A mixed plate at Harp Barbecue included pork ribs, sausage, pulled pork, brisket, slaw, and beans.
Dominick Williams
dowilliams@kcstar.com
A once-loved, now-closed Kansas City-area barbecue restaurant is slathering ribs again — this time in a different format.
Harp Barbecue announced via social media that it will serve its cuisine during a one-day popup at Warehouse on Broadway Sept. 5. The event, beginning at 11 a.m., will feature music from local band Elwood and the Blues Masters.
Fans do not need a ticket for the event to purchase barbecue, according to the Instagram post. Ribs, signature sides, burnt ends and more will be available.
The Star reached out to owner Tyler Harp for comment but did not receive a response before publication.
The event advertised on Harp’s social media pages comes after the closure of his restaurant at 12094 W. 135th St., Overland Park, in late May.
The departure from a physical storefront could be a return to Harp’s roots. The barbecue joint began as a popup in 2019 before opening a permanent spot in Raytown in 2022. It crossed state lines in late 2024. There, Harp told window cleaner and social media influencer Davis Roethler in a video that he faced staffing shortages and fewer customers.
Those issues, along with rising beef prices, led Harp to close his restaurant. At the time it closed, a GoFundMe was created to support Harp’s next steps.
In Roethler’s video, Harp did not indicate what his plans were, though he said barbecue would be part of his life “in one way or another.”
When Harp Barbecue was open, it earned acclaim from Kansas City Magazine as a top BBQ restaurant, as well as a nod from Conde Nast Traveler.
“If KC Barbecue has a New School, the dean might be Tyler Harp,” writer Liz Cook said in the 2025 Conde Nast article.
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Jenna Thompson
The Kansas City Star
Jenna Thompson covers retail news for The Kansas City Star. A native of Lincoln, Nebraska, she previously reported for the Lincoln Journal Star and graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she studied journalism and English.
Dining and Cooking