Food & Wine- 2 US cities are among the world's top dining destinations (amusement park, organic)

[Journey2LS]

The best food I ever had in my life was in South Carolina. It seems to be missing from the list.

[beeneverywheretwice]

Originally Posted by steve-o

its probably because they focus on too much of one thing, in italy's case: Pasta. Same could be said for mexico city and tacos, etc. While italy does pasta best, and mexico city might do burritos best, you cant walk into tuscany and find a thai restaurant, ya know? Its quality and quantity in this case, and places like nyc, chicago, etc, dont have one set cuisine that eveyrthing revolves around. You can get ehtiopian, thai, mexican, american, brazilian, etc, etc, and those restaurants are well represented and the food is prepared/cooked by some of the best in the industry. See where im coming from?

bingo!

[beeneverywheretwice]

Originally Posted by ksgator

The best food I ever had in my life was in South Carolina. It seems to be missing from the list.

Southern food gets no respect even in the North and West here in the U.S. It's too bad because, in all my travels and the great variety of cuisines I've experienced, the South is one place where I could eat myself to death. It's all the butter, fatback and bacon grease! YUM! LOL!

[lammius]

I'm surprised about London. I'm reminded of a joke a professor once told me, which is common in her Indian circles:

A man was asked to come up with the best combination of four items from four different countries. He stated, "the best combination is an English salary, an American house, Indian food, and a Japanese wife." When asked to specify the worst combination, he stated, "Oh, definitely an Indian salary, a Japanese house, English food and an American wife."

But seriously, the Indian invasion is the best (if not only great) thing to happen to food in Britain.

[David Alleyne]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

Wow, no Italian cities? Some of the best food experiences I ever had were in Florence, Venice and Rome.

I was suprised that Italy had no cities in the top ten but then I thought about how all the other cities may have top rank Italian food themselves (and other food from around the globe).

[internat]

Alright, I was wondering because I know Stockholm very well having lived in the city for a long period. You mentioned mall food courts in Montreal. There's plenty of fine food in market-halls (saluhall in Swedish) in Sweden. You may have missed Östermalmshallen, Kungshallen and Söderhallarna. Stockholm is no longer as clean as it used to be. Swedish is rather close to English and the country is nowadays very anglicised. Swedes learn to speak English from a young age in school. English-speaking TV shows and movies are subtitled whereas they are dubbed in many larger European countries such as Germany and France. I wouldn't say Swedes speak very good English (most still have a strong sing-songy accent - Sven-Göran Eriksson is a good example) although they do compared to say a lot of people in Spain or Italy. The Dutch (anthropologically and linguistically even closer to English) are known to speak the best English among European countries where the main language is something else.

I haven't been to Montreal or Hong Kong so I don't have an opinion. I like seafood. I've been to San Francisco and there I did have delicious clam chowder. You probably know Stockholm has a very large archipelago with excellent seafood. I can imagine Boston would have good seafood too. I would be interested to know what kind of tasty food one can eat in Montreal.

England is known to have bad food among many Europeans. I guess it's subjective as people (at least the more conservative) tend to like food they are used to from their early childhood. Proud English people are often offended by this claim. These nationalists are right in that a lot of foreigners only visit London which is not at all representative of England. They point out you need to get to the countryside to find fine restaurants or pubs with good food. I've also heard people say you need to eat in people's homes which is not easy for a tourist with no contacts in the country and although it's a fair enough remark it goes against the whole purpose of eating out. I have eaten in London as well as the countryside. You get more genuine English food with sometimes local produce but it comes with a high price. English food tend to be rather bland.

Anyway, like I said it's all a matter of how much you are willing (and can) to spend on eating out. I've eaten scrumptious food in Odessa (Ukraine) for half the price I would have to pay in London. I'm not against so-called fine dining as defined in these kinds of lists. It's just that few people can afford eating out in such restaurants. I'm more interested in a high overall standard which is why I cringe whenever I see London being associated with eating well.

Originally Posted by JMT

Yes, I've been to Stockholm. It's a beautiful, exceptionally clean city where people speak better English than many Americans. In my experience, there's a much richer variety of excellent food in places like Montreal, San Francisco, and Hong Kong. I mean geez, even mall food courts in Montreal have fantastic food.

I agree that it's more difficult to find good food in London, and invariably it's at an ethnic restaurant (of which there are plenty, thank goodness). I don't know if there's such a thing as "fine English food" haha.

Having said that, there is good food to be found anywhere. I have had excellent food in Stockholm to be sure.

But since this is the US forum, we should probably concentrate on American cities. So here's my list of places in America with the best food based on cost (availability to the masses and not just a few wealthy elite), quality, and variety. I don't drink, so wine isn't a consideration:

1. New York
2. San Francisco
3. Chicago
4. New Orleans
5. Miami
6. Boston
7. Honolulu
8. Atlanta
9. Houston
10. Detroit

[imaterry78259]

I can't believe Atlanta is on the list

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

Its probably because they focus on too much of one thing, in Italy's case: pasta. Same could be said for Mexico City and tacos, etc. While Italy does pasta best, and Mexico City might do burritos best, you cant walk into Tuscany and find a Thai restaurant, ya know? Its quality and quantity in this case, and places like NYC, Chicago, etc, dont have one set cuisine that eveyrthing revolves around. You can get Ehtiopian, Thai, Mexican, American, Brazilian, etc, etc, and those restaurants are well represented and the food is prepared/cooked by some of the best in the industry. See where Im coming from?

Yeah, I do...I'm sure eclecticism (did I just invent a word?) factors into the list. And I've had a lot of non-pasta related meals in northern Italy that were F A B U L O U S!!!

[downtown1]

I believe the food scene in New Orleans is better than Las Vegas. right? wrong?

[danco]

..... on a side note ( since I don't eat at uber expensive 5 star joints)
I would wager that the Mexicans ( who are generally great cooks
to begin with ) will become some of the greatest chefs of our country.
It has to happen, they're in most restaurant kitchens irregardless
of cuisine. No racial crack here I'm serious and my stomach is benefiting.