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Is there a more passionate, opinionated, and freakishly obsessive class of city dweller than those who self-identify as foodies? You know, the ones who drag you to a dive restaurant in a crummy part of town at 1 a.m. to sample the ungodly good ramen from a blazing-hot 22-year-old chef? The folks who get into loud, public arguments about quinoa vs. kale, only to find a shaky middle ground on moringa? The hungry hordes who seek out snout-to-tail cuisine—and actually eat the snouts and the tails?
For foodies, this is indeed the Golden Age. From “Chopped” marathons to hundreds of great eating blogs, there has never been more for gastronomes to drool over—including terrific restaurants cropping up each day to sample, bicker over, and fall in love with. New York and San Francisco have long reigned supreme over the food world (each boasts six restaurants that earned the highest rating of three stars from the revered Michelin Guide) but the universe of fine and fascinating food is becoming more decentralized every year.
More and more of the country is on the prowl for unique eating experiences that travel light years beyond Olive Garden and Chili’s—and the cities that offer them. Our famished data team is here to help! We decided to suss out the country’s next hot foodie towns, the affordable ones worth visiting on a culinary vacation, or even moving to. Because food matters.
So what ingredients are essential to make a foodie town? In our minds, it should have a growing number of highly rated restaurants led by talented chefs, craft breweries, and specialty food markets, as well as affordable indulgences like innovative street food, fine coffee, and fresh bakeries. To home in on the hidden gems, we excluded the 50 largest cities in the country, then ranked the remaining top 450 by the following criteria:*
- Number of non-fast-food restaurants per capita (and growth since 2012)
- Number of chefs and head cooks per 1,000 jobs (and growth since 2012)
- Number of craft breweries, food trucks, farmers markets, and artisanal bakeries per capita
- Percentage of adults who dine out at least three times every month
- Number of mentions by food magazines, including Saveur, Food & Wine, and Bon Appétit
- Number of restaurants and chefs that have received a James Beard Award since 2012
- Number of Michelin-recommended restaurants
“It’s so easy to go to New York and Los Angeles to find good restaurants. For everyone else looking for something specific, something regional, something surprising, they have to go out to smaller parts of America,” says Matt Gross, editor in chief at Panna, a video cooking site, and former editor of bonappetit.com. “With attention paid to great food all over the U.S., these ‘surprising’ cities shouldn’t be so much of a surprise.”
Who says BBQ never changes?
Buxton Hall Barbecue/Facebook
Median home price: $360,000
Foodie vibe: New Appalachian—beer, booze, and barbecue
You know it’s a beer town when there’s a great bar with multiple brews on tap tucked into a gas station. There are 27 breweries dotting the mountain town, including the hipper-than-thou Wedge Brewing Company, whose 3rd Rail Imperial IPA jacks up the bitterness level to insane levels, and Catawba’s addictive Peanut Butter Jelly Time brown ale.
But let’s focus on the food, shall we? Chef John Fleer, a pioneer of mountain cuisine, is doing a fine job of reinventing Southern food traditions—churned buttermilk, thick country bacon, North Carolina trout—at his white-hot place, Rhubarb. And at Buxton Hall BBQ, chef Elliott Moss pit-smokes whole hogs at a low temperature for 18 hours over hardwood coals.
Despite its location in the barbecue belt, vegan bistro Plant’s wildly creative menu—with items like BBQ okra and applewood-smoked “porto’house” mushroom steak—has converted many carnivores. At least for the length of a meal.
“A lot of the restaurants here are taking pride in Southern food elevated using local ingredients,” says Stephen Steidle, owner of the food tour company Eating Asheville.
2. Charleston, SC
Blue crab toast made from locally caught seafood at The Ordinary
The Ordinary/Facebook
Median home price: $355,000
Foodie vibe: Classic Southern meets New World experimentation
Few cities celebrate locally caught seafood quite like Charleston. Blue crab, oyster, fish, shrimp, and clam are hauled daily from the city’s waters, much as they have been for a century or more. But what’s changing here are the creative ways they’re preparing all that fish. We’re talking about briny oysters at The Ordinary, classic shrimp and grits at Hominy Grill and the seasonal menu at FIG. Both FIG’s chefs, Mike Lata and Jason Stanhope, have won the James Beard award for Best Southeast Chef. And trust us, there was plenty of competition.
True to its Southern roots, this place goes gaga over its desserts, too. The cupcakes with lemon curd at the Sugar Bakeshop might just change your life.
3. Berkeley, CA
Mezcal de Alipus flight and Producción Chiquito flight at Comal
Comal/Facebook
Median home price: $982,000
Foodie vibe: Hip, ethinic, diverse, all without having to break into your 401(k)
OK. Berkeley is hardly a culinary underdog. After all, the university town is where the modern-day farm-to-table movement started at the local institution Chez Panisse. Since 1971, chef Alice Waters has shone a spotlight on food prepared without pretense, focusing on top-notch ingredients, and has trained and inspired a generation of gourmands across the nation.
But still, there are so many cool and weirdly experimental places here, you might be (rightly) tempted to bypass an evening out in San Fran for this newer culinary mecca.
Best of all: You can eat like a Zuckerberg without having to spend like one. The 2017 Michelin guide awarded its “Bib Gourmand” (great food at affordable prices) to a record six Berkeley restaurants. They include innovative craft cocktails at The Five, roast Peking duck at Great China, and food-truck-turned taco shop Tacos Sinaloa.
