Iconic Kansas City barbecue restaurant is back open. ‘We’re excited’
After being closed for close to two months, a Kansas City barbecue restaurant of more than a century is serving the public again.
Arthur Bryant’s threw open its doors Friday at 1727 Brooklyn Ave., welcoming a steady stream of burnt ends-enthusiasts.
Inside the bustling restaurant, owner Andy Miller told The Star about Arthur Bryant’s updates, pointing to the new ceilings and an open space where a wall used to be.
Miller and his team had to replace the ceilings due to the extensive flooding that poured in from above, but they also took time to update the bathrooms and open up the dining room space.
“It’s funny to read the comments. Half the people are like, ‘I hope you didn’t clean it too much,’ and the other half, ‘It needed it,’” Miller said.
Miller also redid the concrete flooring and epoxy in the back.
“Just gave the whole place a bath that it’s needed for a while,” he said.
Luckily for those committed to the preservation of the restaurant, it still has the same tile floors, popcorn walls and Lithonia lighting. Same menu and hours, too.
Photos are still hanging of Barack Obama, John McCain, Jimmy Carter and other notable public figures who’ve visited.
Though Arthur Bryant’s has been serving ‘cue in the community since 1907 — when Black entrepreneur and “Barbecue King” Henry Perry set up shop in the Quality Hill District — the restaurant has been in its current building since 1958.
As such, many customers in the 18th and Vine District have grown up eating Arthur Bryant’s.
Those included are Tyrone Hughlon, a 76-year-old who saw on the news that it was reopening . He told his wife they had to run down there for some lunch.
“Practically born and raised on it,” Hughlon said of the restaurant. “It always brings you back to your heritage.”
Another two men — Steve Phelps and Kevin Owens — sat in the back of the restaurant and chowed down on their sandwiches. Like Hughlon, both are longtime customers who’d seen the buzz that it was reopening and stopped in.
They told The Star they noticed the little updates to the restaurant. Owens remarked that the grill was on point that day.
“It’s probably the best I’ve had it,” Owens said, sitting over what was left of his ham and turkey sandwich and a pile of fries. “It’s a lot of food.”
While Miller has been serving carryout since the flooding incident, he’s grateful to have a full dining room again.
“We’re excited, man,” he said. “We’re expecting lines out the door again maybe today, maybe tomorrow.”
Miller took over the restaurant in 2022, purchasing it from Jerry Rauschelbaugh and his family, who’d owned it since 1982. But the restaurant’s very first brick and mortar came decades before.
“Barbecue King” (and inventor of burnt ends) Perry spent some time cooking at his barbecue stand before his protegee, Charlie Bryant, opened a restaurant at 18th and Euclid. Charlie Bryant’s younger brother, Arthur Bryant, took over in 1946 and renamed after himself.
It moved to its current home about a decade later, in a space previously used as a mattress store, apartments and a bakery.
Miller — who also owns Guy’s Snacks, Guy’s Deli and Una Familia Tequila — is opening an urban bodega called Guy’s on Main at 1722 Main St. at the end of the month.