Where’s the Beef?

I don’t remember eating a lot of barbecue when I was growing up, probably because Indianapolis didn’t exactly have a stellar tradition as a barbecue town. But every so often, my father got a yen for the ribs sold at a legendary low-down joint called Zeb’s BBQ. The smoked meats there were glazed with a terrific “mambo sauce” that was so memorable it inspired the name of a famous jump blues band, Little Elmo & the Mambo Kings.

Zeb’s is long gone (I’d love to get the recipe for that sauce, if anyone has it), but I think my barbecue palate has greatly improved since I moved to Kansas City, which is, according to food writer Steven Raichlen, “the epicenter of American barbecue.”

This Midwest-born Italiano will happily mambo his way to any part of town to investigate new meat markets, which is why a co-worker suggested a journey to Grandview for some Laura & Emmie’s Country Boy Barbecue (12114 Blue Ridge Boulevard). “You’ll love it — it’s fabulous,” she promised.

So a friend and I hopped on Interstate 70 and arrived on a Friday night at 6:30. The dining room smelled delicious, but only a couple of tables were occupied. We sat down at a vinyl-draped table, and an energetic young server came over with tons of enthusiasm and some bad news.

“We’re out of burnt ends, and we don’t have any beef,” he said. “But the hamburgers are delicious.”

Hamburgers? My barbecued-beef-loving pal almost had a cow, so we decided to come back another time. Heading west, we passed a place I had never seen, 135th Street Bar-B-Que (325 East 135th Street), in beautiful downtown Martin City. “It used to be called Keegan’s,” my friend said. (That explained the K in the dining room’s stained-glass windows.) He ordered the “Pit Plate” — sliced beef, beef tips, pork ribs, Texas toast, pickles and baked beans — which sounded so great that I got one, too.

The Keegan family still owns the 27-year-old joint, but they changed the name in 1995 “for legal reasons,” Tom Keegan says, somewhat mysteriously. Tom’s mother, Janice, still works there, too, just like she did back in the 1970s, when Keegan’s served only beef, ham and pork ribs. The new menu includes mod stuff such as appetizers, chef’s salad and fried chicken strips.

The Keegans still make their own sauces, one hot, the other sweet. Both are good, but even mixed together, they don’t mambo.