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.
But, St. Pete is an interesting addition to the Tampa Bay metro that is hard to overlook. Seems like it has a bit of Portland vibe to it, but with more of the tropical thrown in.
tampa seems to fool the world into thinking it's a medium-sized city, when in reality it's a sprawled-out small town with some high-rise office buildings downtown. excellent ethnic cuisine, though; far better than what i find in portland when visiting (which is often).
Is the ethnic food in Portland really that Mediocre? B/C I don't exactly think of Tampa as an ethnic food hot spot...I mean it's okay, and if what you say is true Portland and ethnic food must be terrible. If by ethnic you mean only cuban, then I'll pass. Cuban cuisine is probably the blandest and mildly spiced of all the latin american cuisines, basically the Sweden of Europe. I know people like it, but really not my thing. I like spicy/pungent/lots of flavors.
Is the ethnic food in Portland really that Mediocre? B/C I don't exactly think of Tampa as an ethnic food hot spot...I mean it's okay, and if what you say is true Portland and ethnic food must be terrible. If by ethnic you mean only cuban, then I'll pass. Cuban cuisine is probably the blandest and mildly spiced of all the latin american cuisines, basically the Sweden of Europe. I know people like it, but really not my thing. I like spicy/pungent/lots of flavors.
Portland has some decent to good ethnic food in certain categories. Good Ethiopian in NE Portland, Vietnamese(great pho and bahn mi), Hong Kong-style seafood and dim sum in the Chinese area of 82nd, sushi and izakaya places close-in, good Lebanese restaurants and decent Greek food, excellent Korean spots in the western suburbs and there's improving Mexican options these days as well. There's also a lot of more expensive versions of international fare in the central city that aren't little hole in the walls, but high priced dining like the Peruvian restaurant Andina. There's plenty of one-off restaurants in certain styles as well that are good but no necessarily cuisines that Portland is known for, like the Cuban restaurant Pambiche or the Czech food cart Tabor .
If you just go to the tourist areas like downtown and walk to Old Town/Chinatown or SE Hawthorne and expect to find good, cheap ethnic food you're probably walking into a hit or miss situation, though the street carts are pretty good for cheap international fare. The places I go for really good ethnic food are often in less renowned areas of town like 82nd Ave or elsewhere on the Eastside or the suburbs to the west like Beaverton. These are the areas that the immigrant populations of Portland actually live and shop and eat in--not the lilly-white central areas where the hip transplants live.
I haven't been to Tampa in a while so I can't compare. In general I find Florida good for Latin styles, obviously, though I can't speak for Tampa itself.
Portland has some decent to good ethnic food in certain categories. Good Ethiopian in NE Portland, Vietnamese(great pho and bahn mi), Hong Kong-style seafood and dim sum in the Chinese area of 82nd, sushi and izakaya places close-in, good Lebanese restaurants and decent Greek food, excellent Korean spots in the western suburbs and there's improving Mexican options these days as well. There's also a lot of more expensive versions of international fare in the central city that aren't little hole in the walls, but high priced dining like the Peruvian restaurant Andina. There's plenty of one-off restaurants in certain styles as well that are good but no necessarily cuisines that Portland is known for, like the Cuban restaurant Pambiche or the Czech food cart Tabor .
If you just go to the tourist areas like downtown and walk to Old Town/Chinatown or SE Hawthorne and expect to find good, cheap ethnic food you're probably walking into a hit or miss situation, though the street carts are pretty good for cheap international fare. The places I go for really good ethnic food are often in less renowned areas of town like 82nd Ave or elsewhere on the Eastside or the suburbs to the west like Beaverton. These are the areas that the immigrant populations of Portland actually live and shop and eat in--not the lilly-white central areas where the hip transplants live.
I haven't been to Tampa in a while so I can't compare. In general I find Florida good for Latin styles, obviously, though I can't speak for Tampa itself.
Yeah, that sounds good to me. As far as I knew Portland was a foodie haven, one of the best in the country, so I was finding it harder to believe Tampa would best it. I see amazing restaurants on there all the time on food channel and looks to have one of if not the best food truck scene in the country. I should plan more Pac NW trips, definitely the least explored area of the country for me. My experience is Orlando and Miami having better food scenes than Tampa.
Well, let's see. On Yelp (which I realize isn't the end all and be all of sources) lists 1,659 restaurants for Tampa and 5,098 for Portland.
Hmmm. I'm just guessing Portland has better options, there.
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.
