An international food site messed with Texas when it excluded the entire state from its list of best barbecue cities in America.
Chef's Pencil made matters even worse when it said Plano, San Antonio, Houston, and "Forth Worth" had some of the worst barbecue in the nation.
The site published their list on May 12, but it can no longer be found on its website. However, the rankings can still be found on social media.
Of course, the list was mocked by Texans everywhere and by anyone with taste buds. Former San Antonio mayor Julian Castro called the rankings a joke while others kindly fixed the map for Chef's Pencil.
Chef's Pencil was also called out for excluding non-Texas barbecue hot spots like Kansas City, Missouri, and Memphis, Tennessee.
The site said their rankings were based by data from TripAdvisor, but the well-known travel website wanted no part of it.
"This has done significant brand damage to us," Brian Hoyt, head of global communications and industry affairs at TripAdvisor, told mySA.com.
TripAdvisor has its own in-house data scientists who crunch the numbers behind their best of lists. Hoyt said the travel website has no idea how Chef's Pencil came up with its list.
"As far as we know, these are two guys in a garage in Australia. They're using our data, but misappropriating it," he said.
If Chef's Pencil's plan was to anger an entire state, it succeed. If not, "we think it owes the state of Texas a big apology," said Hoyt.
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