I hate to be the person to break the bad news to you, but…Arthur Bryant’s is not nearly as good as it used to be.
I’m not going to say it’s terrible, but it sure has fallen from the lofty perch it occupied for so many decades, including a few after Arthur died in 1982 at age 82.
As it is now, I think Arthur would be unhappy.
I hadn’t been to Bryant’s in several years, and I decided to go last night after playing nine holes at Blue River Golf Course. I wound my way down Cleveland Avenue and then Prospect to 18th and cut over to Brooklyn.
I got there about 8:30, I would say, and the line was about 25 deep. The line at Bryant’s has always moved slowly, so I knew it was going to be a while. Fortunately, I had brought in the latest edition of Tee Times magazine, which has feature stories about local golf courses, golf tips and discount coupons for various courses.
Even with the benefit of reading material, however, the wait seemed interminable. I barely moved in the first 20 to 25 minutes. Part of the problem was that Mayor Sly James had brought a group of six to eight young people to the restaurant (I suspect they were out-of-towners), and when his group got to the service window, things came to a standstill. After that group had cleared, the pace picked up a bit, but I would estimate my wait (I was on my own) was about 45 minutes.
I’ve learned with experience that, in ordering brisket, it pays to specify “lean” — or you can end up with a lot of fat-laden meat or meat that is dry and burned.
So, I said, “beef sandwich lean…with fries.” Even when the server was slapping the traditional massive handful of beef onto the bread, however, I could see significant chunks of fat. The tab for the sandwich and fries was about $13.50 — a hefty price that Bryant’s management has learned it can get away with because of its reputation.
As usual, I got extra pieces of bread so I could break down the mound of beef and make some manageable half-sandwiches. As I began separating the “wheat from the chaff” in the meat, I found a lot of the latter. The parts that were actually lean had a nice, smokey flavor, and the half sandwiches I carefully constructed were, on the whole, pretty good, although the fat load was, again, unacceptable.
But the biggest, unpleasant surprises I got were with 1) the fries and 2) the sauce.
Bryant’s used to have, in my opinion, the best fries you could find anywhere. They were hand cut and totally potato-y, and when dipped into Bryant’s traditional gritty, sharp-edged sauce, why…there were unapproachable by anyone else.
But the fries are now different. I can’t completely explain it, but they seemed more cookie-cutter and a bit greasy. Then there was the sauce. I checked several tables looking for a bottle of “traditional” or “classic” sauce but found only “sweet,” “rich and spicy” and “heat” varieties. I didn’t try the sweet version, but neither the rich and spicy nor the hot heat tasted anything like the old sauce.
Debates over Gates’ and Bryant’s sauce raged for years, you know, and many people didn’t care for Bryant’s sauce partly because of the slightly gritty texture. Overall, I always preferred Gates’ classic sauce to Bryant’s, but, by God, when I went to Bryant’s, I wanted Arthur’s sauce with Arthur’s fries! Last night, I ate a few with ketchup, for God’s sake, trying to make them more palatable.
So, it was with a mixture of shock, horror and outrage that I realized last night that Bryant’s had changed…for the worse.
I ended up taking home a carry-out container of beef and three pieces of white bread (about all my daughter Brooks will allow in the house), and I tossed into the trash a big pile of fries and a small pile of fatty meat that even a hog might have spat out.
**
I hope the out-of-towners with Sly James enjoyed their dinner, and I hope the woman in line behind me, who was visiting from Nebraska, found that Bryant’s lived up to the glowing reports she had heard. But I’ve got to wonder if they didn’t walk away wondering what all the hoopla was about Arthur Bryant’s.
Considering that the state of barbecue in Kansas City is at an all-time high — with great places like Joe’s Kansas City, Jack Stack, Q39 and Gates, which remains in the top tier — the slippage at Bryant’s is very disappointing. (Thank God for the options!)
…I met Arthur Bryant one time. It was in the 1970s. I was in the main dining room, where, you’ll recall, a pop machine stood against the center wall. Arthur was emptying the machine of change, and some of the change fell on the floor. I was nearby and he said, “Young man, would you pick that change up for me? I can’t get down like I used to.”
“Sure,” I said, squatting to gather up the coins. He smiled and thanked me as I handed them to him.
Today, if that soda machine was still there and I was emptying it and coins fell to the floor, I’d have to recruit some young person to squat down and pick them up.
Arthur Bryant…and Bryant’s…stood for quality. Now his fries and his sauce are gone, and I doubt if they’ll ever return. And I’m afraid the fat is there to stay. And I’m kinda sick about it…
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
This is horrible news. Bryant’s used to have the world’s greatest brisket and fries.
Naturally, I would leave it up to you, Mike, and would want you to experience it yourself. Perhaps some people some think it’s as good as ever. But I think people who’ve been around as long as you and I would definitely recognize a significant decline.
Say it isn’t so!!😓😓😓
Marcie — I remember vividly when Billy Fisher came to town from Louisville and I took him to Bryant’s. He asked what I recommended and I guided him toward the ribs. We sat down, and somebody passed by our table with one of those 7-inch tall sandwiches, and his eyes got wide and he said, “I want one of those!” And he got back in line and got a sandwich.
Slap’s in KCK at 5th and Central kicks all their butts and with places like Woodyard, Rosedale and Roscoe’s in Edwardsville there is no need to wait more than a few minutes anywhere. As for Q39, I visited the one down in on Antioch in Hunkyville when I was there early enough I didn’t have to steal a local license plate to get back to WYCO safely and there was nothing there to brag about, simply more bland, plastic corporate fare with no soul to it.
Face it, the hole in the wall has become the soul of our metro area. I can get two tostadas rice and beans for $4.75. Throw in a Mexican Coke and I’m out the door under $7. I can get a Mexican hamburger, fries, chips, one of the most unique and tasty hot salsas and a Mexican Coke for $6.50 and as I mentioned above, you can get great BBQ with little wait and a reasonable price tag all over town. Better yet, now that WYCO has a Thai restaurant I have virtually no need of ever leaving the county.
I think we’ve found the guy who can fill Anthony Bourdain’s big shoes…
Don’t get me started on THAT loss.
Same could be said of Gates, particularly the outlet at 103rd & State Line. Stopped going months ago.
Gates does vary from store to store, Bruce. I went to the newly built one on U.S. 40 in Independence a few months ago, and it was excellent. Ollie has responded to the competition by offering a smaller-size sandwich at a very reasonable price, instead of just offering, in the way of sandwiches, the very modest beef on bun or the very large brisket sandwich…I have to say when I go in there and ask for “lean,” they give it to me lean. I think overall it’s a much better operation than Bryant’s, and, that’s because Ollie, who’s in his 80s, and his family members — mainly son George and daughter Arzelia — are on the job every day, watching over the kingdom and tending to quality control.
(Thanks to ever-vigilant “Gayle” for the correction — Gates not Bryant’s in the first sentence of this comment.)
I think you mean Gates, don’t you?
We always kid about how you can hear them yelling at you when you get out of your car in the parking lot: “MAY I HELP YOU?!”
Always prefaced with…”Hi!”
Don’t tell Calvin (Bud) Trillin!!
You’re right, Jack(mokan)…Although I would love to get his opinion now. (He’ll be 83 in December.)
…I want to emphasize I don’t hold myself out as a barbecue expert and merely offer this review as a personal observation and matter of preference. But I don’t think it was an aberration, especially pertaining to the fries and sauce; they’ve dropped several rungs — from near the top to mid-range, at best.
Obviously, based on the number of comments, you’ve resorted to clikbait to dive advert rev!!😉
Jack — Yes, I’m counting a pile of $100 bills as we speak…
Have never been a fan, but do hate to see quality go out of any long-established institution.
I had a similar experience at Bryant’s several years ago, though I couldn’t relate it as eloquently as you, Jim. It’s really slipped. Q39 is good but too long a wait and too expensive. Joe’s is reliably good if you can get in, and you can’t beat Woodyard and Slap’s. I want to put a vote in for Rosedale’s, consistent and a good value.
Yet another true connoisseur. At least you have two readers who know food.
The thing about this is (and I’m a bit surprised I’m not getting any kickback or outrage), Bryant’s can go on making tremendous profits and seeing long lines of diners for years to come, based solely on its reputation. It would take many people going back two, three, four times to be convinced…”This stuff isn’t that good.”
LC’s! Last “joint” standing. Nuff said.
I’ve always wondered what the hoopla was about there and at Gates. My standard favorite has always been Zarda’s, although when we come home now it’s typically Joe’s or Jack Stack.
For decades, Kerri, Gates and Bryant’s were the only two barbecue restaurants recognized by residents area-wide.
We need Bill Crooks from Chicken N Pickle and PB&J to buy it and turn it around! He could bring it back!
