RJ's Pig Feast

RJ's Bob-Be-Que is having a little party tonight to celebrate the rebroadcast of the "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" episode featuring them. As part of the celebration they are smoking a whole pig which is fulfilling award winning blogger Meesha's yearlong dream of eating a smoked pig. A buffet with the pig, cole slaw, beans, sweet potato casserole, fresh applesauce and corn bread muffins will be available for $15/person.

Word is they're pretty packed up, but there's still space available so you'd better call 913-262-7300 to RSVP and reserve your spot. You don't want to miss out on whole pig and if you play your cards right you may even see several D list KC bloggers hanging out eating pig. If you're not coming out, you can watch the episode, which will make you really want to eat barbecue, will air at 9:30 on Food Network. If you are coming out, festivities at RJ's begin at 8.

Diners, Drive Ins and Dives - KC Barbecue

The KC edition of Diners, Drive Ins and Dives or Triple D as the cool kids call it is focusing on KC Barbecue tonight at 9. Johnny's, RJ's Bob-Be-Que, Smokin' Guns and Woodyard will be featured. I'm always excited when RJ's gets some press, even if said press comes from someone who insists on wearing his sunglasses on the back of his head. So remember to set your DVR's for the Food Network at 9 tonight.

Barbecue Border War

I thought to myself this morning, by golly I’m going to go to Adam’s Rib for lunch today. So I did. I headed over and found out they have a lunch special for $5.99. Mind you, it was impossible to tell what the special entailed since it wasn’t on the signs, but it was a lunch special. I had to ask at the counter what the special was. It turns out it was a single meat sandwich with your choice of fries, beans, potato salad or cheesy cornbread for $5.99. That is a great deal.

I got a pulled pork sandwich and fries, my standard barbecue order and brought it home. I should mention that they’ve changed the ordering system since the last time I went. You now walk in and go straight to the register right in front of you. I was a bit confused this time because I started to walk to the one to the side of the door. Again Adams Rib has made a fool of me when I’m just trying to get my lunch.

I was once again amazed at the amount of food I got. The sandwich is a little smaller with the lunch special than I remember the regular sandwich being, but that’s okay with me. The other one had too much meat for me to ingest. Included in the to go box was a ridiculous amount of fries. They have also added a hot barbecue sauce which is greatly appreciated because I don’t think much of their regular barbecue sauce.

With the spicier sauce added onto the pulled pork sandwich, it was nearly flawless. It was quite juicy and flavorful without being the wet ball of goo the sandwich turned into last time. The bread/pork ratio was great and I was impressed with how great the sandwich worked. The fries were wonderfully crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Dipped into the spicy barbecue sauce they became wonderful French treasures.

Needless to say, Adams Rib has stepped up their game after being open for a couple of months. My barbecue decision when I’m home has now become quite complicated between RJ’s Bob-Be-Que and Adams Rib. My house is almost right in between the two of them, they both have great specials, the food is excellent in both places and the service is equally friendly. They both even have gentle giants working at them, RJ’s has Big Dave and Adams Rib has a big dude (at least 6’4”/250) behind the counter. I think they need to have a wrestling match to determine the BBQ king of JoCo.

I think with Adam’s Rib hitting their stride, I think a case can be made that the Kansas side has better barbecue than the Missouri side. Kansas has what I feel is the best barbecue in the metro with Oklahoma Joe’s. RJ’s is really good as is Adams Rib. Missouri has the big 2 in Gates and Arthur Bryant’s and then there’s LC’s (we’re going to leave Jack Stack out of this because they have big locations on both sides of the state line, Gates and Bryant’s do too, but they are iconic KCMO restaurants). LC’s is really expensive for what it is and good luck getting out of Gates and Bryant’s for under $10. RJ’s and Adam’s Rib might not be quite up to that quality, but they’re really close (they’re just missing the history) and are a couple of dollars cheaper. Plus, service at the 3 best Kansas barbecue restaurants puts the Missouri restaurants to shame. They’re downright rude at LC’s, they hurry you through at Bryant’s and Gates employs schtick.

To me, I’d rather have Kansas barbecue than the Missouri counterpart. Maybe I’m crazy. I still think Bryant’s is the second best barbecue in town and Gates third. But going to either of those 2 is a pain in the ass and I’m liable to be treated like crap while there. For marginally worse barbecue I can be virtually guaranteed good service and a better value.

I know there are many barbecue places on both sides of the state line and I don’t pretend to have visited them all. But 90% of the time, I’m going to eat at one of the 6 I listed here or Jack Stack. For me, I think I’d rather eat barbecue in Kansas.

I should also mention that Adam's Rib is holding a Man V. Food type competition among local "celebrities" on Saturday. The celebutestants are going to try and wolf down a 10 pound brisket burger in 20 minutes. The winner gets the proceeds of the event to go to the charity of their choice.

RJ's Bob-Be-Que and Baseball

Last year around the time of the Royals home opener, I decided to try RJ's Bob-Be-Que in Mission for lunch on my work from home day. I remember watching the Royals game while eating my pulled pork sandwich. It kind of became a little tradition for the first couple of months of the baseball season, as there were a bunch of Thursday day games early in the season.

The mini tradition fell out of favor a little bit for no real reason. Until recently when I discovered that I hadn't been to RJ's in several months. When I drove by a couple of weeks ago I noticed that they had added a little carryout entrance and had a carryout special of a sandwich and fries for $3.99. That's about as cheap of a bbq lunch you can get in this town.

On my work from home day last week I went over to RJ's and picked up a regular (6 oz.) pulled pork sandwich. As always it was pretty great. They have real good barbecue and better than average fries. But the 6 oz. sandwich does tend to be a little much if you're just not that hungry. The $3.99 special is for a 3 oz. sandwich and fries which ends up being a perfect lunch portion.

I went there and got the special today. While I was waiting for them to package up my sandwich I noticed that a spring training baseball game was on ESPN. So when I got my sandwich home, I turned on the game and the tradition begins anew. I just hope next week there's a Cubs or Indians game on.