Gates BBQ in Independence Destroyed by Fire
 

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - The Gates Bar-B-Q restaurant in Independence, Mo., was destroyed in a fire early Tuesday morning.

The Independence Fire Department is on the scene investigating the cause of the fire.

Battalion Chief, Mike Ditamore said crews arrived at the scene at about 1 a.m. after an employee called in the fire. Ditamore said the employee spotted the fire around the hood system.

Crews spent an hour trying to put the fire out. Ditamore said a water pressure problem also hindered efforts, so crews had to go up a block to tap into another hydrant.

No one was hurt in the fire.

The Independence location along East 40 Highway was one of six local Gates Bar-B-Q restaurants and was less than three miles from Arrowhead Stadium.

I'd been there many time after Royals games over the years. Hopefully they rebuild somewhere nearby.

Lots of burnt ends today...:thumb:

One of our favorite pre-game meet up spots. Damn.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Smoke'm

Meth lab...

Sucks. Everybody carries fire insurance, but there are a lot of extra costs and overall PIA. Hope they bounce back.

How convenient...

What am I missing?

This is the Gates closest to my house. I live about 10 minutes away. One of my best friends from high school, Dr. Page Crow, has a chiro clinic literally next door. Ollie Gates would be crazy not to rebuild at that location. It's a gold mine. And he has plenty of $ to put in a new building. Think about all the Royals pre game reveue he'll lose if he doesn't rebuild. The land plot there is certainly large enough to rebuild. Going to be weird to drive by and see it gone.

I think he means it was accidentally burned down on purpose.

Any truth to the rumor that when the fire dept was called about the fire they answered the phone saying "Himay I help you?"

So some jerkoff from Lot A just had to have it out with Gates for the one time they ****ed up his order, huh.

Zero chance they don't rebuild.

Got that. What I'm missing is why they would burn it down on purpose.

Insurance money to rebuild. Just like the downtown Hereford House.

:hmmm:

Well,,,,,they did say it was in the hood.

I was gonna say when I was a young un and worked in a restaurant we used to run the filters thru the dishwasher once a month. Theirs must of been dripping grease.

Where is this in Independence?

40 Highway, a mile or so east of Sterling.

I hope they rebuild; after years of burning their garbage in the smoker, that building was nasty.

I recently ate at this gates lol

Didn't another gates just burn down almost very recently?

Hmmmm :hmmm:

Interesting clip on the beginnings of Gates:
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G4Dj7mSQO8c" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Story in today's KC Star is here:
http://www.kansascity.com/news/local...e10511888.html

That's the only gates I've ever eaten at.

Has that one been rebuilt yet? I remember hearing rumors that the HH fire was suspicious and to not expect it to go back up.

Yes. Exactly my reaction.

They were found guilty of arson and I think they're spending time in prison.

I was at this location last November and after I was done eating I went outside to smoke and noticed that the exterior of the building was in pretty crappy shape, didn't look like they had put much effort in maintaining it over the years.

Gates isn't strong on maintenance or cleanliness. The KC Star publishes restaurant violations and Gates has had their problems. I think the KCMO location on State Line was closed for quite a while for health violations.

That being said, I wouldn't want those inspectors check out my "seasoned" grill. :)

I see. I guess I just don't see it. I've got fire insurance on everything I've got and in not rushing to burn anything down.

Gates, LC's and Bryant's have all been cited by the health dept before. No biggie.

Every restaurant gets cited at one time or another, but Gates heads the list. When you own a restaurant that is closed for weeks by the health department there's a problem.

i think all the other BBQ joints in KC should run a special on burnt ends as a tribute to Ollie Gates loss this week.

You go outside to smoke, and 3 months later, the place burns down....

Coincidence? I think not.

Great white must be in tour in kc

I always go to the original Gates anyway, this has no effect on me. :)

Fox 4 is reporting the fire started on one of the hoods, and the FD had trouble fighting the fire because of low temps and low water pressure.

First LC's has a fire and now Gates. Sounds like the BBQ wars just got serious! :D

Reminds me of that KC BBQ place here in San Diego that burned down. It was a local Chiefs fan gathering spot. I think they rebuilt it though.

Doesn't matter, the food there sucked. I've never had authentic KC BBQ and that place was suppose to be authentic, but i can't imagine that's true.

The place from Top Gun, I usually had drinks there the night before the game. Did they rebuild it?

My best friend says that your the best lick in town!

12th and Crooklyn is my favorite, though 31st has always been good.

Anyone else eat at the old 47th before the creek expansion?

Yeah they rebuilt it, but i haven't been there since the fire.

kind of makes you wonder why a business that is running BBQs daily would have a chance to burn down. Seems like it would be Inevitable. If you are a career soldier , you will probably die in a war. If you are a heavy drinker, you will probably die of an alcohol related death. If you smoke heavily, you will probably die of some kind of lung or health problem. Just saying.

Man...I ate there before game 2 of the World Series. I won't miss the greasy floors.

NOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooo!

/Livestream

Hundreds of times...I grew up just a couple of blocks from there, on 49th Terrace, where my widowed mom still lives. I even remember there being another restaurant there before Gates!


I happened to eat at the Independence Gates last month, coming home from a Missouri Mavericks game. The joint was pretty empty and it felt kind of shabby, especially compared to the Gates near my mom's house.

They had good Q. Hope this is on the up and up and they rebuild. That building certainly wasn't in good shape.

That Gates location was dogshit.

Pretty much everything out that way is a dogshit location. There is nothing there.

Speaking of which, why can't Denny's burn down.

Poor Methdependence.

It's the uncle no one loves.

The "Florida" of the Metro.....

Did jif-burger burn down yet? That place is ****ing useless.

It did? That's news to me.

Cool Crest is still alive and kickin...

That's what I thought. I haven't been by in a while, but obviously it would be news around here if it were to close.

Ollie Gates said on KMBC today that he will rebuild at that same location. That's a very good thing.

I went to that place once. Too bad they rebuilt.
And no, not authentic, just awful. Very disappointing.

Oh goodie. I have a 50 year old free game ticket that I still want to use. :D

I learned how to play foosball at Cool Crest.

First time I ever kissed a girl was at cool crest.

The first time Hootie lost gambling money was at Cool Crest.

Cool Crest website:
http://www.coolcrest.com/home/

For those of us that live away from the KC area, what is the current state of the property. Have they cleared off the debris and started to rebuild?

I am sorry for your loss

It seemed like a nice place.

I drove by last weekend. There was a chain link fence up around it and it looked like they hadn't touched a thing.

I'm assuming waiting on insurance. They'll rebuild, too much money there to turn down. As much as people hate to admit, it's now a chain.

Gates has sucked since the mid 90's. Suprised it continues to be a "go to" for folks who should really know fine BBQ

Bryant's FTW.

Gates doesn't suck. Don't be dumb. There are many cities where Gates would be the best BBQ joint in town. It's clearly not the best in KC. But KC is spoiled with some of the best BBQ in the country.