 Paola, Kansas' BBQ Shack in Paola, Kansas was one of the youngest restaurants to make KansasTravel.org's listing of Unique Kansas Restaurants. Although the folks with the BBQ Shack have been catering BBQ for many years, this fun little restaurant just opened in May of 2006 and made this list in 2008. The BBQ Shack developed a big reputation in a short period of time. They did that on the strength of friendly people, a cool, interesting little building, and doing an outstanding job smoking meats. They no longer have the cool old building, but everything else is the same. The big reason for visiting Paola's BBQ Shack is the smoked meat. The ribs, brisket and sausage are very good, but the BBQ Shack's chicken wings are outstanding and should be a part of any visit. The wings are first hickory smoked and then deep fried. I usually like lots of sauce on wings, but not on these - I want to taste all of the flavor in the meat. The fairly small wings are served with your choice of blue cheese or ranch dressings. They did have a wonderful garlic/habenero dressing, but it has been discontinued. With a large selection of sides, I have only had a chance to try some of them so far. The crosscut French fries are a average. The Goober baked beans are above average, but frankly I like my own better. The best side dish I have tried so far are Jubal Foster's Corn Nuggets - corn kernels that have been covered in batter and deep fried. I also enjoyed the Fletch's spicy corn on the cobb and the atomic buffalo turds (cored jalapeno peppers stuffed with cream cheese & marinated water chestnuts and wrapped in bacon). The BBQ Shack has three sauces: wimpy, hot and sweet fire. The wimpy doesn't have a lot of flavor and I don't think it stands up to the strong smoky flavor of the meats. The hot is the same with just a little more heat. Sweet fire is a little less hot than I would prefer, but I believe it best compliments the flavor of the meats. In October of 2008, Paola's BBQ Shack moved to the new location shown at the top of this page. For the first two years, the BBQ Shack was in the wonderful old dive shown in the two photos at the bottom of the page. The new building near highway Highway 169 still has the memorabilia with references to the Andy Griffith TV show and Barney Fife. But they are not that noticeable in the larger generic space. The menu has been changed at the new BBQ Shack. Most items are 5-10% more expensive, but still reasonable. The BBQ Shack in Paola still does a large catering business and will even prepare a whole roasted hog on special order.
a larger version of the new menu from August, 2010. 
Breakfest menu served 7AM - 10:30 Saturday & 7AM - Noon Sunday
The BBQ Shack web site
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