Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Right, but still compared to other cities (the LA, NYC, SF, Chicago, etc) it has a ways to go in that category still. Improvement is always good, but let's not overrate compared to other places that have been long established in this arena and have kept up the quality or improved themselves.
I don’t think it rates with those cities or New Orleans, but it definitely belongs in that next tier. I will say, personally, I have hit enjoyed dining in Miami more than Los Angeles. Granted I have not spent nearly as much time in LA, but I’m inclined to say that it might be slightly overrated. Not that LA isn’t excellent, but the rest of the country seems to be catching up on Mexican and the various Asian cuisines.
I don’t think it rates with those cities or New Orleans, but it definitely belongs in that next tier. I will say, personally, I have hit enjoyed dining in Miami more than Los Angeles. Granted I have not spent nearly as much time in LA, but I’m inclined to say that it might be slightly overrated. Not that LA isn’t excellent, but the rest of the country seems to be catching up on Mexican and the various Asian cuisines.
Yes, I think Vegas belongs in 2nd or 3rd tier, but it's not top 5 all things considered IMO. I like Miami food, but again that's because I'm a sucker for Peruvian, Colombian, Brazilian, Trini, etc food. It's amongst the top in those categories for sure, but all things considered yeah. Interestingly I read an article recently about the Chinese middle class buying more places in the Miami area. Will be interesting to see if that increases the numbers. Miami area is currently 17th in Chinese population behind (in order): NYC, Los Angeles, SF, San Jose, Boston, Chicago, DC, Seattle, Houston, Philadelphia, Sacramento, San Diego, Dallas, Riverside (CA), Honolulu, and Atlanta.
Location: Miami (prev. NY, Atlanta, SF, OC and San Diego)
7,409 posts, read 6,550,878 times
Reputation: 6685
I, too, never said nor think Miami competes with the top 2-4 food cities but it definitely is in the top 6-10 slot.
Keep in mind Miami is a bit younger than the top 3-4 cities, having just celebrated its 100th birthday a few years ago and only fairly recently evolved from a hick town from 30 years ago that my grandfather from Long Island escaped to for a seasonal winter retreat. It’s food scene has evolved considerably within the past 10-15 years and, as stated, is not just Latin cuisine and seafood. Within the most recent years (1) several established and/or high end European restos have chosen to open their first ever US outpost and chose Miami; (2) many established, including high end, NYC , DC and Philly restaurants and/or restauranteurs have opened up outposts here as the city has become a year round destination. Heck, Thomas Keller (French Laundry and Per Se fame) even set up shop here recently. He may not be here full time but Surf Club at Four Seasons is not a watered down in name only “Wolfgang Puck Cafe Express at airports” effort either.
With all that has happened this century I look forward to the next 10-20 years. There is a marketing outreach to wealthy Turks and Chinese by real estate developers so maybe those cuisines will improve here in the near future as more residents from those countries relocate here and restaurants sprout up to satisfy their, and local residents, needs. Ditto for those fleeing high SALT states who relocate here and demand and pay for quality.
Last edited by elchevere; 01-20-2019 at 10:27 AM..
I, too, never said nor think Miami competes with the top 2-4 food cities but it definitely is in the top 6-10 slot.
Keep in mind Miami is a bit younger than the top 3-4 cities, having just celebrated its 100th birthday a few years ago and only fairly recently evolved from a hick town from 30 years ago that my grandfather from Long Island escaped to for a seasonal winter retreat. It’s food scene has evolved considerably within the past 10-15 years and, as stated, is not just Latin cuisine and seafood. Within the most recent years (1) several established and/or high end European restos have chosen to open their first ever US outpost and chose Miami; (2) many established, including high end, NYC , DC and Philly restaurants and/or restauranteurs have opened up outposts here as the city has become a year round destination. Heck, Thomas Keller (French Laundry and Per Se fame) even set up shop here recently. He may not be here full time but Surf Club at Four Seasons is not a watered down in name only “Wolfgang Puck Cafe Express at airports” effort either.
With all that has happened this century I look forward to the next 10-20 years. There is a marketing outreach to wealthy Turks and Chinese by real estate developers so maybe those cuisines will improve here in the near future as more residents from those countries relocate here and restaurants sprout up to satisfy their, and local residents, needs. Ditto for those fleeing high SALT states who relocate here and demand and pay for quality.
Honestly, Chinese cuisine improves with poor and middle-class Chinese immigrants, not wealthy ones.
Location: Miami (prev. NY, Atlanta, SF, OC and San Diego)
7,409 posts, read 6,550,878 times
Reputation: 6685
I will settle for any good Chinese....Blackbrick is OK—doesn’t have my toes curling and lighting up a cigar afterwards. You will never catch me at overpriced Mr Chow. I have not been to Tropical yet....wish we had something like Chef Chu’s (Los Altos, CA) here.
Honestly, Chinese cuisine improves with poor and middle-class Chinese immigrants, not wealthy ones.
Interestingly, Flushing's Chinatown was originally started by more educated and upper class Taiwanese who didn't want to be associated with the poor people in Manhattan's Chinatown.
Quote:
Originally Posted by elchevere
I will settle for any good Chinese....Blackbrick is OK—doesn’t have my toes curling and lighting up a cigar afterwards. You will never catch me at overpriced Mr Chow. I have not been to Tropical yet....wish we had something like Chef Chu’s (Los Altos, CA) here.
Not saying anything about these places but I do enjoy in general seeing what Americans think counts for authentic Chinese food versus what the reality is.
