ST. LOUIS — Folks take tremendous pride in their barbecue. They take it personally. Where you grow up usually defines your preferences — in sauce, smoke, cuts of meat, types of wood.
There are capitals of barbecue, places that lay claim to the methods, flavors and culture.
The latest attempt to organize, categorize and rank these sacred landmarks of barbecue has been unveiled, and the results were... um, interesting.
The website chefspencil.com, in a nod to National Barbecue Month, "celebrates this favored pastime that has become deeply rooted in American culture" and has turned to TripAdvisor to do the legwork.
Chef's Pencil indicated right off the grill that it knew it was wading into some dangerously spicy sauce. "How to make a great BBQ or where to enjoy the best in the country can quickly spiral into a very heated conversation," it explained.
Oh, how quickly the spiraling began.
TripAdvisor sizes up BBQ USA
The rules, as laid out by Chef's Pencil: "We analyzed TripAdvisor ratings of all BBQ joints in the nation’s top 75 largest cities and ranked the cities based on their average rating." Oh, right.
St. Louis at No. 8? Yes, but ahead of Newark and Miami. Hey, that's notable.
One of my bosses rage emailed: "I’m free to do an hour podcast on why Memphis at #10 is insanity. AND ON THE WEEKEND OF BBQ FEST??????? #MyMemphis"
New Orleans No. 1?
A 5 On Your Side anchor, who will go unnamed so as to not invite the population of The Big Easy on his case, chimed in: "And I love New Orleans but what bbq do they even claim?"
Then another: "And where is Kansas City? Where bbq was born."
Indeed, isn't Kansas City the cradle of barbecue? Is it possible the Travel Advisors didn't try the burnt ends? I mean, there's a barbecue sauce named after KC, for Andy Reid's sake, and the flavor's so popular they use it on barbecue potato chips.
No offense, but what do Oklahoma City, Wichita and Columbus have that Kansas City and Memphis don't?
Interesting findings (theirs, not ours):
- New Orleans (1st) and Oklahoma City (2nd) rank as the best cities for BBQ in America. St. Louis ranked 8th nationwide.
- Anchorage, Plano, and Boston rank as the worst cities for BBQ in America.
- Among the nation’s largest 75 cities, Orlando, St. Louis, and Honolulu have the most BBQ joints per capita.
- Chicago, Los Angeles, and Austin are the cities with the highest number of top-rated BBQ joints (rated 4.5 stars and higher). St. Louis ranks 7th in this regard.
- San Antonio, Houston, and Memphis have the highest number of low-rated BBQ joints (rated 3 stars and lower).
- Blue Door Smokehouse in Lexington, Kentucky is the best BBQ restaurant in the nation, being the most reviewed 5-star rated BBQ joint.
Please see a link to the full report below: