THE REVIEW - Gates Bar-B-Q, Kansas City, Mo.

Gates BBQ – www.gatesbbq.com - in Kansas City is one of the more popular bbq restaurants on the trip so our expectations were high. They have multiple locations throughout KC and we did lunch on Tuesday at the location nearest the Country Club Plaza. The fantastic aroma of smoke pit bbq immediately hit your nostrils upon walking in the door. It was order-at-the-counter style like a few previous places, but Gates was more expensive than others; I guess the popularity allows them to charge more. Although the smell was delightful and the restaurant was fun and active, we were slightly disappointed by the food; perhaps the hype had us expecting a lot more.

Outside Gates BBQ in Kansas City, Mo. - We went to the location nearest Country Club Plaza

Inside Gates BBQ - It was order-at-the-counter style joint

Inside Gates BBQ had a terrific smoke pit aroma

Smoke pits at Gates BBQ

A look at the vareity of food we feasted on at Gates BBQ in Kansas City, Mo.

Sauce – 3 –Gates had four sauces – Original, Mild, Sweet & Mild and Hot – and all were on the spicy side. Although they were all tasty and packed with flavor, there was no option for something regular.

Sides – 3.5 – All sides were freshly made on site. The veggies were crisp, tasty and had a seasoning that added a little kick; the veggies were my favorite part of the meal. The beans were sweet and complimented the spicy meat nicely. Potato salad was rich with a dill flavor. Solid all around.

Gates BBQ sandwiches with sides of potato salad, veggies and beans

Slabs – 3 – Expectations for the ribs were high and although a 3 is good, it’s not what we hoped for such a popular place. Definitely tasty with a nice dry rub and smothered in the mild sauce, but they didn’t blow us away. They were a little dry and tough. They lacked the moist-fall-off-the-bone characteristic that has made other ribs stand out.

Before - Full rack of Gates ribs

During - Me enjoying Gates ribs

After - Polished off the full rack of Gates ribs

Steaks – Did not order steak.

Sandwiches – 2 – We ordered beef and pork sandwiches. The beef was served in slices on a standard packaged white bun and it was a bit dry. It needed heavy sauce which made it a bit spicy. The pork sandwich was similar to the beef in its lack of moistness and it was served on standard white bread. Both very ordinary.

Beef sandwich at Gates in Kansas City, Mo.

Pork sandwich at Gates in Kansas City, Mo.

DAY 5 - Oklahoma City to Kansas City

I’ve never seen my Mom move as fast as she did this morning. She was up and out of Oklahoma City's Quality Inn (very misleading name) with the car packed and the dogs loaded by 7am. She couldn’t wait to get out of what she called “the third worst hotel she’s ever stayed in.” I agree it wasn’t the best joint in town, but it was the right location, price and it allowed dogs.

After a stop at Starbucks, we spent the morning walking around the Oklahoma City Memorial. Not that I have extensive memorial expertise, but it was one of the nicest memorials I’ve seen and it really tugged at the heart strings.

Oklahoma City Memorial - They had memorial chair statues for each of the 168 victims

Mama D. standing in front of the Oklahoma City Memorial

Me taking in the Oklahoma City Memorial

After the Oklahoma City Memorial, we hit the highway to Kansas City with a planned lunch stop at Hog-Wild Pit Bar-B-Q in Wichita (see review below). The drive through Oklahoma and Kansas was filled with endless fields and farms. At one point it looked like we were driving through a sea of wheat fields; nothing but brown brush as far as the eye could see. After five hours of endless farms, barns, cows and prairies, we pulled into Kansas City and were pleasantly surprised by the 44 degree weather.

The two pics above show a couple of the farms we saw on our drive from Okla. City to KC

We pretty much had this view for five hours. It looks boring, but it's actually fascinating to see fields go all the way to the horizon.

Our KC hotel is in a nice part of downtown with tons of high-end shopping. Apparently, the boxer breed doesn’t exist in the Midwest because as we walked Zena and Zuma around town people were coming to the store windows to check us out, cars were stopping, and the hotel staff were googly eyed. It was like we had a bullhorn saying, “look at me, look at me.”

Zuma took over dog walking duties and helped walk Zena

A shot of downtown KC with clear skies and 44 degree weather

Monday night we did dinner at a high-end steak house called Plaza III - www.plazaiiisteakhouse.com/countryclub. Plaza III is "recognized as one of the TOP TEN Steakhouses in America" so it was no surprise it was one of the best steaks I've had in a long time. Add in the delicious asparagus, baked potato and a couple glasses of Malbec and I was on cloud nine. It wasn’t technically BBQ so we didn’t do a full review, but if you make it to KC be sure to plan a night at Plaza III.

Tomorrow we'll spend all day in KC hitting a few BBQ joints. We plan to fit in a few city landmarks between BBQ feasts.