This part of Johnson County doesn’t have a barbecue restaurant. Now one is on the way
%20(6).jpg "Burnt End BBQ is opening a location in De Soto.")
There’s a wealth of barbecue restaurants in the Kansas City area.
But Stephen “Smokey” Schwartz is opening his newest suburban spot in what’s arguably a barbecue desert.
At the end of May or beginning of June, Burnt End BBQ’s third location will open at 34071 Commerce Drive in De Soto, right off Kansas 10 and Lexington Avenue.
And sure, Schwartz said, there are a few pubs and restaurants nearby that offer some barbecue options, but nothing to this scale.
“It’s rural, to a degree,” he said. “There’s a lot of families and neighborhoods. … I know people will come to hang out.”
Its parent company, PB&J Restaurants, also has its eyes on De Soto because of the expected growth, said Schwartz, executive pitmaster for Burnt End. The $4 billion Panasonic battery plant, set to open in 2025, expects to bring 4,000 new jobs to the town of 6,200.
“We thought, ‘What a great fit for a little community that is really growing rapidly right now,’” he said.
Schwartz and his team have been hard at work the past couple months, transforming the old Burger King building into a modern restaurant with a bar, lounge and plenty of patio space.
The restaurant will have all the menu favorites of its other two locations, at Crown Center, 2450 Grand Blvd. No. 130, and Overland Park, 11831 Metcalf Ave.
Some favorites are “the chop” — a brisket sandwich with burnt ends, pulled pork and onion straws — and its smoked ribs.
Burnt End also offers barbecue bowls, even a vegan chorizo bowl option, with plant-based chorizo, wild rice, onions, peppers and pico de gallo.
And a burnt ends platter. But that’s a given.
“Everything on our menu is … elevated,” Schwartz said.
Schwartz, who is, as he says, “at the tail end of my 50s,” has been working in barbecue restaurants since he was a teen. His affinity for the craft of smoking meats earned him his nickname.
He began working for PB&J in 2005 and opened Burnt End’s original Overland Park location at 11240 W. 135th St. in 2011. It packed up and moved to its current spot in 2014.
Burnt End’s Crown Center spot opened in 2020, replacing Milano Italian Dining. The restaurant also has a location in Conway, Arkansas, north of Little Rock.
In some ways, his De Soto spot is helping him return to his roots. It’ll have a community-based, familial feel, he said, much like the cookouts where he first learned to grill.
“It’s going to be like going over to your neighbor’s house,” he said. “We don’t want to be a restaurant that goes there. We want to be a part of De Soto.”
PB&J Restaurants also owns the metro’s Red Robins and YaYa’s Euro Bistro.
This story was originally published April 10, 2024 at 5:14 PM.