OKC Ranked #2 Best BBQ City In USA

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TwoForFlinching

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We did it boys... We beat Texas!

https://www.chefspencil.com/americas-best-cities-for-bbq/

It's May and for Americans, that means it’s National Barbecue Month. Founded in 1963 by the Barbecue Council, National Barbecue Month celebrates this favored pastime that has become deeply rooted in American culture.

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.

Knowing these debates will flame around the grill in the coming weeks, we turned to TripAdvisor to find out which cities are the best for enjoying a fantastic BBQ. 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.

We also ranked the cities by the number of BBQ places per capita, as well as those with the highest number of top-rated BBQ places (rating 4.5 and higher).

Overall, our team has analyzed 2,020 places offering BBQ on their menu that had at least 5 reviews. From the final rankings, we excluded cities with less than 10 BBQ restaurants within their city limits (BBQ joints outside the city limits were not included in our analysis.)

  • New Orleans (1st) and Oklahoma City (2nd) rank as the best cities for BBQ in America.
  • With a score of 4.25, Charlotte, Wichita, and Virginia Beach tie in 3rd spot.
  • 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).
  • 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.
  • Wichita and Columbus are the top-rated cities in the Midwest.
  • Seattle and Portland are the top-rated cities in the West.
  • Newark is the best place to enjoy a barbecue in the North East.
Worst Places to Have BBQ in America
It’s not that you can’t find great BBQ in places like Anchorage, Plano, Boston or San Antonio, but you really need to choose well or you may not like what you get. In Anchorage and Plano, you are more likely to step into an average BBQ restaurant than into a great one, as there are more places rated 3.5 stars and below than there are places rated 4 stars and above. In Boston the odds are on your side, but not by much.

San Antonio and Houston are surprising entries among the worst cities for BBQ in the nation. Both cities are well known for their amazing food culture, which may have something to do with this bad overall rating.

The two cities have some of the highest numbers of BBQ places in the nation: Houston is actually first while San Antonio is 3rd. You can have incredible BBQ in both Houston and San Antonio, evidenced by the high number of highly-rated BBQ places – 67 in Houston and 50 in San Antonio. But there are also quite a lot of low to average-rated places too. More choice doesn’t always mean better choice, so do your research beforehand.
 

CharlieWH2O

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New Orleans? I'll admit BBQ Shrimp (which has nothing to do with a BBQ) is amongst my fave but I cannot recall visiting or evening seeing a BBQ in the New Orleans area in my numerous visits there. Wichita? This does not equate.
 

n423

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Yeeeeeaaaahhh!! :clap3::laugh6::thumbup3: Kansas City and Memphis are some great BBQ places also...

I like my own best, been smokin' meats since the 70's. I had a smoker on a trailer. My step dad had a welder make from scratch.
 
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Blue Heeler

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Best BBQ restaurant I have ever been to ... Memphis BBQ, Horn Lake, MS.

Lot of bad ones ... that kettle cook their meat. Too Yankee for my taste.
 

Hodrod

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I love BBQ....when I lived in Texas we prided ourselves on being the best by far.....now that I'm an Okie I say its fun to beat Texas at their own game.....:clap3:
 

BallisticGuy

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I’ve lost faith in polls. Then again, I smoked a perfect Mother’s Day brisket so there might be some accuracy there. I burn nothing but hickory and pecan on my stick burner!
 

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