KC's River Market: more than BBQ
A 15-minute drive through downtown on the banks of the Missouri to what was an industrial area of warehouses is River Market. On weekends dozens of local farms truck in their produce and fill stalls under two covered "piers" that jut into the parking area, but for the remainder of the week the permanent vendors that line the huge U-shaped structure will surprise the visitor who believes the mid-west is all beef and corn.
There are plenty of produce vendors mid-week, but there are also small restaurants serving Vietnamese, French and even Ethiopian fare, homemade Polish pierogies, an Italian market plus Mediterranean and Middle Eastern grocery stores with dozen upon dozen of dried fruits, nuts, herbs, spice and spice blends available by weight. A block beyond is a huge Asian supermarket, The Chinatown Market, with everything from lemon grass to Buddhist and Confucian spirit shrines.
Retail gift shops line a separate strip completing the Market square and include the unique Arabia Steamboat Museum. Sunk in the 1850s just off Kansas City, the Arabia's eclectic cargo was preserved for over a century under feet of Missouri River mud – including intact bottles of champagne. Excavations uncovered a veritable time capsule of mid-19th century Missouri life now on display in the attractive museum complete with one of its giant waterwheels and an automaton Captain William Terrill who, for a quarter, will tell you about the disaster.
Blues and BBQ
If both Blues and barbecue had fostered the Civil War I fear it would still be raging. Native son and famed food writer Calvin Trillin unequivocally pronounces Kansas City, Missouri, as home to the world's best barbecue, whether it be pulled pork, ribs, chicken, brisket or even fish. Slow cooked for hours over a variety of aromatic woods and traditionally basted with a tomato/molasses based sauce, Kansas City natives will have no other. Now which restaurant has the best BBQ? Well let's just say that's the kind of talk which leads to family feuds and broken marriages. The Blues goes hand in hand, usually in the same venue and debated with the same passion. As an outsider, I'm happy to be neutral and simply enjoy what I experience; it's all good.
I'm fortunate to have a cousin in Kansas City, Pierre, who happens to be a jazz musician and gave me a tour of three terrific spots with three different jazz styles. Accompanied by the Mark Lowrey Trio, the voice of Shay Estes made me want to close my eyes and let my mind just dream. She's smooth like aged bourbon, but Shay's too attractive to allow my eyes to close. She performs regularly at Jardines, a popular upscale club in the Country Club Plaza district. Jardines, like many city clubs, is a full service restaurant, crowded with small tables, but you're here for the music and the blues are made for intimacy.
BB's Lawnside Blues and BBQ, on the edge of the city, in a rambling wooden structure, looks from the outside to be one of those places frequented only by bikers and pickup trucks except there's more than one BMW parked on its gravel lot. Inside, the long tables are packed with a variety of age groups, and an assorted collection of lighting fixtures and strings of picnic-type lights illuminates the space. The music is loud and the aroma of barbecue pervades the atmosphere. The Fast Johnny Richer Trio – two members are father and son – perform jazz rock, loud and energetic, to an appreciative crowd. I can appreciate them as well, consummate professionals, but I was more involved with the barbecue smoked catfish.
Large fillets of aromatic moist catfish filled my plate with BB's own coleslaw and quartered fried potatoes. Owner Lindsey Shannon came over to our table. He said the secret was the 50-year-old long granite barbecue pit and the hickory wood. He uses the same pit to smoke everything be it pork, brisket, chicken or fish. Placed on racks, the food rests 6 feet from the coals. Brisket takes 12 to 16 hours, ribs 8 hours and the catfish 3 hours. Naturally he wouldn't give away secrets concerning the sauce for the meat, but he did tell me the catfish was simply seasoned with lemon pepper.
18th and Vine Historic Jazz District
18th and Vine is as famous to Kansas City blues aficionados as Bourbon Street is to New Orleans. The 18th and Vine Historic Jazz District is home to the city's African-American blues roots both metaphorically and with institutions such as the American Jazz Museum, The Negro League Baseball Museum and the Mutual Musicians Foundation and Jazz Club. Right at the intersection of 18th and Vine is The Blue Room, home to some of the city's most revered blues music. The elegant, softly lit, modern art deco interior is a discrete museum with photos of the great names in Kansas City blues and glass tables whose tops reveal displays of jazz memorabilia. Playing that evening were The Wild Men of Kansas City, a group consisting of some of the city's greats: Everette Devan playing an obviously beloved Hammond B-3 so worn it must have felt as comfortable as old slippers and Horace Washington "singing" with his clarinet.
My cousin wanted to top the evening at the Foundation Jazz Club, but regrettably, as it was already 1 a.m. and with a flight back to Philadelphia the next morning, I bowed out. Yet like that old comfortable pair of slippers, experiences like these can be relived on return visits, and isn't that how you should feel at the end of a wonderful and stimulating journey.
Marc d'Entremont - Years of experience as a chef, historian and teacher guides my travel and food writing. I explore all things that shape a culture.
Join the Conversation