Pick any Monday. A little after the time the Chiefs finish up at the facility for the day, you can expect Chris Jones to arrive at Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que, an iconic barbecue spot on 47th Avenue, quaintly boxed inside a facility that is also a gas station and a liquor store.
He orders the burnt ends along with a Z Man sandwich, which normally contains smoked beef brisket, smoked provolone cheese and a pair of onion rings on a toasted kaiser. Jones substitutes a chicken breast for the brisket.
By now, he has learned everyone’s name. He can wander back into the pit, and it wouldn’t be strange. He can hang out with Austin, the son of marketing director Eric Tadda, and talk football, or diet (cheat meal Monday notwithstanding and, yes, in Kansas City barbecue restaurants have marketing directors). He’s been spotted—and shared on social media—pulling up a chair and sitting with a family who has a vacant seat.
