RESTAURANT NEWS | KANSAS
Joe’s Next Door Gives Barbecue Room to Roam
Kansas City’s famous gas-station smokehouse opens a neighborhood hangout with brisket tacos, cocktails, and plenty of Z-Men.
JOE’S NEXT DOOR | MAP | INSTAGRAM
By Eric Barton
5:39 a.m. CT, Sept. 10, 2026
AUTHOR BIO: Eric Barton is editor of The Adventurist and a freelance journalist who has reviewed restaurants for more than two decades. Email him here.
Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que spent three decades proving that exceptional barbecue can come from a gas station. Its newest restaurant aims to answer a different question: What happens when one of America’s most famous smokehouses builds a neighborhood hangout?
Joe’s Next Door opened in May across Mission Road from the original Joe’s in Kansas City, Kansas. The new restaurant comes from Joe’s founders Jeff and Joy Stehney and vice president Ryan Barrows, who have kept enough of the family resemblance to reassure anyone worried that the Z-Man might not survive the trip across the street.
County Line Cheese Fries
The beloved sandwich remains largely untouched: brisket, smoked provolone, onion rings, and barbecue sauce piled onto a Kaiser roll. Pulled pork, chicken, and portobello versions are available, too. Joe’s fries also made the move, still crisp outside, fluffy within, and dusted with enough seasoning to make ketchup feel unnecessary.
Elsewhere, Joe’s Next Door loosens its grip on tradition. A double smashburger combines brisket-and-chuck patties with American cheese, pickles, and the restaurant’s signature sauce. The Alabama pulled chicken sandwich stacks avocado, pickled onions, white barbecue sauce, and crisp chicken skin onto toasted sourdough. Tejano brisket tacos fold braised brisket point, grilled onions, and smoked poblanos into flour tortillas crisped with cheese.
Even the smoked salmon gets several opportunities to join the party. It appears in a dip with crème fraîche and cilantro chimichurri, atop a Caesar salad with cotija, and inside a club sandwich with apple, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and chimichurri mayo. County Line cheese fries arrive under queso, cheddar, corn, jalapeños, Alabama white sauce, and the sweet-hot glaze used on Joe’s Rocket Pig sandwich.
Brisket tacos
Dessert keeps the menu close to home. The butter cake, served warm with vanilla ice cream, offers a nod to St. Louis’ famously gooey contribution to American baking. Key lime pie heads in the opposite direction, finishing all that smoke, sauce, and brisket with a welcome hit of citrus.
Key lime pie
Butter cake
The expanded menu comes with cocktails, wine, frozen drinks, and a setting designed for lingering. The owners enclosed part of the former Taco Republic patio with garage doors, while outdoor spaces add picnic tables, televisions, music, and fire pots. Dogs are welcome, which makes this a considerably easier place to settle in than the always-busy original.
Joe’s Next Door wisely avoids trying to replace the landmark across the road. The gas station still handles the barbecue pilgrimage. Its new sibling takes care of the second round: a burger, a frozen cocktail, and perhaps another Z-Man for anyone who believes crossing Mission Road counts as working up an appetite.
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