Los Angeles beat out established culinary scenes in New York and Chicago to place third on a list of the 10 best food cities released today by the Washington Post.
The newspaper’s food critic, Tom Sietsema, spent 60 days traveling and tasting food from different cities to determine America’s Best Food Cities and came away impressed with the wide selection of cuisine from around the world available in Los Angeles.
Not only are the offerings diverse, “large groups of people who appreciate the food of their heritage support restaurants that don’t have to simplify their cooking for anyone,” according to Sietsema.
He also praised Los Angeles diners’ love of combining foods from different cultures, as well as their penchant for a fine dining culture that is “on the relaxed side.”
Sietsema was especially wowed by the selection at the Hollywood Farmers Market and called the city a “year-round Garden of Eden, bursting with produce and seafood that are the envy of the country.”
Los Angeles ranked behind two other West Coast cities, with Sietsema putting Portland first and San Francisco second.
New York, Chicago and Philadelphia were ranked eighth, seventh and sixth, respectively. New Orleans, Houston, Washington, D.C., and Charleston also made the list.
