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I find it a little odd that Houston's Mexican food would be THAT much better than Chicago's. Doesn't Chicago have the second largest Mexican population in the country? Surely enough of them know how to cook to be at least competitive with a place like Houston.
I think it is a matter of finding places where the natives of any particular ethnicity eat.
I don't think you will beat Mexican food in Pilsen, but it's different from tex-mex.
You're always putting down almost anything Houston has in favor of Chicago.
But it was Houston first that put Vietnamese food on the American food map. This is what America's foremost food critic John Mariani, New Yorker, stated in 1993 Esquire.
Houston has the second or third largest Vietnamese population in America, only behind a California city or two...yet you're going to tell me Chicago has better Viet food than Houston? Really? Especially after I've eaten some pho in Chicago and San Fran?
You take people to eat pho or Vietnamese food in Houston...and wham bang...they say it's better than what they can get in San Francisco or New York or other places.
Do they even have fusion Lousiana-Vietnamese cafes in Chicago? I doubt it!
No, I don't put down everything Houston has in favor of Chicago. I am sure Houston *has* some good food. Since I don't drive, it is not accessible for me.
In Chicago, I could walk to the restaurants I liked (or take the train).
Again, I think you have to be *in* the places where people of particular ethnicities live to get decent food.
I know that when I lived in Uptown where the Vietnamese and Thai population in Chicago were, I found good food. I know that my Indian relatives helped us find the best Indian restaurants and grocery stores. I know that we had wonderful Greek food at Cross Rhodes cooked by people who had lived in Greece in my favorite Evanston restaurant and it was only a short train ride away from my Evanston home. I know that there was another Greek restaurant I could walk to from my house. I know that I cook better Italian food than any served in the restaurants. I know that you can't get a decent bagel in Houston. You don't have anything comparable to Kaufman's Bagel Bakery in Skokie here that I know of. You have nothing that compares to the Pita Inn (great baba ganoush and falafel) or Andies on Clark (wonderful lentil soup). You don't have Chicago Pizza (deep dish and wonderful). As far as I know you don't have a decent Tapas place like Tapas Barcelona in Evanston (Spanish and Basque).
houston kills it and has lots of areas like this in their shopping districts...
Also forgot you had urban neigborhood boutiques like up in Bucktown, Lincoln Park, Lakeview etc. etc.
Oh wait, does Houston even have urban neighborhoods?
Well, because we in Houston are not as dense or totally built like a classical urban city?
Nevertheless, Houston has its own eccentric and varied charms that you will not nominally get out of Chicagoland or any of those other uptight and more pretentious "urban" cities.
What do you get when you drive some 10-20 miles away from the urban Chicago core? Prim and proper places like Naperville? Schaumburg? Or the other end of the spectrum...Gary, Indiana?
More of the same cute "urban scale", like a quieter extension of Chicago? How bland to me.
Heck, in Houston, you can go from classic urban style to semi-rustic in a mere few miles. 20 miles gets us wild and wooly down in Kemah's bawdy Lighthouse bar crawl! See if namby pamby Naperville is like that?
What Houston lacks in density, it does make up for it in the absolute variety of micro-environments in its metro. I like Kemah and the Woodlands because they're close enough...yet far enough to lend a different ambience. Is there any of that contrast between Navy Pier to Chicago's core and adjacent stuff? I didn't think so. It's just too hop on and off, like those London and NY bus tours, which is perfect for tourism. Houston is not a tourist town. Houston is more of connect the dots...and I like that as a resident. This metro always stays interesting.
The Woodlands has an interesting enough layout and surrouding to make it a worthwhile short trip, added with very adjacent Old Town Spring for real contrast. Naperville...is a conventional small downtown, on the other hand. Cute but nothing that interesting on the level of Kemah, Old Town Spring/Woodlands. Convenience is one thing...but contrasting vibe is another.
Here in our fabulous Houston metro we can do classic urban downtown:
Let's see. We can take a 20 mile something drive SE of downtown Houston, to a cool, cool Gulf Coast bar crawl, the likes which you probably won't find in Chicagoland:
Moderator cut: image removed
See if they party like that on the, ahem, Navy Pier. So a 15-20 mile drive from Chicago's urban core gets you what? To Gary, Indiana or to that wacky and tacky, Naperville? Party on people!
