Burnt Ends #7

An Entirely Fictitious History of Barbecue in Leawood page 2 Triple Play page 10 The Art & Science of Mulberry & Mott page 12

AN ALMOST ENTIRELY FICTITIOUS

HISTORY OF BARBECUE IN LEAWOOD, KANSAS The story of how Kansas City

P became The Barbecue Capital of the World is well-known to all residents of the Greater Metropolitan Kansas City Area. Before they ’ re allowed to enter kindergarten, five year-olds living in the seven-county Kansas City region are required to recite the biographies of Henry Perry, Arthur Bryant, and George Gates from memory, while basting a slab of ribs with one hand and stirring a pot of homemade barbecue sauce with the 4other. Newcomers to the area must pass their BKPE — 2

Barbecue Knowledge and Proficiency Examination — within twelve months of establishing residency, before they receive their permanent residency certificate.

This exam must be re-taken every six years, and the BKPE Card, indicating passage of the exam, must be kept on one ’ s person at all times.

However, the history of barbecue in Leawood, Kansas, is less well-known; a situation that will be remedied in the next few pages.

4 3

James Naismith was

In 1903, archeologists digging in the vicinity of 117th and Roe Avenue uncovered evidence of a sacred fire pit built by early Native Americans.

The unearthed artifacts show that these indigenous people built elaborate wooden structures to cook deer, bison, and even alligator, from nearby Tomahawk Creek, which was then known as Tu-Maneegeese Creek.

truly a renaissance man. A physician, minister, inventor of the game of basketball, and the first coach of the University of Kansas men’s basketball team, Naismith was also a Canadian, which meant that he knew nothing at all about barbecue until moving to Kansas in 1898. Naismith was introduced to the joys of barbecue by Billy Wetnap, the equipment manager of KU’s first basketball team. Wetnap, who grew up in eastern Johnson County, Kansas, near what is now Town Center Plaza, learned how to make barbecue from his father, “Smoky” Wetnap, who himself learned from William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody. After retiring, Naismith became a highly skilled barbecue cook, and once made barbecue for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in Kansas on a campaign stop. In this photo, Naismith uses a basketball to demonstrate the proper size of a pork butt.

In 1922, Oscar G. Lee, a retired police officer

According to historical documents, On Sunday, May 11, 1856, the Kansas-based abolitionist John Brown took a well-deserved break from marauding and pillaging to travel, with his fellow militiamen, from his home in Osawatomie to enjoy some barbecue at a roadside inn located in the area now known as Leawood. This well-known painting, now on display in the Kansas State Capitol, shows Captain Brown’s reaction when he discovered the inn was closed on Sundays.

4 4

from Oklahoma, bought land between what are now 79th and 103rd Streets and State Line and Belinder Roads (This is true.). Even though it is now spelled with a ‘L-E-A’, the city of Leawood is named after Oscar Lee (also true). Lee is pictured here with his three brothers, Hubert, Edwin, and Joseph. (In the photo, Oscar is one of those seated, though it is not known which one.) Joe followed his brother Oscar to Kansas after spending seven years working for a German butcher in Westphalia, Texas. For a brief time Joseph operated a sausage-only barbecue joint named ‘Texas Joe’s’ near what is now the Ranchview Shopping Center.

5 4

In 1936, members of a little-known religious sect called the Vinegarenes were expelled from their colony in North Carolina, having endured decades of discrimination due to their practice of mixing tomato sauce with the vinegar used to mop hogs as they were being cooked, thus inducing a mystical, trance-like, state. The Vinegarenes emigrated west to Kansas, settling on land that would eventually become the Hallbrook Country Club golf course. In this photo, two members of the Vinegarene sect cook pigs over an open barbecue pit. Not visible in this photo are several Vinegarenes hovering in ecstasy high above the pit. This pit is now a sand trap near the 13th green.

In the late 40s and early 50s, this highly unpopular barbecue joint was located at the corner of 129th Street and Nall Avenue. Its menu of smoked coyote and Canada Geese never caught on.

In 1957, Wilt Chamberlain, then a junior on the University of Kansas men’s basketball team, made headlines by eating 100 barbecue ribs in a single sitting after an exhibition game with the Leawood Longlegs, a semi-professional basketball team comprised entirely of Blue Valley-area farmers over six-foot-seven-inches tall.

