America's Best Restaurant Cities: Esquire Magazine

[ColDayMan]

Originally Posted by mhays

Imagine that. A sous chef with personality and judgement problems. Gotta be a first.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that picked up on that...

[Chase Unperson]

I am sure Philadelphia has great restaurants. Why the he'll wouldn't it. I just found the claim that it should take new Orleans spot and drop n.o. off the list ridiculous.

[McBane]

Chase says he doesn't know any good chefs from Philadelphia but he apparently never heard of Morimoto or Garces. How many Iron Chefs are there? And Philly has 2 of them? Oh and Bravo's "Next Best Chef" is also from the Philadelphia area and will be opening up a restaurant in Center City soon.

Chase says Philly doesn't have a rich farm scene, but has he ever heard of PA Dutch country? Philadelphia has wide access to Amish farms in Lancaster County as well as suburban Bucks and Chester Counties and South Jersey.

Chase says he doesn't know of any cuisine here, but gastropubs were big in Philly before other places. And our BYOB scene has spawned dozens of small, creative restaurants from career chefs who would otherwise never be able to afford opening up their own restaurant.

I'm not going to get into that insert my city on this list back and forth. But Chase, maybe you should chill out with your negative comments about Philadelphia, since apparently you know so little about the city. And, I'm sorry but if you haven't heard of Garces or Morimoto, then maybe you shouldn't be commenting about dining either.

Oh and I'm not sure who would advocate replacing N.O. with Phila. N.O. has a great food scene - I don't think anyone is disputing that. I do recall someone saying that Philly should replace Houston or Seattle. But again I am not trying to turn this into a city v city thread, so I won't comment on that.

[dchan]

Hrumphh...I believe I will agree with the expert opinion of Chase here, rather than listen to the hearsay of the general rabble and peanut gallery. I mean, what do you other guys know? You're not experts!!!

[ColDayMan]

I know, right? Here in lonely nobody-would-care-if-my-two-buildings-would-be-hit-by-a-plane city of Cincinnati, wishing and wondering if people would care...while eating some rib tips.

[pwp]

Originally Posted by ChrisLA

I guess you never been to downtown LA, because there are very few chains. I was just in Philly back in October, not saying it was full of chains, but they seem to have their share more so than I've ever seen in downtown LA. This is what I recall during my visit in the area near our hotel. Starbucks, Hard Rock Cafe, Maggiano's, Applebee's, I was at each one except Applebee's. Mainly because they were opened late compared to the other restaurants.

I've been to LA but did not take my chain restaurant checklist. The area you are mentioning is near the convention center on Market East. Several chain restaurants locate there as I'd imagine it appeals to tourists. As you venture south and west, into the denser areas, you'll find significantly fewer.

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by Shasta

DaMarco, Moon Tavern, Mark's, Pupusa Buffet, Tony's, Le Mistral, Kanomwan, Americas, Luling City Market, Jamaica House, Cafe Mawal, Ruggles, Vieng Thai, Masraff's, Rainbow Lodge, Cajun Made, Max's Wine Dive, Ouisie's Table, Tony Madola's Gulf Coast Kitchen, Emporia Brazilian Cafe, Quattro, Kubo's, Indika, Feast, Istanbul Grill, Broken Spoke Belgian Cafe, Churrascos, Abdallah's Bakery, Tiny Boxwoods, Bellaire Broiler Burger, Himalaya, The Blue Nile, Pico's, Glass Wall, Catalan, Shade, Lankford Grocery, Phoenicia, Breakfast Klub, Lemon Tree, The Barbed Rose, Oishi Sushi, Treebeards, Cleburne Cafeteria, Thelma's BBQ, Niko Niko's, Hugo's, Backstreet Cafe, Pappas Steakhouse, El Tiempo, Reef, Chuy's, Nino's, London Sizzler, Chez Nous, Ibiza, Queen Vic, Suya Hut, Vincent's, 17, Latin Bites, Grappino di Nino, Fung's Kitchen, Teotihucan, Kenny and Ziggy's NY Deli, Artista, Bombay Pizza Co, Richmond Arms, Toyama, Frenchy's Fried Chicken, Godo's, The Bull and Bear, etc...

Houston is an EXCELLENT PLACE to eat. Why do you think we're all so fat?

Been to a number of those places, and I can certainly attest to Houston belonging on this list. Tons of excellent restaurants, every cuisine imaginable represented, and, best of all, it's normally pretty reasonably priced!

