Dayne's Craft Barbecue
Does this look like a plate from the 79th best barbecue city in America? We'll answer for you. Hell no.
In the current clickbaity, listicle-loving, pot-stirring world of content creation that enjoys ranking everything from greatest basketball players to safest cities to live, how does one decipher whether one of these lists is legitimate or definitive? Well, when such an article attempts to rank the best barbecue cities in America and places Fort Worth at No. 79, it’s a dead giveaway. Said article is unauthorized, unsanctioned, and full of [insert manure metaphor here].
We get these pitches and media shares every now and then from random content creators wishing to up their clicks. And we suspect most city magazines are on their mailing lists. While we typically ignore such emails, we occasionally bite. It is fun content, after all — and yeah, in this case, we totally clicked it and are now sharing it. They win.
The article in question, “2025’s Best BBQ Cities in America,” is a ranking compiled by LawnStarter — hardly a definitive source for BBQ aficionados — using vague criteria around access, quality, competition awards, and elite BBQ memberships. Their sources? American Royal (Kansas City-based), Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (okay?), Jack Daniel’s (hmm), Kansas City Barbeque Society (KC getting a lot of love), The Lynchburg Times, Memphis in May, National Barbecue & Grilling Association (Georgia-based), and, of course, TripAdvisor and Yelp. Nowhere to be found: our friends at Texas Monthly, who recently listed two Fort Worth restaurants among their top 10 barbecue joints in Texas.
So, it’s no wonder Kansas City comes out on top, ranking numero uno in competition awards and elite BBQ memberships. Los Angeles (yeah, California) comes in at No. 2 and Houston rounds out the top 3 — no doubt thanks to their city’s rodeo nabbing a spot on the highly exclusive list of sources.
According to LawnStarter, Austin placed fifth, San Antonio 11th, and Dallas 13th. And Texas’ other big city whose nickname happens to be the main source of brisket, Cowtown, came in at No. 79, sitting snuggly between Cleveland and Grand Rapids, Michigan, who Fort Worth barely edged out to remain in the coveted top 80.
Other cities whose barbecue scenes top Fort Worth’s, again, according to LawnStarter, include Springfield, Missouri; Duluth, Minnesota; Daytona Beach; Des Moines, Iowa; Honolulu; Milwaukee; and fellow Texas towns Midland and freaking Waco.
We know barbecue is having a moment and becoming a popular cuisine, well, everywhere. But come on. We're gonna go ahead and presume their sources have yet to try Goldee’s, Panther City, Dayne’s, Heim, Angelo’s, Railhead, Smoke-A-Holics, etc., etc., etc.
We shouldn’t care; it’s a silly list. But we gotta let off a little steam every now and then.
