(09-29-2019 04:09 PM)TheOrigamiJimmyChin Wrote:  

(09-29-2019 03:09 PM)Moody Magic Wrote:  

(09-28-2019 03:57 PM)TheOrigamiJimmyChin Wrote:  Food and Wine Magazine says you're all wrong:
https://www.foodandwine.com/travel/resta...erica-2019

1. Houston (#2 food city in US)
2. Philadelphia (#6)
3. New Orleans (#8)
4. Tampa (#11)
Not ranked: the rest.

I pasted their description for Houston below. I think they name drop too much -- Robert DeNiro told me you should never name drop -- but complimentary of what Houston has to offer.

2. Houston

Here’s the thing, Los Angeles—Houston is coming for you. Maybe not today, but soon. You can see it all going down; the cooking here comes from everywhere, and in many cases has been here for the longest time—Houstonians of all kinds grow up eating each other’s food, and it feels like everything is so close to hand, unlike in too many other American cities, where you’re often too far from the food we want to eat now. In Houston, the whole world is next door, from Hugo Ortega working high-end Oaxacan magic at a Marriott, to the affordable bowls of goodness at Pho Binh, just blocks from the gloss of the Galleria. There are weekday Indian brunches at Pondicheri in trendy Montrose, business lunches of Banh Cuon and duck salad at standby Huynh, in the shadow of the downtown skyline, fast-casual joints selling artisanal banh mi (Roostar) and gorgeous bowls of char kway teow (Sing). There are so many names to know, now—talented Nick Wong at the delightful little UB Preserv, one part of Chris Shepherd’s quickly-evolving empire, where pastry chef Victoria Dearmond brings joy to table after table on a nightly basis. There’s Ryan Lachaine at Riel, and of course Justin Yu (Theodore Rex), who with local bar macher Bobby Heugel gave the city one of its best new hangs Better Luck Tomorrow. In 2019, word is they’re going to do it all over again. (We’ll be there.) Ditto for master sommelier David Keck, too, whose popular honky tonk Goodnight Charlie's is apparently the first step toward taking over a small stretch of Westheimer Road. Then there are all those new food halls, there is hometown gal Beyonce’s favorite restaurant, and one of America’s finest classic cafeterias, now better than ever—seriously, we’d look away, but we’re afraid we’re going to miss something.

The food scene in Dallas is just as good and diverse as Houston regardless what kind of food you like. Personally, I think NOLA is the best food city in the country.

I don't know Dallas so I can't comment on that, and it's been a while since I've been to NOLA. As big as DFW is, there should be plenty of good food available. As for NOLA, there's obviously a concentration of good food, but just not the breadth and depth of what's available in a city as big and diverse as Houston.

At least my opinion. Of course, for many folks, that diversity doesn't really matter as they won't venture beyond BBQ or steaks. Most of my family falls into that category, where Chinese buffets and Olive Garden are about as far as they'll stray into foods from different ethnicities.

What people don’t realize are the huge number of immigrants in Dallas and Houston. Watching the Food Network now and they mentioned over 100,000 Vietnamese in Houston and just as many Indians and Chinese in the Dallas north.

Very diverse cuisines in both cities beyond Mexican and bbq.

(09-29-2019 04:18 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  What people don’t realize are the huge number of immigrants in Dallas and Houston. Watching the Food Network now and they mentioned over 100,000 Vietnamese in Houston and just as many Indians and Chinese in the Dallas north.

Very diverse cuisines in both cities beyond Mexican and bbq.

I was just googling and found this amazing statistic:

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/g...il-premium
Taken together, this data means that Harris County alone welcomes about 25 of every 1,000 refugees that the U.N. resettles anywhere in the world — more than any other American city, and more than most other nations. If Greater Houston were a country, it would rank fourth in the world for refugee resettlement.

Politics aside, it definitely makes for some tasty eating. And interesting fusions.

