The legend that is Kansas City barbecue began in the early 1900s in an old trolley barn at 19th and Highland. His name was Henry Perry who created an aroma that attracted daily crowds to the back of the barn, where he slow-smoked ribs and sold them, wrapped in newspaper, for 25-cents a slab.

Kansas Citians couldn’t get enough of it.

“The beauty of Kansas City barbecue,” says Carolyn Wells, executive director of the Kansas City Barbecue Society, “is that you can ask ten different people to define Kansas City barbecue and you get ten different answers and they are all correct.”

That’s because in the nearly 100 barbecue joints smoking in Kansas City, there is a melding of flavors and styles from across the country that result in award-winning, mouth-watering, tummy-stuffing flavors that defy conventional adjectives.

So dive in and start experiencing Kansas City's world-famous barbecue. Check out the list of our member barbecue restaurants.