Heywards Hickory Pit BBQ
 

There was a thread awhile back about bbq places(yeah, just one thread) and a few people recommended Heywards. To those that recommended Heywards, shame on you. Went Sunday, horrible dining experience. Heywards is pricey, the burnt ends are not that good, the sauce tastes just like taco bell hot sauce, and the staff was pretty much useless. This is a warning to all my bbq loving buds, stay away from Heywards.

It's Hayward's.

You're out of your mind.

Well, actually it's called "Hayward's BBQ." If you're talking about the one in Overland Park, well, not sure about the burnt ends. But their beef and turkey is usually pretty good. They're a better buy for lunch than dinner. You could have gone to Fiorella's Jack Stack at 95th and Metcalf or Zarda's at 87th and Quivira for a better BBQ experience in Johnson County.

Learn the local poop on KC BBQ here:
http://www.georgeblowfish.com/BBQ.html

You have no taste, and your mother smelled of elderberries.

My first job was working at Hayward's Pit BBQ. I was only 15 at the time and it was quite a successful restaurant back then. Every night, there was a line out the door, and the food was pretty decent then.

I hated the job though. Hayward's brother was my boss. He was this freakin' 300-lb monster who always had a chewed up stogie in the corner of his mouth. When he walked- the ground shook. When he talked- I couldn't understand a fuggen word he said. I worked my ass off but it was never good enough for him for he was always cursing at me when I'd return from floor. Absolutely nothing ever made the fat-***** happy. So, one night, I addressed Hayward's himself and he pretty much told me to forget about it.

I didn't need the job, so the next night when his brother cursed at me again, I told him to go fugg himself, threw down my bib, and left.

That was my first job. :D

See, it's just a misunderstanding. You went to the wrong place.

There are no good remaining BBQ places in KC. They all shortcut the process in the name of making money. If you want good Q you have to make it yourself or know somebody who does.

I made my mother a batch of pulled pork last night which she promptly took to work for breakfast, no less. Now I have orders from her co-workers for more of the best pulled pork they've ever tasted. Now where were these people during the judging for the Great American BBQ competition?

Blasphemy - Jack Stack owns all

Jack Stack is good. Their sides are their best feature. But their meat still leaves a little to be desired.

Since you didn't know what he was saying, maybe he was actually asking you to:

- recommend a diet for him
- check Channel 5 for any erroneous earthquake reports from Katie Horner
- wipe his ass

It sucks.

My big "beef" with Q places now a days is the meat comes out cold, or lukewarm.

This is far closer to the truth than I would like to admit, unfortunately. Even L.C.'s is terribly inconsistent.

The best places in KC right now are the one's that don't get a whole lot of foot traffic. (But still do enough business that you know its not a terrible place). Woodyard doesn't make the best BBQ in the world, but it's always damn good and they do the process the right way. Smokin' Guns is a good place, too; just a straight up, no frills barbeque place.

You can still get really good food at Oklahoma Joe's, surprisingly.

When we go there we just get sandwiches, but their sauce is yummy. Of course you probably don't like spicy. I still love a good Z man from Oklahoma Joe's.

The Carolina style pulled pork sandwich at OK Joe's is my favorite BBQ sandwich in the city.

Anybody tried the BBQ Shack out in Paola? I saw the Food Network stopped there and they were doing whole hog that looked outstanding.

Hayward's is still my sentimental favorite.

Even though I know it's gone WAY downhill....because I live in San Diego....I get ZERO BBQ here.

So every trip back to KC, I have to try to recreate the old days and go to Haywards.

Love their sauce, meat, etc.....but, seriously, I've never had a better onion ring than Haywards.

DAMN!!! I hate to agree with you. BUT, my last trip to Oklahoma Joes and Zarda.....cold food. Won't go back to either. My sentimental favorite is the original Bryants.... I love that place. Unfortunately, the Mrs. hates it.

I just had a Z man sandwich at Oklahoma Joe's yesterday. Very good. I love their gumbo. It's their best side. They give you a big bag of fries, but put too much seasoned salt on them. Okla Joe's Olathe restaurant is much nicer than the original gas station. Very nice place to have lunch.

BTW: I've decided that strawberry soda is the perfect non-beer drink with BBQ.
Gates, LCs and Okla Joe's all have Strawberry soda. Yum.

Jackstack Railyard still leaves me in awe.
We only went to Hayward's once and were similarly underwhelmed.
But for dependably good Q, if not transcendent, St. Louie import Bandanas has standards and practices down. And their addition of garlic toast to the Q repertiore is genious.

Good call on the garlic bread at Bandanas.

But for the best Q in town you gotta head out to Eureka and try SuperSmokers.

BL/OTW58:

Either of you guys tried Pappy's near SLU? Only been around a few months, but supposedly the best BBQ in St. Louis by far. Only criticism I've heard is that sometimes they close early, but it's because they do everything fresh and when they run out of food, they close for the day.

They gave it a great w/u in the RFT, but I haven't been there yet. Thought about taking the 'rents there next time in town.

NOT impressive.

Soured on my first experience at SS, had their pork medallions, supposedly the signature and pride of the establishment. Driest pieces of shoe leather I ever experienced, and tiny.

Actually, the best Q experience I've ever had was a big barn on the way back from rafting. Warehouse BBQ in Farmington. But that may have been tempered by roughing it for the weekend and being tired and starving, having only consumed beer for the past two days.

rated highly here; http://www.bbq-porch.org/reviews/mo.asp

Haven't tried it yet, but plan to.

The owner, Mike Emerson was once part of SuperSmokers...so I know the food will be phenomenal...

Hmmm.

I used to eat there quite a bit, and I've never seen medallions on the menu.

Was this recently?

Not nearly, 96?

Ah.

4 years before they won the World Championship down in Memphis in the Whole Hog category.

Thanks for the heads up on this. I hadn't heard of any good places in STL for BBQ. Usually resorted to ordering from Jack Stack online when I got the craving for BBQ (which I did this past weekend, can't wait to eat it tonight)

Have you tried Bandana's? They're everywhere.

http://www.bandanasbbq.com/HTML/locations.htm

There's one relatively close to where I live but I never ventured in there because a few people told me it was just average

I like Haywards a lot actually... A girl that works at my office's father owns Bandanas, and we just had it for lunch today. Their pork sandwich is pretty good, and they have a bunch of different sauces to choose from.

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I haven't been to every one, but I've been to Arnold, Columbia, St. Joe, Independence, Collinsville [IL], St. Peters, Maryland Heights, Sunset Hills, and Clayton, and never had a bad meal. Some were 'workman-like' [ie, nothing 'popped' as some slice of heaven], but then I might have just been BBQed out that time. But their food is always plentiful, well prepared, and dependable.

Yeah, the one I am closest to is the Sunset Hills one on 30 and Lindbergh there

I will try it one of these days

The sausage there is amazing.

We used to go to Bandana's every once in a while in Columbia, but Buckingham's is much better (IMO). The smoked sweet potato is outstanding with whatever you get (beef, pork, sausage).

I would continue to recommend Haywards. The sauce is excellent. I sometimes choose a less spicy sauce depending on the meat I'm eating.

3 weeks ago I went to my buddies and brought smoked chicken sandwiches for him and his wife and a bottle of Haywards. She liked it so much she ordered a case. She runs a gourmet catering business so she knows a little about food.

Last weekend I brought 3 racks of babybacks to a party with a bottle of Haywards and a bottle of the sauce that won the 2001 American Royal best sauce award. The Haywards was gone and the Royal sauce was barely used.