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California has better East and Southeast Asian food. The one exception might be Chinese. NYC, LA, and San Francisco are all tops. Toronto and Vancouver would also be in that caliber.
But only Toronto and London stand with New York in offerings from South Asia and West Asia. California (specifically the Bay Area) has good Indian food and LA of course is tops for Persian food, but you wont get the depth that you get in New York because of the demographics.
Here you go. Just add up all the ethnicities, and see which ones are more present in one place vs. another.
Food threads on city-data always turn into census contests, so let's just skip a step.
Instead of naming places (like Din Tai Fung in Arcadia, or Salang Restaurant in Fremont for Afghan) and specific food items, most people here will just defer to the census.
However, New York has one of my most favorite noodle places in the country: Ipuddo. So freakin' dope.
Ramen in NYC is fantastic. Both Japanese and Korean food in NYC are great, but often at a higher price point for the same quality one gets in LA--would say SF is a step down in comparison but still good. Chinese is pretty tied for all three, though SF maybe a bit higher up for Cantonese.
Southeast Asian in general goes to LA and does so pretty easily in quality and variety. NYC and SF have some pretty good stuff.
Can't say much about South Asian cuisine as I don't know as much about it. Maybe it goes to New York because of its much larger South Asian population? There is some ridiculously spicy, cheap and delicious Sri Lankan cuisine in Staten Island. And though this is a bit off-topic, I really like the turns South Asian cuisines made when they went through the West Indies. Doubles are among my favorite breakfasts.
Western Asian/eastern Mediterranean easily goes to NYC and even has some interesting highly americanized versions as seen in the halal carts. The cuisine has really worked its way into all-around popularity. There are two yemeni places I particularly like in downtown Brooklyn especially the richly spiced lamb broth soup which has been wonderful for the winter. There's also a great Egyptian (admittedly, the main part of Egypt is technically not in Asia, but it is part of the general cultural sphere of Western Asia) place with all kinds of offals served in Astoria that's really good.
Central Asian definitely goes to NYC and it's a wonderful thing. Uzbek dumplings are fantastic and there's even odd Korean/Central Asian restaurants stemming from migrants who were Koreans that were displaced to Central Asia by Stalin over half a century ago.
Persian easily goes to LA.
Armenian goes to LA, but I find the Armenian restaurants in LA to be not nearly as diverse or interesting as those from neighboring Georgia which is much more apparent in NYC as is making its way out of the ex Soviet Bloc ethnic enclaves and into a couple of restaurants in Manhattan. I really like those dumplings--I really like dumplings in general.
All of this is basically NYC and its environs--on a state level, I haven't tried too much. Most of the time when I do make a visit to Catskills or Westchester County, I am not looking for Asian cuisine. Did go to Buffalo a few times and also didn't really eat any Asian food--not saying it's not there, but it didn't strike me as what to try up there. I did get Buffalo wings there which they just called wings--makes sense, I guess, probably the same in Cleveland where they just call it a steamer.
Last edited by OyCrumbler; 03-18-2016 at 06:15 PM..
The plurality of the Arab world actually live in Africa, not Asia.
I think one of the most underrated culinary scenes in LA is the West Asian scene. Places like Raffi and Carousel are some of the best restaurants PERIOD in the LA area. Hell, one of the best places to eat in DTLA itself is Panini Cafe.
Or places like Zankou chicken (Armenian-Lebanese), which is becoming a chain in its own right: http://zankouchicken.com/
It just dawned on me a few days ago how influenced the LA area is by West Asia. Hell, one of the biggest LA area celebrities is Armenian (where do you think the name "Kardashian" comes from?).
I'm not going to say its better than NYC because the halal carts are pretty good and LA doesn't have anything like it just yet. Most of the West Asians/Middle Easterners here are non-Muslim/irreligious (like most Persians in LA tend to be), and most of the Muslims here are South or Southeast Asian (speaking as a dude who used to go to Mosque every week).
At the same token, in real life (off CD), I think the Bay Area's South Asian culinary scene is greatly greatly underrated. Unlike a lot of places around the country that have the typical North Indian cuisine, the Bay Area really shines when it comes to South Indian food (Tamil, Kannada, Goan, etc.). This is one of the best places I've ever had Dosa: http://www.dosaandcurry.com/
New York's most underrated Asian food scene really is Northern Chinese. Much of what we know as "Chinese food" in the US comes from South China. Flushing really excels at that in a way I still haven't really found in the SGV or in the Bay. House of Orient is extremely good on any objective level.
Last edited by Lets Eat Candy; 03-18-2016 at 08:12 PM..
California and not even close by a long shot. The range and quality of options is far superior. A comparison between NY and CA: East Asian:
Japanese: LA
Korean: LA
Chinese: Cantonese/Southern China in SF; Taiwanese in SF/LA; Sichuan/Mongolian/North Chinese/Shanghainese is a toss up
Vietnamese: LA/OC, Bay Area SE Asian:
Laotian & Cambodian: CA
Vietnamese: California
Filipino: California
Thai: California
Indonesian (not sure)
Malay: (Not sure)
Singaporean: Very limited selection
South Asian:
Indian: SF
Pakistani: NYC
Bangladeshi: NYC
Nepalese: Toss up
Burmese: Don't know
Western Asian:
Armenian: LA
Iranian: LA
Turkish: NYC
Lebanese/Mediterranean: toss up
Central Asian: (not sure)
Ramen in NYC is fantastic. Both Japanese and Korean food in NYC are great, but often at a higher price point for the same quality one gets in LA--would say SF is a step down in comparison but still good. Chinese is pretty tied for all three, though SF maybe a bit higher up for Cantonese.
