So rumour has it Arthur Bryant's is the original place where burnt ends became a thing.
It's not even my birthday, and you're taking me for burnt ends for breakfast. Why can't
I have a name as good as that?
We're going to have half a pound of burnt ends and an order of fries.
That's it?
Yeah. Apparently people order more...
The breakfast of presidents. Oh man. Oh man!
Well that was a lot better than just googling the most instagram-able locations in Kansas City...
So we're just up here now, trying to take in all of what Kansas City has to offer, and
it's a lot.
Well look at that! That's just like a power transformer, and it's more colorful than Ben's
t-shirt, which is, you know, surprising.
This is a cow. This bit here is where brisket comes from. The brisket is a tough bit of
meat, so it requires long, slow cooking to break it down and become uber tender. Brisket
will usually have a rub applied to it before cooking. It is then smoked on a barbecue over
wood for around 16 hours. Burnt ends come from the point of the brisket, which is this
bit. You can see it actually goes down into a point. They literally are the burnt ends
of the meat and used to get thrown away because they were so tough but now, they're cooked
for longer so they're not tough and are actually incredibly tasty and tender cubes of flavor.
Unfortunately, this isn't my tattoo... yet.
We were ready to get out and find those game changing burnt ends, but first, we thought
it was best to get some recommendations from locals and you guys and one place kept on
coming up.
I personally like Joe's a lot.
K.C. Joe's.
Joe's...
Oklahoma Joe's.
Joe's.
Oklahoma Joe's... I think it's called Joe's K.C. now. That's the best place to go when
you're in Kansas City.
So we put Joe's into the GPS and ended up here... A gas station... with a barbecue restaurant
in it.
This is still a fully operational gas station as well as a barbecue joint. Uh, but the barbecue
joint keeps taking over and getting further and further into the gas station bit.
Anthony Bourdain had Joe's down as one of his 13 Places to Eat Before You Die, so we
felt we were onto a winner here.
What self-respecting barbecue joint would put a vegetarian sandwich on a menu? We would,
that's who. It's a smoked mushroom burger.
You get that then, mate.
Now we had a little VIP tour around the back of this place.
Doug very kindly showed us the kitchen, smokers, and explained what he thought was the key
to K.C. Joe's success.
It's science, not art. I mean, there was art in creating the seasonings, there was art
in creating the technique, but once that technique and those seasonings have been dialed in,
it's gotta be done the same way everyday, day in and day out.
Consistency is everything and we really just try to adhere to our own standards.
This is like a symphony. Everybody's got to work together to produce the same music, the
same way, day in and day out.
Ebbers was loving it.
Okay, once you've got it perfected, it works. I'm happy with logic, system...
Is that how you ended up with this t-shirt?
What's wrong with this t-shirt!?
And they did offer for us to skip the cue, but as Brits, there's nothing we more love
than queuing.
I love a queue.
So you're almost here to the promise land.
We're withering. We're nearly there.
So what are you going to get?
We have got a Z-Man, the Carolina Sandwich, Burnt Ends, and a full side of ribs.
And Ben's t-shirt was continuing to attract attention.
It's very colourful. Me, myself, I wouldn't be leafy enough to wear it, but-
So he was taking extra precaution.
I don't want to drip any barbecue sauce down it...
No, that would be terrible.
It's so tender and juicy. It's incredible.
The thing with these burnt ends is you get that instant kind of sweetness of beef fat
and then as you bite through, and you get to the bark, which is obviously smoky. It's been
smoked for 16 - 17 hours, but not like acrid smoke, it's kind of sweet smoke with
the herbs and the spices and the sugar rub. And the whole thing just melts away. And I'll
tell you what, with Joe's barbecue sauce, which gives it a real tomato-y tang. It's to die for.
You've got a little... leave it there.
The saying goes, "quit while you're ahead." And because we're such nice guys, we bought
Ben an outfit that was a little less in your face. No we didn't.
(Laughing)
That is great.
What do you think?
I mean, I like this. This... I am not so sure about.
And now, he was appropriately dressed for this:
Over 200 hundred registered fountains in Kansas City... Only city in the world that's got
more I think is Rome. Look. Here's a list of them... Welcome to fountain hunters.
An actual fountain!
Here's a fountain!
Not a fountain.
One more fountain!
A fountain!
Excuse me Sir, do you have a fountain?
They didn't even see me coming!
Was there one there? There was one in reception!
It's a double fountain! See!
This is a fountain.
It's a fountain.
Multiple fountains.
More fountains.
Fountain.
Dry-fountain.
Another fountain.
Turns out fountain hunting is exhausting.
In 35 degree heat.
Give your special lady friend or companion an evening to remember, and show them how
much you love them with a romantic ride on a venetian-style gondola. Enjoy snuggling
up to each other as you gaze over the water and see Kansas City from a whole new perspective.
Kansas City is a city, but more than that it feels like a kind of community. Everything's
very local. Everything's very crafted.
The moment you speak to anyone they want to know where you're from, what you're doing
here, and they're always got a hundred and one things to recommend. We've just felt so
welcomed. Obviously the food is pretty central to everything we've been doing, barbecues
amazing, but there's so much else we've come to find today. But combine that with the people
and the fountains, and it is an incredible, incredible city.
More barbecue?
Always more barbecue.
There's always time for more barbecue.