Newark named best city for barbecue in the northeast

Newark named best BBQ city in the northeast

In what could be described as a controversial choice, a website ranked Newark's barbecue scene ahead of well-known hot spots like Kansas City, Memphis, and anywhere in Texas.

NEW JERSEY - Newark is the best city for barbecue in the northeast, according to a new ranking of the best BBQ cities in America that set off a firestorm on social media this week.

Brick City was ranked as the 10th-best city in the nation for barbecue, just behind Miami in 9th place. New Orleans took top spot, while Oklahoma City and Charlotte rounded out the top 3.

The list, created by the website Chef's Pencil, does not feature well-known barbecue hot spots like Kansas City and Memphis anywhere in the top 10, while four cities from Texas, a state known to take its 'cue deadly serious, made the list for having the "worst" barbecue in the nation.

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News of the rankings did not go over well on social media.

"HahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaDEDhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah," the city of Houston succinctly tweeted in response to the rankings.

According to USA Today, Chef's Pencil was launched by Dutch chef Paul Hegeman in 2009 and used data from TripAdvisor for the ratings.

"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," the site said in a post.

However, Tripadvisor immediately distanced itself from the rankings.

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"We did not make those wild BBQ maps," Tripadvisor tweeted.

Nevertheless, in Newark, people say it's about time the city got recognition for its barbecue scene, especially