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Arthur Bryant's Barbeque at 18th and Brooklyn in Kansas City

Interior of the location at 18th and Brooklyn

Arthur Bryant's is a restaurant located in Kansas City, Missouri. It is considered by many to be the most famous barbecue restaurant in the United States.

The restaurant can trace its descent from Henry Perry, founder of Kansas City barbecue who in 1908 began serving smoked meats to workers in the Garment District in Downtown Kansas City from an alley stand. Perry moved to the 18th Street and Vine neighborhood where he sold barbecue for 25 cents a slab from a trolley barn at 19th and Highland.

Charlie Bryant worked for Perry and was soon joined by his brother Arthur Bryant (restaurateur). In 1940 when Perry died, Charlie took over the restaurant. Arthur in turn was to take it over. Arthur added molasses to the barbecue sauce to sweeten Perry's original recipe. Bryant was quoted, "I make it so you can put it on bread and eat it."

The restaurant was located for many years at 18th and Euclid Streets in the inner city neighborhood of 18th and Vine. Bryant moved the business to its present location, 1727 Brooklyn, in 1958. In the 1950s and 1960s it was visited by fans and players visiting Municipal Stadium (Kansas City). The restaurant has never strayed far from its unpretentious decor with formica tables, fluorescent lighting, and jugs of sauce were placed in the windows. While Arthur Bryant's is known for the full range of barbecue dishes, its acknowledged specialty is burnt ends, the flavorful end pieces of smoked beef brisket.

A bottle of original Arthur Bryant's barbeque sauce.

The restaurant gained fame over the next several decades, and notable diners included President Harry Truman. However, it became the subject of international attention when, in 1974, writer Calvin Trillin wrote in Playboy that Arthur Bryant's in Kansas City was "...possibly the best single restaurant in the world." Since then, it has been frequented by a number of famous visitors, including Steven Spielberg, Bryant Gumbel, Jimmy Carter, Jack Nicholson, and James Spader, as well as a number of barbecue aficionados.

Arthur Bryant died in 1982 at the restaurant, and the restaurant is now owned by Gary Berbiglia and Bill Rauschelbach, who expanded the restaurant to the Kansas Speedway and Ameristar Casino. Its sauce (which is characterized by tastes of vinegar and paprika rather than sweetness) is sold on the Internet and by mail, and at various locations including Kansas City International Airport.

• Official Site
• Kansas City Public Library biography
• The Kansas City Barbecue Society
• Frommer's guidebook review
• Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 39.091383° -94.556129°
  • Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
  • Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
  • Topographic map from TopoZone
  • Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA