re: LA ranked 4th best state in US for food/drink

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Texas without Austin?

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uh...still pretty freaking high

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Austin isn't even the best food city in this state.

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Let me say this. Outside of Austin, there are some spots, but it's not talked about unless you're from there. Austin IS what's going on food wise in Texas.

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Well I lived there and Tennessee in the 90's and both were pretty abysmal. Lines out the door of Red Lobster and Captain D's makes you want to kill yourself.

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Birmingham has some VERY high quality restaurants these days thanks to Frank Stitt

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Austin gets all the love from the national media, sure, but Houston is the best food city in Texas. Houston just isn't as sexy as Austin.

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Austin is where the talent is going, not Houston. Houston by sheer population and wealth is going to have good food in spots to cater to people with means who've moved there, but it's mostly safe, and not what is trending in food. Austin OTOH has developed it's own reputation by people in the food business and by people who go there for the food rather than just on business. LB for LB, Austin is cleaning up, and for good damn reason too.

I've been in Austin all of this summer, and the crash course food tour has been fantastic


With Houston, Dallas, and Austin, Texas absolutely is top 5

Houston pushes nola for the 4th best food city in America...Austin is not even in the top 10. Austin is severely overrated by people who like the idea of Austin.



New York should be over Texas. Manhattan alone pretty much cancels out the big 4 cities in texas. Then there is brooklyn...oh yeh and queens is the most diverse place in the world.

Mississippi should be higher imo.

I skimmed the article, but where was DC...If you count it as a state, it could be top 20 or 25.

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Houston pushes nola for the 4th best food city in America.

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saying outrageous things just sounds outrageous.

I just did a search for best foodie cities in America, and it's all the usual suspects you find pretty much everywhere else people agree upon, and only one had Houston mentioned, and it came in at like 25 or so. It's hardly mentioned outside regional talk, and hardly pushing New Orleans for a top 5 or even top 10 position. That's ridiculous talk.

What TX city is in most every list I've ever read? Austin. Where does the culinary talent flock to? Austin, thus Austin is where food is being banged out. Find where culinary graduates are going to understudy and put the work in, and that's where you're going to find really great food in abundance.

Same reason championship teams win championships... Talent.

And talent goes where they think they will be recognized at the next level, where the next level recognizes as where food is being done, and be immersed in places where food is being done. It's the reason the rich get richer and the poor and their condition are all but forgotten about, and it's the reason chefs and serious restauranteurs will flood a market and are very hesitant to go into markets that don't have that food culture in place, because there's much to risk as it is.


Now, depending on what you're talking about as great food city will go further in determining exactly what you're basing it on. In some categories, I won't put New Orleans in the top 20, and in others I'd put them #1. It just all gets back to the criteria I think you judge what a great food city means. A lot of restaurants, a diverse food culture, traditional, non traditional, genre specific, Nuevo, bar food, fine dining, you name it. All will determine who's the best of the best in food cities.

For me, when I think of great food cities, it boils down to the emphasis the people in the city place upon food in their life, not how much they can slam down their gullet, or how much they spent on a meal, or pinky out white table cloth fine dining, but that they take food to such a level that it raises the bar of expectations, because food is life to them. Few cities in this country do that like New Orleans, NYC, SF, Portland, Seattle, Austin, etc. The problem I have with Houston in this line of thinking as a foodie is I don't see Houston as being so in love with food as they are a people with a lot of expendable income. I think they know far less about food as they do how to enjoy life, and while there is clearly nothing wrong with that, it also doesn't make you a food city or city where you're going to find a nucleus for bad arse food being done that raises the bar, or leads the pack.

Mike, you continue to write these incredibly long posts that I, and probably most, will never read.

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Mike...you have been amazingly wrong in this entire thread.

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Meh...Austin being a great food city isn't exactly a stretch and there are plenty of publications that rank it accordingly. If it isn't a better food city than Houston now, it surely will be in five years. The restaurant growth and innovation in Austin right now is astounding.

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What puts Houston over Austin is its ethnic cuisine. Austin isn't going to compete with that anytime soon.

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So, that's what makes a great food city? Ethnic food?