What's the best place to go in Kansas City for barbecue?

You are opening a whole can of worms with this question, as everyone has their favorites, and some get awfully, well, exuberant about their choice. So, I'm just going to give a list of my faves, in no particular order, and a bit of description, and maybe what you should order there.

Gates: One of the older ones, their original sauce is a bit spicier than most. Staff also known for yelling a lot, though it's toned down in recent years (sadly). Love their burnt ends on a bun, as well as their sliced beef sandwich. This is also my fav potato salad. However, everything I've ordered I've liked, really.

JackStack: More upscale, traditional restaurant style. Again, everything's good, but I'd say go for the ribs. As well as the traditional baby back, they do the huge beef ribs too, which is what I like to get. You know the bronto ribs from the opening of the Flintstones? Sort of like that big. On the small scale, the lamb ribs are great too. If I'm not getting the ribs, I get burnt ends here. All the sides are great as well.

Oklahoma Joes: A lot of people like this new place. It's good, but not the top of my list, but last time I had a chopped ham/beef combo thing that was pretty good. And on this list, even "OK" is damn good.

Arthur Bryants: The sauce is thinner and leans more vinegar here. Sadly, fate has managed to deny me a visit here, over and over. I need to correct that.

LC's: This is a little out of the way shack, but damn it's good. Haven't been here in a while, but looking forward to returning.

The American Royal: OK, this isn't a restaurant, it's an event that happens every fall. The big BBQ contest, the World Series of BBQ, and you can buy tickets, wander around - you catch them at the right time, you can get free samples, or hit the booths where some set up to sell their wares.

Now, there are a lot more than this. I mean, a lot more. Every food show, if it exists long enough, has to do one on KC barbecue. Guy Fiera's done several, and even Anthony Bordain eventually did one, though he mocked the cliche'ness of it the whole time. Tony really likes Oklahoma Joes BTW, even though I don't remember it mentioned on that program. When Chef Duff of Charm City Cakes drives cross country, he makes his schedule so that he hits KC at lunch time to get a burnt end sandwich from Gates.

Anyways, I would definitely watch that episode of No Reservations for even more ideas, and if you must, Diners, Dives and Drive-Ins too (though we were definitely disappointed in one of the places he featured). But don't be afraid to try one not mentioned - the market here is so saturated, a bad barbecue restaurant can't survive very long (although that one guy keeps trying with KC Masterpiece for some reason).