(09-29-2019 04:18 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  

(09-29-2019 04:09 PM)TheOrigamiJimmyChin Wrote:  

(09-29-2019 03:09 PM)Moody Magic Wrote:  

(09-28-2019 03:57 PM)TheOrigamiJimmyChin Wrote:  Food and Wine Magazine says you're all wrong:
https://www.foodandwine.com/travel/resta...erica-2019

1. Houston (#2 food city in US)
2. Philadelphia (#6)
3. New Orleans (#8)
4. Tampa (#11)
Not ranked: the rest.

I pasted their description for Houston below. I think they name drop too much -- Robert DeNiro told me you should never name drop -- but complimentary of what Houston has to offer.

2. Houston

Here’s the thing, Los Angeles—Houston is coming for you. Maybe not today, but soon. You can see it all going down; the cooking here comes from everywhere, and in many cases has been here for the longest time—Houstonians of all kinds grow up eating each other’s food, and it feels like everything is so close to hand, unlike in too many other American cities, where you’re often too far from the food we want to eat now. In Houston, the whole world is next door, from Hugo Ortega working high-end Oaxacan magic at a Marriott, to the affordable bowls of goodness at Pho Binh, just blocks from the gloss of the Galleria. There are weekday Indian brunches at Pondicheri in trendy Montrose, business lunches of Banh Cuon and duck salad at standby Huynh, in the shadow of the downtown skyline, fast-casual joints selling artisanal banh mi (Roostar) and gorgeous bowls of char kway teow (Sing). There are so many names to know, now—talented Nick Wong at the delightful little UB Preserv, one part of Chris Shepherd’s quickly-evolving empire, where pastry chef Victoria Dearmond brings joy to table after table on a nightly basis. There’s Ryan Lachaine at Riel, and of course Justin Yu (Theodore Rex), who with local bar macher Bobby Heugel gave the city one of its best new hangs Better Luck Tomorrow. In 2019, word is they’re going to do it all over again. (We’ll be there.) Ditto for master sommelier David Keck, too, whose popular honky tonk Goodnight Charlie's is apparently the first step toward taking over a small stretch of Westheimer Road. Then there are all those new food halls, there is hometown gal Beyonce’s favorite restaurant, and one of America’s finest classic cafeterias, now better than ever—seriously, we’d look away, but we’re afraid we’re going to miss something.

The food scene in Dallas is just as good and diverse as Houston regardless what kind of food you like. Personally, I think NOLA is the best food city in the country.

I don't know Dallas so I can't comment on that, and it's been a while since I've been to NOLA. As big as DFW is, there should be plenty of good food available. As for NOLA, there's obviously a concentration of good food, but just not the breadth and depth of what's available in a city as big and diverse as Houston.

At least my opinion. Of course, for many folks, that diversity doesn't really matter as they won't venture beyond BBQ or steaks. Most of my family falls into that category, where Chinese buffets and Olive Garden are about as far as they'll stray into foods from different ethnicities.

What people don’t realize are the huge number of immigrants in Dallas and Houston. Watching the Food Network now and they mentioned over 100,000 Vietnamese in Houston and just as many Indians and Chinese in the Dallas north.

Very diverse cuisines in both cities beyond Mexican and bbq.

The Asian food in Plano and Richardson blows away what we have in Philly, and we have pretty good Asian food.

(09-30-2019 12:26 PM)JHG722 Wrote:  

(09-29-2019 04:18 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  

(09-29-2019 04:09 PM)TheOrigamiJimmyChin Wrote:  

(09-29-2019 03:09 PM)Moody Magic Wrote:  

(09-28-2019 03:57 PM)TheOrigamiJimmyChin Wrote:  Food and Wine Magazine says you're all wrong:
https://www.foodandwine.com/travel/resta...erica-2019

1. Houston (#2 food city in US)
2. Philadelphia (#6)
3. New Orleans (#8)
4. Tampa (#11)
Not ranked: the rest.

I pasted their description for Houston below. I think they name drop too much -- Robert DeNiro told me you should never name drop -- but complimentary of what Houston has to offer.