During his short stint

In 1949, four Leawood firemen

6 4

were dismissed from their jobs for selling barbecue out of the back of their fire station. Leawood residents rioted in protest over the firings, taking to the streets with pitchforks, torches, and crudely hand-lettered signs saying ‘’Free the Leawood Four’.

with the Kansas Chiefs, Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana and his family resided in Leawood. Here he wipes his hands after downing a brisket sandwich on the sidelines of the December 31, 1994, playoff game against the Miami Dolphins, which the Chiefs lost 27-17.

7 4

In 1996, Jeff and Joy Stehney, together with their business partner ‘Oklahoma Joe’ Davidson, opened a barbecue joint in a gas station at the corner of 47th Avenue & Mission Road, in Kansas City, Kansas, an event largely unnoticed by Leawoodians.

In 1997, Joe Davidson left the company, but the Stehneys’ star was rising. Soon the little joint in the gas station began making all the ‘Best in Kansas City’ short lists. Lines began to form.

In 2005, Oklahoma Joe’s opened a second restaurant. This one in Olathe, Kansas. Leawood residents noticed and — having endured long years in the barbecue wilderness — they began to include the addition of a third location, in Leawood, to their bedtime prayers.

July 5, 2012.

Prayers answered.

The 1990s were dark days for Leawood residents. It was a time of no barbecue.

Some guy named Tony Roma opened a restaurant at 119th and Roe, claiming to be ‘Legendary for Ribs’. He was laughed out of town. But hope was on the horizon.

An upstart competition barbecue team by the name of Slaughterhouse Five, led by the husband and wife team of Jeff and Joy Stehney, was winning big and making plans. (That’s Joy, in the Royal robe and crown, and Jeff, next to her with the beer.)

8 4

9 4

3

Triton Trilogy Triathlon Tricycle Triad

triple Cr

SOUTH STRANG LINE ROAD, OLATHE 117th & ROE, LEAWOOD

47TH & MISSION, KCK

YOU’RE OUT!

TURKEY

he fifth Fibouacci number and the third that is uniqu

F GO I

3

Blind Mice Little Pigs Musketeers Dog Night ELD L !

A Bears French Hens amigos stooges 7 7 7 kings n wishes Trinity ow

HAT TRICK

D

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble.

3-Ring Circus

Pr e c i s e Spontaneity Baki ng is a co ntradictio n.

It is the most artistic of the culinary arts, and the most scientific. Artistic in its conception and presentation, in its pairing of flavors and textures, baked goods in general, and French pastries in particular, are designed and created to evoke surprise, delight, even ecstasy. And yet, there is no room for improvisation or creativity in the execution of it. Baking is all about precision chemistry. The mixing and temperature and timing of it all must be exact. If not, the results are, well, less than optimal. It’s both a left brain and a right brain thing.

The same might be said of Natasha Goellner, proprietor and chief pastry chef at Natasha’s Mulberry & Mott pâtisserie, in Leawood’s Mission Farms shopping center. She’s a contradiction. Tasha (as she prefers to be called) is a former art student who says she gets her inspirations for her colorful and whimsical pastry creations from cartoons.

Yet, before she was an artist and before she was a pastry chef, she was a fencer. As in fencing, the sport that has been compared to “chess, only with swords.” A sport as intellectually challenging as it is physically demanding.

Tasha’s weapon was the sabre. These days it’s a spatula.

After quickly deciding art school was not for her, Tasha, 30, an Overland Park native, enrolled in the French Culinary Institute in New York. “It wasn’t really that surprising that she switched from art to food,” says Tasha’s mom, Vicki Goellner. “I know that she got her love of food and eating from me.

And when she and her brother, Nick, were in high school they travelled to both national and international fencing tournaments. They were exposed to culinary traditions from all around the world. It seems only natural that they both ended up in culinary professions.” Nick Goellner, 28, is a sous chef at the Rieger Hotel Grill & Exchange, in Kansas City.

After graduating in 2004, Tasha returned to Kansas City and began baking, first in a production bakery, then, for three years, with her own retail shop at 39th & Genesee, and eventually at Leawood’s Mission Farms, where she and Vicki have peddled French pastries since 2008. Natasha’s Mulberry & Mott also has a store on the Country Club Plaza.

“I love my job,” Tasha says. “It’s deeply satisfying.