I don’t think it rates with those cities or New Orleans, but it definitely belongs in that next tier. I will say, personally, I have hit enjoyed dining in Miami more than Los Angeles. Granted I have not spent nearly as much time in LA, but I’m inclined to say that it might be slightly overrated. Not that LA isn’t excellent, but the rest of the country seems to be catching up on Mexican and the various Asian cuisines.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gladhands
Miami gets short thrift because people on this forum do not respect Latin America or its culture(s). As someone stated earlier, Miami offers amazing cuisine from the entire continent of South America, much of central America, and the entire Caribbean. If a city had the same quality of food from, say, all of Europe or all of Asia, people will be losing their minds to praise it. Never mind the fact that Miami also excels at seafood and new American.
Las Vegas is also coming into its own as a food city. I think we tend to associate Vegas is food scene with celebrity chef restaurants in the big strip casinos, but the city of Las Vegas is actually a treasure trove for high-quality ethnic food.
+++ Facts!
Everything you said is exactly how I feel! I definitely would not say at all that LA has better Latin Food than Miami. Maybe Mexican but not all Latin food overall. Like you I have not spent nearly as much time in LA as I have in Miami, but I feel pretty confident in saying this!
I’ve also always felt like Latin America and it’s culture don’t get enough recognition on these boards. I myself am not even Latino but I am a sucker for all things Latin American... especially the food. I think just being from NYC (Queens especially) I grew up extremely exposed to various Latin American cultures my entire life in a way that most (non-Latino) Americans just are not. Just for one example, Mexico City rarely gets talked about on this board despite being the size of NYC. Threads involving North America usually stay limited to US/Canada. Also San Juan, PR is a fantastic city that never gets talked about despite actually being part of The US!
Quote:
Originally Posted by djesus007
That's because you can get better Latin food in NYC and LA, and other cities on the continent can also rival Miami. Outside Latin food, Miami's food scene is pretty subpar not gonna lie, as in it's good but it's not in the same league as the NYC, CHI, MTL, TO, LA group (I'll add N.O, Philly and BOS as well).
I’ve spent more time in Philly than any other US city except for New York. I think Philly has a really great food scene but I personally enjoy Miami more. Mainly for the Latin food. Philly probably does have more variety though. But I can be more than happy with just the Latin food there. Philly’s Latin food scene tends to be a bit lacking IMO. True it probably beats Miami in other categories — like Italian for example, but for me the Latin food is enough to tip Miami way ahead of Philly for my personal tastes. My other favorite type of food is Asian — especially Chinese (not the fake Chinese food). In my personal experience, neither tends to be clearly ahead of the other with Chinese and other Asian, but maybe edge to Miami for seafood.
Quote:
Originally Posted by marothisu
Right, but still compared to other cities (the LA, NYC, SF, Chicago, etc) it has a ways to go in that category still. Improvement is always good, but let's not overrate compared to other places that have been long established in this arena and have kept up the quality or improved themselves.
It’s not about ranking food scenes, it’s about personal favorite places to eat. Whenever I’m in Vegas, I eat better than I do in most other cities for sure. Doesn’t matter if I’m at a celebrity chef restaurant, some gimmicky place, somewhere off the strip, or eating as much as physically possible at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Vegas is by far one of my favorite places on the continent to eat! It’s not possible to overrate when talking about personal opinions!
Yup...and I cannot recall having a very good or memorable Chinese meal in US outside of NYC, SF Bay Area, and LA.
Chicago in the last 5 or 7 years has come on strong on this (Chinese born population has gone up a lot in the last decade). I'd say a decade or so ago there were some good places, but most of the places were more Cantonese and old, and not great. About 5 or 7 years ago that began to change and since then a bunch of very legit places have opened up, newer brought by new immigrants and from the mainland.
My fiancee is from NE China, and her parents now live in Shanghai. A few years ago they came to the US and went to many cities with us (San Francisco, NYC, Chicago, etc). While we were in Chicago, we took them to a place that does cuisine from NE China in the Bridgeport neighborhood (next to Chinatown - it has more Chinese people than Chinatown, actually). My fiancee and I had this previously and she thought it was super legit - as good if not better than any of the places we'd had in NYC for the same cuisine. Her parents also thought it was pretty good. One thing surprised me and they kept talking about this vegetable dish in particular and told me that it was more authentically done than any place they'd had in Shanghai. Apparently it's not that easy to find great NE Chinese food in Shanghai. They have been to LA, NYC, SF, Chicago, DC, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Boston, and Baltimore in the US and said the best Chinese meals they had were in NYC and Chicago. We went to a few places in Chicago and a few places in Manhattan and Flushing. They did not think what we had in SF was that good ("average"), and my fiancee says the same thing though she contends it's much better in the suburbs than the city. They actually literally laughed at SF's Chinatown and said "Do Americans really think this is what China looks like today? This is like China in the 80s" which was funny. They couldn't stop laughing about it the whole time in SF. I got an interesting lesson in what Americans think about the importance of cities versus what others think. For example, in America we know of SF as a big place for Chinese. Her parents and even her family (while I was in China) had no idea about this and were really surprised, but thought it was cool. It might have to do with the fact that a lot of the original immigrants were from Guangdong which isn't really close to where they're from.
Anyway, I think in 2019 you could be surprised by Chicago's Chinese offerings. Some of the newer (5-7 years and newer) places in Chinatown, Bridgeport, etc. My favorite dumpling place in the entire country is in Chicago.
Quote:
You might be also to say the same thing about Mexican—how many have ventured beyond tacos, burritos and enchiladas?
Oh yeah that's a big one. I'd say a lot of cuisines are like this. For example, people think that Turkish food is all skewered meat when in fact the cuisine is huge and includes tons of fruits, vegetables, and fish. Same could be said about Japanese food and how people think it's mainly sushi.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