2. Houston

Here’s the thing, Los Angeles—Houston is coming for you. Maybe not today, but soon. You can see it all going down; the cooking here comes from everywhere, and in many cases has been here for the longest time—Houstonians of all kinds grow up eating each other’s food, and it feels like everything is so close to hand, unlike in too many other American cities, where you’re often too far from the food we want to eat now. In Houston, the whole world is next door, from Hugo Ortega working high-end Oaxacan magic at a Marriott, to the affordable bowls of goodness at Pho Binh, just blocks from the gloss of the Galleria. There are weekday Indian brunches at Pondicheri in trendy Montrose, business lunches of Banh Cuon and duck salad at standby Huynh, in the shadow of the downtown skyline, fast-casual joints selling artisanal banh mi (Roostar) and gorgeous bowls of char kway teow (Sing). There are so many names to know, now—talented Nick Wong at the delightful little UB Preserv, one part of Chris Shepherd’s quickly-evolving empire, where pastry chef Victoria Dearmond brings joy to table after table on a nightly basis. There’s Ryan Lachaine at Riel, and of course Justin Yu (Theodore Rex), who with local bar macher Bobby Heugel gave the city one of its best new hangs Better Luck Tomorrow. In 2019, word is they’re going to do it all over again. (We’ll be there.) Ditto for master sommelier David Keck, too, whose popular honky tonk Goodnight Charlie's is apparently the first step toward taking over a small stretch of Westheimer Road. Then there are all those new food halls, there is hometown gal Beyonce’s favorite restaurant, and one of America’s finest classic cafeterias, now better than ever—seriously, we’d look away, but we’re afraid we’re going to miss something.

The food scene in Dallas is just as good and diverse as Houston regardless what kind of food you like. Personally, I think NOLA is the best food city in the country.

I don't know Dallas so I can't comment on that, and it's been a while since I've been to NOLA. As big as DFW is, there should be plenty of good food available. As for NOLA, there's obviously a concentration of good food, but just not the breadth and depth of what's available in a city as big and diverse as Houston.

At least my opinion. Of course, for many folks, that diversity doesn't really matter as they won't venture beyond BBQ or steaks. Most of my family falls into that category, where Chinese buffets and Olive Garden are about as far as they'll stray into foods from different ethnicities.

What people don’t realize are the huge number of immigrants in Dallas and Houston. Watching the Food Network now and they mentioned over 100,000 Vietnamese in Houston and just as many Indians and Chinese in the Dallas north.

Very diverse cuisines in both cities beyond Mexican and bbq.

The Asian food in Plano and Richardson blows away what we have in Philly, and we have pretty good Asian food.

Dim sum in Richardson is really good.

(09-30-2019 01:15 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  

(09-30-2019 12:26 PM)JHG722 Wrote:  

(09-29-2019 04:18 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  

(09-29-2019 04:09 PM)TheOrigamiJimmyChin Wrote:  

(09-29-2019 03:09 PM)Moody Magic Wrote:  The food scene in Dallas is just as good and diverse as Houston regardless what kind of food you like. Personally, I think NOLA is the best food city in the country.

I don't know Dallas so I can't comment on that, and it's been a while since I've been to NOLA. As big as DFW is, there should be plenty of good food available. As for NOLA, there's obviously a concentration of good food, but just not the breadth and depth of what's available in a city as big and diverse as Houston.

At least my opinion. Of course, for many folks, that diversity doesn't really matter as they won't venture beyond BBQ or steaks. Most of my family falls into that category, where Chinese buffets and Olive Garden are about as far as they'll stray into foods from different ethnicities.

What people don’t realize are the huge number of immigrants in Dallas and Houston. Watching the Food Network now and they mentioned over 100,000 Vietnamese in Houston and just as many Indians and Chinese in the Dallas north.

Very diverse cuisines in both cities beyond Mexican and bbq.

