Gates and Sons Bar-B-Q.

1221 Brooklyn
Kansas City, MO
http://www.gatesbbq.com/

I think some of my earliest memories involve Gates and Sons Barb-B-Q: traveling to Kansas City with my parents, and stopping off for ribs at Gates; traveling to Kansas City with my grandma... and stopping off for ribs at Gates. My earliest memory of flirting involves the restaurant, and talking with a girl in my elementary school who had just moved from Kansas City to Lawrence, and how we both shared a common interest in, well, traveling to Kansas City and stopping off for ribs at Gates.

Needless to say, I'm a fan of their ribs. The meat is as tender as you'll find anywhere, and Gates and Sons sauce is put on in just the right amount, not slathered, and not too scarce.

Plus, the ambience is hard to beat. Where else can you give, nay are obligated to roll-call your order to a woman who yells across the restaurant to you, "Hi, may I help you?" as soon as you walk through the doors? That and the fact that someone tried to rob one of their restaurants, and the manager just reached across the counter, took the shotgun, and turned it around on the robber until the police got there. I know I'm sold!

So, if you're looking for a place to take a date, because you're wondering what she might look like slathered in barbecue sauce, gnawing on a side of ribs, and engaging in banter with meat stuck between her teeth; or if you're a parent or grandparent that wants to bond with your children over a short-end; or, say, you've been successful at robbing local businesses, but the guilt's just too much, and you're just dying to be caught, then Gates is your place! And now that a very good friend of mine just moved to Kansas City and now lives eight minutes away, I'll probably be in there all the time, making new memories over a giant slab of meat and a growing pile of bones.

-Jeremy