Is a Lexington barbecue restaurant the best in the country? According to one list, yes.
A list published online this week of the best and worse places in the country for barbecue ranks a popular Lexington restaurant as the best BBQ restaurant in the nation.
Blue Door Smokehouse, 226 Walton Ave., is “the most reviewed 5-star rated BBQ joint,” according to Chefspencil.com, which posted its findings on May 12.
According to the site, they analyzed ratings on Tripadvisor of “all BBQ joints in the nation’s top 75 largest cities and ranked the cities based on their average rating. ... Overall, our team has analyzed 2,020 places offering BBQ on their menu that had at least 5 reviews.”
By that methodology, Blue Door Smokehouse got top marks, the study said.
“There are many restaurants with a perfect 5 rating, so we used the number of reviews as a differentiating factor. Consistency in offering a top-level service and high-quality food is after all the key in succeeding in the highly competitive restaurant industry,” they wrote in the post.
Blue Door shared the good news on its Facebook page, saying “What an absolute honor seeing our name in this article! We have worked very hard over the last seven years to bring you our very best, and we thank everyone for the support!”
And fans of Blue Door’s smoked brisket and pulled pork chimed in, saying the honor was well-deserved.
In just seven years, Blue Door has built a following. Customers readily line up out the door for a chance to get a plate of smoked meats and delicious sides. And they know to get their early because owners Jeff Newman and Jon Rigsby only cook so much each day and when it is gone, it is gone.
“We still kind of consider ourselves small and hole in the wall,” Newman said Friday. “We’re definitely popular around town but we really like to hear people say, ‘I’ve never heard of you before,’ because that means there are people who can still become a customer.”
He said everyday they smoke hundreds of pounds of beef and pork overnight and do their best to make sure nobody goes away hungry. Weekends, particularly when Keeneland and UK football have tailgating, can be a different story, he said. “It’s pretty much guaranteed to sell out early.”
Newman said they were surprised but happy to make the list.
“We like our little quiet corner here, where we focus on quality of food and quality of service,” he said. “But we love having any kind of recognition, and it’s great to know people appreciate what we do.”
Ranking BBQ cities
In the ranking of best BBQ cities, Lexington came in at No. 24 in America and Louisville was tied at No. 14, with San Diego, Calif.
Nobody disputes Blue Door’s barbecue chops but the map and the rest of the Chef’s Pencil list have been drawing fire all over the country from cities traditionally known for BBQ.
▪ From Kansas City, which was ranked as having the 39th best BBQ in the county: “Dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of.”
▪ From Memphis, which didn’t make the top 10 either: “Ouch. Memphis not a ‘top city’ for barbecue.”
▪ From Texas: “Texas barbecue is worst in country, says obscure website. No one agrees.”
▪ And from USA Today, speaking for the rest of the country: “Throw the whole map away.”
Best cities for barbecue in the U.S.
- New Orleans, LA
- Oklahoma City, OK
- Charlotte, NC, Wichita, KS (tie)
- Virginia Beach, VA
- Columbus, OH
- Seattle, WA
- St. Louis, MO
- Miami, FL, Newark, NJ (tie)
Worst cities for barbecue in the U.S.
According to Chefspencil.com.
- Anchorage, AK
- Plano, TX
- Boston, MA
- San Antonio, TX
- Aurora, CO
- Jacksonville, FL
- Houston, TX
- Philadelphia, PA
- Omaha, NE
- Fort Worth, TX
What Tripadvisor says about BBQ restaurant rankings
Tripadvisor has distanced itself from the controversy, issuing a statement that says: “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.”
In 2015, Tripadvisor released its own barbecue cities and restaurants rankings (Kentucky didn’t make either top 10) but the travel site has never done it again.
Maybe the topic was just too hot.
This story was originally published May 14, 2021 at 1:49 PM.
