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Old 05-26-2020, 10:39 PM
 
Location: Taipei
7,773 posts, read 10,071,843 times
Reputation: 4974

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lets Eat Candy View Post
Yeah, but do you go to a place and eat at 10-20 different Chinese restaurants, or do you eat at 1 Italian place, 1 Deli, 1 sushi place, 1 Chinese place, and 1 Indian place? I get the impression that most people do the latter, not the former.

This is especially because none of the cities that are being talked about in this thread are SOLELY known for their Chinese food. If that was the only cuisine that existed in that city, that would be one thing. But since other cuisines do exist, I kind of doubt any tourist really gets a feel for how good or bad a certain cuisine is in a place unless they spend an extended amount of time there.
You make a very fair point, but actually my family is an anomaly and yes, we eat at many different Chinese restaurants when we travel (to places with good Chinese food). To places with mediocre or bad then we eat at just one or two lol. If I visit a city for a week with my wife, and it's a city with good Chinese food, we are probably having 6 or 7 Chinese meals out. If we are with her parents or my parents, that number goes up by 50% (we have to really convince them to eat anything else). This used to be the bane of my existence, but I've accepted it and I try to see it as a positive now. Even still, I obviously have tremendous limitations as I'm still only hitting up a tiny percentage of places (well, in the larger, better markets) and I'm only experiencing a restaurant once or twice so may be a good or bad day, and I'm not getting everything on the menu, and Chinese cuisine is extremely varied so judging across different styles and types is a fool's errand. So your point is valid, that it's pretty silly. But at the same time, I can answer you honestly that yes, I will eat Chinese and Chinese and then more Chinese. With my wife, I can usually mix it a decent amount of other Asian cuisines, but if we are seriously considering coming back often and/or moving to that city we must eat all the Chinese to know whether we could actually live there. If I am by myself, it'll be much more like you described...one of everything please!

Ahhh, and with all that said, once again I present my rankings in tiers, and in my humble, unscientific, opinion:

These regions can all vie for the top spot in North America
LA, Bay Area, NYC, Vancouver, Toronto

These ones could belong in that top tier, but they wouldn't be number one
Houston, Montreal

These are second tier
Boston, DC, Philly, Seattle, Chicago

Honorable Mentions
Dallas, Sacramento, Atlanta, Calgary

Places I don't have much/any experience in
Honolulu, San Diego, Portland, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Edmonton
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Old 05-26-2020, 10:47 PM
 
1,092 posts, read 1,492,288 times
Reputation: 822
Quote:
Originally Posted by As Above So Below... View Post
I personally find the Chinese food in Houston quite a bit better than Chicago or Seattle. Its also exceptional in Vietnamese food. The Japanese and Korean food here, however, is not that good. Much better in Seattle and Chicago for those two.
Houston definitely has some great Asian cuisine in general. I feel like because it's so sprawled, I never think of it the same way because a lot of the other cities have Chinatowns that are far spectacular with such great eats. One of my favorite Thai restaurants in Houston is Thai Gourmet.
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Old 05-26-2020, 11:00 PM
 
Location: Chicago, IL
474 posts, read 523,599 times
Reputation: 686
Quote:
Originally Posted by projectmaximus View Post
You make a very fair point, but actually my family is an anomaly and yes, we eat at many different Chinese restaurants when we travel (to places with good Chinese food). To places with mediocre or bad then we eat at just one or two lol. If I visit a city for a week with my wife, and it's a city with good Chinese food, we are probably having 6 or 7 Chinese meals out. If we are with her parents or my parents, that number goes up by 50% (we have to really convince them to eat anything else). This used to be the bane of my existence, but I've accepted it and I try to see it as a positive now. Even still, I obviously have tremendous limitations as I'm still only hitting up a tiny percentage of places (well, in the larger, better markets) and I'm only experiencing a restaurant once or twice so may be a good or bad day, and I'm not getting everything on the menu, and Chinese cuisine is extremely varied so judging across different styles and types is a fool's errand. So your point is valid, that it's pretty silly. But at the same time, I can answer you honestly that yes, I will eat Chinese and Chinese and then more Chinese. With my wife, I can usually mix it a decent amount of other Asian cuisines, but if we are seriously considering coming back often and/or moving to that city we must eat all the Chinese to know whether we could actually live there. If I am by myself, it'll be much more like you described...one of everything please!

Ahhh, and with all that said, once again I present my rankings in tiers, and in my humble, unscientific, opinion:

These regions can all vie for the top spot in North America
LA, Bay Area, NYC, Vancouver, Toronto

These ones could belong in that top tier, but they wouldn't be number one
Houston, Montreal

These are second tier
Boston, DC, Philly, Seattle, Chicago

Honorable Mentions
Dallas, Sacramento, Atlanta, Calgary

Places I don't have much/any experience in
Honolulu, San Diego, Portland, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Edmonton
Huh, I hadn't heard of Montreal having a great Chinese food scene, but now I want to try it out.

For your second tier I would probably move Seattle and DC up with Boston, Philly, and Chicago below them. IMO with the options in Plano/Richardson Dallas is at least as good as BOS/PHL/CHI and probably more comparable to DC/Seattle.
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Old 05-26-2020, 11:10 PM
 
Location: Taipei
7,773 posts, read 10,071,843 times
Reputation: 4974
Quote:
Originally Posted by garyjohnyang View Post
Huh, I hadn't heard of Montreal having a great Chinese food scene, but now I want to try it out.

