By CHARLES FERRUZZA
The good news: One of my favorite weekend breakfast joints — R.J.’s Bob-Be-Que Shack at 5835 Lamar in Mission — is now serving up big platters of smoked meats and eggs during the week.
The bad news: It’s one of the few Kansas City restaurants that offers a breakfast too big even for me to finish off.
R.J.’s owner Robert Palmgren got into the breakfast business by accident in 2005. “One Easter Sunday, I decided to offer breakfast, and only 30 people showed up. I lost my ass, financially. But I had all these eggs and things left over, so the next Sunday, I went ahead and tried it again, and 60 people came in to eat.”
Palmgren started his career as an award-winning chef in upscale restaurants, but his namesake barbecue shack sells the signature KC dishes: pit-smoked ribs, chicken, brisket, pork and some mighty fine baked beans. When the Sunday breakfast business got good, he added morning meals on Saturday, too; more recently, he has opened his cozy, low-slung building on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings. The breakfast hours are 7:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Don’t be surprised that there’s no yogurt or fresh fruit on the menu. But there is incredibly good pit ham and bacon, and there's also the extremely generous Farm Hands Breakfast Platter, which includes a choice of two meats, two eggs, a pile of fried “country taters” and a baseball-sized biscuit smothered in creamy sausage gravy. You probably won’t be able to finish it, either.
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I always forget they offer breakfast, but I really liked it the one time I had it. I'm inclined to go again if for no other reason than the "I lost my ass" quote. No PR spin for that guy.
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