We asked the Chiefs to name favorite Kansas City restaurants. BBQ, of course, and more

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We asked Kansas City Chiefs players to name their favorite meals at local restaurants, and their choices should surprise no one. This bunch favors/craves/gushes about protein. And in Kansas City, that means barbecue.

“My favorite restaurant here is Jack Stack for sure. Barbecue. Love barbecue,” offensive lineman Creed Humphrey told The Star after a recent practice. Humphrey played football at the University of Oklahoma after a standout high school wrestling career.

“You know, that’s been probably my favorite type of food my whole life. So coming to KC was awesome for that.

“But really, burnt ends are my thing. Their cheesy corn, too.”

The admiration is mutual. Jack Stack, which has six locations in the metro, named a supersized meal after Humphrey — the “52’s KC ‘Cue.”

It comes with “pork spare ribs, fire-kissed wings, beef burnt ends, hickory pit beans, cheesy corn bake and a Creed Humphrey glass.” The $60 feast serves three to four people, or one NFL player.

Rookie cornerback Trent McDuffie is partial to the burnt ends at Char Bar, 4050 Pennsylvania Ave. in Westport, which he called “banger.” The $22 “naked burnt ends” are one of the restaurant’s signature meals.

“But I think their ribs are also on top of the list,” McDuffie said.

Fellow rookie, defensive end George Karlaftis, prefers Q39’s barbecue. The restaurant has two locations: 1000 W. 39th St. in midtown and 11051 Antioch Road in Overland Park.

“Favorite restaurant? Probably Q39 out here, go down to it a lot, and favorite dish from there? I’d say the poutine, the brisket poutine. That’s really good,” said Karlaftis, who was born in Athens, Greece.

The restaurant suggests that an alternative name for its Smoked Beef Brisket Poutine ($13) appetizer is French Fry Salad.

Poutine comes from Canada, and Q39’s version has crispy fries in a bowl, covered with beef brisket gravy, chopped brisket, white cheddar cheese curds, barbecue sauce and chives.

Defensive end Michael Danna’s favorite restaurants serve food for the soul: GJ Fish and Chicken, 6807 Longview Road, and Peachtree Restaurant & Cafeteria, 6800 Eastwood Trafficway and 2128 E. 12th St.

At Peachtree, he orders “the meatloaf or the five-wing dinner with two sides, the yams and mac and cheese, a little peach cobbler on the side there.”

At GJ’s, he orders 10 to 12 wings “with the little lemon pepper seasoning on it with the side,” he said.

Some players prefer homestyle food. Literally.

“My favorite restaurant out here is probably my house,” said wide receiver Marquez Reshard Valdes-Scantling. “My favorite dish is whatever I cook.”

Fellow wide receiver Justin Watson’s wife is a vegan, but he is not. So when they dine out, “I got to go someplace, you know, where we can both eat,” Watson said.

In Kansas City, they like to eat at The West Side Local, 1663 Summit St.

“I mean, everything’s fresh, you know, It’s one of a kind. They got a great pasta dish that I love,” he said. “So we’ll split the pasta dish and usually something else.”

The restaurant’s veggie penne pasta ($17) comes with a medley of vegetables with a roasted tomato-coconut sauce.

It would be a coin toss whether Watson could get quarterback Patrick Mahomes to join him in a bowl of veggies.

We weren’t able to talk to Mahomes about his favorite restaurants in town, though we bet it would sound like this: “What a burger!”

But two years ago, before the burger chain came to town, the food delivery service Postmates gave the public a peek into the star quarterback’s eating habits.

The company revealed the top five meals Mahomes had ordered in Kansas City since signing up with Postmates in 2018.

Veggies?

“Greens are not my favorite but I have to eat them so I make it work,” he told Postmates then.

His go-to meals and restaurants included:

▪ Prime rib with mashed Yukon Gold potatoes from Rye KC.

▪ Z-Man sandwich with french fries from Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que.

▪ Grilled chicken sandwich with cheddar cheese from Potbelly Sandwich Shop — one of his most-ordered pregame meals.

▪ Burrito bowl from Chipotle.

▪ Chicken biscuit at Chick-fil-A.

After the Chiefs won Super Bowl LIV in 2020 Mahomes ordered two Cookies & Cream milkshakes from Chick-fil-A, 630 calories of handspun yummy topped with whipped cream and a cherry.