I didn’t know the story — or person — behind Chicken N Pickle, Bill, but I go by there frequently and am always amazed at the number of people playing the game — and, presumably, ordering food and consuming drinks. It’s a fascinating-looking place from the outside.
A Pitch story from 2016 said Crooks rose through the ranks of the Gilbert/Robinson company and later co-founded the PB&J restaurant chain.
I think Luke Wade (Aramark) and Mark Musselman (KC Crew) are following the Chicken N Pickle model with their plan to transform the first floor of the old KC Star building into a bar where you can play volleyball, ping-pong and other games.
Hmmmmm… “transform the first floor of the old KC Star building into a bar where you can play volleyball, ping-pong and other games.” That sounds vaguely like the WYCO Bureau when you were in charge, Fitz ;-)
When I arrived at the Wyco bureau in 1995, John, I found that Rick Alm and another reporter had the TV on all day, watching soap operas while “working.” I put an end to that, and it was one factor in Alm requesting a transfer to the business desk to cover the incipient casino gambling industry. Alm was a great reporter and columnist, but as he once said, he and I were “like oil and water” insofar as the reporter-editor relationship was concerned.
I guess my palette lacks sophistication but I took my son to Bryant’s a few months back (the one at 18th and Brooklyn, of course) and I loved it like I always have. I’ve never been dissatisfied with Bryant’s. Love the proportions. Love the meat. Love the fries. Love the pickles. And yes, I love that sauce. I’ve never been to Slaps. Tried to take an out-of-town friend there one time during the Christmas holiday but it was closed because it had run out of meat. I’ve tried to get into Q39 but there’s always a line out the door. Hayward’s, on the other hand, is dying a slow and painful death. There was a place in KCK many years ago called Ricky’s BBQ that I really liked. Don’t know if it’s still around.
Love the proportions or the “portions”? Massive… But to me all they’ve got now is quantity, not quality.
Gotta sign on with the good as ever crowd on Bryant’s. Loved it first, loved it last, love it always. I like Q39 too for a yuppie bbq place. But hole in the wall for me remains Bryant’s. The Royals stink, The Star is a shadow of its former self, but Bryant’s remains nirvana for me.
Almost any storied restaurant/BBQ joint could “fill in the blank” with your review. What you experienced is what we call “under-paid help” service. You, the customer, arriving from your luxury golf outing, venturing outside your “Brookside Bubble” expect the worker drones to recognize your “specialness” and bow, cater and scrape to the heightened sensitivity of your privileged palette…I am sure the body language and voice intonation after your long wait sent coded messages to the counter man that begged for a ” contrary” execution of your order. I can just hear your command of “lean” in your Ward Parkway accent set off alarms of WTF!
Worker: Yes! Smile, “give this guy that extra piece of fat you’ve been saving in his order, make sure you dig out the old fries, and send this “slumming outlier” on his way.”
Proper Bryant’s manners should include,having your tray ready without being asked, having your order ready and be ready to repeat, very short eye contact, work clothes, quick thanks (not over done as if to apologize for others), have money ready, grab pickles, get your own butcher paper, then get moving.. KC BBQ is like pulling the handle of a slot machine…sometimes jackpot, sometimes not. Be happy with what you get…you are BBQ spoiled. Imagine if you lived in the Boston BBQ, SF BBQ, LA BBQ, Chicago BBQ deserts? Stop trying to take down the KC King. Here is my advice. Tomorrow, put on your old Unitog work shirt, doff a baseball hat, get up and clean your gutters, then change the oil in your car. Don’t wash up. Get on the metro and take the bus to Brooklyn Ave. (Leave your Audi at home.) Get in line, Be quick. Be ready, pull the handle on the BBQ slot machine. Stay humble, have gratitude.
You’re right, Ned, I should have said to the counter man, “Thank you, sir, for serving me up this pile of shit.”
“luxury golf outing”?…guess Ned has never played Blue River!
Actually, well written rant.
Jack — Ned’s a retired social studies teacher and son of the late Jim Scott, renowned and longtime Star editorial page editor. Ned’s always been a wannabe journalist, and this is where he finds an audience!
He captured me!
During my very short time at the Star downtown, I remember a bottle of Bryant’s sauce exploding in someone’s desk.
Ned, a copyboy at the AP from 1972 thru 1978…and a former, card carrying member of the Newspaper Guild…”wanna-be” is an inappropriate tag.