Southeast Asian in general goes to LA and does so pretty easily in quality and variety. NYC and SF have some pretty good stuff.
Can't say much about South Asian cuisine as I don't know as much about it. Maybe it goes to New York because of its much larger South Asian population? There is some ridiculously spicy, cheap and delicious Sri Lankan cuisine in Staten Island. And though this is a bit off-topic, I really like the turns South Asian cuisines made when they went through the West Indies. Doubles are among my favorite breakfasts.
Western Asian/eastern Mediterranean easily goes to NYC and even has some interesting highly americanized versions as seen in the halal carts. The cuisine has really worked its way into all-around popularity. There are two yemeni places I particularly like in downtown Brooklyn especially the richly spiced lamb broth soup which has been wonderful for the winter. There's also a great Egyptian (admittedly, the main part of Egypt is technically not in Asia, but it is part of the general cultural sphere of Western Asia) place with all kinds of offals served in Astoria that's really good.
Central Asian definitely goes to NYC and it's a wonderful thing. Uzbek dumplings are fantastic and there's even odd Korean/Central Asian restaurants stemming from migrants who were Koreans that were displaced to Central Asia by Stalin over half a century ago.
Persian easily goes to LA.
Armenian goes to LA, but I find the Armenian restaurants in LA to be not nearly as diverse or interesting as those from neighboring Georgia which is much more apparent in NYC as is making its way out of the ex Soviet Bloc ethnic enclaves and into a couple of restaurants in Manhattan. I really like those dumplings--I really like dumplings in general.
All of this is basically NYC and its environs--on a state level, I haven't tried too much. Most of the time when I do make a visit to Catskills or Westchester County, I am not looking for Asian cuisine. Did go to Buffalo a few times and also didn't really eat any Asian food--not saying it's not there, but it didn't strike me as what to try up there. I did get Buffalo wings there which they just called wings--makes sense, I guess, probably the same in Cleveland where they just call it a steamer.
If you go to the inner North Side of Syracuse, which is arguably the most culturally/racially diverse area in Upstate NY, you can find about 2 or 3 Vietnamese restaurants, a Burmese restaurant(My Lucky Tummy), a Bhutanese/Nepali restaurant(the Red Dragon) and a bunch of Asian markets due to the refugee population on that side of town.
You can find Asian restaurants in Downtown Syracuse and along Erie Boulevard East as well. Cities/areas like Utica, Rochester, Buffalo, Albany, Schenectady, Troy, Ithaca and Binghamton will yield similar results in this regard. So, there is a diverse range of Asian cuisine throughout NY State.
Ramen in NYC is fantastic. Both Japanese and Korean food in NYC are great, but often at a higher price point for the same quality one gets in LA--would say SF is a step down in comparison but still good. Chinese is pretty tied for all three, though SF maybe a bit higher up for Cantonese.
Southeast Asian in general goes to LA and does so pretty easily in quality and variety. NYC and SF have some pretty good stuff.
Can't say much about South Asian cuisine as I don't know as much about it. Maybe it goes to New York because of its much larger South Asian population? There is some ridiculously spicy, cheap and delicious Sri Lankan cuisine in Staten Island. And though this is a bit off-topic, I really like the turns South Asian cuisines made when they went through the West Indies. Doubles are among my favorite breakfasts.
Western Asian/eastern Mediterranean easily goes to NYC and even has some interesting highly americanized versions as seen in the halal carts. The cuisine has really worked its way into all-around popularity. There are two yemeni places I particularly like in downtown Brooklyn especially the richly spiced lamb broth soup which has been wonderful for the winter. There's also a great Egyptian (admittedly, the main part of Egypt is technically not in Asia, but it is part of the general cultural sphere of Western Asia) place with all kinds of offals served in Astoria that's really good.
Central Asian definitely goes to NYC and it's a wonderful thing. Uzbek dumplings are fantastic and there's even odd Korean/Central Asian restaurants stemming from migrants who were Koreans that were displaced to Central Asia by Stalin over half a century ago.
Persian easily goes to LA.
Armenian goes to LA, but I find the Armenian restaurants in LA to be not nearly as diverse or interesting as those from neighboring Georgia which is much more apparent in NYC as is making its way out of the ex Soviet Bloc ethnic enclaves and into a couple of restaurants in Manhattan. I really like those dumplings--I really like dumplings in general.
All of this is basically NYC and its environs--on a state level, I haven't tried too much. Most of the time when I do make a visit to Catskills or Westchester County, I am not looking for Asian cuisine. Did go to Buffalo a few times and also didn't really eat any Asian food--not saying it's not there, but it didn't strike me as what to try up there. I did get Buffalo wings there which they just called wings--makes sense, I guess, probably the same in Cleveland where they just call it a steamer.
If you go to the inner North Side of Syracuse, which is arguably the most culturally/racially diverse area in Upstate NY, you can find about 2 or 3 Vietnamese restaurants, a Burmese restaurant(My Lucky Tummy), a Bhutanese/Nepali restaurant(the Red Dragon) and a bunch of Asian markets due to the refugee population on that side of town.
You can find Asian restaurants in Downtown Syracuse and along Erie Boulevard East as well. Cities/areas like Utica, Rochester, Buffalo, Albany, Schenectady, Troy, Ithaca and Binghamton will yield similar results in this regard. So, there is a diverse range of Asian cuisine throughout NY State.
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