Food is my passion. I find my inspiration in everyday life and LOVE to cook and create for family and friends. I'm a classically trained chef, but prefer to cook from the heart. Food adventures and experiments of a classically trained chef and hopeful journalist. Enjoy. - Jamie Wolff

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Backfire BBQ




A few days ago I took a road trip with some friends to Kansas City. After a three and a half hour car ride filled with candy and ice cream we decided we needed a hearty meal. Dinning with this particular group of friends can be tricky. With two lactose intolerant dinners and three shellfish allergies our list of places to eat is always slim. Trial and error have taught us that barbecue is a great solution to this particular problem. Lucky for us Kansas City is famous for its epic barbecue. Everyone in the Midwest knows it. And anyone who watches television should know it, the travel channel, food network and history channel all have shows dedicated to the soul full, slow cooked, smokey wonder that is barbecue. We had heard some great buzz about a place called Arthur Bryants. When we pulled we realized it was only a fast food joint and we were searching for somewhere to sit down and unwind. Even though the restaurant came highly recommended we passed it up for the atmosphere we were searching for. Across the way we found a place called Backfire BBQ. It was endorsed by The Orange County Choppers which impressed the men in the group. The inside was exactly what you would expect from a restaurant endorsed by a group of bikers. Motorcycle memorabilia everywhere, metal, neon lights, and over sized everything. Starting with our 24oz drinks. Not exactly fine dinning but it seemed promising to fill our angry stomachs. Our food arrived on its gigantic plates and looked delicious. And that's where our great experience ended. The baked beans that came with everyone meal had an extremely off flavor. It took a couple bits to figure out what the strange flavor was...old onions. Old onions, stale beans and a dirty pot. If I had to venture a guess I would say they sauteed all the onions when the opened for lunch that morning and had been topping off the same pan of beans throughout the day. That means by time we arrived at 8pm the pot had been on the stove for roughly ten hours, disgusting. I tried to rid the stale taste with a bite of my grilled Texas toast only to find they have put the same amount of care into cleaning the grill as they had into the pots used for the beans. You could taste the old grease and grim on the grill. Luckily the fries were crispy and the nothing appeared to be wrong with the brisket burnt ends that I ordered. With the over sized portions it was enough to fill me up without having to touch the beans or bread. It wasn't horrible enough to complain but defiantly not good enough to bring me back. Try at your own risk.


1855 Village West Parkway
Kansas City, KS
66111


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