The Asian food in Plano and Richardson blows away what we have in Philly, and we have pretty good Asian food.

Dim sum in Richardson is really good.

Kirin Court is my spot

(09-30-2019 01:18 PM)JHG722 Wrote:  

(09-30-2019 01:15 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  

(09-30-2019 12:26 PM)JHG722 Wrote:  

(09-29-2019 04:18 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  

(09-29-2019 04:09 PM)TheOrigamiJimmyChin Wrote:  I don't know Dallas so I can't comment on that, and it's been a while since I've been to NOLA. As big as DFW is, there should be plenty of good food available. As for NOLA, there's obviously a concentration of good food, but just not the breadth and depth of what's available in a city as big and diverse as Houston.

At least my opinion. Of course, for many folks, that diversity doesn't really matter as they won't venture beyond BBQ or steaks. Most of my family falls into that category, where Chinese buffets and Olive Garden are about as far as they'll stray into foods from different ethnicities.

What people don’t realize are the huge number of immigrants in Dallas and Houston. Watching the Food Network now and they mentioned over 100,000 Vietnamese in Houston and just as many Indians and Chinese in the Dallas north.

Very diverse cuisines in both cities beyond Mexican and bbq.

The Asian food in Plano and Richardson blows away what we have in Philly, and we have pretty good Asian food.

Dim sum in Richardson is really good.

Kirin Court is my spot

Where my Chinese buddy got married. Great place

(09-30-2019 01:18 PM)JHG722 Wrote:  

(09-30-2019 01:15 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  

(09-30-2019 12:26 PM)JHG722 Wrote:  

(09-29-2019 04:18 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  

(09-29-2019 04:09 PM)TheOrigamiJimmyChin Wrote:  I don't know Dallas so I can't comment on that, and it's been a while since I've been to NOLA. As big as DFW is, there should be plenty of good food available. As for NOLA, there's obviously a concentration of good food, but just not the breadth and depth of what's available in a city as big and diverse as Houston.

At least my opinion. Of course, for many folks, that diversity doesn't really matter as they won't venture beyond BBQ or steaks. Most of my family falls into that category, where Chinese buffets and Olive Garden are about as far as they'll stray into foods from different ethnicities.

What people don’t realize are the huge number of immigrants in Dallas and Houston. Watching the Food Network now and they mentioned over 100,000 Vietnamese in Houston and just as many Indians and Chinese in the Dallas north.

Very diverse cuisines in both cities beyond Mexican and bbq.

The Asian food in Plano and Richardson blows away what we have in Philly, and we have pretty good Asian food.

Dim sum in Richardson is really good.

Kirin Court is my spot

Where my Chinese buddy got married. Great place

(09-25-2019 04:17 PM)usffan Wrote:  

(09-25-2019 03:28 PM)colohank Wrote:  

(09-25-2019 11:39 AM)usffan Wrote:  Voted Houston #1. So many cajun options available after Katrina, including Viet-cajun, that coupled with Mexican and BBQ, it beat out Tulane in my opinion.

FWIW, if I were going to rank the AAC schools based on cuisine, it would go as follows:

1 - Houston
2 - Tulane (muffalettas rule)
3 - Memphis (Gus' is a must)
4 - Temple (Don't EVER go to either Pat's OR Geno's!)
5 - ECU (I'll take Carolina BBQ, even South Carolina's mustard sauce, over Texas)
6 - SMU (but I'll take Texas BBQ over just about any other cuisine)
7 - USF (Cuban sandwiches)
8 - Navy (crab)
9 - UCF (good Puerto Rican and Brazilian options)
10 - Cincinnati (crap "chili")
11 - UConn (New Haven pizza is way overrated "hipster" pizza)

(never been to Tulsa or Wichita)

USFFan

Folks who denigrate Cincinnati chili bring to mind my paternal grandfather's favorite old saying. "You can't teach a pig about Sunday." It fits just about any situation involving someone who doesn't get it.

