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I lived in Japan for a bit and that is the cuisine that is most disappointing in the US. The only places I've had decent Japanese food in the US was in Seattle, Honolulu, and LA. Even in Chicago and NYC, it was really disappointing. But good Korean food is much easier to find. I will not compare anywhere else to K-Town in LA, but I will say that in almost every major city you can find Korean food about 80-90% that good in my experience. But I can't find Japanese food close to what you get in Japan outside the three cities I named. Again, this is all just my observations.
Not hard to see why. First, Japanese immigration is minimal compared to some of the other Asian countries. And secondly, it’s over commercialized. People usually just think of hibachi and basic sushi when it comes to Japanese. The mix of hype and small population say it all
Not hard to see why. First, Japanese immigration is minimal compared to some of the other Asian countries. And secondly, it’s over commercialized. People usually just think of hibachi and basic sushi when it comes to Japanese. The mix of hype and small population say it all
From my perspective as well, I grew up in Torrance which is like the Japanese population center of the LA area. We used to eat Japanese all the time. I never really thought of it as being anything special at that time, but once I moved away I did learn how good it truly was there.
Ill be honest, I'm not as familiar with all this as you are. I have an Asian wife (Thai/Chinese) and I am Lebanese Arab myself. The way you talk about LA is the way I and my family talk about Detroit. Even NYC cannot compare to the Lebanese food you get in Detroit.
Being in Houston, I have noticed a lot of my favorite "Chinese" restaurants are actually Taiwanese. I never thought hard about it until I went to Taiwan on a couple of work trips. But my wifes favorite restaurants here are Cantonese. I am a big fan of Sichuanese because I like spicy food, but not my wife. My personal favorite Sichuanese type restaurant is actually in West U. Considering Houston is not on the West Coast or NYC, the Chinese/Taiwanese food here is extremely good IMO. The Vietnamese food is every bit as good as Orange County too.
I lived in Japan for a bit and that is the cuisine that is most disappointing in the US. The only places I've had decent Japanese food in the US was in Seattle, Honolulu, and LA. Even in Chicago and NYC, it was really disappointing. But good Korean food is much easier to find. I will not compare anywhere else to K-Town in LA, but I will say that in almost every major city you can find Korean food about 80-90% that good in my experience. But I can't find Japanese food close to what you get in Japan outside the three cities I named. Again, this is all just my observations.
I’m at the airport so my response is spotty. Will elaborate more.
Just want to add that Mala in Houston is one of the best Sichuanese I’ve ever had (my husband loves spicy food, the spicier the better so he loves Mexican & Sichuanese.), it’s a local chain but I think their quality can totally compete with both NYC & LA. It’s not cheap but I’ve been ordering everyday, two portions of spicy bamboo shoot with pork.-so good.
My all time favorite Japanese is this nice hole in the wall place in Little Tokyo in LA: Sushi Gen. Cult-following. My family has been going there for 30 yrs now. Fresh, clean, lots of integrity (I admire and respect Japanese people’s discipline in running a business without compromising the quality of food and service.) and in an expensive city like L.A their price remains reasonable. You get more expensive and stale quality per-made sushi/sashimi in Asian market like H Mart.
Um, are you sure you answered that question correctly? (The question was whether the best any other city could hope for in any category was second place.)
New York doesn't even rank among the top five BBQ cities/regions in the country. You can get decent Q there, yes, but the best stuff's still found in the South and Kansas City.
Generally, the BBQ pantheon consists of:
Two states: Texas (especially the belt of German settlement in Central Texas, but also eastern Texas generally, and definitely Houston too) and North Carolina (two different styles, eastern and western; Lexington is an epicenter)
Memphis
Kansas City, whose Q style is a kissing cousin of Memphis' but which goes deeper into the weeds on what you can get ("in KC, they'll barbecue anything"; it may be "a tough town to be a vegetarian in" but I've seen one Q joint there that has barbecued jackfruit on the menu)
Other noteworthy locales include South Carolina (where the barbecue sauce is mustard-based), northeast Alabama (where it's mayonnaise-based and chicken is the dominant meat served) and Georgia.
But not New York City.
I lived in St. Louis for 4 years, and there were a few places there that measured up, not to level of Arthur Bryant, but nonetheless outstanding: Bogart's, and Pappy's Smokehouse!
Um, are you sure you answered that question correctly? (The question was whether the best any other city could hope for in any category was second place.)
New York doesn't even rank among the top five BBQ cities/regions in the country. You can get decent Q there, yes, but the best stuff's still found in the South and Kansas City.
Generally, the BBQ pantheon consists of:
Two states: Texas (especially the belt of German settlement in Central Texas, but also eastern Texas generally, and definitely Houston too) and North Carolina (two different styles, eastern and western; Lexington is an epicenter)
Memphis
Kansas City, whose Q style is a kissing cousin of Memphis' but which goes deeper into the weeds on what you can get ("in KC, they'll barbecue anything"; it may be "a tough town to be a vegetarian in" but I've seen one Q joint there that has barbecued jackfruit on the menu)
Other noteworthy locales include South Carolina (where the barbecue sauce is mustard-based), northeast Alabama (where it's mayonnaise-based and chicken is the dominant meat served) and Georgia.
But not New York City.
Pretty sure he was being sarcastic. You’ve got a great list though. Should add St. Louis too, they’ve got some fantastic bbq.
For Northeast, Vietnamese is Boston’s stronghold.
Yes, Boston area is good, too. Recently went to a couple of Vietnamese places in the Boston area and they were good though I didn't end up visiting Dorchester.
Ill be honest, I'm not as familiar with all this as you are. I have an Asian wife (Thai/Chinese) and I am Lebanese Arab myself. The way you talk about LA is the way I and my family talk about Detroit. Even NYC cannot compare to the Lebanese food you get in Detroit.
Being in Houston, I have noticed a lot of my favorite "Chinese" restaurants are actually Taiwanese. I never thought hard about it until I went to Taiwan on a couple of work trips. But my wifes favorite restaurants here are Cantonese. I am a big fan of Sichuanese because I like spicy food, but not my wife. My personal favorite Sichuanese type restaurant is actually in West U. Considering Houston is not on the West Coast or NYC, the Chinese/Taiwanese food here is extremely good IMO. The Vietnamese food is every bit as good as Orange County too.
I lived in Japan for a bit and that is the cuisine that is most disappointing in the US. The only places I've had decent Japanese food in the US was in Seattle, Honolulu, and LA. Even in Chicago and NYC, it was really disappointing. But good Korean food is much easier to find. I will not compare anywhere else to K-Town in LA, but I will say that in almost every major city you can find Korean food about 80-90% that good in my experience. But I can't find Japanese food close to what you get in Japan outside the three cities I named. Again, this is all just my observations.
There's a lot of good higher end Japanese restaurants in NYC. There's still a decent amount of good Japanese food in Midtown East and East Village, though the pandemic has meant the loss of quite a few Midtown East Japanese restaurants with some really great ones established during the 1980s Japanese economic bubble meeting a sad, muted end. East Village still has quite a few, but it's lately been seeing a massive surge of different sorts of Chinese cuisine.
I wouldn't put a lot of stock in a bike/urbanism vlogger's opinions on cuisine. It is probably worth about the same as Bobby Flay's opinions on urbanism. You can get BBQ in New York, and some of it will be good, but it isn't a BBQ city. Everybody who thinks about it for two seconds knows that.
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