From CNBC.com – America’s Top Foodie Cities:
Sperlings Best Places crunched numbers, using the following city data: ratio of local restaurants to chain restaurants, number of Whole Foods and cooking stores, number of wine shops, wine bars, craft breweries, and brew pubs; and the number of CSA (community supported agriculture) farms and local farmers markets. (Note: given populations are for metro areas.)
The result is a top ten that isn’t dominated by the usual suspects.
Here is their list:
Santa Rosa CA., Portland OR., Burlington, VT., Portland, Maine, San Francisco, CA., Providence, RI., Boston-Cambridge, Seattle, WA., Santa Fe, NM., Santa Barbara, CA.
The Portland listing:
Local restaurant percentage: 79.6%
Population: 2,082,023
Breweries: 97, or 46.6 breweries per million
CSA Farms: 93, or 44.7 farms per million
Portland could probably be crowned the Pacific Northwest’s capital of –isms: locavorism (with 93 CSA farms and 56 farmers markets), vegetarianism (with an all-vegan market called Food Fight!), and considering it has 97 breweries, microbrewism. (That’s not a real word, but it’s nicer than the other “-ism” joke we refrained from making.) Popular eateries include Andina, Mother’s Bistro & Bar, Portland City Grill, Screen Door, and the evil twin to Portland’s local and organic virtuosity, the sacrilicious Voodoo Doughnuts. To wash down those doughnuts, Portland has the widely acclaimed Stumptown coffee.
[emphasis mine]
Maybe it’s just me, but their list seems like a huge waste of electrons.
Portland City Grill? Really?
I thought they had some pretty awful choices. Same with Voodoo Donuts.
I concur that the list is pretty random (except for Voodoo, which is becoming as cliche as celebrity-sideline closeups in Lakers games broadcasts) but I will say that PCG has a somewhat under-the-radar heavy following . . . mostly for the happy hour I think.
on a clear day it’s the only reason to go to pcg
Honestly, TravelPortland must’ve paid for that AND given their recommendations, cause REALLY??? I’ve been to or lived in every city on that list except Santa Fe and Santa Barbara and the food IS not all that. Weird too, that cities like Chicago, New Orleans, LA and (of course) NYC which are generally regarded as “world class” in their dining didn’t make it. I smell the PR machine at work.
Not to mention Stumptown is STILL like drinking acup of mud and twigs.