As a resident of the Kansas City metro area, odds are you have a favorite barbecue joint. Odds are you have sworn allegiance to said barbecue joint and odds are that you turn up your nose at the mention of a rival.

Barbecue in Kansas City is more than  just a food, it’s a lifestyle and, as with any lifestyle choice, it deserves some careful consideration.

First, we take you to Jack Stack. Jack Stack Barbecue manages to stand out among the many joints in the city with excellent barbecue and presents itself as more of a fancy restaurant than a  homestyle barbecue place.

However, this style isn’t always a good thing. While it is somewhat unique,  the atmosphere of the restaurant is a little off-putting. Extra sauce is served in tiny, fancy-looking bowls and the dim lighting can sometimes make it hard to see. These aspects of the restaurant make it a bit harder to enjoy the food.

However, the food itself is excellent. The Jumbo sandwich allows for two different types of meat and tastes delicious. The barbecue sauce tastes very good as well, but there isn’t a lot of it to go around.

While it seems expensive at first, the food you get is well worth it. If you order the right thing, you can get a lot of bang for your buck. An $11 sandwich is big and comes with a large side of fries (tasty seasoning on the side). Jack Stack Barbecue provides great food, even though it tries a bit too hard to be classy.

Next, we head down to the original Arthur Bryant’s at 16th and Brooklyn in Kansas City, Mo. Arthur Bryants is a famous Kansas City Barbecue joint that even former president George W. Bush enjoys. The original restaurant location doesn’t appear to be the place that the president would go. However, there is also a location at the Legends. The whole building is made of brick which really gives it a rustic feel and huge order windows give a view of the kitchen. We got the ham sandwich with fries which is made right behind the windows in full view. The sandwich is packed with meat and comes with a heaping pile of fries.

The three barbecue sauces to choose from are all labeled “The Presidents Choice.” There is the Original, Rich and Spicy and Sweet Heat. All three had a kick of spice in them. The ham sandwich was delicious, especially topped with the Original Sauce.

The fries were not seasoned to our preference, so we topped them with salt. We were full before the food was gone from our plates. All in all, Arthur Bryant’s is a great choice for those who like to get down and messy.

Finally, we take you down to Southwest Boulevard to Rosedale Barbeque. Founded 80 years ago, Rosedale Barbeque is a staple in the Kansas City barbecue scene while it remains under the radar. Today, it is the oldest barbecue establishment in Kansas City that has been open under the same owner throughout its history.

What sets Rosedale apart is its service of only traditional barbecue and its sauce.

Rather than serving meals with a smoky flavored sauce, Rosedale puts all the smoky flavor characteristic of Kansas City barbecue in its meat. Instead, the self-proclaimed “famous sauce” is layered with tangy and spicy flavors that combine perfectly with the smoky flavor of the meat. Rosedale has stuck to the basics with the sandwiches themselves, serving only beef, chicken or pork on bread or on a bun along with other traditional items like ribs and hot dogs. The result is a sandwich that has been perfected with more attention to detail.

The fries at Rosedale are more of a general debate topic and a matter of personal preference than anything: crinkle cut versus natural cut fries. In our opinion, with a little bit of extra salt and pepper, the fries went well with the meal and were fried to golden perfection.

Based on tradition, excellent customer service and even better barbecue, there’s a reason this family-owned gem has been around for 80 years.

The next time you are craving barbecue, try something new. You never know who you might swear allegiance to next.