New KC area barbecue restaurant opens. The brisket ‘melts in your mouth’
Do genetics predetermine whether someone smokes good barbecue?
A new Gladstone restaurant — Off the Hook BBQ — might be a case study.
The spot opened a few days ago at 7506 N. Oak Trafficway. Owner Wardell Hooks Jr. has been serving barbecue via a food truck for the past 15 years (then via a small walk-up window with limited hours in downtown Parkville).
Longtime customers may also recognize Wardell’s son, Martell Hooks, who sauces up slabs alongside him.
And then there’s Judy Jones, Wardell’s mother, who also works at Off the Hook. She said her son put some of her recipes on the menu.
For some, mixing family and business is a headache, but not so for the Hooks.
“It’s a dream come true,” Martell told The Star on Wednesday while pouring margaritas from a tap behind the counter. “It’s unlike anything else.”
What makes Off the Hook’s barbecue different from the dozens of other spots around Kansas City? To the Hooks, the years of striving are a key ingredient in the recipe.
Jones, who’s soon to be 80, has seen her son through all stages of Off the Hook. He bought his first smoker circa 2007 and began serving at events a few years later. The food truck came in 2012.
“To see how far he’s come … I just love being here with him because of how much love he puts in it,” Jones said.
Wardell himself told The Star he was trying not to cry as he talked about the process of opening his first restaurant: long nights, thousands of dollars, a previous site that fell through.
He didn’t sleep much for a few years back when he was working at UPS, either. He traveled during the week, then catered on weekends. Though it was difficult, he still showed up to every wedding he booked, ready to serve.
“All praise to God,” he said. “It seems like every time I was thrown in the water, I never went under.”
A mural across the restaurant’s wall shows the business’s journey, from a black-and-white Polaroid of Wardell’s first event in a parking lot to his cartoon caricature chasing after a pig.
He posed in front of the fleeing pig, his hands open as if to catch it, and told The Star that customers who take a photo like so and share it on social media receive a free side.
‘Brisket cotton candy’ and other recommendations
When customers are trying Off the Hook for the first time, Martell recommends ordering brisket and ribs. He recommends that at any barbecue restaurant, anyway, to determine if they’re worth their salt, but theirs are different.
“I call our brisket cotton candy because it melts in your mouth,” Martell said. “And our ribs — (it’s like) it don’t even have a bone, it just falls right off.”
Another beloved menu item is the Off the Hook Hot Dog: a quarter-pound, all-beef hot dog served on a toasted hoagie bun, then topped with brisket, cheddar cheese and jalapenos. It comes with fries, and customers can drizzle it with one of their house barbecue sauces.
Jones recommends the brisket mac and cheese or a loaded baked potato.
A celebrity visit? New BBQ spot can hope
Wardell said he’s received a warm welcome from the Kansas City area, many of whom tasted his food before.
Asked what makes his food different, Wardell took a second to think.
“All the heart, the love, and the passion I put into the food,” he said. “Everybody can smoke barbecue, but they have to love to smoke barbecue.”
One more thing Wardell wanted to mention: He’s a major Chiefs fan. He thinks Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid, Travis Kelce — even Taylor Swift — should swing by and try his food.