Restaurants in Kansas City, MO

Even before New Yorker writer Calvin Trillin declared Arthur Bryant’s BBQ the best restaurant in the world, Kansas City, Missouri, was known as one of the great BBQ cities of America. Developed by pitmasters who came from both Texas and the Deep South, its smoke-pit cuisine includes butter-tender beef brisket as well as meat-laden spare ribs; and sauce in this town is always a big, thick tomato-based deal, ranging from sorghum sweet to incendiary. Kansas City also is the first place to offer the now-popular BBQ delicacy, burnt ends, which is known on some local menus by its older name, brownies. Beyond BBQ, Kansas City is the home of what may be the best fried chicken dinner anywhere, at Stroud’s, as well as some of the heartland’s plushest steaks, at Jess & Jim’s, whose building is lorded over by a huge fiberglass Angus cow.

Kansas City’s Most Famous Dishes

Mountainous sandwich holds pastrami, egg, French fries, cole slaw, and a tomato at Primanti Brothers in Pittsburg, PA

Sandwiches

Burger on a tender bun with lettuce, tomato, onion, and mayo ... car hop service

Grilled Hamburger

Two rib bones are laden with a great mass of spice-crusted, smoke-cooked beef

BBQ Ribs

Crisp-edge, creamy-center French fries sprinkled with salt

French Fries

Kansas City’s Best Restaurants

Gates Bar-B-Q

KANSAS CITY, MO

Hugely thick strip steak, ready to slice
Jess & Jim’s

KANSAS CITY, MO

Open-face sandwich is topped with four different kinds of melty cheese
Eden Alley

KANSAS CITY, MO

Stroud’s - Fried Chicken
Stroud’s

KANSAS CITY, MO

L C’s Bar-B-Q - Burnt End Sandwich
L C’s Bar-B-Q

KANSAS CITY, MO

Triple Winstead
Winstead’s

KANSAS CITY, MO

Niecie’s

KANSAS CITY, MO

Half rack of ribs between two slices of white bread Arthur Bryant's Legendary BBQ In Kansas City, MO
Arthur Bryant’s | Legendary BBQ At Its Best In Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, MO

Kansas City Articles & Guides

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Stroud's

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America's Great Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

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L C’s Bar-B-Q - Close Up

The Best (Real) Burnt Ends in Kansas City

The Real Thing Barbecue's newfound nationwide popularity has put burnt ends on menus across the country, but in all too many cases, the burnt ends are bogus. The best burnt...

BBQ Sauce Arthur Bryant's Legendary BBQ In Kansas City, MO

Kansas City Barbecue and More

Even before Calvin Trillin declared Arthur Bryant's to be "possibly the single best restaurant in the world" in a 1974 Playboy magazine article, Kansas City was famous for barbecue....

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