Aaron (Glowrock)

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by Chase Unperson

No I am just calling it like it is. If Al Qaeda flies two planes into two buildings in Cincinnati, Colorado Springs, Cleveland, Omaha, or Sacramento it makes the news for a few days, but if it happens in NYC it is an internationally devastating, grief-spawning event that is remembered and memorialized for decades.

C'mon certainly you must realize that.

Comments like these should be deserving of a permanent ban from SSP. Who here agrees?

Aaron (Glowrock)

[mhays]

I don't think so. Maybe a warning.

[mobyhead]

Originally Posted by glowrock

Comments like these should be deserving of a permanent ban from SSP. Who here agrees?

Aaron (Glowrock)

I agree. A warning at a minimum. I think the term is flamebait?

[ChrisLA]

Originally Posted by pwp

I've been to LA but did not take my chain restaurant checklist. The area you are mentioning is near the convention center on Market East. Several chain restaurants locate there as I'd imagine it appeals to tourists. As you venture south and west, into the denser areas, you'll find significantly fewer.

Never said you should have, but to state that downtown LA was full of chain restaurants I questioned whether you had ever visited the area. Perhaps I should have specifically said downtown LA, but I thought you knew that since this is what your post had indicated.

Now on to Philly I've actually walked all around Center City, and I used public transportation in the area as well. This wasn't the first time I've visit this city in fact two local SSP forumers, and one SSC forumer gave me a pretty good tour.

Let me be clear I"m not saying the area is infested with chain restaurants, but it sure as hell seems like it had it's share more so than downtown LA.
That is one of the biggest complaints by some folks (not so much by SSP) is downtown LA, don't have the Applebee's and Hard Rock Cafe's.


BTW South Street in many ways reminded me a lot of Melrose Avenue in LA.

[LosAngelesBeauty]

Food is soo subjective! Why even have a list about food? Obviously not everyone's taste buds are the same. I have not been impressed by NY's food compared to LA (I go to NY once or twice a year, every year for like almost a decade). I am into Asian foods and LA has more Asians than NY metro, so of course there will be better Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, etc. food. I am not into Euro foods so they are not relevant to me. Neither would "Paris or Montreal" (which I have visited before).

[rockyi]

I remember the good old days when most people here didn't pay much attention to these stupid lists and these threads would die after a page or two..

[volguus zildrohar]

We certainly have our share of chains but Center City isn't lousy with them. All of the usual suspects are present but in addition to them there are the hundreds of fine dining establishments - and they aren't all downtown. Indeed, over the past decade, the vast majority of them have opened (and sometimes closed) in the neighborhoods adjacent to Center City. But there's also Manayunk, and West Oak Lane and Chestnut Hill and the Northeast.

If anyone is unfamiliar with dining here in the city than they're probably unfamiliar with pretty much anything related to Philadelphia, I would wager. It's always been a big part of local culture.

[pdxtex]

concerning teriyaki, i thought they were all over the country. i had no idea it started in seattle. portland has tons of them so it makes sense i guess.

[SD_Phil]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesBeauty

X is soo subjective! Why even have a list about X?

Isn't this like, the lifeblood of these forums? Debate over subjective things? Architecture? City Planning? Politics? Geography? Politics? Humor? Politics?

[Chase Unperson]

Originally Posted by mhays

Imagine that. A sous chef with personality and judgement problems. Gotta be a first.

Well I am a physician now (which also probably means I am nuts). But I grew up working in an Italian restaurant on the Santa Cruz wharf and basically knew how to julliene a bell pepper before I knew how to walk.

And I don't think I said anything I said was all that offensive. If something happens in NYC it is more significant than if it happens in Topeka or Denver or Santa Cruz. That is so easy for me to accept even though it means my hometown is not all that important.


In any case that list above is on the money.

[peanut gallery]

Originally Posted by dchan

...rather than listen to the hearsay of the general rabble and peanut gallery.

Maybe General Rabble doesn't know what he's talking about, but I haven't said anything about this list!

Originally Posted by Chase Unperson

...I grew up working in an Italian restaurant on the Santa Cruz wharf...

Stagnaro's? Not sure that's really an Italian restaurant, but it's the only one on the wharf I can recall off the top of my head.

[wrab]

Originally Posted by Kingofthehill

LOL, Mexican food outside of California/the West/Southwest.

Chicago has the USA's second-largest Mexican-American population and some darn good Mexican food, too.

[SD_Phil]

This and the AAA thread have completely changed my thoughts on the food scene in Chicago. I honestly had no idea.