Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue from Best BBQ in Kansas City

Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue was originally a part of the Fiorella family-owned chain of Smoke Stack Barbecue restaurants, with the original restaurant located in south Kansas City on Prospect Avenue. Founded by family patriarch Russ Fiorella in 1957, it eventually opened four more restaurants for the Fiorella family. One of these, Smoke Stack Barbecue of Martin City, was opened in 1974 by the eldest son Jack Fiorella and his wife Delores. Sometime in the mid-1980s, after a failed attempt to expand into a second location under the name of Hatfield’s and McCoy’s, Jack and Delores realized they needed to make some changes in order to stand out in the competitive Kansas City barbecue market. They set about expanding their menu selections. To the chagrin of barbecue purists, they also began offering a higher level of comfort and service than most people were accustomed to experiencing at a barbecue restaurant. They added non-traditional barbecue menu items like hickory-grilled steaks, lamb ribs, Crown Prime beef short ribs, and an extensive wine and bar selection. Inspired by their travels along the Yugoslav coast, they also started offering fresh seafood grilled over a hickory wood fire.