Until today, we just assumed that everyone loved baked beans. But as Charles Ferruzza, Owen Morris and new Fat City blogger Jonathan Bender discovered -- thanks to erudite Pitch music editor Jason Harper -- that no less an authority as Pythagorus opposed the consumption of beans (he wouldn't touch meat either, based on the principles of reincarnation). The poet Callimachus wrote: "Keep your hands from beans, a painful food: As Pythagorus enjoined, I too urge." Callimachus, however, did not write: "Beans, beans the musical fruit/the more you eat, the more you toot."
Tooting right along, what's a Fourth of July celebration without baked beans? It's un-American! That's the reason Fat City's Ferruzza, Morris and Bender (with some assistance from Jason Harper and Crystal Wiebe) tasted eleven different varieties of baked beans -- not the Boston Baked version, but the traditional barbecue joint staple -- from many of Kansas City's more iconic barbecue restaurants.
We immediately crossed the beans from Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue off the list because our carry-out container of baked beans was heavy on the sauce, seriously light on the legumes and practically meatless.
Here are our choices and rankings for the Top Ten Baked Beans:
10) Greedy Man's BBQ, 5536-A Troost. So thick, glossy and rich with molasses sweetness that they come the closest to Boston baked beans in consistency and taste. Extremely dark in color and light on beef. The overwhelming taste? Sweet, very sweet.
9) McGonigle's Market, 1307 W. 79th Street. The outdoor smoker in front of the store puts out some excellent smoked meats, but the baked beans got mixed reviews from our panel. The legume purists in the group didn't like the mix of different varieties of beans (including lima beans, which Charles detests) and it didn't contain much meat. One taster thought the sauce had a "coffee aftertaste." Owen noted that allspice seemed to be the dominant seasoning.
8) Cosentino's Brookside Market, 14 W. 62nd Street. The meatiest, by far, of any of the baked beans tasted, well-seasoned, packs a little heat, not as sweet. A good blend of spices but this was underwhelming, lack any smokiness that defines a true baked bean.
7) Oklahoma Joe's Barbecue & Catering, 3002 W. 47th Street, Kansas City, Kansas. A beloved spot of all of our tasters, the baked beans are, again, a blend of legumes -- including black beans, which make a pleasing visual note -- and the sauce -- which has some heat -- is splendid; Owen detected a strong note of cumin.
6) Gates Barbecue, many locations. Excellent, sassy and smoky beans. Not a hell of a lot of meat, but well-textured and delectably-seasoned. But like all things Gates barbecue, these were divisive. If you love Gates sauce, you'll love the beans as well. If you don't, then best avoid.
5) Arthur Bryant's,
1727 Brooklyn. The most iconic name in Kansas City barbecue, Bryant's
beans look as good as they taste. One of our tasters noted the baked
beans have a "golden glow" provided by heavy use of mustard powder and
they're very generous as far as meat and spices go though with less
vinegar than one would expect of an Arthur Bryant's product. A terrific
side dish.
4) Danny Edwards Boulevard Barbecue,
2900 Southwest Boulevard. The most famous beans in Kansas City and well
worth the acclaim. If these lusty legumes taste as if they've spent
hours in the smoker -- they have. Great overall spiciness and flavor.
We voted them the "Best Baked Beans" in 2008.
8920 Wornall Road. Smoky, excellent texture, supple and well-seasoned
sauce and a lingering succulent flavor. The only fault might be that
it's a little light on the beef. But many people overlooked that
nitpicking and thought these were the best.
2) Big T's Bar BQ, 6201 Blue Parkway. A little soupy, but the sauce
is loaded with flavor and the beans are slow-cooked with lots of
delicious shredded smoked beef.The spicy flavor is strong enough to overpower lighter meat dishes but when the sauce is this good, that's not a bad thing.
1) LC's Bar-B-Q,
5800 Blue Parkway. These slow-cooked beans are so loaded with chunks of
tender beef, they can easily make a meal on their own. And as
satisfying cold as they are hot. After tasting all of the above beans,
people were still helping themselves to samples of LC's.
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With all of the BBQ joints in the city you guys chose to review two grocery store made beans. It should never have crossed your mind to include grocery store beans. Not a credible bean review.
Great, Now I have to make another road trip, from Southern Michigan to KC to check these stats...
Zarda beans should have been #1. To not even place them on the list was makes this list lose a little credibility.
smokehouse b b q in the northland...buy some beans to go and they wont make it home! do not text adjust the radio or fool with movin the seat around because your bean spoon will be most important.
Well since the recipe for Jack Stack's beans and Smokestack's beans are the same I guess they kinda placed fourth.
I've been to most of these places and I agree that Zarda's should be #1. Its a glorious meat and bean paste really. The supermarket version doesn't compare IMO.
Chet, I like Zarda's too, Classic I believe it's called (they have 3 or 4 styles). I can find them on sale too, which is a big plus for me.
Rick -- I assure you that Fiorella's Jack Stack beans would have easily made the cut if there had been more than ten measly beans in the container, which was -- alas -- mostly sauce. I mean, an order of beans really needs to have at least a spoonful of beans!
Realist: I forgot all about Smokebox BBQ, which is delicious. We may need to do another Top Ten list since we also omitted classics like Quick's and (don't laugh at me now) Steak 'n Shake. I LOVE their beans!
Hard to believe that Oklahoma Joe's made the cut. Their beans taste like salsa. Absolutely terrible. Jack Stack's beans are one hell of a lot better than Oklahoma Joe's, and I'm not exactly surprised that they didn't make the list.
I didn't know Greedy Man's was open yet, and I live right across the street! How's the rest of the food there?
Thats really too bad about Fiorella's... what happened to that place? They used to have the best beans in the city by a wide margin along with arguably the best burnt ends. But then the quality of everything just fell off completely.
Can't argue with LC's as top pick though.
I've had mixed results from the beans at the Smokebox BBQ. (off Tiffany Springs Parkway up by the airport) It would appear they use any leftover meat on a given day in the next day's beans, so if you order the beans following a slow day, they're literally loaded with meat. Following a busy day, not so much. Good quality beans in a molasses-based sauce, they're tasty even without all the meat.
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