Is New York the Best Meat City in America?

meat city
Peter Luger Steahouse

Whenever we tell people that we meet when traveling that we’re from NYC or Brooklyn, more often then not they mention how they love the city and would love to visit again some day.

Why do people love New York so much? It could be due to the shopping, Broadway shows, Central Park or maybe even the since it is the home of the NY Mets. (OK, I’m willing to bet that it isn’t for my last reason!)

I just came across another reason why people might want to visit New York.

CNN came out with a slideshow a few days back with the 12 Best Meat Cities In America and to my surprise NYC came out on top!

Now I know that my hometown has amazing food and a wide variety of places to chow down. However, when I think of New York, I think pizza, not meat.

After reading about why NYC came in first, it made a bit more sense. Of the places mentioned by CNN, I’ve been to all but 2 of them and they are all fantastic. The city has had great steakhouses for years, awesome delis, hot dogs and an overwhelming amount of places to get great burgers.

meat city
Katz’s Deli
meat city
Hometown Bar-B-Que

The biggest change in recent years that led to placing NYC at the top, is mostly likely the amount of awesome, new barbecue restaurants, especially in Brooklyn. CNN mentions “Once a barbecue wasteland, New York’s now a hotbed of great restaurants propelled by the recent rise of Brooklyn barbecue”.

Here is CNN’s list of Top 12 Meat Cities in America:

  1. New York City
  2. Kansas City, Missouri
  3. Chicago
  4. Austin, Texas
  5. Lexington, North Carolina
  6. Los Angeles
  7. Memphis, Tennessee
  8. Philadelphia
  9. Tampa, Florida
  10. Las Vegas
  11. Fort Worth, Texas
  12. Omaha, Nebraska

Besides NYC, I had a chance to try out lots of the meaty offerings in Kansas City a few months back. The barbecue was awesome and we also had some really good burgers. In Philadelphia I’ve also enjoyed many of their famous cheese steaks and had burgers at some excellent places.

What would you consider to be the best meat city in America?

Find out about each of the 12 Best Meat Cities in America here.

6 thoughts on “Is New York the Best Meat City in America?

  1. antignos- It does seem like most hotesl/ casinos in Vegas have a list of top restaurants. Probably a big draw…

    Hiker T- HAHAH For sure and at great prices most of the time!

    Matt B- Vegas has lots of great steakhouses. I know of at least one in Tampa, didn’t eat there so I can’t judge it or LA for that matter.

    eponymous coward- Exacty.

    Chi-Town- I sense some bias here! Chicago is a great city but I’m not sure that I’d call it the best. (BTW- you forgot to mention the pizza.)

  2. Chicago has to be the best city in the USA for multiple reasons from the meat restaurants, the architecture, access to theater (there are more in Chicago than NYC), the cleanliness and most of all the kindness of people.

    1. Vegas gets it because of the obligatory steakhouse attached to every casino, with a number of them being quite good.

  3. I can’t imagine a city with more top line steak houses than Las Vegas to be honest. Only in Vegas does a restaurant not have to stand on it’s own merits financially.

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