Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I think actually the best idea would be to take a few short road trips.
in no particular order.
1 Boston to New York. New England seafood, Lobster (ya I know its seafood but it needs its own mention), NY fine dining.
2 Austin to New Orleans. Texas BBQ, Tex Mex, Creole, Cajun, Southern.
3 LA to SFO. Cali Mex, Pacific Seafood, LA fine dining.
all three of those drives showcase a wide variety and feature some of the best regional cuisine the US has to offer. Lots of great places in between each of those pairings also.
Outside the US the 2 top destinations for food are easily Italy and Singapore. They both have a good variety and well prepared food. Singapore is food heaven for all things Asian, I think it may be a requirement to have a food blog to get your NIC.
That's how we do it most of the time (road trip). We flew to Seattle a few times then spent half the time in Vancouver. Or during our regular vacations in Pensacola we would take a drive to New Orleans (about 3 hours drive) and spend a long weekend there. Living close to DC, it's pretty easy for us to get on a train in Union Station and head out to NYC for a weekend trip.
By the way, for those who love Indian food, Oak Tree Road in New Jersey has some of the best Indian foods in the country. I find them much better than New York's Jackson Heights neighborhood.
Singapore. Top of the list for me. You can get near anything, and the local specialties are staggeringly good.
Houston. This may surprise some, but Houston is an incredibly cosmopolitan city and is one of the best food destinations around. You can get your Cajun and Creole, amazing seafood, farm to table restaurants, Texas Barbeque, and so on and so on. You can get near anything you can imagine, and unlike New York, or London, afford to go.
San Francisco/Napa. The French Laundry is still on my list of places to go before I die.
We've eaten very well almost everywhere we travel. But it does mean you need to do your research beforehand. France is a perfect example. The varied French cuisine is justifiably famous but it doesn't mean you can walk into any random restaurant or bakery or boulangerie and expect to get wonderful food. You have to do your research, but it's easily done due to the plethora of food blogs online and chowhound is a valuable source of information as well. And you won't be disappointed.
I will say the two places where we ate consistently mediocre meals day after day were Egypt and the Philippines.
Singapore, HK, Thailand and Malaysia are probably the easiest place to find very good food randomly, by eating in food courts or street stalls.
Vancouver and Montreal.... I have had some of my best meals in those cities.
Vancouver - fresh seafood (mmmm sushi) and lots of trendy, urban fusion cuisine. Such a diverse population that you can also access LOADS of authentic Chinese restaurants and LOADS of Indian restaurants - it is the home of VIJ'S which might be one of my favourite restaurants on the planet.
Montreal - like visiting Paris, but less expensive and BETTER food. Not great if you are on a diet though... butter and cream make everything taste better.
San Sebastian, Spain: great food--pintxos. Small, bite-sized portions that you order at the counter. Amazing varieties. Miami, Florida: Surprisingly good food. I've had great sushi, Italian, Chinese, Mexican and Spanish food here. Destin, Florida: Great locally sourced seafood and a strong influx from New Orleans. Plus Key Lime Pie.
I'm more of an Andrew Zimmerman ((Bizarre Foods) than a Tony Bourdain, so am search for not only great food, but for accessible, inexpensive food as well (and, generally speaking, I've found the food, and portion sizes, in the humble parts of town to be more impressive than 5 star dining facilities that cater to the well off and tourists.
My top 5 in the US:
1) NYC (all over; those who simply say Manhattan, but haven't traveled to the large ethnic enclaves in Brooklyn, Queens or the Bronx, are often seriously missing out). NYC comes first to me because its a City of immigrants, which means that you can literally find anything here. Also, because there are so many people and competition, the food generally has to be good or the establishment won't be around for very long.
2) Any city specializing in deep south home cooking.
3) San Francisco: I love the food scene here.
4) Chicago
5) New Orleans
My top 5 in the world (including US):
1) Delhi/Mumbai
2) NYC
3) Beijing
4) Sydney
5) Chicago
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
