Jimmy Neutron Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 I've eaten in about half those cities and like Chicago the best. I don't think there's a big difference between quality steakhouses or ethnic specialty joints - most large cities have great options. You can't pie like the stuff available in Chitown anywhere else. That's enough for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keggerz Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 (edited) IF and WHEN any of you are in philly I highly recommend these restaurants: POD other STARR Restaurants home of some seriously frikin good eats! philly doesnt have the quantity of restaurants that NYC or SF have but the quality over the last 5 yrs or so has improved greatly.... and their is always Le Bec-Fin one of the best if not the best Restaurant in the country oh and for the cheese steak lover SCREW PATS & GENOS they get the press but the best ones are at Johns on South Street or my personal favorite is ABNERS over in University City I think its near 38th & Chestnut Edited October 14, 2005 by keggerz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clubfoothead Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 What kind of a homosexual doesn't rate a city's restaurants by the burger joints contained within? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whomper Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 NY is awesome. Arthur Ave in the Bronx loaded with great Italian places..Little Italy. Carmines..Nobu. Old Homestead Steakhouse..The list goes on.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beaumont Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 As much as it pains me to agree with Az, he's probably right here. I've never been to NYC, but most experts and critics put it at the top of the list. My homer vote would be for New Orleans, however, and it wouldn't be just for etouffee or gumbo. A ton of fantastic places to eat. 1065699[/snapback] Had lunch at Brennan's today in Houston ... real fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clubfoothead Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 Had lunch at Brennan's today in Houston ... real fine. 1067060[/snapback] When I am in Houston, there is only one place I eat at. Birraporetti's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outshined Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 Of the places I have been; New Orleans, Memphis, Seattle, other - all Florida cities, San Antonio and I could name I few more... I voted for New Orleans and the cajun food. I liked boiled crawfish...mmmm Second would be San Antonio - they had a couple great steakhouses, but I don't remember the names. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furd Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 What kind of a homosexual doesn't rate a city's restaurants by the burger joints contained within? 1067043[/snapback] I don't know. He probably wears a fine watch though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bier Meister Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 east coast bias! east coast bias! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T_bone65 Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 For Steak there is no better Steak house then Cattlemans in Fort Worth (Stockyards) IMHO Italian, I would have to say NYC or Baltimore (little Italy is awesome) BBQ would have to be Memphis, never been but have had some brought back to me that was awesome. Cheese Steak Philly for sure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caveman_Nick Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 What kind of a homosexual doesn't rate a city's restaurants by the burger joints contained within? 1067043[/snapback] So you rank them by the French food? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clubfoothead Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 I don't know. He probably wears a fine watch though. 1067407[/snapback] And pays $200.00 for a pair of shoes. I'll bet Hankk operates that way. Not that there's anything wrong with that. The Angry Dog in Deep Ellum has the best burgers in Dallas. Joe Willies would be a distant second. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimC Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 east coast bias! east coast bias! 1067438[/snapback] Everything West of the Mississippi is desert, ain't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hankk Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 And pays $200.00 for a pair of shoes. I'll bet Hankk operates that way. 1068131[/snapback] $200 for shoes? Hah. I have flip-flops that cost $200. <sniff> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 eh, it seriously is not close. NYC has by far the greatest ethnic diversity, it attracts the top top chefs, etc. maybe you're likely get a better steak in chicago, a better etouffe in new orleans, a better sourdough in san fran. but i doubt any of them can compare overall. 1065676[/snapback] While NY is a great food city, and perhaps the best, I can't give it the landslide vote you do. Interesting side note, I was reading a recent GQ at the gym that mentioned the 5 top food cities in the world and LA, not NY made the cut. Why NY is a great restaurant city: The sheer volume of top-end restaurants driven by a population of people with a ton of money that eat out always. The unabashed manner in which people go after concepts. Balthazar is a great example. You can get pretty much anything in the world, though that's becoming more and more true with any city of any size. Why NY is not a great restaurant city: The ethnic food is actually pretty overrated. Mexican by and large sucks there or at least can't compare to the CA cities. Asian is also much stronger in LA and SF. They may or may not have them beat on Middle Eastern, African, and other ethnic, but one can't with any degree of certainty say that they have the best ethnic. More important to me is the fact that the raw product mostly comes from somewhere else. There is a fundamental importance of having the essentials in your back yard. An attachment grows that ends up manifesting itself in the food. Chefs in LA and SF are literally surrounded by year round sources of the finest fish, produce, wines, meats, etc. that one can find. While NY does have it's farms, I'm guessing that frisee you're getting in January is coming from the west coast. The coffee pretty much sucks. It defies logic why, in a city as large as NY, your best chance of getting a good cup of coffee is at Starbucks (and they're freaking everywhere in Manhattan!). This doesn't bother me if I'm in some random suburban town, by NY? A place like SF has tons of places where you can get a beautiful cup of coffee. All that said, I