Smokin' Joes on Santa Fe for the pulled pork and cole slaw. The rest of the meats are average at best.
BB's Lawnside BBQ for the BBQ sundae in a mason jar and the KILLER bread pudding, and cold tall boy PBR's and blues. The rest of their meats are average at best.
The rest of the places are Ok, but stay away from gates (rude order takers!), AB (horrible everything), zardas (grocery store bland Q), joes KC (best things there is the fries...zman horribly over rated!). Jack stack is OK but not worth a special trip.
Best local Q used to be Amazing Grace's inside the door at the Grand Emporium...and she cooked everything at home in her kitchen and then brought it to the venue to sell before each show!
Now it's just run of the mill Q in KC unfortunately. And I live here. Best Q available is poolside at my house on weekends. But I am biased, as are my friends! Late night water volleyball, ice cold beer, my wife's cole slaw, and Q off my LSG insulated vertical will do that!
Jason