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In general/on the whole, I'd say Oakland does have better food; the Bay Area in general is really tough to beat and gets super-fresh produce from just an hour or two away.
However, yes, Cambridge does have Caribbean, Italian, and Brazilian food on lockdown - being a strict vegetarian these days, there's not a huge amount of Brazilian cooking that I can really indulge in, at least not the highlights. Also, Cambridge has some really killer Indian place - Passage to India in Porter, Cafe of India and Tanjore in Harvard Square, Shalimar in Central Square, among others, are top-notch. The red pepper/onion chutney you see at every Indian joint in greater Boston is impossible to find in CA, and I miss it dearly. Asmara, an Ethiopian place on Mass Ave in Central, is excellent and they're the nicest people.
The Northeast has a deficiency of good Mexican, and Boston/Cambridge is no exception; however, Picante in Central Square is decent texmex; great nachos. The most popular Mexican joint in the area is Ana's, which is god-freakin'-awful... fun fact: the brothers who started Ana's are Japanese brothers who were in Boston for school and thought it'd be cool to start a taqueria. So, it's Japanese-style Mexican served in Boston... stuff is pretty damn bland.
Sushi is popular in Boston/Cambridge, and as is the case anywhere, it's hit or miss; however, there's a Japanese/Korean shopping center in Porter Square that has some pretty good sushi, udon, ramen, korean BBQ, and other Japanese and Korean goodies. It's popular with the Japanese and Korean expatriate students (there are very few Japanese or Japanese-Americans who actually live permanently in the area). There's a place called Kaya in Porter, which is an upscale, proper Korean restaurant; they do it right, which is a good thing, since it's basically your only option. When I went with a Japanese-American girlfriend, she was surprised at the quality of the food in that plaza
Chinese food is generally much better in Oakland than in Cambridge; the Chinese in the SF area is some of the best in the US, only rivaled by the LA area. That said, as above, there are some specific spots in Cambridge that hit the mark really well. There's one down past Central, on the way to Kendall, right by Hampshire Street.... don't remember the name... but it was really good. New Asia on Mass Ave near Harvard is great, too; a friend I brought from CA to visit back in '04 still raves to people about how much she loved it.
Now, Oakland...
The best burrito I've ever had in my life is at El Farolito on International Blvd. Dear, dear god, it is amazing... the thing is nearly as big around as my upper arm, sooooo flavorful. Even excepting that, there are other great places all over town for Mexican that crush what you'll find in most other areas of the US. This is why there are no Chipotles, Qdobas, or Baja Fresh's in the entirety of the town: no one would go to them.
Golden Lotus is an amazing vegan Chinese/Vietnamese place in Downtown, super high-quality and popular even with carnivores. I've eaten at a number of places in Oakland's Chinatown and only ever had one bad experience, which was a result of not trusting my gut instinct upon looking at the place... everywhere else has been spot on. Lots of great Vietnamese places too; Oakland's Chinatown is rapidly attracting great numbers of Vietnamese immigrants, and this is reflected in the increasing number of Pho and Banh Mi joints you're starting to see around that area.
You also have an area with a lot of Cambodian residents as well as groceries, restaurants, etc. around International and 14th in Oakland that are pretty awesome and interesting. There's a Cambodian place in Central Square in Cambridge that's great, too, called Floating Rock. There's a small Cambodian population up north in Bedford as well as other towns like Revere because area churches sponsored refugees back in the 70's and 80's; when I go to the Stop and Shop in Bedford to get groceries when visiting my family, half the store's staff are kids named Trung or Dong, wearing du-rags and giant pants, or their girlfriends, wearing gigantic gold hoop ear rings with pencilled-in lips and eyebrows. Anyways...
Oakland has better modern/progressive American cuisine that you'll find at places like Trueburger or Mua, and better soul food that you'll find at places like Soully Vegan or Buttercup Cafe (try the homemade mozzerella sticks... oh my godddddd...).
The only Portuguese and Haitian that I know of is in San Francisco, and the only Azorean that I've ever heard of is by Fremont.
When I was in junior high and high school, "Hatian" was used as a pejorative by African-American kids as a stand-in for "ghetto" or "homeless." For instance, if you came to school wearing a pair of worn Converse All-Stars (which were usually called "Bobos"), someone would have gone "daaaaamn dude, your shoes is madd Hatian." Cambridge had a huge influx of Hatian refugees during the 90's, and most of them were economically disadvantaged as such and ended up in public housing and on gov't assistance, so a lot of local kids singled them out as a group. That was ten/fifteen years ago, so I'm sure at this point it's not as big a point of contention or discrimination, but it was palpable when I was a teen there.
When I was in junior high and high school, "Hatian" was used as a pejorative by African-American kids as a stand-in for "ghetto" or "homeless." For instance, if you came to school wearing a pair of worn Converse All-Stars (which were usually called "Bobos"), someone would have gone "daaaaamn dude, your shoes is madd Hatian." Cambridge had a huge influx of Hatian refugees during the 90's, and most of them were economically disadvantaged as such and ended up in public housing and on gov't assistance, so a lot of local kids singled them out as a group. That was ten/fifteen years ago, so I'm sure at this point it's not as big a point of contention or discrimination, but it was palpable when I was a teen there.
When I was in junior high and high school, "Hatian" was used as a pejorative by African-American kids as a stand-in for "ghetto" or "homeless." For instance, if you came to school wearing a pair of worn Converse All-Stars (which were usually called "Bobos"), someone would have gone "daaaaamn dude, your shoes is madd Hatian." Cambridge had a huge influx of Hatian refugees during the 90's, and most of them were economically disadvantaged as such and ended up in public housing and on gov't assistance, so a lot of local kids singled them out as a group. That was ten/fifteen years ago, so I'm sure at this point it's not as big a point of contention or discrimination, but it was palpable when I was a teen there.
That's very interesting.
Reminds me of Tongans and the TERRIBLE image we have in Utah. LOL
So Food was decided a virtual tie, so what about Urbanitity?
Apparently Cambridge has denser census tracts and a higher overall density than Oakland, so it wins density-wise. On the other hand, there's nowhere in Cambridge that you can live that's as concentratedly "urban" as DT Oakland, and the parts of Oakland that are as dense as Cambridge make up a larger area.
Apparently Cambridge has denser census tracts and a higher overall density than Oakland, so it wins density-wise. On the other hand, there's nowhere in Cambridge that you can live that's as concentratedly "urban" as DT Oakland, and the parts of Oakland that are as dense as Cambridge make up a larger area.
I gennerally agree Cambridge has Squares and areas of high urbanitiy, but not as much as Oakland. However, Cambridge has a higher overall urbanitiy, athough its core (Central Sq.) is not as urban asDT Oakland.
Yea Cambridge appears to be more consistent in its density (with the area in between Harvard and MIT being the most dense), whereas Oakland has a greater range due to the greater variety of landscape.
Yea Cambridge appears to be more consistent in its density (with the area in between Harvard and MIT being the most dense), whereas Oakland has a greater range due to the greater variety of landscape.
I'd say that there's a consistency of density in Oakland, it's just that it's tiered in terms of the landscape. The flatland neighborhoods are typically the densest (generally ranging from 15,000-20,000 ppsm, with some outliers on both ends), the lower hill neighborhoods are a little less dense (ranging from 7,500-15,000 ppsm with a couple outliers), and the hill neighborhoods are not dense (ranging from 1,000-5,000 ppsm). There's not much fluctuation within the tiers.
Apparently Cambridge has denser census tracts and a higher overall density than Oakland, so it wins density-wise. On the other hand, there's nowhere in Cambridge that you can live that's as concentratedly "urban" as DT Oakland, and the parts of Oakland that are as dense as Cambridge make up a larger area.
The OP said add Arlington, Somerville and Watertown. If you do, the dense areas might be larger in "Cambridge".
There's nowhere as concentratedly urban in Cambridge? Cambridge has lots of jobs, maybe it doesn't have the job concentration of Downtown Oakland but it doesn't have a very large daytime population and probably more people on the streets / pedestrian volume.
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