Having grown up in the South, I am a *huge* fan of barbecue. So, I have been super stoked about trying out the BBQ in Kansas City.
For my first taste of Kansas City BBQ, I ventured out to Fiorella’s Jack Stack Barbecue, which the locals seem to refer to as simply “Jack Stack.” The menu at Jack Stack has a little bit of everything – brisket, pork, ham, polish sausage and burnt ends.
One of my dining companions has a pretty severe allergy to MSG, but Jack Stack has an allergens list on their website. Kudos to them for that. The chicken & sausage gumbo was the dish of choice her, but after ordering it the waitress came back to let us know that they were out of it. FAIL. As a result, I ended up sharing my plate, which had brisket, pork, fries, cole slaw and the hickory pit beans. I also got to taste the burnt ends off my other dining companion’s plate.
For the meat, the burnt ends had the most flavor, which really isn’t saying a lot. The pork has practically no taste at all. It was just a fatty, greasy, nasty excuse for BBQ pork. The brisket was also less than flavorful. In fact, the Plymouth Meeting Whole Foods in Pennsylvania makes a hell of a lot better brisket, which you can get on their hot bar. Actually, the brisket from the barbecue bar at the Columbus, Ohio Whole Foods is also better than the brisket I had at Jack Stack BBQ.
I’d read a lot about the hickory put beans, which was why I added them to my plate. They were fine. Nothing to write home about really. In fact, I think I’ve had similar tasting beans at cookouts back home when I was growing up.
As of this writing, the Jack Stack BBQ location that I went to has 77 reviews on Yelp, with a 4.5 out of 5 stars. More than one review mentions their All Purpose Rub, which is on quite a few food items there. I know this because it’s on the food allergen list because it contains MSG. With that in mind, the only conclusion I can come to is that the MSG is responsible for people loving this food.
At this point, I’m not even sure I’m going to try any other Kansas City BBQ because this was so unbelievably terrible. If I do, I hope that the barbecue at Jack Stack is not representative of the rest of the BBQ in KC.
