Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
OKLAHOMA JOE’S BBQ
Fill ‘Er Up
Oklahoma Joe’s gives new meaning to the term “pit st op.”
BY KATHLEEN LEIGHTON
PHOTOGRAPH BY SHANE LUITJENS
GAS STATIONS USUALLY smell like gas, right?
Not at Oklahoma Joe’s Barbecue (913-722-3366; www.oklahomajoesbbq.com), a Kansas City, Kan., restaurant occupying the former convenience store of a Total gas station, where the air smells more like smoked pork than diesel.
“I was entering a lot of barbecue competitions in the mid-’90s, and I needed a place close to home that had a walk-in freezer and space to park my smoker,” says owner Jeff Stehney. Stehney named the joint after the brand of smoker he uses—the titular Joe was also his competition and business partner at the time.
Winning the hearts of his neighbors wasn’t easy—this is Kansas City, after all, home to some of the best barbecue spots in the world. An even bigger hurdle was Oklahoma Joe’s suburban location.
“Barbecue people have a lot of history in Kansas City,” Stehney says. “But it’s a very urban thing here, and we had to prove we weren’t just a bunch of suburban doofuses who wanted to barbecue.”
But the unique location gave Stehney immediate credibility, and the quality kept meat lovers coming back for more (Stehney’s barbecue competition team, Slaughterhouse Five, regularly won awards). The Carolina-style pulled pork sandwich, smoked for 18 hours and capped with a vinegar and tomato-based sauce, is the most popular item, and the full slabs of ribs are also crowd favorites.
