Best barbecue cities in U.S.? New Orleans, yes, but not Kansas City, says this list
It’s National Barbecue Month, and to celebrate, Chef’s Pencil set out to rank “America’s Best & Worst Cities for BBQ.”
With more than 100 area barbecues — some longtime and nationally recognized — Kansas City is a shoo-in for one of the lead spots, right?
Didn’t even crack the top 20.
New Orleans came in first (we love your gumbo and beignets but have you ever made a top barbecue list? Ever?). Next came Oklahoma City. Tied for third: Wichita; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Virginia Beach, Virginia. Chef’s Pencil put those rankings under “interesting findings.”
Kansas City’s ranking? No. 39, right behind Dallas. And St. Louis ranked No. 8.
On its website, Chef’s Pencil — we hadn’t heard of it either — says it is an international foodie magazine launched in 2009 by Paul Hegeman, a Dutch chef based in Sydney, Australia. So maybe he’s never visited Kansas City.
The magazine says it analyzed Tripadvisor ratings for all the barbecue joints in the nation’s top 75 largest cities and then ranked the cities based on their average rating. It also ranked the cities by the number of barbecue places per capita, as well as those with the highest number of top-rated barbecue eateries.
“Few other topics generate as much fierce debate as the humble BBQ. How to make a great BBQ or where to enjoy the best in the country can quickly spiral into a very heated conversation,” Chef’s Pencil says.
Indeed.
Among Facebook comments to the article: “Ummm Kansas City is known for BBQ and we didn’t even make top 10?? You guys must have never been to KC lol!” and “Kansas City not on this list? Seriously?”
When asked about the ranking on Thursday, Tripadvisor said: “Tripadvisor has no association with this BBQ study presented by Chef’s Pencil. In fact, we have concerns about the use of and presentation of Tripadvisor data within the study, inclusive of how they ranked cities against each other.”
Earlier this year, Fiorella’s Jack Stack Barbecue made Yelp’s list of the “Top 100 Places to Eat in 2021.” Thrillist had two area barbecues on its 2019 list of “The 33 Best BBQ Joints in America” list — Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que and LC’s Bar-B-Q.
And yet according to Chef’s Pencil, Chicago, Los Angeles and Austin, Texas, had the highest number of top-rated barbecues. Wichita and Columbus, Ohio, are the top-rated barbecue cities in the Midwest, and Newark, New Jersey, is the best in the Northeast.
“Wichita is a foodie paradise and BBQ is one of its trademark foods,” Chef’s Pencil opines. The city’s restaurants average a score of 4.25, ranks just below Oklahoma City (4.26) and well ahead of state rival Kansas City (score 4.04).”
Anchorage, Boston and Plano, Texas, rank as the worst cities for barbecue in America.
Some of the snark on Twitter:
“No Memphis, No Kansas City, No Texas cities????”
“This has genuinely made me mad lol. WHO is saying ‘let’s go to Seattle for barbecue?’ ‘I’ve got a hankering for some ‘cue. Let’s hit up Newark.’ ‘You visiting Miami? Make sure you get some barbecue.’”
“The funniest thing here is including new orleans, a town that does not offer good barbecue. it’s one of a handful of things, including pizza and hamburgers, that we mostly don’t do well.”
