We’ve certainly eaten our way around NYC–from its many romantic restaurants and Michelin-Starred restaurants to new restaurants that are constantly opening up, and we’re not planning on stopping any time soon. And thankfully we don’t have to–it would take over 22 years to eat through all of NYC’s restaurants, so we still have a long way to go! Moral of the story: NYC’s melting pot personality deserves all the applause it gets.
So when Clarify Capital recently released their report of America’s culinary capitals, ranking each city by its food culture, let’s just say NYC’s position on the list definitely surprised us…
Clarify Capital analyzed Yelp data and surveyed 1,000 Americans about their dining preferences. From coast to coast, they explored the cities that stand out as America’s food hubs, and out of 100 cities NYC didn’t rank first–actually, it didn’t even rank in the top five. In fact, California dominated with seven cities in the top ten alone! Now we’re not knocking California, but there must be a mistake.
Khachik Simonian
According to the study, NYC ranked a measly #8 with a final score of 78.06. One of the biggest factors that play into the low score is how expensive it can be to dine out–NYC ranked #99 for restaurant cost, with only Las Vegas, Nevada in front of it. For the remaining categories, NYC ranked as follows:
- Cuisine Diversity – #11
- Mom-and-Pop to Chain Restaurants – #10
- Restaurant Quality – #18
- Restaurant Popularity – #8
Not horrible, but not exactly anything to write home about either…
Beyond ranking culinary capitals, the site also visualized Americans’ restaurant preferences to see how they like to dine out and why, including how these factors differ among generations. What they found is that, on average, Americans dine out two times per week with a 46% preference to local Mom-and-Pop restaurants (with food quality being the top reason) and 32% preference to chain restaurants. 22% said they don’t have a preference. Moreover, Gen X gear more towards those Mom-and-Pop restaurants (51%) while Gen Z is more likely to prefer chains (48%).
Going back to NYC’s ranking, however, we’re just going to choose to ignore it. Travel & Leisure recently named NYC the best foodie city in the U.S., and, according to Forbes Travel Guide, one of the best dishes in the world is being served at an NYC steakhouse, and those are the kinds of studies we can get behind!
Rounding out the top ten of America’s Culinary Capitals is as follows:
1. San Francisco, California
2. Oakland, California
3. Seattle, Washington
4. San Diego, California
5. Los Angeles, California
6. Anaheim, California
7. San Jose, California
8. New York City, New York
9. Irvine, California
10. Jersey City, New Jersey