love NY as a food town and could hear the argument that it rises above some of the limitations to be the best. But "hands down"? Certainly not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 (edited) I should also add that sheer numbers of great restaurants shouldn't define a great restaurant city. A more important indication is the percentage of good places to bad. Given, of course, a minimum number of places total. After all, one could actually make a great argument for Berkeley, CA, but it's just not big enough to be considered in the argument. So NYC might have the most good places to eat, but it could also be filled with sht as well. Further, from a geographic point of view, Berkeley, and Oakland are about as close to SF as the outer boroughs are to NYC. If you throw those two cities into the mix, SF is pretty hard to beat. As for NOLA, while one could argue that they do have the most distinct regional cuisine, I have issue with it. Frankly, I don't find it to be a fundamentally inspired cuisine. Basically, it's based on a heart stopping amount of butter, cream, and pork fat. Mind you, all of those things are tasty beyond belief, but it makes for a lazy cuisine. I mean, everything tastes good if you put enough of those things in it. That's why pasta tastes so much better when you eat out. It's not that the guy's tomato sauce is any better than yours, it's likely because he's tossing a massive chunk of butter into the pan before he serves. You'd never have the guts to do that at home. Edited October 14, 2005 by detlef Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MojoMan Posted October 14, 2005 Author Share Posted October 14, 2005 I should also add that sheer numbers of great restaurants shouldn't define a great restaurant city. A more important indication is the percentage of good places to bad. Given, of course, a minimum number of places total. After all, one could actually make a great argument for Berkeley, CA, but it's just not big enough to be considered in the argument. So NYC might have the most good places to eat, but it could also be filled with sht as well. Further, from a geographic point of view, Berkeley, and Oakland are about as close to SF as the outer boroughs are to NYC. If you throw those two cities into the mix, SF is pretty hard to beat. As for NOLA, while one could argue that they do have the most distinct regional cuisine, I have issue with it. Frankly, I don't find it to be a fundamentally inspired cuisine. Basically, it's based on a heart stopping amount of butter, cream, and pork fat. Mind you, all of those things are tasty beyond belief, but it makes for a lazy cuisine. I mean, everything tastes good if you put enough of those things in it. That's why pasta tastes so much better when you eat out. It's not that the guy's tomato sauce is any better than yours, it's likely because he's tossing a massive chunk of butter into the pan before he serves. You'd never have the guts to do that at home. 1068390[/snapback] Great observations Detlef. They put buttah in marinara sauce?!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 Great observations Detlef. They put buttah in marinara sauce?!! 1068683[/snapback] I would say that 80-90% of pasta dishes that come out of restaurants has a pretty generous amount of butter tossed in. Mind you, I worked in a really great Northern Italian place in Oakland for a number of years where we didn't really do that. I've always been alarmed, however, at most kitchens I've been in. Then again, butter tastes good. It's a pretty simple fact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDFFFreak Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 (edited) The argument is easy to be made for places like NYC and Los Angeles, but I'll tell you that Philly is a surprisingly strong city when it comes to good eats on the upper end. Le Bec Fin and Morimoto are two that come to mind, but there are a ton of others. Philly is not the place you would think of when it comes to fine dining, but the people there like to eat! BTW, I'm not the one who voted for Philly in the poll. Edited October 14, 2005 by TDFFFreak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clubfoothead Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 Ya'll need to get down to Elgin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meat Face Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 I votedfor NYC, and I've never even been there. I don't see how it could be beat. Although, I do like SF and Seattle a lot. And Memphis BBQ of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twiley Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 I votedfor NYC, and I've never even been there. I don't see how it could be beat. Although, I do like SF and Seattle a lot. And Memphis BBQ of course. 1069427[/snapback] I've heard some great things about Memphs BBQ. I've tried it a few times but I've always been too drunk to remember if it was that good. I blame Beal Street. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PantherDave Posted October 15, 2005 Share Posted October 15, 2005 Wilmington NC has some fantastic places to dine, as Mrs. PD and I love "The Pilot House", they have a very diverse menu-Roast Duck, Prime Rib and Steaks, Chops, great seafood-"Shrimp and Grits", "Pilot House Oysters" Almond encrusted Grouper, but they are not just seafood as they have three top notch Chefs and all the food is fabulous. Port City Chop House is outstanding, The Bridge Tender is also great, and their is the place we went for the Anny(name escapes me right now), in which they have two person tables that are cantilevered out on the second floor where you can have a great meal and watch the goings on at the Cape Fear River boardwalk and the Cape Fear River itself. Peace PD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keggerz Posted October 15, 2005 Share Posted October 15, 2005 The argument is easy to be made for places like NYC and Los Angeles, but I'll tell you that Philly is a surprisingly strong city when it comes to good eats on the upper end. Le Bec Fin and Morimoto are two that come to mind, but there are a ton of others. Philly is not the place you would think of when it comes to fine dining, but the people there like to eat! BTW, I'm not the one who voted for Philly in the poll. 1069198[/snapback] i linked to a few of the nice places in philly in my post but also it was not me that voted for philly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundaynfl Posted October 15, 2005 Share Posted October 15, 2005 I have to say Las Vegas, hands down for varity of the Greatest Rest. in the U.S. Circo, Emiril's Valentino's etc... mmmmmmmmmm......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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