During a stay in the downtown area of Kansas City earlier this summer, I ventured up to the Power & Light District to find a place to eat. After eating at an Irish pub across from the Sprint Center and walking back to my hotel, I passed a place that had a sign on a pillar out front which said "Award Winning BBQ by Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Cue". But the sign above the door said "County Road Ice House". I went in to take a quick look around the place it turns out that it was a beer bar that just happened to have barbecue from Joe's Kansas City in the place. After a few moments of lingering looking around the place decided that I'd come back the next night for dinner.
Joe's Kansas City Barbecue - which was formerly known as Oklahoma Joe's BBQ - is a Kansas City institution in a city that has a number of world class barbecue joints. I first went to Oklahoma Joe's in Kansas City, KS over 9 years ago (click here to see that Road Tips entry, as well as this entry for their Olathe, KS location) and at the time I thought it may have been the best barbecue I've ever had. I don't know if I can call it the best I've had now, but it would definitely make my Top 5 along with Q39 in Kansas City, Central BBQ in Memphis, and Bogart's and Pappy's, both in St. Louis. The original Oklahoma Joe's was named after the brand of smokers designed and owned by Roger Davidson, a resident of Stillwater, OK. Davidson was a regular on the barbecue contest circuit along with his brother Joe Don Davidson, and the brothers struck up a friendship with Jeff Stehney whose Slaughterhouse Five competition team won many awards for their smoked meats at contests around the Midwest and beyond.
Stehney and the Davidson's opened the first Oklahoma Joe's BBQ in Stillwater in January of 1996. Stehney, who lived in the Kansas City area, wanted to open second location in Kansas City. Stehney found an old gas station at 47th and Mission on the Kansas side of the state line and converted it into a barbecue joint. The K.C. location for Oklahoma Joe's opened in August of 1996 with Stehney and his wife, Joy, as managing partners.
Roger Davidson sold his interest in Oklahoma Joe's smokers the following year and moved to Texas and his brother soon followed. With no one overseeing the management of the Oklahoma Joe's in Stillwater, it closed up in 1998. However, the Stehney's forged ahead with their barbecue joint in Kansas City. They bought out the Davidson's interest in the Kansas City Oklahoma Joe's and it quickly became one of the top places for barbecue in the area.
The name Oklahoma Joe was confusing to a number of people who would travel to Kansas City to try barbecue. The Stehney's had been thinking about changing the name for a number of years before slowly incorporating the Joe's Kansas City Barbecue name into the business. They came out with a barbecue sauce in 2011 replacing Oklahoma Joe's with Joe's Kansas City in the brand name, and the next year they introduced a French fry/fried potato seasoning with the Joe's Kansas City Barbecue name. In the summer of 2014, the Stehney's officially changed the name to the present day moniker, but most of the locals refer to it as just "Joe's" or "Joe's KC".
The Power & Light District in downtown Kansas City has had its ups and downs over the years since the initial residential and entertainment concept was hatched just after the turn of the millennium. After the Sprint Center was opened in 2007, the first restaurants and bars began to open the following year. But the recession of 2008 slowed the building and development of apartments and condos in the downtown area adjacent to the Power & Light District. Restaurants and bars came and went, many of them forced into bankruptcy protection due to high rents and spotty business. Because the housing downtown wasn't coming up as quickly as planned, about the only time most of the bars were doing well was when there was an event at the Sprint Center. And those events were sometimes few and far between.
One of the national chains that came into the Power & Light District was Gordon Biersch, the California-based brew pub that had over 30 locations in high traffic areas in larger cities around the U.S. The Gordon Biersch in the Power & Light District was one of the original tenants of the Kansas City Live block area, opening in March of 2008. But in a cost saving move by their parent company, a number of Gordon Biersch locations started to close in 2017 and continued into early this year. The Kansas City Gordon Biersch closed in August of 2017. However, a back-up plan was already in place for a new restaurant to come into the spot they were giving up.
Zach Marten and Bret Springs were friends who were living in Dallas in the late-00's. They loved to go to a little pizza place called Coal Vines and they both talked about eventually getting back to Kansas City at some point. Marten grew up near Kansas City and went to school at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, while Springs grew up in the KC suburb of Leawood. The two became friendly with the owner of Coal Vines and talked him into letting them open a location in the Plaza area of Kansas City. Marten and Springs moved back to Kansas City in 2009 and opened their version of Coal Vines in 2010.