Now, 20 some miles to the north of downtown Houston, we can actually have something nice and different from your typical "urban" core...but just as colorful and worthwhile! Can 20 miles north of Chicago's urban core get you this?
Chicago has lots of eclectic bookstores and used book stores. Not just chains like Barnes and Noble, Borders and Half Price Books. I love Women and Children First on Clark Street, Bookman's Alley in Evanston, Saki on Fullerton.
I love the libraries - especially the Skokie Public Library. The Evanston public library was a longish walk from my house, but an easy one. The Harold Washington Library is an impressive building even without taking into account the large book collection.
There is nothing anywhere like the Neofuturians. Improv Everywhere has about 1400 members in Chicago. Houston has around 200 members. Not sure if either group has anything in the works though.
Chicago gets all kinds of theater from the big musicals to the little out of the way performances. Chicago has several nice venues for Independent films. Houston had a few, but one of them just closed.
Chicago has the Museum of Science and Industry, the Shedd Aquarium (Houston's downtown aquarium cannot compare to this), the Field Museum of Natural History (again, I like Houston's but it does not compare). There are several Children's Museums - Houston's cannot compare to the one at Navy Pier or even the one in Glenview, IL
I love the bike paths along the Lake front. I love walking for miles and hearing different languages and watching the people.
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
10,138 posts, read 16,035,535 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nana053
Chicago has the Museum of Science and Industry, the Shedd Aquarium (Houston's downtown aquarium cannot compare to this), the Field Museum of Natural History (again, I like Houston's but it does not compare). There are several Children's Museums - Houston's cannot compare to the one at Navy Pier or even the one in Glenview, IL
I've been reading your posts. I was born and partially raised in Chicago, presently I live in both cities. If there was something that I loved exceptionally in Chicago that I couldn't find in Houston, then I wouldn't even bother defending Houston or care for it. But on the real, all that matters can be found in both, which is why I like them both. One thing I really wish Houston had, and many cities envy this about Chicago is the beautiful lake front on Lake Michigan with a powerful and towering skyline.
Again though going back to your post (s), I don't think you have seen every part of Houston or tried looking for out of the box places. Seriously, as a food junkie (and no I'm not fat) there is truly no way on Earth Chicago compares to Houston, at all when it comes to Mexican food. You can debate that 100 ways to Sunday but all it is are words, the "I prefer" or "I think" type of words. That is the EXACT same as someone from New York trying to compare their Mexican food to Los Angeles. It doesn't work that way, and I've tried multiple places in Chicago, hell I've looked and searched (A LOT), yeah had to take time out to search for it to find exceptionally good Mexican places in Chicago.
Houston's Downtown Aquarium? What a joke, they only have that as a side attraction for "things to do downtown" the real aquarium for Houston is at Moody Gardens, and it totally can stack up to Chicago, because well its an aquarium on the coast, with coastal animals, and lots of the theme focuses on that. The Aquarium at Kemah can be a great thrilling experience also.
I'll give you a lot of the credits, but I do think you are understating one city to boost another, whether intentional or on purpose.
I do agree wholeheartedly that Chicago has amazing museums, I look for that in a city, and I would say the best in the whole country from the places I've been are Washington DC, Boston, Chicago, & New York City.
Last edited by DANNYY; 01-04-2011 at 01:01 AM..
Reason: Tweak.
No, I don't put down everything Houston has in favor of Chicago. I am sure Houston *has* some good food. Since I don't drive, it is not accessible for me.
In Chicago, I could walk to the restaurants I liked (or take the train).
Again, I think you have to be *in* the places where people of particular ethnicities live to get decent food.
I know that when I lived in Uptown where the Vietnamese and Thai population in Chicago were, I found good food. I know that my Indian relatives helped us find the best Indian restaurants and grocery stores. I know that we had wonderful Greek food at Cross Rhodes cooked by people who had lived in Greece in my favorite Evanston restaurant and it was only a short train ride away from my Evanston home. I know that there was another Greek restaurant I could walk to from my house. I know that I cook better Italian food than any served in the restaurants. I know that you can't get a decent bagel in Houston. You don't have anything comparable to Kaufman's Bagel Bakery in Skokie here that I know of. You have nothing that compares to the Pita Inn (great baba ganoush and falafel) or Andies on Clark (wonderful lentil soup). You don't have Chicago Pizza (deep dish and wonderful). As far as I know you don't have a decent Tapas place like Tapas Barcelona in Evanston (Spanish and Basque).
