One of the things I enjoy about my quest is my chance to meet and correspond with the many small business owners that run all of these great barbecue places.  As a former small business owner myself, I understand what it’s like to take the plunge and go out on your own.  I also enjoy discussing their stories and finding out more about how they came to do what they do.

The new owner of Smokey’s, Winston Riley, contacted me after I posted my latest blog and provided some additional information that I think will be helpful to my readers.

Winston is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of Technology and has a 40 year career in fine dining.  When I visited Smokey’s, I noticed a LOT of hickory logs out front of the restaurant.  Winston said that they smoke their brisket for eight hours and wrap it four hours into the cook to give it the smoke flavor and smoke ring.  To fully savor the smoke flavor, make sure you order the brisket without sauce.  He also mentioned that they trim the fat to make it a lean cut, which I definitely noticed and pointed out in the blog post.  Thank you, Winston, for clarifying a few of these items for me.

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I’ve picked up a lot of new readers since I started this quest and I hope you are enjoying following along with my journey.  The goal for me is to find the best barbecue in Kansas City and I’m doing that by visiting every barbecue restaurant in the Kansas City area.  I’ll refer you to my first blog post that explains what I am doing.  I’m trying the brisket at each place because brisket is the most difficult cut of meat to “get right” from my own personal experience.  If someone can cook a great brisket, most likely everything else there is great as well.

As I said when I started, I’m not a professional writer nor a professional food critic.  I’m an amateur griller and barbecue fanatic that has done relatively well in local food competitions that I’ve entered.  I grill or smoke meat about five nights a week out on my deck, even in the winter.  I’ve always loved it.  That’s about where my qualifications for this end.  I’m just a guy trying to find the best barbecue in town and figured the only way to do it is to visit each restaurant and then decide.  I rank them as I go and when I’m done I will make a list of my top 10 and we will have events at each place so everyone can go try their barbecue.  Everyone is invited to join.  Obviously I’m not getting paid for this and I don’t contact the restaurants in any way before I visit.  I don’t want them to know who I am until after I visit.  Part of the fun of this is making a lot of new friends along the way, which I have already done.

I hope you continue to follow me on my quest.  Thanks again for reading, following and sharing.
Till next time….

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