A trip through Kansas City gave me the chance to enjoy an excellent meal at Gates, one of the city's best known BBQ emporiums. Gates has several locations throughout the metro area. I visited what I assume was their original location near downtown. The atmosphere is very gracious. You order and pick up your food at the cafeteria line, then proceed to the dining area. A hostess stopped by to remind me that she could pick up anything I needed from either the food line or from the well-stocked bar at the attached lounge.
This huge assortment of food is the mixed meat plate: ham, pork ribs, brisket. My favorite was probably the ham, something that you don't always see at BBQ establishments. The sauce is subtly flavorful with a kiss of cumin. The fries were excellent and plentiful. I left very satisfied, moving a little more slowly than I came in thanks to the enormous meal.
Luella's is a nouvelle BBQ outfit on the north side of Asheville. It is nestled among the trees in a lovely neighborhood. The restaurant has lots of windows for inside seating and plenty of outside seating. Service was courteous and amazingly fast. This is a combination plate with pork and brisket. Both were very moist and tender. For the pork, I tried both the mild and hot vinegar sauces. To my surprise, I preferred the milder one because it didn't assert itself too much. I enjoyed the spicy tomato sauce for my brisket. The hushpuppies were very good. The fried okra was fresh out of the fryer and excellent. The slaw was of the vinegary variety, which I usually enjoy, but this version is heavy on the white stuff and didn't have quite enough variety in tastes for me.


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