For your second tier I would probably move Seattle and DC up with Boston, Philly, and Chicago below them. IMO with the options in Plano/Richardson Dallas is at least as good as BOS/PHL/CHI and probably more comparable to DC/Seattle.
Those adjustments totally makes sense. We all have our own experiences to draw from!

Re: Montreal, I do probably have a personal bias...my first visit was as a young kid with my parents during lobster festival and it was there that I fell in love with cantonese-style lobster. I also have two Chinese relatives, one in NYC and one in Boston, who love Montreal Chinese food for whatever reason and would travel there for the food. That kinda passion influences me, even if it is just two people who probably feel that way for specific restaurants rather than the larger scene as a whole. I personally also remember having some amazing Xiao long bao. Also, Canada in general seems to just be very strong across the board. Which makes sense given the huge Chinese percentages in many cities throughout that country. Montreal certainly is known for great food of other kinds, so it's Chinese cuisine may not stand out.
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Old 05-26-2020, 11:16 PM
 
2,289 posts, read 1,677,157 times
Reputation: 2252
Quote:
Originally Posted by As Above So Below... View Post
I personally find the Chinese food in Houston quite a bit better than Chicago or Seattle. Its also exceptional in Vietnamese food. The Japanese and Korean food here, however, is not that good. Much better in Seattle and Chicago for those two.
Vietnamese in Seattle is pretty damn phenomenal, though. The only city that rivals Seattle for Southeast Asian cuisine - Thai and Vietnamese at least - in my experience is LA.

In terms of Chinese food, when was the last time you had it in Seattle? It’s gotten way better in just the last 5 years, although Houston may still be a notch above.
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Old 05-27-2020, 01:16 AM
 
Location: Chicago, IL
474 posts, read 523,599 times
Reputation: 686
Quote:
Originally Posted by projectmaximus View Post
Those adjustments totally makes sense. We all have our own experiences to draw from!

Re: Montreal, I do probably have a personal bias...my first visit was as a young kid with my parents during lobster festival and it was there that I fell in love with cantonese-style lobster. I also have two Chinese relatives, one in NYC and one in Boston, who love Montreal Chinese food for whatever reason and would travel there for the food. That kinda passion influences me, even if it is just two people who probably feel that way for specific restaurants rather than the larger scene as a whole. I personally also remember having some amazing Xiao long bao. Also, Canada in general seems to just be very strong across the board. Which makes sense given the huge Chinese percentages in many cities throughout that country. Montreal certainly is known for great food of other kinds, so it's Chinese cuisine may not stand out.
Makes sense. Up until a decade or two ago, Chinese people in Chicagoland would drive up to Toronto when they wanted an authentic meal! Thankfully things have gotten better here.
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Old 05-27-2020, 05:31 AM
 
Location: Berkeley, CA
662 posts, read 1,274,837 times
Reputation: 938
Tier 1:
Los Angeles, Vancouver, Toronto

Tier 2:
San Francisco, NYC

Tier 3:
Seattle, Houston, Las Vegas

Tier 1 cities are most important because they have such a strong depth and breath in regional Chinese (and Taiwanese) variety that can only be matched by a combination of the cities in Tier 2 and 3. Chinese immigrants tend to be newer and richer in these cities. Most best-in-class Chinese restaurants will likely come from these cities. A very competitive and vibrant landscape for recruiting cutting edge Chinese chefs from overseas. More likely to have world-class Asian night markets (think Richmond Night Market or 626 Night Market). Authentic Chinese regional cuisines are wide ranging and ubiquitious here.

Tier 2 has a few best-in-class Chinese restaurants as well as ubiquity of Americanized Chinese restaurants that put it over Tier 3 but under the hyper authenticity of Tier 1. But still often included with Tier 1 when important national Chinese franchises decide to expand in the US.

Tier 3 are cities where you can find good Chinese restaurants but lack the quantity. National Chinese francises rarely choose to expand here before considering Tier 1 and 2 cities.

Last edited by dtran103; 05-27-2020 at 06:07 AM..
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Old 05-27-2020, 11:37 AM
 
4,998 posts, read 3,846,695 times
Reputation: 4497
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vincent_Adultman View Post
Vietnamese in Seattle is pretty damn phenomenal, though.
Pho-nomenal even!?
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Old 05-27-2020, 01:27 PM
 
2,289 posts, read 1,677,157 times
Reputation: 2252
Quote:
Originally Posted by mwj119 View Post
Pho-nomenal even!?
Very nice!
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Old 05-27-2020, 03:56 PM
 
Location: PNW
672 posts, read 635,495 times
Reputation: 765
I've been to all the major hot spots in North America and have had Chinese food there, recommended by the locals, and I think for sheer diversity and breadth of offerings, especially for Guangzhou/Cantonese cuisine Metro Vancouver (mostly Richmond, Burnaby) can't be beat in North America. Maybe for real Michelin-star calibre dining, NY or LA could outdo it, but for the different regional varieties and quality top to bottom in the price chain I haven't seen better in the continent.

Of course, San Fran and LA are both very good not only for Chinese but all varieties of Asian cuisine and I rate it better than Toronto or New York overall.
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