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No argument on Vancouver for #1 Chinese. Calgary, you really have to know where to go, unless it's for dim-sum, in which case there's few bad choices. Having done dim-sum in Hong Kong and Vancouver, I'd put a couple places in Calgary right with them. I'm sure there's good Chinese somewhere in Houston, I just haven't found it yet. I've had some really good individual dishes, just no great top to bottom place yet. Houston slays for pretty much everything else. I'd say it's in the top five food cities in North America. With New York, Chicago, Toronto, Houston, Vancouver, LA, San Francisco, depending on the day and what you want to eat.
Ah ok that seems very sensible. I don't remember names cause I'll just go wherever my friends tell me to go, but I specifically recall a Taiwanese cafe in one of the popular plazas that I liked a lot, and a Peking duck place in the middle of nowhere that was legit. Generally speaking, most other memories of the Chinese food are quite positive and the typically low prices/strong value increase the overall satisfaction. It's kinda like LA in that sense...really good Chinese food for relatively cheap. Come to think of it, many of the Chinese places I've eaten in Toronto and Vancouver are pretty expensive. (Definitely not all, just many) It's all due to circumstances but yeah, that's interesting to think about.
Generally speaking, food critics and experts seem to favour the latter metric, as opposed to a place that can faithfully replicate everything from Abyssinian to Chechen to Okinawan to Mesopotamian to Patagonian... (Even if the latter offerings are not uninteresting.)
When I think about "which city has the best food" I'm personally measuring by some combination of breadth and quality. I do not tend to think of the local, authentic style, playing into the holistic ranking. So I'm coming from a perspective much more similar to Mike's. The best food cities don't have to have everything, but there must be a variety of cuisines available at top quality and the more the better.
Speaking for myself, I still dream of the food in New Orleans. It felt like a lifetime and four extra stomachs would not be enough for me to get enough of it.
When I think about "which city has the best food" I'm personally measuring by some combination of breadth and quality. I do not tend to think of the local, authentic style, playing into the holistic ranking. So I'm coming from a perspective much more similar to Mike's. The best food cities don't have to have everything, but there must be a variety of cuisines available at top quality and the more the better.
That's fine. I appreciate that too.
But generally speaking, Bologna and Lyon aren't often considered the best food cities in Italy and France because they have great sushi and kebabs.
And no one disses New Orleans because it comes up a bit short on Tex-Mex...
But generally speaking, Bologna and Lyon aren't often considered the best food cities in Italy and France because they have great sushi and kebabs.
And no one disses New Orleans because it comes up a bit short on Tex-Mex...
Think about it.
That's not really what we're saying. New Orleans is really an outlier. It has Cajun and Creole, and they're worth the dive because they're completely different than anywhere else. Houston has world class BBQ, Tex-Mex, and Southern fusion, and if you don't like those specific styles, because of intense competition, there are lots of alternatives that aren't those things that are very very good. That's what puts it up over somewhere like, Dallas, that doesn't really have their own style, or anything that is regionally world class, it just has some good restaurants.
That's not really what we're saying. New Orleans is really an outlier. It has Cajun and Creole, and they're worth the dive because they're completely different than anywhere else. Houston has world class BBQ, Tex-Mex, and Southern fusion, and if you don't like those specific styles, because of intense competition, there are lots of alternatives that aren't those things that are very very good. That's what puts it up over somewhere like, Dallas, that doesn't really have their own style, or anything that is regionally world class, it just has some good restaurants.
Well, this discussion was triggered by a few people alluding that Montreal just wasn't in Toronto's class in terms of a "foodie" city.
As I mentioned, I don't think that's accurate unless you're looking at it from a specific perspective that's probably not the one of most food experts out there.
Sure, if I were entertaining a space alien and wanted to show them the breadth of what humans like to eat, Toronto would be an excellent choice for this.
But if you're a reputable food critic, you go to Italy for the best Italian, France for the best French, Japan for the best Japanese, India for the best Indian, etc.
Well, this discussion was triggered by a few people alluding that Montreal just wasn't in Toronto's class in terms of a "foodie" city.
As I mentioned, I don't think that's accurate unless you're looking at it from a specific perspective that's probably not the one of most food experts out there.
Sure, if I were entertaining a space alien and wanted to show them the breadth of what humans like to eat, Toronto would be an excellent choice for this.
But if you're a reputable food critic, you go to Italy for the best Italian, France for the best French, Japan for the best Japanese, India for the best Indian, etc.
You don't go to Toronto for that stuff.
So what do you go to Montreal for beyond the best bagels (although Winnipeg may disagree) smoked meat and poutine? I went through Eater's guide to the best of Montreal, and short of Au Pied de Cochon, it's pretty much regional takes on international cuisine.
So what do you go to Montreal for beyond the best bagels (although Winnipeg may disagree) smoked meat and poutine? I went through Eater's guide to the best of Montreal, and short of Au Pied de Cochon, it's pretty much regional takes on international cuisine.
Au Pied de Cochon (and the high end cabane à sucre run just outside of town by its owner) by themselves are more original and unique than anything you can find in the GTA. And I've just named one chef with one mini restaurant "empire". There are numerous others.
This doesn't mean that it's world-beating by any stretch, but it's certainly some measure ahead of what you can find in Toronto in terms of uniqueness and originality.
Anthony Bourdain used to say so himself. While he did like Toronto's offerings very much as well, he wasn't nearly as effusive as he was about Montreal.
I don't disagree. Montreal is ahead of Toronto, and neither are world beaters.
Food is actually not a bad proxy for a lot of Toronto-Montreal/Quebec-Rest of Canada stuff!
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That and while the restaurants are great, I have to say, a café au lait and fresh beignets from Café du Monde and sitting to watch the Mississippi roll by is a nice way to kill some time on an early morning.
