranged for us to have a tour!

TO BE CONTINUED

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

All I can say is YEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAWWW!
I can see reasons to visit KC have increased in my mind by ten fold!

 

[Jon Tofte]

Independence Porcelain Enamel

Independence Porcelain Enamel | Independence MO

Independence Porcelain Enamel, Independence, Missouri. 4,793 likes · 13 talking about this · 50 were here. We offer porcelain enamel services for both residential and commercial applications.

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Some of you may already be familiar with Jeff at Independence Porcelain (IPE). Although his main line of business has more to do with Coleman lanterns and classic stoves, his amazing sideline of restoring Weber kettles and gas grill hoods has earned him a well-deserved reputation among Weber enthusiasts. He does beautiful workmanship in a 100-year old shop that has always done porcelain recoating. @Dave in KC has been friends with Jeff for some time, and he was able to arrange for us to not only meet Jeff but get a full tour of his shop. We saw some amazing stuff he was currently working on:






Jeff showed us the entire process of how porcelain is mixed, applied and then oven baked at a fiercely hot temperature. Down in the basement are a set of tumblers where the porcelain mix is put in along with some kind of special material balls that after tumbling long enough create the liquid porcelain that is applied to a prepped surface.




Jeff was nice enough to let Bruce shoot some video of the processes:

A big shout out to Jeff, a true friend of grill fanatics! He will certainly do right for you on any porcelain project. Just beware, he has a long list of projects, so be patient. Bruce couldn't resist bringing a Genesis hood for Jeff to do in Minnesota Vikings purple!
Later, he upped the ante by asking Jeff to do a Vikings logo on the center .

We had a great time and learned a lot. Now it was off to see a few sights in Independence, KS and then on to Dave's house.

TO BE CONTINUED

 

[Jon Tofte]

After we left IPE, we drove by President Harry Truman's home in Independence:


We then stopped at the Truman Presidential Library. We had some time, so Dave and Bruce were kind enough to indulge me (who went to college to be a history professor!) a quick visit. I always wanted to see one of the mock-ups of the Oval Office. This one based on the real one in 1950 didn't disappoint; take note of that VERY early television set! State of the art for that time.




We then went on to Dave's workplace. Dave is the manager for warehouse of a multi-location furniture store in KC. Dave has occasionally mentioned to us doing some spray painting in "the caves." We had no idea that his warehouse - and that of a whole bunch of companies - is IN A CAVE! These caves were cut mining for limestone. The leftover opening makes for a neatly climate-controlled area to store things. There were semi-truck bays, and vehicles driving around. It looked to me like the perfect place for a wild chase scene in some adventure movie:




The next stop was at Dave's house where he showed us his recently acquired "Stars and Stripes" Weber kettle that he plans to use as a drink table. We also got to see the famous "Tomato Red" Genesis 300 (hood thanks to Jeff at IPE, doors thanks to Dave's skilled painting). Dave also has a beautiful keeper Weber Summit Kamado. He showed us some of his processes including the container he uses to soak dirty grates in a super strong alkali cleaner. Bruce and I often marvel at Dave's enormous productivity in flipping grills and we enjoyed seeing where it all happens!





By now, it was time to eat! Off to the Wabash BBQ!

TO BE CONTINUED

 

[Jon Tofte]

Wabash BBQ

When we consulted with Dave about suggestions for restaurants to visit, he told us we should be sure to visit at least one real "BBQ joint!" As mentioned earlier, Dave appreciates the Chef-driven offerings at some of the more famous places, but says the real Kansas City BBQ comes from these lesser-known places where barbecuing is tended to by old time pit masters. Since we were coming his way, he suggested the Wabash BBQ as a place that fit that bill.



Dave did warn us that BBQ joint cooking can vary from visit to visit (whereas a place like Joe's excels in consistency). Unfortunately, while we had very friendly service and a nice, relaxed time, this was not one of the pit master's best nights. Our ribs were just OK, but the evening was a success nonetheless.



It was time to head back as Dave starts his workday very early. We had a little time and decided to stop in at the Bass Pro Shop that we had noticed not far from our hotel. Five years ago, I never owned a gun (although I am not against it or hunting and have three guns now) and still know nothing about fishing, so Bass Pro was never on my destination list. That was a mistake! If they had one near me years ago like the store we visited, I would have taken my kids just for the entertainment aspect (and to see my wife freak out at $45,000 fishing boats and $2,000 fish finders).

This Bass Pro Shop had enormous freshwater aquariums stocked with fish you catch. I only recognized the gar, but Bruce being an avid fisherman, told me what the rest were! Later we saw saltwater fish mounted on the wall and from my Floridian days I was at least a little better at identifying some of those.




That alone would have been enough, but there were amazing large displays of stuffed wildlife of all kinds spread throughout the store. These pictures don't do the workmanship of their displays real justice:






Well, our 2nd day was over. On to the next places tomorrow morning!

TO BE CONTINUED

 

[Jon Tofte]

We got up on Wednesday morning, our final half-day, and headed to the Smoke N Fire BBQ Store. Although there was some similarity to the Kansas City BBQ Store, the big difference here was that Smoke N Fire featured a large selection of Weber grills that the store clerk said were their "entry-level" grills!

