One of the most famous names in barbecue will open a location in Northern Virginia on Memorial Day, a launch that already has 'cue hounds salivating at the prospect.
But how much will the Oklahoma Joe's in Vienna resemble the gas station smokehouse in Kansas City, Kan., whose accomplishments are the envy of countless barbecue joints across the country? The K.C. restaurant, after all, is the same one that produced the best ribs in America, enticed President Obama to spend $1,400 there and inspired Anthony Bourdain to list it among the 13 places to eat before you die.
The question is tougher to answer than you might think.
First of all, the Oklahoma Joe's in Kansas City, Kan., is no longer called Oklahoma Joe's. It now goes by Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que, per an agreement between the founders of the legendary chain: Jeff and Joy Stehney run three restaurants under the Joe's Kansas City name, all located in the K.C. area. Co-founder Joe Davidson, the namesake and CEO of Oklahoma Joe's, owns the rights to the name, and he has major plans to expand the brand far beyond its Midwestern base.
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Second, even though Davidson and Jeff Stehney founded Oklahoma Joe's together in the mid-1990s, the two powerhouse pitmasters have not worked together since the Stehneys bought out Davidson's share of the Kansas City restaurant in 1997. According to "Our Story" section on its web site, "The Stehneys have been the sole owners of Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que restaurants from that time forward."
Third, the menus vary in small but significant ways. Oklahoma Joe's in Vienna will offer some fairly sophisticated salads, including a Mandarin "Q" salad with pulled pork, mandarin oranges and a sesame-ginger dressing. The Northern Virginia smokehouse will also feature a loaded smoked potato, which is not found anywhere on the Joe's Kansas City menu. What's more, the new spot has a fast-casual air about it, with a line of make-your-own sandwiches, salads and plates. (See the menu below.)
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Despite the differences, though, the forthcoming Oklahoma Joe's is playing up the similarities between the two operations. "All the processes, they all began the same back in the 1990s," says Richard Moore, president of Joe's Barbecue Group, parent company of Oklahoma Joe's. "The process is almost identical."
Moore does point out that the sauces and smoking techniques have been "tweaked a little bit" over the years.
For his part, Jeff Stehney was participating in a barbecue competition in Nashville and unavailable for comment. Doug Worgul, director of marketing for Joe's Kansas City, notes the co-founders may have a shared heritage, but Davidson and the Stehneys have followed different paths since the 1990s.
"Our sauces and rubs have evolved over time, so they're not the same as Joe would use," Worgul says. "Our smoking techniques have changed over time. . .While we share some DNA historically with Joe's menu, our menu has evolved and it's more uniquely ours than it was 20 years ago."
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Whether or not the Oklahoma Joe's will remind diners of the Kansas City original, one thing cannot be denied: Joe Davidson is a legend of competition barbecue. According to his biography, he's won more than 300 championships on the highly competitive circuit. Davidson may be relying on his former partners' accomplishments to market Oklahoma Joe's expansion, but he doesn't need anyone's help to produce superior barbecue.
Share this articleShareWell, he does need a pitmaster on site in Vienna. Oklahoma Joe's has hired David Heller to oversee the large-capacity Ole Hickory SSJ smoker. Davidson has even asked his D.C. investors — former Midwesterners who used to frequent the gas station smokehouse — to take part in taste tests leading up to the opening of Oklahoma Joe's in Northern Virginia. Moore says the investors are "crazy about barbecue" and have pushed the Vienna team to tweak the smoked meats until they hit the standards set for themselves.
This could be good news for diners in the Mid-Atlantic, which still doesn't have a lot of high-quality barbecue. Oklahoma Joe's has plans to expand deeper into the region. (It will also open a location in Orlando later this year.)
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"We're looking at half a dozen other locations right now, not only in the District but in Northern Virginia and over in Baltimore," Moore says. "We really believe that this market is going to be a great market for Midwest-style barbecue."
Oklahoma Joe's opens at 11 a.m. Monday at 2670 Avenir Place, Vienna, 703-573-2370, okjoesdc.com. Hours: 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday; noon to 7 p.m. Sunday.
Correction: The original post indicated the Oklahoma Joe's taste-testers were aiming for K.C.-style barbecue. They were tweaking recipes in search of their own standards of high-quality barbecue.
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