Smokey’s on the Boulevard BBQ wins a Chief with an unlikely dish

Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman Jeff Allen was a stranger to the barbecue egg roll, and I’d never eaten one, either. When we agreed that it was time to try one, we headed to lunch at Smokey’s on the Boulevard BBQ, the Overland Park storefront of father-and-son barbecue team Rob and Jason Harris. (The 19-month-old business is in a strip center at 14521 Metcalf, 913-897-7427.)

First we worked through a tray filled with smoked meats and ribs. Then Rob Harris popped out of his kitchen with a relatively petite offering: a plate that held a pair of the egg rolls. “Here’s something you’ve never seen in a barbecue restaurant before,” he said.

Very true. Allen and I each now had before us a pocket stuffed with beef-brisket burnt ends and freshly cut vegetables. (They come two for $3.99 here.) “It’s a weird twist on barbecue,” Rob said, “something we came up with when we were bored one afternoon.”

Allen was intrigued. He took a bite.

“That’s awesome,” he said. “I love egg rolls.”

Rob and Jason Harris have been smoking meats with hickory wood for almost two years. The younger Harris was working at another barbecue joint when his father stopped in for ribs. He wasn’t a fan, so he asked his son if he thought he could do better – and make some money, too. It was easy enough for Jason to answer yes. He didn’t think his father was serious.

“He called me the next morning and said, ‘Put on your big-boy pants. We’re going to find a location,'” Jason told me. “So here I am, almost two years later.”

On this March day, I had met Allen at Smokey’s following one of his offseason workouts. I hadn’t seen him since the Chiefs’ playoff run ended abruptly in Indianapolis.

“We had a good year, but it didn’t end the way that we wanted it to,” Allen admitted. “Even if we’d won that game, we’d have been hurting going into the next one.”

Still, Allen insisted that he and his teammates had started 2014 “hungry,” “humble” and ready to make another run this coming season. He has been exercising twice a day – lifting, running, doing position work. The Chiefs’ offensive guard was also fresh off AdvoCare’s “24-day challenge,” a 10-day cleanse followed by a diet of meat, fruits and veggies (and a minimum of carbs).

“I lost, like, 7 pounds,” Allen said. “I’m working on changing my body composition.” The goal: Get ripped and become a better football player. “If you aren’t doing the things to get better, you’re going to get replaced.”

Our lunch at Smokey’s was part of how Allen spent the diet’s cheat day. He had managed to avoid barbecue since our last meeting, in late November (“Shack Attack,” December 5), but at Smokey’s, he stared down that pile of smoked meats – tender strings of pulled pork and thick strips of brisket and turkey – and saved room for meaty ribs; crunchy onion rings; crisp fries; and cups filled with pit beans, coleslaw and cheesy corn.

“Everything we do here, we do in-house,” Rob Harris told us. “We cut our own meat. We smoke our own meat. The only thing that we don’t do is fries and the onion rings.” And the creamy sauce in little to-go cups was his own “Boulevard” concoction: a barbecue glaze that sets aside sweetness. “There’s no sugar in it at all,” he said.

“It’s good for my diet,” Allen said. He stuck a fork into the smoked meat. “That would definitely be a good sandwich. I’m not going to be eating any bread, though.

Allen dipped a forkful of meat into the sauce, having established that it was gluten-free. “It was different. I wouldn’t say that I’d eat it again. It’s probably good on a sandwich.”

I stuck to Smokey’s regular sauce, dipping some burnt ends into it. They were a little too chewy, but Allen didn’t mind.

Rob Harris stopped back by the table to check our progress. “What do you think so far?” he asked.

“I like the ribs,” Allen said. “The smoked meat’s been the best part so far.”

But this was all before Rob brought out the egg rolls.

“It’s got a little spice to it,” Allen said after his second bite of the roll. “I take it back. The egg rolls are the best thing. Premium barbecue. I would come back.”