'When it comes to barbecue, Kansas City still rules'

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Joe's Kansas City was among several Kansas City area restaurants to receive kudos from CNN's barbecue experts.

Leslie Collins

Web Producer- Kansas City Business Journal

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CNN ranked the top 12 “best meat cities" in America, and Kansas City earned a prime spot.

For years, Kansas City has been honing its craft, and it's now home to more than 100 barbecue restaurants. More than 30 barbecue related events are held each year, and the annual American Royal World Series of Barbecue alone attracts more than 500 teams from around the globe.

RELATED: The King of BBQ: Restaurants preserve, perpetuate KC's reputation

To determine the top meat cities, CNN turned to nine barbecue, beef and burger experts and also looked at per capita meat consumption, the number of steakhouses and the number of annual barbecue related events.

Kansas City ranked No. 2 on the list, coming in behind New York City. Kansas City beat Austin, Chicago and Memphis.

CNN noted that Kansas City focuses on “tried and true methods" of meat preparation and also is home to burnt ends. Several restaurants received kudos for their burnt ends, including Joe's Kansas City, Quick's Bar-B-Q and LC's Bar-B-Q, to name a few.

According to one expert, “When it comes to barbecue, Kansas City still rules."

RELATED: The lineage of KC's barbecue tradition

Leslie covers retail and restaurants, and creates Web stories and other online content.