Mise en Place: Roman Raya’s journey from Royals tailgates to constant carnitas at Barbacoa

Photo courtesy of Roman Raya

At the crossroads of Mexican cuisine and Kansas City barbecue, Chef Roman Raya has established himself as a mainstay. Chef Raya has climbed the ladder from starting food truck Taco Tank to co-owning the flagship brick-and-mortar Barbacoa along with Madeline Buechter. Together, they have curated an experience at Barbacoa that blends Mexican and Kansas City cultures while spreading roots in the local community.

The Pitch: Tell us about yourself.

Chef Raya: I was born and raised here in Kansas City; been here my whole life. My Dad is Mexican and my Mom is white, so I got both cultures. That, along with the entire barbecue scene of Kansas City, really shaped me, so you can kind of see how all of that formed into what we have now. As far as early life, I started out in Northeast for the first part of my childhood. Eventually my parents were able to move us out to Lee’s Summit, and that’s where I graduated high school. I’ve lived all over through my 20s, so I have a pretty full grasp on the city. 

Could you speak about your origin in the food industry, leading up to now?

I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do for quite a while. I worked a desk job for a long time right out of high school. I ended up volunteering on the show Restaurant Impossible. Being in that setting, meeting the people, helping revamp the menu, and seeing this family reopen a restaurant, I said, “Okay, yeah, I think this is what I want to do.”

At first, I started throwing tailgate parties at the Royals games. I’d get a bunch of tickets, depending on how many people signed up, and we’d all meet up and convoy over to the parking lot. I’d set up and serve food that I had barbecued overnight. We’d have pulled pork, brisket, chicken, and stuff like that. 

One time, one of my friends passed around a tip jar. At the end of it, we counted it down and I was like, “Oh, I don’t have to pay to be able to do this. I can actually start making money doing this.” So, I decided I’m gonna start by selling tortas off a hot dog cart.

I looked into buying a hot dog cart and said, “These are way more expensive than they need to be. I could build this myself.” So I bought a trailer and started building it myself. Then I decided that bread takes up way too much space, so I decided to do tacos. I built Taco Tank, and got started with that in 2017.

From there, we built up a following to the point that we were invited to open at Parlor. During this time period, the summer of 2021, I had quit my desk job. We ended up opening another location in the Iron District, and towards the end of 2022 we had made enough capital to get the keys to the current space that is now Barbacoa. After revamping for the first part of 2023, we officially opened in April of that year.

Barbacoa // Photo by Brooke Tramel

What’s the inspiration behind the elevated design choices of the restaurant?

We really wanted to have a color palette that made sense for our concept, and one of the things that we love is the charm of an old building. Moving in here, what we discovered was that the floor was painted over gray. We found some chips in the floor and noticed that this design was underneath. The one thing we didn’t do ourselves is we had a guy come in and take care of this floor.

We opened it up as a low-key art gallery space for local artists. Every few months, Madeline gets together with an artist and decides on a set of artwork for our walls. They’re able to showcase it and it’s all for sale. It’s been a really nice way for us to foster community within the space.

Smoked carnitas has been a staple for your restaurants. What’s your process for making them?

Smoked carnitas is one of my favorite things. It will never leave the menu because growing up, at my Grandma’s house, we had carnitas on Sundays. Coming into Barbacoa with the idea of integrating barbecue, we developed this idea of par-smoking. It goes through the first part of the cook in the smoker — I use hickory wood for this one — then I move it to the manteca (pork fat) to finish it off. So, I’m essentially taking it through two different cooking processes. All in the same vein, but really wanting to impart the smoke, while also using the traditional technique of cooking it in the pot with the fat, spices, and citrus.

Carnitas takes about three to four hours from start to finish, and that is one that’s going on here constantly. So, if the kitchen smells like one thing, it’s probably that.

As a chef, could you share one kitchen hack that you have discovered?

One thing that I’ve noticed, especially when cooking at home, is people fighting with their cutting board. You slap a cutting board down on a granite or something, and then you’re fighting with the cutting board sliding. 

While you’re working, put a wet towel underneath and it won’t slide. You can use a paper towel or tea towel, but that damp towel underneath makes the cutting board stay exactly where it is. You shouldn’t have to manipulate two different moving objects at once, especially when one’s a knife.

Is there anything coming up at Barbacoa that our readers should look forward to?

We decided this year we’re gonna do a theme night for Halloween, and the theme that we landed on was the Addams Family. They have several meal times and have incorporated food into their plot. Obviously, we’re not going to serve what they’re serving, but on Halloween night we’ll be showing the film and having a coursed meal with it.

I also have a pop-up on November 2 at Panthers Place. I’m kind of going back to the tailgate aspect, and they’re showing the Chiefs game for us, so I’m gonna set up and do some tailgate-inspired menu items. I’ve got some meat and cheese flautas, hot dogs, and some other fun stuff to come and catch the game or just to grab a drink and some good food.

Lastly, at Barbacoa, we’re currently in the middle of our fall menu. When I wrote this menu, I felt like I was in my element and everything made sense. I think when I write menus, I probably get 90% and then I’m like, “Okay, I need to make sure that everything’s balanced,” but everything fell into place with this one and I’m really happy with it.

Barbacoa is located at 5500 Troost Ave, Kansas City, MO 64110.