#64: Visit Four of the Following States Overnight

Our trip to eat barbecue in Kansas City was a success. We visited LC's, Gates, and Arthur Bryant's. Each had its attraction, pros and cons listed below.

LC's
Jacque assures us this is a neighborhood we shouldn't have visited, but we lived in South Central LA and I lived in Harlem so we're not scared! But we had heard the neighborhood was dodgy so we went for lunch. I had the burnt ends and an order of onion rings; the dude had short ends (ribs) and cole slaw. LC's turned out to produce our favorite sauce: more tomatoe-y and vinegar-y more hot than sweet than the others. The burnt ends were cut in large chunks and had a bit more fat on them than they should. The short ends were great--super tender--but toward the end they were a bit gristly. I could wax poetic about their onion rings. I know this wasn't the reason we went to Kansas City, but these are the second best onion rings I've ever eaten {the best are made by my uncle} LC's onion rings were not at all greasy and were deliciously salty. I was happy.

Gates
I ordered the burnt ends and potato salad; the dude had mutton and cole slaw (they were out of short ends). We also bought, but could not eat {until later}, a individual size sweet potatoe pie. The big surprise here was the sides came with a generous sprinkle of rub on them. YUM! We didn't buy the rub, but I may have to order some so I can throw it on side dishes this summer. Or every day when I eat. The burnt ends were chopped up very fine and were served (hooray!) on a bun not the nasty ubiquitous white bread. The grease soaked into the bread. I loved it. It was like Texas toast without the cheese. The dude thought this was overchopped, but I'm not a fan of chewing meat {it's true} so the closer I get to having someone regurgitate chewed food into my mouth, the better. No not really, but I did like the chop. The dude loved the flavor of the mutton but he really had to work at the bones to get past the fat. Is that how mutton is supposed to be? Probably not, but he dug it because the meat was tender and falling off the bone, of course. Gates had our second favorite sauce: thicker and spicier than LC's, really good. It was our first favorite price because we won $5 when our receipt came up with a red star on it.

We were pleased with the pie when we ate it the next day. Nice, crumbly pie crust but sturdy enough for the sweet potato mash. Not as good as Aunt Kizzy's {"so light it can float like a feather"} but it was quite tasty.

Arthur Bryant's
We finally got a clue and only ordered one thing and no sides. We split the burnt ends. This had the best chop size--not too fine, but the sauce was too sweet, very tasty but not to our tastes. The burnt ends were very good. Served, again, on white bread, which the dude ate. I steadfastedly refused. We bought this on the way to the airport, so we didn't actually eat it right away. I'm not sure this made that much difference. The meat was a good quality.

Other things we did besides eat:
Truman Library and Museum
The dude's a fan of presidential libraries--well of the Kennedy library--so we decided to visit this one. Obviously we're both too young to remember this period in American history, so this was quite educational. Many exhibits featured excerpts oral histories from various people. Most interesting, Truman left office with a 30% approval rating. History has shown that his policies and actions have become more popular--like when they had a boatload of presidents and vice-presidents from both parties quoting him in their speeches. I'm pretty sure we won't see similar changes in 40 years at the George W. Bush library (which will house, what? coloring books?).

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
A relatively new museum, this place is really about racism in American culture. A terrifically interesting narrative. Because there's so little space, there's more text crammed in each square foot than there probably should be, but I really learned a lot here.

Jazz Museum
How do you make a museum about sound? I think they did a pretty good job engaging us as listeners. There's probably a bit too much focus on the big names of jazz, but they did cover a wide variety of styles, instruments, and time periods. There was also a section that let you listen to particular sounds--rhythm, percussion, etc. Though the dude was disappointed that their reed section didn't include any clarinet (he plays). Too bad we didn't have an opportunity to go to the Blue Room.