KANSAS CITY, MO – As Cincinnati Bengals fans head to Kansas City, Missouri for Sunday’s AFC Championship game against the Chiefs, there will be plenty of places for fans to get food, especially good barbecue.
>>PHOTO: Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que
NewsCenter 7’s Brandon Lewis spends Friday at Joe’s Kansas City BBQ where it’s a popular lunchtime spot. It’s even busier with Bengals fans in town.
“Last year, we were super surprised,” said Eric Tadda, Chief Marketing Officer of Joe’s. “We thought the red and orange would mix, but there was too much orange. They travel really well. Out came ‘Who Dey Nation’ as they say.
Lewis was at the original Joe’s location, which is known for being a gas station but also for delicious BBQ chicken and ribs.
One of the most popular items on the menu, the Z-Man. It’s slow-smoked beef brisket with smoked provolone cheese and onion rings on a toasted Kaiser bun.
“On a weekend where we have Bengals fans, we’ll probably sell 300-500 at each venue,” Tadda said. “During the year, we will sell over a quarter of a million sandwiches.
>>“We have a team we can trust; Some local fans go to KC for the Bengals playoff game
He tells Lewis people who come to Kansas City to expect good barbecue and Bengals fans last year were excited to be there but didn’t expect to beat the Chiefs.
“Last year it was more of a holiday atmosphere,” he said. “Now that they beat the Chiefs three times, I feel like they’re coming here hoping to go to the Super Bowl.”
He feels that Bengals fans are traveling with the hope that they are in Arizona.
Who do you think Tadda will win?
“I think it’s going to be a close game,” he said. “I can’t go against Patrick Mahomes.”
>>PHOTO: Smoke N Seoul Food Truck
Lewis also visited the Smoke N Seoul food truck in Kansas City.
“What we do is Kansas City BBQ, so it’s like the smoke part and then ‘Seoul’ is Korean food,” said Greg Stears, owner of the Smoke N Seoul food truck. “So it’s kind of the story of my wife and I through food. So my wife is Korean, so we get a lot of Korean flavors in all our dishes.”
Some of their most requested BBQs are their brisket and ribs.
“Our ribs, what we do is we smoke them in an offset smoker, all of our smoker is in an offset smoker and then we smoke them and then we bring them to the truck,” he told Lewis. “Then we saw them to order and then we grilled them, so they got this beautiful caramel, so there were two different sauces: one spicier and one sweet.”
This is a city where you don’t go hungry if that’s the kind of food you’re after.
“Kansas City is BBQ,” Stears said. “So like you come here and this is what you have to get.”
Cincinnati and Kansas City will play Sunday night at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.
>>News Center 7’s Brandon Lewis is with the Bengals to cover the AFC Championship game in Kansas City
NewsCenter 7 will have coverage of the Bengals and Chiefs leading up to kickoff.
This includes The Orange Zone on Sunday morning, January 29, at 11:30 a.m. with John Bedell and Larry Hansgen.
Lewis will also provide live coverage from Kansas City.
The start is scheduled for 18:30
The winner advances to Super Bowl XLVII to play either San Francisco or Philadelphia on February 12 in Glendale, Arizona.
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