To celebrate National Barbecue Day on May 16, the ratings aggregator Yelp dove into our collective words on barbecue across the country to determine the 10 cities with the best barbecue. And we sighed really hard after reading it. The thing about general aggregators is that, for better or worse, they miss a lot.
But we do agree with the top of the list: the No. 1 best-of-the-best barbecue city in America is, according to Yelp, Austin. No booing here. We agree that this valedictorian of smoked meats and neighbor down Interstate 35 has a long list of iconic spots, from Franklin Barbecue to Michelin-rated La Barbecue and Interstellar. To be sure, there are some solid smoke rings here.
San Antonio is second on the list with the top-rated joints like Curry Boys BBQ, which is introduced by Yelp Elite 25 reviewer Brett N. with this simple description: “Thai. BBQ. Tex-Mex. Three of my favorite things in life – all under one roof.”…