By your own admission, you cannot access what's here in Houston. I've eaten food from Amsterdam to London to San Fran to Chicago to Buffalo to El Paso to Manila. And I eat out quite a bit here in Houston.
So you are sure Houston only "has" some good food even though you do not drive, cannot get to it? Therefore Chicago is thus inherently superior. Okaaaay.
Interesting wholly subjective counter-post. Yep, yep, everything must be better because it's in Chitown...even the suburbs have better than Houston, lol.
Yah, ok, other than Greek, deep-dish and bread products...much of the rest is debatable. (Not like you can't find a decent deep dish or Greek place in Houston...then again the Greek bars and lounges in Houston are SUPERB.)
Tex-Mex is simply a rave with visitors to Texas AS WELL as residents. Typically only some few whiny Northerners can't live without bagels down here. Hardly anyone looks for bagels in Houston.
As it is, see if we can find decent and varied kolaches in Chitown on the level of Houston's and other parts of Central Texas. The kolache is something of a culinary art form perfected in Texas via the great Czech ancestors.
How are the gumbo, boudin and jambalaya up in Chitown compared to the Houston area's? I wouldn't trade that gunk for Houston's Louisiana connection.
But yeah, because someone up there can plop out some gumbo somewhere in Chitown...it's gotta be better than anything in Houston, right? Even Evanston has better cajun food than Houston?
And moreover, how about the suya? Despite the fact Houston has the largest Nigerian population in America, somewhere Chicago's suburbs have better suya than Houston, if we follow the logic.
Yep.
Seriously, the general ethnic foods like Salvadoran, Pakistani, Colombian, Guatemalan, Ethiopian, Filipino and such...with a healthy number in both Chicago and Houston...how can you seriously say Chicago simply wins out in "ethnic food"?
Chicago has its niche foods...I've eaten deep dish pizzas up in Des Plaines and Rush St. and it's better than what Houston (and San Diego and L.A. and Tampa Bay) can offer.
But Houston has much more varied and better Vietnamese food than Chicago and just about every other US city except Westminster, CA. And even SoCal lacks the fusion Louisiana-Vietnamese cafes of Houston!
I went to 3 three pho restaurants in the Bay Area circa 2003-2004...and I laughed at the quality. They give a few strands of bean sprouts? On top of stuff that tasted like hot water salted with heavy MSG? C'mon. San Fran does not have better pho than Houston.
Sorry, but Chicago does not win out in every food category.
Well, because we in Houston are not as dense or totally built like a classical urban city?
Nevertheless, Houston has its own eccentric and varied charms that you will not nominally get out of Chicagoland or any of those other uptight and more pretentious "urban" cities.
What do you get when you drive some 10-20 miles away from the urban Chicago core? Prim and proper places like Naperville? Schaumburg? Or the other end of the spectrum...Gary, Indiana?
More of the same cute "urban scale", like a quieter extension of Chicago? How bland to me.
Heck, in Houston, you can go from classic urban style to semi-rustic in a mere few miles. 20 miles gets us wild and wooly down in Kemah's bawdy Lighthouse bar crawl! See if namby pamby Naperville is like that?
Here in our fabulous Houston metro we can do classic urban downtown:
to low rise funky a mere shadow from downtown:
Let's see. We can take a 20 mile something drive SE of downtown Houston, to a cool, cool Gulf Coast bar crawl, the likes which you probably won't find in Chicagoland:
See if they party like that on the, ahem, Navy Pier. So a 15-20 mile drive from Chicago's urban core gets you what? To Gary, Indiana or to that wacky and tacky, Naperville? Party on people!
Now, 20 some miles to the north of downtown Houston, we can actually have something nice and different from your typical "urban" core...but just as colorful and worthwhile! Can 20 miles north of Chicago's urban core get you this?
We still have cool amenties in Houston. And you know what, they don't have to look like Chicago's.
These pictures make me feel sorry for the men of Houston.
Chicagoans mostly have to stay in their urban core for all the fun stuff
Crap, I haven't been having fun then?
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Interesting wholly subjective counter-post. Yep, yep, everything must be better because it's in Chitown...even the suburbs have better than Houston, lol.
Hardly anyone looks for bagels in Houston.
