Jones Bar-B-Q in Kansas City, Kansas
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| Jones Bar-B-Q brisket sandwich and fries |
I visited Jones Bar-B-Q in Kansas City, Kansas today. I visited in the past, but they ran out of brisket the day I went so I had to come back. This was a great visit. Jones Bar-B-Q is run by the Jones sisters, Deborah and Mary. A female run barbecue business in a barbecue world dominated by males! I found out that the Jones sisters can easily hold their own and are in many ways superior to their male counterparts!
The Jones sisters were recently featured on the Steve Harvey show in a great segment talking about their story, history and barbecue. Check it out:
I found a write-up about them by the Kansas City Star in August, 2016. Here’s some information from the article:
“For more than three decades, the Jones sisters — Deborah and her sister Mary Jones Mosley — have devoted themselves to barbecue, working as professional pitmasters and owners of Jones Bar-B-Q. In its latest incarnation, the to-go-only spot has taken up residence in a former taco stand where customers step up to a window to place their orders.
Mary, whose family nickname is “Shorty,” calls out the order. Then Deborah, or “Little,” steps up on the firebox door and peers into the pit to ferret out the precise piece of meat required. With roasting pan in hand, Deborah pads back to the metal screen doors and into the kitchen. Together, she and Mary fix up a foam box and tie it up in a plastic grocery sack.
The outdoor smoker sits on a layer of bricks in the parking lot near Wild Woody’s Happy Foods West at 6706 Kaw Drive, in an industrial section of Kansas City, Kan., where freight trains from the tracks running parallel to Kansas 32 whistle loud enough to drown out conversations.”
I wanted to make sure I was able to try their brisket today, so I decided to get there shortly after they opened at 11:00. This is a “they’re out when they run out” establishment so they only cook a certain amount of each type of meat each day. Normally there is a very long line here, but today there were only a few in line. This is really a “to-go” establishment, as you order and pay at the window and they call your name when your food is ready. There are six picnic tables setup outside that you can sit and eat at, but on a cold day you’ll have to take your food to go because there is no inside seating area.
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| The smoker at Jones Bar-B-Q. You’ll normally see Deborah sitting in front of the smoker tending to the food |
I ordered a brisket sandwich and fries and the total was around 11 dollars. I decided to sit outside and eat since it was pretty nice out for a January day in Kansas City. I ordered sauce on the side and I did get a cup of sauce on the side but they still put some on the sandwich. They package up your food in a Styrofoam container in a plastic bag. The sandwich was served with thin sliced pieces of brisket on bread with sauce. The meat was tender and had a nice smoke flavor and smoke ring. It was also nicely trimmed of fat. It was a great sandwich! I was very impressed!
I tried the sauce with my fries. The fries were standard crinkle cut fries that you would get anywhere. Those of you that have followed me for a while know that I am not a fan of barbecue sauce on my barbecue. I would much rather taste the meat than have it covered with sauce. I normally try the sauces just so I can give you an idea of what each place has. That being said, I will say that the sauce that they make and bottle at Jones Bar-B-Q might be the best sauce I have tried to date. I loved it. It is brown sugar, molasses and vinegar based and has just enough sweetness and spice that it is not overpowering at all. It is a great complement to the meat, rather than being the only thing that you taste.
Mary Jones Mosley came out and talked to me both when I was standing in line and when I was eating. She was taking photos to post on their Facebook page and asked if it was okay to take my picture and of course I told her it was fine. After I got my food she came out and we chatted a bit about their appearance on Steve Harvey and a little bit more about their barbecue and sauce. I asked if they make their own sauce and she said that they do and they sell it right there. It was only five dollars for a bottle and I liked it so much that I bought a bottle to take home.
Both Mary and Deborah are very nice and personable. Great people that make great barbecue! If you’re a person that thinks Bryant’s, Gates, Joe’s, Q39, or Jack Stack have the best barbecue in town, you owe it to yourself to check out Jones Bar-B-Q to see if your opinion might change!
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| Photo from outside Jones Bar-B-Q |
This is visit number 65 on my quest. Five more to go! Thanks for reading and following along. Don’t forget to follow along on Facebook. Till next time…
