I haven't seen Danny Edwards on here yet. Very unassuming place on southwest boulevard in KCMO. I think they have the best brisket in town by a long shot. They always slice it nice and thick. They also have great ribs and on saturdays they do a santa fe corn bake this is really tasty.
For Arthur Bryants, I always get the sliced pork sandwich or ribs there. Not always the most consistent but I've never had bad Q from there. Also, definitely need to try their beans. They do a smoked italian sausage log that is very tasty
L.C.s, sliced pork sandwich, burnt ends, beans and fresh handcut fries. My personal #1 of KC barbecue
Q39, been there 4-5 times and don't get all the hype. Decent enough barbecue but the atmosphere feels wrong to me. I fought through those same feelings with jack stack and eventually came around on it, but I'm not there with Q39, it just doesn't excite me and is not worth the effort for ok, expensive barbecue. They are definitely the hot new kid on the block though, so totally worth a trip, just not my style
Joe's KC, the most consistent of all barbecue places. Tastes the same every time and is consistently delicious. Try the ribs, burnt ends, Z-man sandwich and their seasoned fries. Even with multiple locations, they turn out a consistent and identical product at all of their locations
Woodyard Barbecue, really solid ribs. A really cool place to stop at and also pick up some great smoking wood.
Gates, I like it, people either like it or hate it. It can be inconsistent from location to location. I usually try to go to the location off Cleaver and the paseo. They chop their burnt ends and they can be a gut bomb. I like their sliced pork and brisket on sandwiches and their big steak fries with their very unique sauce
There are a ton of other options too and new places springing up all the time. It's hard to go wrong with any local barbecue joint here, but these are some of the ones that I frequent