The landscape gradually flattens as you drive west out of St. Louis on I-70, with the sky opening up in a way that seems almost intentional and the urban density thinning into suburbs and then farmland. You arrive in Kansas City about four hours later. The same state, the same highway, but very different perceptions of what barbecue should smell, taste, and be like. Nobody seems at all interested in resolving this argument, which is the oldest and most entertaining in Missouri.
In this argument, the Kansas City side has the reputation—or at least the history—on its side. One of the most important American barbecue experiences, according to food writers, presidents, and carnivores of all stripes, is Arthur Bryant’s on Brooklyn Avenue, where the sauce stains appear to have been building up since the Eisenhower administration. Bold and straightforward, Kansas City’s cuisine consists of slow-smoked meat covered in a thick, sweet, tomato-and-molasses sauce, with generous portions of burnt ends that leave your fingers greasy and you feeling a little sorry for the rest of your day. Residents of Kansas City view it as comfort food elevated to civic identity.77
| Category | St. Louis BBQ | Kansas City BBQ |
|---|---|---|
| Signature Style | Slow-smoked, fruit wood, dry or lightly sauced | Low-and-slow, heavy tomato-molasses sauce |
| Signature Cut | St. Louis-style spare ribs (flatter, trimmed) | Burnt ends, full rack ribs |
| Sauce Character | Thinner, tangier, sometimes mustard or vinegar base | Thick, sweet, dark, tomato-forward |
| Iconic Restaurants | Pappy’s Smokehouse, Bogart’s, Sugarfire, Salt + Smoke, Vernon’s | Arthur Bryant’s, Gates Bar-B-Q, Q39, Joe’s Kansas City |
| Notable Neighborhoods | Soulard, Delmar Loop, South City | Westport, Crossroads, Overland Park |
| 2022 LawnStarter Study Ranking | #1 Best BBQ City in America (Score: 49.41) | #2 Best BBQ City in America (Score: 46.45) |
| Fox Sports I-70 BBQ Showdown | Represented by Pappy’s Smokehouse | Represented by Q39 (won 2 consecutive years) |
| BBQ Association Involvement | Strong — National BBQ & Grilling Association | Strong — American Royal World Series of Barbecue |
| Distance Between Cities | ~250 miles via I-70 | ~250 miles via I-70 |
| Kansas City Mayor’s Response to Study | — | Quinton Lucas called it “outright bulls***” publicly |
Then, in 2022, a ranking was released for which neither city was ready. St. Louis received the highest overall score of 49.41, surpassing Kansas City’s 46.45, in LawnStarter’s study of 200 American cities based on barbecue access, accolades, and quality. In response, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas publicly declared that the outcome was “outright bulls***. This is the kind of statement most politicians save for real crises.” You can tell how seriously this rivalry is taken west of the Mississippi by the fact that a sitting mayor felt compelled to comment on a barbecue study. Observing this argument year after year gives me the impression that the identity surrounding the food has taken precedence over the food itself.
When you get there and sit down to eat, what the St. Louis side actually offers is genuinely different rather than just inferior—a distinction that Kansas City partisans occasionally refuse to acknowledge. In contrast to the heavier hardwoods typical of Kansas City pits, restaurants like Vernon’s BBQ in the Delmar Loop and Bogart’s Smokehouse in Soulard smoke their meats over fruit woods, which results in a cleaner, more subdued smoke flavor. With their brown-sugar glaze, Vernon’s ribs are savory and sweet without the need for sauce; depending on your zip code, this is either a plus or a drawback. With a full bar, great brisket, and sides like toasted ravioli dusted with smoked seasoning—possibly the most St. Louis thing a barbecue restaurant could put on a menu—Salt + Smoke, located close to the Loop, has gained a following.
Pappy’s Smokehouse on Olive Street is well-known; it’s the type of establishment that draws crowds at lunch and is mentioned whenever the St. Louis case needs to be argued. With that special tenderness that requires hours of careful cooking, the ribs fall off the bone. Picnic tables and walls covered in pictures of famous people create a somewhat touristy yet genuinely cozy atmosphere. A completely different register is used by Kansas City’s Q39, which defeated Pappy’s in the Fox Sports I-70 Showdown two years in a row. It is cleaner, more polished, and clearly cooking for a wider audience while still producing meat that serious barbecue enthusiasts respect.
The real philosophical divide is most closely addressed by the sauce question. Thick, sweet, and assertive, Kansas City sauce covers everything, defines everything, and is essentially non-negotiable. St. Louis takes a more ambivalent approach to the sauce issue, offering a variety of styles, sometimes using very little sauce at all, and sometimes creating something unexpected like Salt + Smoke’s hot mustard or Vernon’s Thai peanut sauce, which would be a real scandal if served within 50 miles of Arthur Bryant’s. Depending on what you value about the experience, St. Louis’s adaptability may be a strength or a weakness.
The fact that both cities are producing barbecue at a level that the majority of the nation doesn’t come close to is true, and it’s probably worth acknowledging before this argument reaches its next century. According to LawnStarter’s 2022 national ranking, Missouri holds three of the top four positions. The true rivalry isn’t between Kansas City and St. Louis; rather, it’s between them and everyone else. That’s a point that often gets overlooked when the sauce partisans are honing their arguments and the mayors are tweeting. No matter where you are sitting, the smell of the rising smoke on both ends of I-70 is worth the drive.
