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I guess I never knew Cleveland's Little Italy matched up. I've only been to a few restaurants there...I guess I missed the good ones. Regardless, I will agree that Cleveland is VERY similar to St. Louis...Midwestern, architectural, in terms of cuisine, and in size. St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, and Milwaukee are the most similar cities to Cleveland in the Midwest in terms of culture.
I also am incredibly shocked that Chicago came in 9th! Most of the time, one thinks of Italian-American cities, one thinks of New York and Chicago first.
People overestimate Chicagos Italian heritage because of Al Capone, and other associated acts (mafia, etc.) I think. In reality other European ethnic groups were always comparatively much larger. (Polish, German, Irish)
Minneapolis/St. Paul is an easy second place for me. I've had some great food in St. Louis, Detroit, Madison, Milwaukee, and Kansas City. I haven't spent much time in Cleveland or Cincinnati, but I'd imagine they are good food towns. The Midwest has better food options than most seem to realize.
I guess I never knew Cleveland's Little Italy matched up. I've only been to a few restaurants there...I guess I missed the good ones. Regardless, I will agree that Cleveland is VERY similar to St. Louis...Midwestern, architectural, in terms of cuisine, and in size. St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, and Milwaukee are the most similar cities to Cleveland in the Midwest in terms of culture.
I also am incredibly shocked that Chicago came in 9th! Most of the time, one thinks of Italian-American cities, one thinks of New York and Chicago first.
Italian-American cities New York, Philly, Boston...Chicago gets its Italian reputation from the 1920s gangsters; the Italian population there is heavily watered down. New York-Philly, Italians everywhere. You run into more Italians in Cleveland than Chicago.
No, St Louis does have a lot of original foods. That does not make it a better overall food city though. Cleveland certainly has a quality food scene, even though specific items were not created there.
Your comment earlier about Cleveland having no answer for the Hill is telling. Cleveland has a much larger Italian-American population than St Louis and a great Little Italy neighborhood (the best one in the Midwest if you ask me).
His comment about thin-crust pizza existing in only one restaurant in Chicago proves he knows nothing.
Italian-American cities New York, Philly, Boston...Chicago gets its Italian reputation from the 1920s gangsters; the Italian population there is heavily watered down. New York-Philly, Italians everywhere. You run into more Italians in Cleveland than Chicago.
Chicago has a strong Italian population and some AMAZING Italian restaurants. The thing about Chicago is that its Italian fare is more scattered across the city rather than a great "Little Italy". Chicago's Little Italy isn't much to speak of. It is inhabited by a lot of UIC students and more recently a growing number of young professionals.
Agreed. I went out of my way to visit Chicago's "Little Italy" and I regretted the decision with wasting my precious free time. Cleveland's completely blows it away...as does St. Louis.
People THERE told me the best Italian food were further out in the suburbs.
The only areas I could imagine Cleveland would have STL beaten in would be in terms of delis and Chinese food, although St. Louis' Chinese food is pretty decent if you ask me. There's a little joint in St. Louis County (in the city of Brentwood)...known as Hunan Wok. I have been gorging myself there at least every two weeks with my family for 15 years at least. As far as Italian food, barbeque, Mexican, German and Irish food, St. Louis at minimum ties Cleveland, at maximum beats it. And St. Louis has plenty of good delis to compete with Cleveland. Cleveland's good delis that I know of are Corky and Lenny's, as well as Jack's...probably many more. St. Louis has a good deli in West County, two near where I live (Protzel's and the Posh Nosh), and Kopperman's in the central west end. All four of these places have corned beef every bit as good as the two Cleveland delis I mentioned. Heavy Jewish influence in both of these cities. It is far from a clear decision. Cleveland has nothing in terms of Italian that could compete with The Hill, nor does it have pizza comparable to any STL joint...Pointer's, Cecil Whitaker's, etc...I've never heard of Cleveland-style pizza...I've also got close relatives in Cleveland, and I gotta tell ya, I liked Cleveland's food, but it far from blew away anything St. Louis has to offer. St. Louis also has Japanese and Vietnamese restaurants on the South side that Cleveland would have a rough time beating.
I can tell you have never been to Cleveland, or know anything about its food culture/scene. This post reeks of St. Louis bias. Like I said, I love St. Louis and have been there more times than I can count, but Cleveland beats St. Louis in its food scene. I really just don't know where to start with this post. Who cares about Cleveland style pizza, St. Louis can't even touch Cleveland's Little Italy... that's if you want to talk Italian.
You seem to be ignoring the undisputable fact that Cleveland doesn't have an original dish that is famous to my knowledge.
Read the original post from this very thread. Where does it talk about original dishes? Cleveland beats St. Louis in almost, if not all the questions asked. You keep bringing up "original dishes" as your only argument, and it sounds like a broken record. Don't take this the wrong way, I love St. Louis, but don't feel the need to discredit it or even bash it to make Cleveland look better.
they do very quirky things to food in Saint Louis -they make it their own for better or worse.
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...I've also got close relatives in Cleveland, and I gotta tell ya, I liked Cleveland's food, but it far from blew away anything St. Louis has to offer. St. Louis also has Japanese and Vietnamese restaurants on the South side that Cleveland would have a rough time beating.