I wouldn't serve Cincinnati chili to said pig. PETA would rightfully intervene.

USFFan

PETA = People for Eating Tasty Animals. You don't make any sense.

I'm a homer who voted Cincinnati because I know the food scene here goes waaaaay beyond the chili. Just like others here should recognize that food also goes waaaay beyond bbq.

New Orleans is probably best.

Spent a lot of time in Houston recently and had some good eats but left with a sense that the food scene wasn't as good as it should be for such a big city. Maybe it's because I felt like I had to drive forever to get wherever I was going to find whatever restaurant, I dunno. Driving through endless miles of strip malls, I dock points for accessibility.

(09-30-2019 01:19 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  

(09-30-2019 01:18 PM)JHG722 Wrote:  

(09-30-2019 01:15 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  

(09-30-2019 12:26 PM)JHG722 Wrote:  

(09-29-2019 04:18 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  What people don’t realize are the huge number of immigrants in Dallas and Houston. Watching the Food Network now and they mentioned over 100,000 Vietnamese in Houston and just as many Indians and Chinese in the Dallas north.

Very diverse cuisines in both cities beyond Mexican and bbq.

The Asian food in Plano and Richardson blows away what we have in Philly, and we have pretty good Asian food.

Dim sum in Richardson is really good.

Kirin Court is my spot

Where my Chinese buddy got married. Great place

Awesome

(09-29-2019 04:18 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  What people don’t realize are the huge number of immigrants in Dallas and Houston. Watching the Food Network now and they mentioned over 100,000 Vietnamese in Houston and just as many Indians and Chinese in the Dallas north.

Very diverse cuisines in both cities beyond Mexican and bbq.

This.

Houston has consistently listed as the most diverse city in the country, and Dallas near the top. And the sheer number of restaurant offerings mean you can get great offerings of almost any food on the planet in either city.

It's why I asked about whether this poll is based on traditional city/regional cuisine or current offerings.

So...basically Tulane and Memphis combined assume 50% of the vote.

After us, a bunch of other random places.

(09-30-2019 06:43 PM)I_LUV_MEMPHISTIGERS Wrote:  So...basically Tulane and Memphis combined assume 50% of the vote.

After us, a bunch of other random places.

How many Memphis fans voted for Memphis?

(09-30-2019 10:45 PM)ShockerFever Wrote:  

(09-30-2019 06:43 PM)I_LUV_MEMPHISTIGERS Wrote:  So...basically Tulane and Memphis combined assume 50% of the vote.

After us, a bunch of other random places.

How many Memphis fans voted for Memphis?

It's funny - I've been to most of these cities, and I'm fat enough to have the credentials to know where good food is. The fact that there are people who voted for some of the cities on here at all as the city whose food is most preferred is pretty ridiculous. I mean, you can quibble about whether New Orleans, Houston or Memphis should be the top choice, and although I wouldn't agree with it, I can see why people could pick Eastern NC, Dallas or Cincinnati, but anybody voting for another option there isn't being genuine. I've been to Storrs at least half a dozen times - there is nothing anywhere near UConn's campus that compares to the 15th best thing you can get in New Orleans.

USFFan

(09-27-2019 11:01 AM)JHG722 Wrote:  How you could leave off Serpico and etc. and include Fogo (?), I have no idea. Steak is also by far the worst of any cuisines in Philly.

Can you read? This wasn't my list. I googled "best restaurants in philly" filtered by 4.5 stars and higher and then wrote the list in my message. Not my fault Philadelphia residents think Fogo is a top 15 restaurant in the city . . .

Apologies, but I don't want to scroll all the way back. Obviously Wichita was left off.

Wichita has some of the best Mediterranean/Lebanese food in the country.

Wichita has a rich Lebanese history.

In the 1910/20x a lot of Christian Lebanese immigrated to Wichita and Tulsa.

Thus great restaurants and great entrepreneurs.

