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Top 10 Cties for Foodies

Tourists fed up with the beach and not interested in golf or tennis are finding a new reason to travel - food.

They are going great distances to sample local cheeses, pastries and exotic delicacies.

Forbes.com this month released its list of the top 10 cities for foodies:

  1. New York City Essential Eats: Per Se to sample Thomas Keller's constantly changing tasting menu; Bubby's for enormous brunch dishes like sour cream pancakes with bananas and cherries; bistro Balthazar for classic choices like duck confit and steak frites; Chelsea Market, a gold mine of several dozen gourmet food stores.

  1. Las Vegas Essential Eats: Guy Savoy at Caesar's Palace to sample butter roasted veal sweetbreads, chocolate ganache and the 10-course tasting menu; Commander's Palace for a jazz brunch; Firefly for Spanish tapas; the thrice weekly Las Vegas Farmers Market for a display of goods from local bakeries.

  2. Los Angeles Essential Eats: French restaurant Melisse in Santa Monica for traditional dishes like almond Dover sole; Coast at Shutters on the Beach for lemon ricotta pancakes; Hamasaku, a celebrity favorite, for sublime sushi; the daily Santa Monica Farmers Market for a vast selection of vegetables, fruits.
  3. Paris Essential Eats: Taillevent, the most famous and grandest classic French restaurant in the city; contemporary bistro Ze Kitchen Galerie for favorites milk-fed lamb shoulder and pork ribs; Au Pain d'Antan for buttery croissants; Beauvau market in the 12th arrondissement for Lebanese specialties.

  1. Bologna, Italy Essential Eats: Al Pappagallo for upscale but classic Emilia-Romagna food; Tamburini for a selection of freshly baked breads; bowls of tortellini with different sauces at Da Bertino; the daily indoor food market on Via Clavature.

  2. Singapore Essential Eats: One Rochester for French dishes like cream of wild mushroom soup with white truffle oil; Ah Teng's Bakery for assorted dim sum; Lei Garden for Chinese specialties; the dozens of food stalls at Lau Pa Sat market.

7.Palermo, Sicily Essential Eats: Il Mulinazzo in an elegant country house for dishes that are upscale twists on traditional fare; Antica Focacceria San Francesco, a bakery with excellent focaccias; Osteria Altri Tempi for classic Sicilian favorites; the 11th century market Ballaro for local almonds, dried fava beans.

8.Barcelona Essential Eats: Casa Leopoldo for seafood and Catalan cuisine like pork stew; Schilling, a favorite of locals, for basic breakfast choices like eggs, toast and ham; Can Manel la Puda for a paella; La Boqueria, the largest open-air market in the city, for stalls of fruits, tapas and bocadillo.

9.London Essential Eats: Three-Michelin-star restaurant The Fat Duck for the

12-course tasting menu; the Thames Foyer for a full-on English breakfast; Indian spot Tamarind for more than 50 dishes; Borough Market for stalls of Indian pickles, meats.

  1. Sydney Essential Eats: Longrain for Asian style dishes like red curry of kingfish with wild ginger snake beans; Bills 3, a chain that has a cult following for its breakfast specialties; trendy Chinese restaurant Billy Kwong; Sydney Fresh Food Market, a collection of 800 vendors.

- REUTERS

Reply to
st.helier
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Who am I to argue with Forbes? Well, I'm going to anyway. While I completely endorse the "travel for food and wine" concept (do it all the time), I'm underwhelmed by the list. San Francisco, Paris, and Florence are far better - IMHO - than many of the cities on that list. Vegas at #2? puh-leeze ... LA or Sydney over SF, Paris, or Florence? Not in my worst nightmare. Singapore over those same cities? Not a chance.

Won't argue with Bologna or Palermo because I haven't been. And Barcelona and London deserve to be on a top 10 list, agreed.

PS - Mrs Axis got home this week, and had a bottle of the Villa Maria 'Omahu Gravels' Viognier with her (per one of your recommends). She was unable to get the other recommend, but overall was unimpressed with the reds she tasted while there. Only one Otago Pinot that she liked. BUt she was very impressed by the Glengarry wine stores. Spoke admiringly of their inventory and merchandising of some pretty fine wines - for instance, a display rack of a multi-vintage vertical of Torbreck Run Rig.

One thing she wasn't so impressed with = the prices. Even accounting for exchange rate, we get Kiwi and Aussie wines cheaper here in California! Especially the higher end Aussies.

One more big change reported by Mrs. Axis since our last visit to Godzone - huge improvements in restaurants / food. She reports of some creative and superb dining - unique to anything she's had anywhere else in the world (this was all Auckland area). Far cry from the days of mutton and two veg at the hotel restaurant, then off the pub for some Double Brown!

Reply to
AxisOfBeagles

And they did not mention Los Gatos, California? Even the Michelin guide to Northern California knows about LG. Jim

Reply to
Jim Mehl

Most people seem to prefer The Fat Duck in Bray ;)

Reply to
Steve Slatcher

Um, while I agree we can always debate these things (any top 10 list will piss off someone) let's at least debate real list.

As to SF, problem is half the best restaurants aren't actually in the city!

Reply to
DaleW

I loved Manresa, but it is one restaurant (and a town, not a city!)

Reply to
DaleW

Yes Manresa is pretty wonderful. But there is also Trevese. It's been open for 6 months or so. It's on Santa Cruz Avenue where the old Chart House used to be. Maybe not quite up to Manresa, but close.

It is interesting that Saratoga with 30,000 claims to be a city, but Los Gatos with 30,000 is just a town. It's just the way LG sees itself.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Mehl

Mental block? Thanks for catching my blind spot.

As for 'not in the city' - same is true of LA, Sydney, London, and many others. I'm pretty sure the list is intended to mean 'the greater area of'.

Reply to
AxisOfBeagles

I would rather say it is the pretension that Saratogans assume... JB

Reply to
Ronin

Could be. But I will never say anything bad about Saratoga. It's a nice "city" with some very fine restaurants. In fact I think David Kinch of Manresa was previously at Sent Sovi. Jim

Reply to
Jim Mehl

He was. It was the reputation he garnered there that attracted the group of investors who financed his start at Manresa (or so I've been told).

Mark Lipton

Reply to
Mark Lipton

The names given in Paris are quite old stuff. If London is the Fat Duck, then Paris is not Taillevent.

Reply to
Mike Tommasi

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