Zarda barbecue - Lenexa, KS

September 13, 2012

A Few days before we got to Kansas City I read and saw a picture of Billy Butler's Ton of barbecue sandwich. Being a baseball fan and a food fan I had to get the sandwich named for the Royals designated hitter. This came with the choice of meat I picked pulled pork this was topped with melted provolone, two onion rings and barbecue sauce.  I ordered the cheesy potatoes as my side. My dad also got the same sandwich and my mom just got a plain barbecue sandwich we also ordered the fried pickles.

After we ordered at the counter we picked a table and shortly they brought out our food.

 

The Billy Butlers ton of barbeque sandwich looked great when it arrived.  But after eating part of the sandwich I wasn't so sure about it, but I also wasn't all that hungry to begin with which might have been part of the problem.  It was okay but I actually don't think I liked the melted cheese, I think I would have preferred just a plain meat and sauce sandwich.  The onion rings were just onion rings that weren’t anything special. The cheesy potatoes were actually pretty good, quite greasy but tasted pretty good.

 

The fried pickles my parents thought were good but I wasn't so sure, I thought they were ok but nothing special either.  My parents both thought the place was good and didn't see anything wrong with it, but I on the other hand thought it was just average.

 

 

11931 West 87th Street Parkway

Lenexa, KS 66215

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Oklahoma Joe's - Olathe, KS

September 13, 2012

We were in Kansas City and decided to continue our bbq tour, which brought us here.  We came here a few years ago before the blog.  I remember it being good, but not too much more than that.

 This is a place where you order at a counter and you pick up your food at the other end of the counter.  We got here at the late end of lunch time and the line was still quite long at that point, but the line actually went really quick and we got through in not very long.  However there were not many places to sit, so the 3 of us squeezed into a table for 2.  This day was also a rainy and cold day, so when I saw they had gumbo, I knew I needed to get some and since it’s a barbeque place, I needed barbeque.

 Regular Sandwiches come with 4 ounces of meat and jumbo sandwiches come with 6 ounces, so my mom and I both got a cup of gumbo and shared a jumbo turkey sandwich.  My dad had another kind of sandwich which I'm not sure what it was. He ordered fries to go with his sandwich.

The turkey was very good especially with the barbecue sauce. It was a simple sandwich but it was good.   

The gumbo was also pretty good, and was warm and had quite a bit of kick, this was over rice.

The fries were huge and enough for all three of us to share. We all thought the fries are pretty good, they had some kind of seasoning on it which was good and then they were just good fries underneath the seasoning. This was also very good dipped in the barbecue sauce.

They had two sauces a regular and the night of the living bbq sauce which was their spicy barbecue sauce this one was my favorite of the two because it had a good amount to kick it. 

 

11950 South Strang Line Road
Olathe, KS

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RJ's Bob-Be-Que Shack -Mission Kansas

September 12, 2012

We met some relatives in Kansas City for some barbecue.  This was one of the places they like in Kansas City and was also featured on diner’s drive-ins and dives. When we first got out of the car I could immediately smell something smoking which is a very good sign. When we went in before they put a table together for us.  For appetizers someone wanted corn fritters which I'd never had before. 

 

Also dad really wanted to try jalapeno sausage. A couple people liked this and others including me who don’t particularly like sausage to begin with didn't care for it. 

 

The fritters were great and were just like dough with corn that was fried. The ranch dressing with it was kind of thin, but did taste good. These might be one of my new favorite appetizers.

I decide to get the rib special which was half a slab of ribs with one side which I picked of bob be que beans. My dad had burnt end sandwich and I don't remember exactly what everyone else had.

 

I thought the ribs were good, but not the greatest ribs in the world.  They did pretty much fall off the bone. The beans had a coffee flavor in them, which is one thing I hate so I didn't care for them. I also got to sample the fried okra and it was great and the best yet that I've tried. My dad let me sample his burnt ends and I immediately knew what I should've have had. The barbecue sauce here I thought was decent but probably not my favorite barbecue sauce I've had.

 

 

5835 Lamar Ave

Mission, KS 66202

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Chicken Annie's Original Pittsburg, KS

September 5 and 6 2012

We stopped here years ago and thought it was amazing fried chicken and every time we are in the vicinity and even if we have to go out of our way to get there we make sure to stop by.  Last time we planned two nights so we could compare it to Chicken Mary’s which is next door.  The two were featured on food wars on the travel channel.  The first night we thought it doesn’t matter which one to go to so we went to Annie’s again, then the next night we get to Mary’s and it was closed.  We again went to Annie’s.  Now this trip we wanted to go to Mary’s first to make sure we got it in first, but when we arrived we found this sign.

So I was not going to be able to do my own food war, instead we went to chicken Annie’s twice.  Most of my review is from the second night with some comments from the first night.

The first night we arrived and met a couple of relatives for dinner at about 5:30 and on the next night a little later than that, it wasn’t exactly packed either night but there were a fair number of people.  The tables looked like the yellow pages covered with ads. 

 

We were seated quickly and they brought a basket of bread with some kind of butter ish spread, I would have guessed ahead of time that they would have real butter, but it wasn’t.  It was still alright though and it melted nicely on the warm bread, it was definitely homemade bread. 

 

Next we made sure to order onion rings again because they were great the night before, we ordered the small size.  We ordered the large the night before but I think they might have been small both nights. 

 

These were some of the best onion rings I’ve ever had.  They did not come out with any salt, but when I salted mine they were amazing. 

 

I had the 2 piece dark meat, with a thigh and leg they gave me a choice of which type I wanted.  This night I had mashed potatoes and gravy along with baked beans, the mashed potatoes were good, but definitely not the best and the baked beans I think were out of a can.  The night before I had mashed potatoes and creamy coleslaw which was just ok.  Their side dishes are definitely not their strong point. 

 

 

 

But now to what they are famous for the fried chicken.  There was nothing crazy or different about the chicken just basic and really good fried chicken.  It was crisp on the outside and quite juicy on the inside, just perfect.   The service was good throughout both meals.  The second night we went to pay at the counter and I decided to get me a t-shirt and including the shirt the total was around $46 which I thought was a bargain for 3 people.

 

 

1143 East 600th Avenue  Pittsburg, KS 66762

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