Bates City BBQ

“The pit that makes the I-70 exit worth taking”

Bates City BBQ sits at the far eastern edge of the metro, a family-run roadside pit built for the I-70 traveler and the local who knows the exit. It has smoked sauce-smothered meats and turned out homemade sides here for decades, long enough to become a landmark in its own small town where the metro finally gives way to farmland. This is unfussy Kansas City barbecue with the portions of a place that assumes you've been driving. The pork ribs come glazed with a sweet, tomato-based sauce that sticks to your fingers, and the beef sandwich is piled generous for a driver who skipped breakfast. Burnt ends turn up when the day's batch holds out, dark and caramelized, and the sides are all made in-house. Point the car east, take the exit, and eat like a trucker who found the good stop instead of the fast one.