In fact, you can find a list of the TEN best Lebanese restaurants in Wichita.

There ya go.

(09-30-2019 12:26 PM)JHG722 Wrote:  

(09-29-2019 04:18 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  

(09-29-2019 04:09 PM)TheOrigamiJimmyChin Wrote:  

(09-29-2019 03:09 PM)Moody Magic Wrote:  

(09-28-2019 03:57 PM)TheOrigamiJimmyChin Wrote:  Food and Wine Magazine says you're all wrong:
https://www.foodandwine.com/travel/resta...erica-2019

1. Houston (#2 food city in US)
2. Philadelphia (#6)
3. New Orleans (#8)
4. Tampa (#11)
Not ranked: the rest.

I pasted their description for Houston below. I think they name drop too much -- Robert DeNiro told me you should never name drop -- but complimentary of what Houston has to offer.

2. Houston

Here’s the thing, Los Angeles—Houston is coming for you. Maybe not today, but soon. You can see it all going down; the cooking here comes from everywhere, and in many cases has been here for the longest time—Houstonians of all kinds grow up eating each other’s food, and it feels like everything is so close to hand, unlike in too many other American cities, where you’re often too far from the food we want to eat now. In Houston, the whole world is next door, from Hugo Ortega working high-end Oaxacan magic at a Marriott, to the affordable bowls of goodness at Pho Binh, just blocks from the gloss of the Galleria. There are weekday Indian brunches at Pondicheri in trendy Montrose, business lunches of Banh Cuon and duck salad at standby Huynh, in the shadow of the downtown skyline, fast-casual joints selling artisanal banh mi (Roostar) and gorgeous bowls of char kway teow (Sing). There are so many names to know, now—talented Nick Wong at the delightful little UB Preserv, one part of Chris Shepherd’s quickly-evolving empire, where pastry chef Victoria Dearmond brings joy to table after table on a nightly basis. There’s Ryan Lachaine at Riel, and of course Justin Yu (Theodore Rex), who with local bar macher Bobby Heugel gave the city one of its best new hangs Better Luck Tomorrow. In 2019, word is they’re going to do it all over again. (We’ll be there.) Ditto for master sommelier David Keck, too, whose popular honky tonk Goodnight Charlie's is apparently the first step toward taking over a small stretch of Westheimer Road. Then there are all those new food halls, there is hometown gal Beyonce’s favorite restaurant, and one of America’s finest classic cafeterias, now better than ever—seriously, we’d look away, but we’re afraid we’re going to miss something.

The food scene in Dallas is just as good and diverse as Houston regardless what kind of food you like. Personally, I think NOLA is the best food city in the country.

I don't know Dallas so I can't comment on that, and it's been a while since I've been to NOLA. As big as DFW is, there should be plenty of good food available. As for NOLA, there's obviously a concentration of good food, but just not the breadth and depth of what's available in a city as big and diverse as Houston.

At least my opinion. Of course, for many folks, that diversity doesn't really matter as they won't venture beyond BBQ or steaks. Most of my family falls into that category, where Chinese buffets and Olive Garden are about as far as they'll stray into foods from different ethnicities.

What people don’t realize are the huge number of immigrants in Dallas and Houston. Watching the Food Network now and they mentioned over 100,000 Vietnamese in Houston and just as many Indians and Chinese in the Dallas north.

Very diverse cuisines in both cities beyond Mexican and bbq.

The Asian food in Plano and Richardson blows away what we have in Philly, and we have pretty good Asian food.

This^. Kirin Court in Richardson is a cool and tasty experience during lunch.

Carrollton and Garland get overshadowed by Plano and Richardson but both have outstanding Asian markets and restaurants, Carrollton’s KoreaTown in particular.

Also, I have a co-worker from Ethiopia who took us to Lalibela last month in NE Dallas. It was delicious. There are several Ethiopian options in that neighborhood and I was told most are quite good.