TWO OF WEBER'S FLAGSHIP GAS GRILLS: The Genesis 435 and the new Summit - Those are some serious "entry level" ones!






I really like the new Weber Q2800N+


Smoke N Fire also had a sampling of other grills, including Napoleon, Broilmaster (not often seen), Hasty Bake and a $7,000 Fire Magic!

Here are the grates from a high-end Napoleon featuring CAST STAINLESS STEEL: Wow!





We shopped ourselves out (and I bought even more seasonings including Hard Core Carnivore Black recommended by Dave). We had time for just one more meal at our fifth and last restaurant, Q39.

TO BE CONTINUED

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Hey Jon, there is a “good sized” Cabela’s store in Dundee Michigan which might be worth a drive for another “fix” for a sport shop, now that Bass Pro and Cabela’s are connected you might have fun there too!
I have not been there in years but, it was fun when I went.

 

[Jon Tofte]

Last stop: Q39 Barbecue

We put Q39 on the schedule as our last stop for lunch before we headed home. We had been told that it was "upscale" and Bruce was even concerned we might even be too casually attired. Actually, Jack Stack was fancier. Q39 was more relaxed but with a definite millennial feel, rather than that of an old BBQ joint.





Our food server was friendly and efficient. She brought us easily the most stunning in appearance plate we received on our whole trip. I told her that I really was not a "barbecue snob" but that I admitted that I was an iced tea snob and told her that their iced tea was "Perfect!" She thanked me and said that they brew their own at the restaurant.



All of our BBQ was top drawer, wonderful. The bbq beans weren't my favorite, but they still were decent. Q39 honey sweet sauce may be the best I have ever had!



So, in 2 and a half days, we crammed in 5 BBQ restaurants, 5 stores, visits to IPE, Dave's workplace and home, and even some history! It was a lot to do in a short time, but it all worked out even better than we had planned out!

So, WHICH Kansas City BBQ place was the best that we visited? I can only say that Joe's and Q39 were tied in my book. If I went back again, I would go to Joe's for lunch - since they were more set up that way - and Q39 for dinner.

I will let Bruce weigh in on what he thinks and add his own commentary. My wife nixed the idea of us going to KC for any kind of BBQ visit, so I was really glad to have someone to go with who I knew would enjoy a trip like this.

 

[Bruce]

Jon, It was a great and fun trip that just seemed perfect the way my visit to my sister's house coincided with your trip to KC and I was able to tag along. Your story line brought back some great memories and it is great to see it all organized and laid out like that. You did a wonderful job.
I agree with your take on the BBQ joint ratings completely. You did a great job of researching the places and laying out the itinerary for us. When you asked if I had any requests for places to visit and I guess my only suggestion other than what you had already laid out was a trip to IPE. And it was wonderful that Dave was able to arrange with Jeff to allow us to do so. I was happy just to get a chance to tour a bit of his shop, but I was completely surprised when he offered to show us the whole process.

Basically what he does is put crushed glass into a slurry and adds water and I think some other liquid ingredient and they pours that into the tumblers. The tumblers have those white balls in them which are made of "ALUMINA". No relation to aluminum. He said that if you pounded one of the balls with a ball peen hammer, the hammer would break before the ball. Then he turns on the tumbler and the whole thing gets quite hot from the tumbling and grinding and it is "LOUD". I think coloring is added at this time. After it is done grinding, it produces a liquid slurry that empties out the bottom. That is what is sprayed onto the metal object much like any paint is sprayed. Then the object is placed in the Kiln to harden. Most items get a base coat of black and then top coated with the desired color. It is really an interesting process and amazing that is has been basically the same process for over a century. So, yah, when you hear that the finish on the Genesis grills is "basically coating of glass", it really is.

The BBQ stores, the BBQ restaurants along with meeting Dave and the visit to IPE and the cave tour was so much fun, especially when you can share it all with a good friends.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Man, I would have loved being on that road trip! Sounds like you had a great time!!!
And remember porcelain enamel IS glass, people seem to forget that. My wife has a great interest in enameling and other glass work. Her interest in enamel is huge! So, her understanding of the “care and feeding” of enamel is enormous!

 

[Jeff MA]

I'm jealous of you guys, looks like a fun trip.

Jeff

 

[Ed_T]

What a great road trip with loads of memories! Thanks for sharing it so well!

 

[BobH-SCW]

I'm jealous of you guys too! Great to see you both in action-and Dave-what a visit there! His grill flips and renews are legendary. All true artisans . Loved the matching tee shirts on some visits too. And Jon is such a great story teller, the way he lays out the pics and matches the narrative-I can only wish!

 

[Bruce]

Yah, that is why I left it up to Jon to post the story.

 

[BobH-SCW]

you guys are the best!

 

[Dave in KC]

I had a great time with these guys .... too bad it just
wasn't long enough.

 

[Cody Bratton]

That looks like it was a really cool trip. Awesome that people from the forum are so well connected and willing to meet up. Getting a tour and being able to see that process is awesome. I’d have probably tried to apply for a job at IPE!

What do they do to strip the original porcelain off of stuff?

 

[Dave in KC]

What do they do to strip the original porcelain off of stuff?

Media blast.