Kansas City-style barbecue

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Kansas City barbecue refers to the specific inner city style of barbecue that evolved from the pit of Henry Perry in the early 1900s in Kansas City, Missouri.

Two restaurants (Arthur Bryant's and Gates and Sons Bar-B-Q) are direct descendants of this style.

Kansas City is renowned for barbeque. It now has more than 100 barbecue restaurants and proclaims itself to be the "world's barbecue capital." There are large, well attended barbecue cooking contests, the two most notable being in Lenexa, Kansas and at the American Royal.

In 1977 Rich Davis began the efforts to nationally market a more suburban version of barbecue sauce called KC Masterpiece (which is now owned by a division of Clorox). Efforts by Bryant's and Gates to export Kansas City barbecue beyond the metro area have not been commercially successful, although the two do market their sauces to travelers at Kansas City International Airport.

1 Henry Perry
2 Arthur Bryant
3 Gates & Sons
4 KC Masterpiece
5 External links

[edit] Henry Perry

Kansas City traces its barbecue history to Henry Perry who operated out of a trolley barn at 19th and Highland in the legendary African-American neighborhood around 18th and Vine.

Perry served slow-cooked ribs on pages of newsprint for 25 cents a slab. Perry came from Shelby County, Tennessee near Memphis, Tennessee and began serving barbecue in 1908. The style of Kansas City and Memphis barbecue are very similar although Kansas City tends to emphasize using as much sauce as possible. Perry's sauce had a harsh peppery flavor.

Perry's restaurant became a major cultural point during the heydey of Kansas City Jazz during the anything goes days of Tom Pendergast in the 1920s and 1930s.

[edit] Arthur Bryant

Arthur Bryant's Barbeque at 18th and Brooklyn in Kansas City

Working for him were Charlie Bryant (who in turn brought his brother Arthur Bryant) into the business. Charlie took over the Perry restaurant in 1940 on Perry's death. Arthur then took over his brother's business in 1946 and the restataurant was renamed Arthur Bryant's. In the process he sweetened Perry's sauce with molasses "so that you could eat it on bread."

Bryant who eventually moved to 1727 Brooklyn in the same neighborhood became a stopping ground for baseball fans and players in the 1950s and 1960s because of its close proximity to Municipal Stadium.

In 1974 Kansas City native Calvin Trillin wrote an article in New Yorker Magazine proclaiming Bryant's to be the best restaurant on the planet.

Despite new found fame, Bryant did not change its very simple decor with fluorescent lighting and formica tables and 5-gallon jars of sauce in the windows even as Presidents Harry Truman and Jimmy Carter stopped by.

Bryant died of a heart attack in a bed that he kept at the restaurant just after Christmas in 1982. The restaurant is still open.

[edit] Gates & Sons

Gates Bar-B-Q headquarters on Brush Creek in Kansas City

In 1946 Arthur Pinkard who was a cook for Perry joined with George Gates to form Gates and Sons Bar-B-Q initially in the same neighborhood.

More molasses was added to the Gates barbecue to make it sweeter and it was franchised in more conventional ways -- with trademark red roofed restaurants, a man with tuxedo and top hat logo, and a signature "Hi, May I help you?" greeting at the door. Gates has opened restaurants throughout Kansas City metropolitan area.

[edit] KC Masterpiece

In 1977, Rich Davis capitalized on the inner city reputation of Kansas City barbecue to form KC Masterpiece which evolved from his K.C. Soul Style Barbecue Sauce.

KC Masterpiece was sold to the Kingsford division of Clorox in 1986 and now claims to be the number one premium barbecue brand in the country. The KC Masterpiece brand is actually sweeter than the classic Bryants and Gates sauce.

Davis has held KC Masterpiece barbecues on the White House lawn for George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

When Davis sold the rights to his sauce to Clorox, he announced plans to build a franchise of barbecue restaurants. However the plans have not worked out and the only remaining KC Masterpiece restaurant is in Overland Park, Kansas.

[edit] External links

The City of Kansas City
History • Architecture • Downtown • Economy • Barbeque • Jazz • Fountains • Broadcast • Film • Neighborhoods • Metro Area • Sports