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Does Chicago have over a dozen Ethiopian and Eritrean restaurants? High-end ones? What about Hakka? Northern Chinese hot pot?
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yes, yes, yes. Those aren't really exotic foods, NYC , LA , SF , Chicago and even Atlanta will all have that. There are probably 5-6 ethiopian places just in edgewater. Chicago has multiple chinatowns also and have ordered hakka noodles and northern chinese style hot pot on occasion.
Now I can name some things NYC has that Chicago doesn't, it just goes even deeper and weirder in terms of ethnic food such as a Malaysian beef jerky store or plenty of Bukharan jewish restaurants (the global community basically only lives in Queens and Israel), authentic schmear places etc.... but that's for another thread.
yes, yes, yes. Those aren't really exotic foods, NYC , LA , SF , Chicago and even Atlanta will all have that. There are probably 5-6 ethiopian places just in edgewater.
There's a lot of good Ethiopian in Edgewater! But I agree with you, Chicago has all of that kind of food that has been mentioned over and over...it's delicious, but it's not what I would call exotic dining in Chicago.
Does Chicago have over a dozen Ethiopian and Eritrean restaurants? High-end ones? What about Hakka? Northern Chinese hot pot?
As far as Michelin and Japan, that is controversial too for various reasons. Look it up on Google and you can read about it.
As for which restaurants I think should have had Michelin stars, I agree with Susur Lee and Splendido. Also Momofuko, more recently. I didn't find the food at Alain Ducasse or Jean Georges in New York to be that much better, or the experience that much better that they deserve three stars while the above Toronto restaurants never got a single star. But I don't do a lot of fine dining. On the other hand, my brother who travels all over the world for his job has eaten at countless Michelin restaurants and all the best restaurants here in TO. He agrees that there are about a dozen restaurants in the city that deserve at least one star. But Michelin doesn't really come to Canada. Think about Eigensinn Farms in Singhampton, which was once rated as among the best restaurants in the world - not a single Michelin star. Or Le Pied du Chochon in Montreal. No star there, either. So my belief that Michelin is biased is not entirely unfounded.
Nonetheless, as many other posters have pointed out, Toronto's fine dining is not what it does best. Mid-range mom-and-pop shops and other spots that do innovative, delicious meals are really what TO does best. Fine dining isn't what most people eat every day, so having a wide range of excellent mid-range restaurants and all the diverse international choices are what makes Toronto's food scene great.
Toronto is a great eating town, but it is not quite at the level of Chicago yet, at every price point. Chicago has better Asian food of all varieties, Chicago and Toronto both have very good European food: Italian, French, Greek, Italian, but Chicago has much better eastern European and German food. Toronto has slightly better Caribbean food, but pretty bad Latin American food, and nothing like the Mexican food you can find in Toronto. African food is comparable in both places. Chicago has much better soul food and BBQ and as noted above significantly superior high end restaurants. In the summer, they both have very good farmers' markets, but for the bulk of the year, they have crappy fresh produce due to long supply lines.
I love both cities and in many ways they have more in common with each other than any other two North American cities: huge, sprawling Great Lake cities. I prefer Chicago. It makes much better use of its lakefront. The terrible Gardiner expressway in Toronto effectively cuts off a large chunk of the city from the lakefront and should be demolished. Chicago has better food, better universities and cultural amenities and a larger area of urbanity. Toronto really boomed in the 1980s and it shows. Chicago has been a world class city for much longer. It is close, but edge Chicago and in terms of food, Chicago has a significant advantage.
Not a chance, Toronto is far superior in this regard.
No way. I know both cities well. Chinese food from all regions is close, but Chicago by a nose. Ditto for Indian. Chicago has much better Japanese, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Thai and Laotian food than Toronto. Korean food is great in both cities. And if you want to count Middle Eastern food as Asian - it is more Mediterranean to me, Arab food is WAY better in Chicago than Toronto.
No way. I know both cities well. Chinese food from all regions is close, but Chicago by a nose. Ditto for Indian. Chicago has much better Japanese, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Thai and Laotian food than Toronto. Korean food is great in both cities. And if you want to count Middle Eastern food as Asian - it is more Mediterranean to me, Arab food is WAY better in Chicago than Toronto.
Are you including Markham and Richmond Hill for "Chinese"? Also Brampton for "Indian"? If so I would love to hear your reasoning.
I have heard that Chicago has incredible Pakistani, Thai, Malay and Lebanese food though so I can see where you are coming from.
I like Toronto, but the posters do the most with the "We're a worldly city" thing.
I agree. The thing is that the Torontonians who take this angle don't realize how unworldly it makes them to think that Toronto is special in this regard. Anyone who is well traveled and actually takes time to educate themselves on the cities they are visiting would see that diversity can be experienced in so many different cities around the globe. It's a strange belief within Toronto that they are experiencing some unique form of diversity that makes people who have lived and travelled elsewhere shake their head at times.
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But I agree with you, Chicago has all of that kind of food that has been mentioned over and over...it's delicious, but it's not what I would call exotic dining in Chicago.