From there, the two came up with the Westport Ale House sports bar concept, as well as The Rockhill Grille, an upscale American bistro located on the south end of downtown Kansas City, MO. The two eventually closed Coal Vines and rebranded the restaurant as Parkway Social Kitchen. In 2016, Marten and Springs formed Back Napkin Restaurant Group to oversee their growing concept brands.
Stehney, Marten and Springs - along with Stehney's wife and Ryan Barrows, who was Joe's KC Barbecue's director of operations for their three locations - all collaborated in coming up with the concept for the barbecue/beer joint, similar to the old ice houses that were central meeting points for people in Texas long before there was widespread electricity or freezers. Less than a week after Gordon Biersch closed their doors, the group announced that a place called County Line Ice House would open in its place.
It took six months of reconstruction - over $1.3 million worth of renovations - before the new concept was ready to go. Brew tanks were removed and outside patio dining was constructed. Smokers had to be craned and lowered into the building. But by the time the place was ready to open in early March of last year, the group had already changed the name to County Road Ice House.
It was about a five minute walk from my hotel to County Road Ice House at the corner of 14th and Walnut on the southeast side of the Power & Light District. (see map) It was around 6 p.m. that evening and the place had a few people inside. It was a big open space with the bar area in the middle. A number of flat screen televisions hung around the bar area and along the walls in the dining area. An open kitchen was located just behind the bar.
I decided to sit at the bar and I pulled up a chair. I was greeted by a young lady who was one of the bartenders. She gave me a food menu and a beer list to look over. They didn't have a lot of beers to choose from - at least compared to other places in the area - and they were pretty proud of the prices of the beers they had. Bud Light drafts were $5.00 and Deschute Fresh Squeezed IPA was $6.00. Also on the menu were cans of Kona Big Wave Golden Ale - but they were $6.00 each, also. I swallowed hard and ordered a can of the Big Wave.
The food menu at County Road Ice House is similar to what you'll find at a Joe's KC - but, then again, it's not. While they did have regular Joe's items such as ribs, pulled pork, beef brisket and smoked chicken, they also had appetizers such as smoked chicken wings and smoked brisket nachos. Burgers were also on the menu along with tacos that featured barbecue pork or beef. Salads such as a smoked chicken Caesar and a Southwest pork carnitas salad were available, as well.
Burnt ends are available when they have them and I asked the bartender/server if they had burnt ends that evening. She said she did, so I ended up getting the two meat combo of brisket and burnt ends. Basically the same thing, I know, but I really like the brisket and burnt ends that I've had in my earlier visits to other Joe's locations around Kansas City. But it is a $2.50 upcharge for the burnt ends in the combo.
And these didn't disappoint, either. The burnt ends were large chunks of point cut brisket that were tender and delicious. The slices of flat brisket were equally tender and flavorful. The brisket and burnt ends were served with toasted bread and they had both Joe's regular sweet sauce and one of my all-time favorite Kansas City area barbecue sauces - Night of the Living Cow, a sweet and spicy sauce that just pops in your mouth.
Speaking of popping in your mouth, for my side I got the spicy cole slaw. I took that option over Joe's classic barbecue beans and Joe's spicy mac & cheese - both of which are very good. I've grown found of Joe's spicy cole slaw over the years and this was as good as what I've had at the other Joe's locations.
Now, I have to say that the bartender who was waiting on me was completely inattentive nearly the whole time I was there. It did take awhile for her to acknowledge I was seated at the bar. And she didn't get the universal cue that when a person seated at the bar needs another beer or drink that they place the empty in the crease closest to the bartender. I had to literally hail her on three different occasions to either order food or order beer. It was pretty bad service if you ask me.
I'm mixed on my visit to County Road Ice House. It was nice that they had Joe's Kansas City Barbecue available in the place, but their beer selection was pretty slim. And everything was pretty expensive. My bill with a nominal tip for the bartender who didn't want to wait on me while I was there came to over $40 bucks. Three Kona Big Wave Golden Ales at $6 each ended up more than my food tally. I suppose someone has to pay for the expensive renovation and the high rents found in the Power & Light District. But I was happy with the brisket and burnt ends that I had and it's tough to beat the spicy cole slaw that Joe's KC has. My wallet took a beating for what I got at County Road Ice House. It was a nice place with good food, but be prepared to pay premium prices when you're there.
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