I have a short attention span, and what I do allows me the creative freedom to try new things, get a little crazy, go off in different directions. It’s true that baking requires precision.

But my life is far from precise. I get lots of my ideas from the circus.

And a circus is controlled chaos.”

13 4

Someone's in the Kitchen

Meet David Nicholson AGE: 36 POSITION: Kitchen Manager, Oklahoma Joe’s, Leawood TENURE: Two years David Nicholson, the main kitchen dude in our new Leawood joint was born in St. Louis, but moved to Texas when he was still just a pup. This is where he got his first taste of real barbecue, and clearly it influenced the course of his life, because right after he graduated from high school he came here to Kansas City, where he has been moving in the direction of barbecue ever since.

“I went to college,” David says, “However, I knew that I wanted to be in the restaurant business right away. My first job was as a dish washer when I was sixteen and for the last 20 years I have held almost every position in a restaurant that there is, mainly in fine dining. Prior to joining the Oklahoma Joe’s team, I was the sous chef at Trezo Vino Wine Bistro. I really love the kitchen the most. I have a strong love and passion for food. It takes dedication and discipline to run a kitchen and I enjoy the challenge.”

David also enjoys being part of the team that’s opening a new restaurant.

“What I like most about Oklahoma Joe’s is that our standards are so high and the quality of food that we produce is the very best. It’s fun to bring that to a new neighborhood.”

Kansas City’s barbecue tradition has a lot of meaning for David. “Oklahoma Joe's is such a rewarding place to work. People around the nation come to Kansas City just to try our barbecue. I like knowing that I’m a part of the great heritage of barbecue in Kansas City.”

BBQ & A Mark Grieco’s competition barbecue team, Four Men & A Pig is one of the most consistently successful teams on the contest circuit. But don’t be fooled by the team’s name. There are only two men; Grieco himself, and his 17 year old son, Paul. Yet Grieco, 47, a Technical Trainer for Black Hills Energy, has managed to rack up more championships than most teams with more personnel. Perhaps it’s proof of the old adage “Too many cooks spoil the barbecue.”

Burnt Ends: So, Mark how’d you get into competition barbecue?

MARK GRIECO: I was invited to a barbecue contest as a guest and got to see firsthand the camaraderie and friendship among the teams. That and the contest atmosphere as a whole was an amazing sight and I thought it would be great to be a part of. So, I started cooking in my back yard and testing things out on my friends and family. I was complimented on how good they thought the food was so I decided to give the competition scene a try. My first contest was May 2002, in Lawrence, KS where I took 7th place in pork and after that I was hooked.

BE: What’s been the highlight of your competition career so far?

MG: Probably winning Grand Champion at the American Royal Invitational the first year we cooked at that contest, in 2003. We also won Grand Champion at the American Royal Open in 2008.

BE: What’s the craziest thing that’s happened to you at a barbecue contest?

MG: The weather can definitely get crazy at contests. We were witness to the weather gamut in Osage City, Kansas, in 2005. There was rain, hail, thunder, lightning and high winds on Friday. Saturday morning everyone woke up to 4 inches of snow but by that afternoon everything had melted and it warmed up to about 60 degrees.

BE: What’s the secret to your success?

Interested in working at Oklahoma Joe’s? Drop us a line at jobs@oklahomajoesbbq.com and tell us a bit about yourself. We’ll get back to you.

14 4

MG: Having good, supportive members on my team through the years and lots and lots of practice. You also need a strong conviction for barbecue and to want to do better every time you cook.

15 4

— OKLAHOMA JOE'S BBQ 3 LOCATIONS — Original “Gas Station” Location 3002 West 47th Ave. Kansas City, Kansas 66103 913-722-3366

Olathe 11950 S.Strang Line Road Olathe, Kansas 66062 913-782-6858

Leawood 11723 Roe Avenue Leawood, Kansas 66211 (913) 338-5151

WWW.OKLAHOMAJOESBBQ.COM Be our Facebook friend and fan Follow us on Twitter @OklahomaJoesBBQ

Jeff and Joy Stehney, Owners & Proprietors Steve Querrey and Ryan Barrows Directors of Operations

BURNT ENDS was written and edited by Doug Worgul, Oklahoma Joe’s Writer-in-Residence, www.dougworgul.com, and designed by Craig Bissell, who happens to be the last human being on the face of the earth without a website.