Barbacoa

“Where Mexican cooking and Kansas City fire marry on Troost”

At his Troost Avenue room, chef Roman Raya doesn't pair Mexican cooking with Kansas City smoke so much as marry the two. Barbacoa runs on live fire from open to close—as Raya puts it, barbecue here means fire, not sauce—and the result is the closest thing the metro has to a wood-fire Mexican barbecue house. It is a full-service room with a serious bar, treating the smoker as a Mexican hearth rather than a KC afterthought. Brisket tacos land under a smoky morita-chile salsa, the signature move of the kitchen; taquitos come rolled crisp and stuffed with smoked chicken and mole. Carnitas turn crisp at the edges over the flame, and the smoked brisket gets the KC cut handled with a Mexican hand. Come for the tacos, stay for the mezcal list, and order across a menu that runs entirely on flame instead of a sweet, thick glaze.