As Pony 94 said, the food scene in Dallas is SO much more than BBQ and Mexican food, although still one of my favorite dining options is to try a random taqueria among the sea of taqueria in Dallas and seeing what I’ll find. The competition is so tough they usually have to be good to survive.

(09-29-2019 04:18 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  

(09-29-2019 04:09 PM)TheOrigamiJimmyChin Wrote:  

(09-29-2019 03:09 PM)Moody Magic Wrote:  

(09-28-2019 03:57 PM)TheOrigamiJimmyChin Wrote:  Food and Wine Magazine says you're all wrong:
https://www.foodandwine.com/travel/resta...erica-2019

1. Houston (#2 food city in US)
2. Philadelphia (#6)
3. New Orleans (#8)
4. Tampa (#11)
Not ranked: the rest.

I pasted their description for Houston below. I think they name drop too much -- Robert DeNiro told me you should never name drop -- but complimentary of what Houston has to offer.

2. Houston

Here’s the thing, Los Angeles—Houston is coming for you. Maybe not today, but soon. You can see it all going down; the cooking here comes from everywhere, and in many cases has been here for the longest time—Houstonians of all kinds grow up eating each other’s food, and it feels like everything is so close to hand, unlike in too many other American cities, where you’re often too far from the food we want to eat now. In Houston, the whole world is next door, from Hugo Ortega working high-end Oaxacan magic at a Marriott, to the affordable bowls of goodness at Pho Binh, just blocks from the gloss of the Galleria. There are weekday Indian brunches at Pondicheri in trendy Montrose, business lunches of Banh Cuon and duck salad at standby Huynh, in the shadow of the downtown skyline, fast-casual joints selling artisanal banh mi (Roostar) and gorgeous bowls of char kway teow (Sing). There are so many names to know, now—talented Nick Wong at the delightful little UB Preserv, one part of Chris Shepherd’s quickly-evolving empire, where pastry chef Victoria Dearmond brings joy to table after table on a nightly basis. There’s Ryan Lachaine at Riel, and of course Justin Yu (Theodore Rex), who with local bar macher Bobby Heugel gave the city one of its best new hangs Better Luck Tomorrow. In 2019, word is they’re going to do it all over again. (We’ll be there.) Ditto for master sommelier David Keck, too, whose popular honky tonk Goodnight Charlie's is apparently the first step toward taking over a small stretch of Westheimer Road. Then there are all those new food halls, there is hometown gal Beyonce’s favorite restaurant, and one of America’s finest classic cafeterias, now better than ever—seriously, we’d look away, but we’re afraid we’re going to miss something.

The food scene in Dallas is just as good and diverse as Houston regardless what kind of food you like. Personally, I think NOLA is the best food city in the country.

I don't know Dallas so I can't comment on that, and it's been a while since I've been to NOLA. As big as DFW is, there should be plenty of good food available. As for NOLA, there's obviously a concentration of good food, but just not the breadth and depth of what's available in a city as big and diverse as Houston.

At least my opinion. Of course, for many folks, that diversity doesn't really matter as they won't venture beyond BBQ or steaks. Most of my family falls into that category, where Chinese buffets and Olive Garden are about as far as they'll stray into foods from different ethnicities.

What people don’t realize are the huge number of immigrants in Dallas and Houston. Watching the Food Network now and they mentioned over 100,000 Vietnamese in Houston and just as many Indians and Chinese in the Dallas north.

Very diverse cuisines in both cities beyond Mexican and bbq.

The greatest thing about this whole conversation is that people are making lists of dozens of restaurants to check out next time they visit these AAC cities!

mangiare!

Just for funzies. I looked back at the James Beard Restaurant/Chef winners from the past few years. New Orleans is by far the undisputed champion. Of the 42 restaurant/chef categories in 2018, New Orleans had 5 winners.

The cities that normally come up a lot are NYC/New Orleans/San Fran/Boston/Charleston/Seattle/Chicago/Philly/DC, in about that order.