Barbacoa sits on Troost Avenue in Kansas City's Rockhill Crest neighborhood, built around a concept the city hadn't quite seen before: Mexican cuisine cooked with barbecue technique. That means slow cooks over smoke and proteins seared over open flame rather than sauce-heavy barbecue in the Kansas City tradition.
Chef Roman Raya, who is Mexican-American, runs the kitchen, folding the food he grew up on into that barbecue approach. He and Madeline Buechter, who directs the bar program, own and operate the restaurant together — Raya on the line, Buechter behind the bar most nights. Before Barbacoa, the two were behind Taco Tank, a taco cart and stall that worked festivals, weddings, and brewery crawls around town.
Regulars point to the cocktail program and a level of service dialed-in enough to make the place a go-to for special occasions. It's developed a reputation as a neighborhood destination on Troost — the kind of restaurant locals return to rather than just pass through.
Chef Roman Raya, who is Mexican-American, runs the kitchen, folding the food he grew up on into that barbecue approach. He and Madeline Buechter, who directs the bar program, own and operate the restaurant together — Raya on the line, Buechter behind the bar most nights. Before Barbacoa, the two were behind Taco Tank, a taco cart and stall that worked festivals, weddings, and brewery crawls around town.
Regulars point to the cocktail program and a level of service dialed-in enough to make the place a go-to for special occasions. It's developed a reputation as a neighborhood destination on Troost — the kind of restaurant locals return to rather than just pass through.