4. Richmond, VA
Scallops served with greens at Heritage
Photo courtesy of Heritage
Median home price: $189,000
Food vibe: Tradition plus innovation equals one of the surprise eating destinations on the East Coast
Sometimes the simplest tastes are the most memorable—and that’s one of the ways to describe this new food mecca. It’s a seductive mix of Old World eats and lots of unexpected new thinking. For the former, try the “lunch box” (complete with sandwich, salad, cupcake, and deviled egg) at the nearly century-old Sally Bell’s Kitchen, a James Beard America’s Classics winner. (Saveur called it “Paradise in a box.” Who are we to argue?)
For more elaborate meals, try oysters and wood-grilled octopus at Rappahannock, and the pork “fries”—pulled pork shaped into batons and deep-fried—at Heritage. Sound weird? Check. Delicious? Check that too.
Thirsty? C’est le Vin is a wine bar/art gallery with over 200 bottles and special attention to Virginia wines.
5. Orlando, FL
People line up each day outside Treehouse Truck, long before the lunch rush
Median home price: $225,000
Foodie Vibe: Food truck nirvana
To most people, Orlando seems stuffed with tourists too busy lining up for Walt Disney World to enjoy proper food. But remember the names of this town’s rising-star chefs. Kathleen Blake, of The Rusty Spoon, is known for her signature “Dirty South” dish, uniting Canaveral shrimp, the local catch, and littleneck clams in a rich shrimp-peanut broth. James and Julie Petrakis of The Ravenous Pig serve inventive gastropub cuisine alongside house-made charcuterie and bacon-infused Old Forester bourbon.
“Orlando is home to a young and growing diverse community, and it’s reflected in our food culture. We have great pockets of little neighborhoods, each with their own unique personalities and cuisines,” says Ricky Ly, who runs the food blog Tasty Chomps’ Orlando.
But above all else, this is one of the prime meals-on-wheels locales in the United States. With 155 food trucks, Orlando’s street food has something for everyone, whether it’s the secret-recipe Maine lobster rolls at Monsta Lobsta Truck, the mango-painted fish tacos at Bem Bom, or burgers from Treehouse Truck.
6. Salt Lake City, UT
Bite-sized sushi plate at Naked Fish Japanese Bistro
Naked Fish Japanese Bistro
Median home price: $314,000
Foodie vibe: From dull to delicious—a fast-transforming scene
Experimental restaurant menu? Yep. Craft beer? Of course! Food trucks? Got them! Salt Lake City’s food scene has gone into the stratosphere in recent years.
Red Iguana’s legendary Mexican food is no secret, but be sure to ask for a side of its chunky guac and the mole sampler. For sushi lovers, Naked Fish Japanese Bistro takes an eco-friendly approach to Japanese cuisine, offering top-notch, sustainable sushi and sashimi in a modern-chic setting.
7. Honolulu, HI
Ahi tataki on Spanish toast from The Pig & the Lady
The Pig & The Lady
Median home price: $715,000
Foodie vibe: Life beyond Spam
If you think the culinary experience of Honolulu stops at poolside burgers or beach hot dogs, here’s some intel: Honolulu has a vast selection of ethnic cuisine that rivals NYC. Traditional Polynesian food, like kalua pork (slow-cooked and seasoned with Hawaiian red salt) and poke bowls (a sort of raw fish salad), are must-tries.
When you count authentic ramen shops and sushi bars—due to its proximity to Japan—and Laotian fried chicken, Honolulu is a great place to taste the world.
Fresh ingredients are easily accessible in the city’s 21 farmers’ markets. Food nerds will love the Honolulu Fish Market, where they can enter auctions for fresh tuna and compete with local chefs.
8. Bend, OR
Who can resist beer paired with ice cream? Not us, when the beer’s from Worthy Brewing and ice cream from Addy Mac’s Creamery.
Worthy Brewing/Facebook
Median home price: $549,000
Foodie vibe: Beer, beer, beer. And the food that goes with it
A total of 24 craft breweries for a city of 81,000 people gives Bend the bragging rights of a true beer city. Deschutes, the brewery that started it all, has 19 taps, including its staple, Black Butte Porter, with the luscious creaminess of chocolate and coffee. Naturally, its food menu revolves around beer—several items are made with spent grain from the brewing.
The clean and relatively soft water that’s ideal for brewing contribute to the buzzing beer scene, says Jon Abernathy, author of “Bend Beer: A History of Brewing in Central Oregon.” “There is very little, if any, treatment that brewers need to do for the water here to brew great beer,” he says. “And that’s why it is so good and plentiful.”
Those who come for the beer stay for the food. Spork draws inspiration from global cuisines like Indian curry, Mexican tacos, Korean BBQ, and Chinese dan dan noodles. And the eggs Benedict and corn cake at Chow are worth getting up for on Sunday morning, even in this hard-partying city.
9. Pittsburgh, PA
Brewing tanks line the walls at the altar of Church Brew Works.
Church Brew Works
Median home price: $160,000
Foodie vibe: Renaissance in the Rust Belt
Last year, the New York Times named this the No. 1 food city in America. Surprised? The Steel City has much more to offer than soggy pierogies. Cheap rent and a booming tech scene have led to a resurgence of experimentation-crazed chefs. This food scene is a mixture of old and new, often in the same place: Comfort-chic palace Meat & Potatoes, for example, has nontraditional appetizers like fried pig ears, along with more standard fare. And Brent Young, the restaurateur behind the popular Brooklyn butcher shop The Meat Hook, just opened Whitfield in the new Pittsburgh Ace Hotel—a telling sign of trendiness. The good kind.
“The city is still very affordable, so it’s easier to go out and eat, and chefs can open restaurants with less pressure,” says Hal B. Klein, Pittsburgh Magazine associate editor and restaurant critic.
Looking for a heavenly experience? Try Church Brew Works, a brewery inside a refurbished church, where patrons sit in pews and drink beer poured from tanks on the altar.
10. Cincinnati, OH
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