KANSAS CITY (AP) – President Barack Obama feasted on barbecue with four people who wrote him letters in a trip to highlight the struggles of working families in America’s heartland.

Obama’s dinner was at Arthur Bryant’s, a Kansas City self-serve barbecue joint. The president ordered a half slab of ribs, beans, lard-cooked fries and a Bud Light, but was disappointed to hear the restaurant was sold out of cole slaw.

The White House said the Kansas City letter writers included a man who thanked Obama for student loan help he received, a single mother who described her challenges raising children and running a business, a teacher in a GED program and a woman who is active in her neighborhood association.

The dinner came roughly 48 hours before Congress is set to go on a five-week break. Obama plans to criticize Congress for inaction in a speech Wednesday at the historic Uptown Theater in Kansas City.