The Best Food Cities in the US: 2024 Readers’ Choice Awards
Unforgettable food. Cutting-edge design. Immersive experiences. These are some of your top criteria for judging what makes a quality hotel—not to mention a worthy resort, cruise, spa, or island. In tallying up the 575,048 votes cast in our 37th annual Readers’ Choice Awards survey, we were struck by both your eagerness to embrace the new and your reverence for tried-and-true classics. Your favorite hotel in the five boroughs is the two-year-old Ritz-Carlton New York, NoMad, but you also can’t stop returning to storied French Polynesian resort The Brando. You’ve jetted through the sprawling Istanbul International Airport, booked intrepid sailings to Antarctica, and fallen in love with historic yet innovative cities like Copenhagen. Read on to start planning your next round of travels—these are the cities with the best food scenes in the world, as voted by our readers.
View the Readers’ Choice Award winners for the best food cities in the world here.
Michael Persico/Zahav10. Philadelphia
As if being the birthplace of cheesesteaks and hoagies wasn’t enough of a culinary calling card, Philadelphia also happens to be one of the few cities in which it’s possible to enjoy life-changing Thai food a mere fifteen-minute drive from life-affirming bowls of cacio e pepe. Here, you’ll find restaurants and bars with well-deserved cult followings at every price point, from food trucks to fine dining. With restaurants like multi-time James Beard honorees chef Michael Solomonov’s love letter to traditional Israeli cuisine, Zahav and cult-classic South Philly Barbacoa, it’s all too easy to spend an entire week eating your way through this city’s hotspots.
Jess Vide/Pexels9. Honolulu
While the capital of Hawaii still has a fair number of pricier restaurants that mainly cater to tourists, you’ll also find an embarrassment of riches when it comes to ultra-fresh poke, adobo, and Japanese izakaya-style bites. Some of the best food on the island of Oahu (where the city is located) is also the most unpretentious and accessible; they can be found in mom-and-pop shops, lunch counters, and grab-and-go bakeries. While there are plenty of beachside and rooftop tiki bars for enjoying an expertly made Mai Tai or three, don’t skip some of the sleeker, more understated options Honolulu has to offer, like Bar Leather Apron, which many believe makes the best Old Fashioned on the island.
Andrei Iakhniuk/Getty8. Columbus, Ohio
Home to headline-making spots like James Beard Award-nominated chef Avishar Barua’s Agni, which was also one of Bon Appétit’s 20 Best Restaurants of 2024, as well as understated, locally beloved restaurants like Ray Ray’s Hog Pit, Columbus, Ohio has something for every palate. The hospitality scene proudly honors the city’s roots with social supper clubs and (of course) Buckeye Donuts, which has been in business since 1969. It simultaneously supports a robust migrant community that has brought show-stopping Vietnamese and Kenyan food to a new, enthusiastic audience of diners.
Neal Kharawala/Unsplash7. Chicago
Don’t call it The Bear effect—Chicago has been one of the country’s most impressive food cities since long before the chef-favorite Hulu series. From prix fixe standouts like Oriole and Alinea to Italian food worth writing home about at Monteverde, experiencing the full range of this city’s culinary scene is no easy feat. If you’re lucky, you can snag a table to enjoy a bright, acidic bowl of kinilaw at Kasama, the world’s only Michelin-starred Filipino restaurant. If you’re not so fortunate, the alternatives—from a serious beer bar scene to hot dogs worth arguing with New Yorkers over—are still pretty great.
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Odd Duck6. Milwaukee
No longer Chicago’s less-popular cousin, Milwaukee has a buzzy restaurant scene that has turned the city into a dining destination in its own right. It turns out that Midwestern hospitality is the perfect match for Serbian, Indian, and Persian cuisines, as evidenced by scores of new restaurants that showcase the city’s diverse dining options. While fewer cities have strong mid-price restaurant options nowadays, Milwaukee continues to champion the casual, accessible night out with beloved spots like Goodkind, a neighborhood restaurant with a cozy pub vibe; and Odd Duck, an eccentric small plates joint that draws inspiration from Korean, Vietnamese, and various Middle Eastern cuisines.
Catherine Hughes/Unspalsh5. Detroit
If you’ve enjoyed a slice of square pizza at a buzzy new New York City or Los Angeles restaurant, consider it a testament to Detroit’s growing culinary influence across the country. The city’s most beloved spots—from Warda Patisserie to Baobab Fare—celebrate a range of cuisines, from East African to classic French and Indian. The city’s wine, beer, and cocktail scene has also been especially hot over the past year, thanks to spots like listening bar The Vinyl Society, bottle shop-meets-wine-bar Brix Wine, and speakeasy Room 1904.
Nicky Semenza/Getty4. Lexington, Kentucky
Even if you don’t make it to one of the fourteen bourbon distilleries in Lexington, many of the city’s best restaurants have deep, archival spirit libraries that you won’t find elsewhere. From iconic local chef Ouita Michel’s restaurant family (which includes Holly Hill Inn and Smithtown Seafood, both of which are must-visits) to James Beard-finalist chef Sam Fore’s Tuk Tuk Snack Shop, which celebrates Sri Lankan flavors), Lexington’s hospitality scene continues to fuse Southern tradition and innovation.
Robert Harding/Alamy3. Chattanooga
Roughly 100 miles south of Nashville’s pedal taverns and hot chicken joints, you’ll find a bustling restaurant scene in Chattanooga, which is quickly becoming one of the most interesting dining cities in the country. Locally beloved restaurants like St. John’s, a white tablecloth affair that has been serving elevated New American fare for almost twenty-five years live in harmony with inventive spots like Calliope, home to some of the region’s best Levantine cuisine (think fried rice with lamb confit, and fluffy bowls of whipped feta with shatta hot sauce).
Emily Suzanne McDonald/Getty2. New Orleans
Find another city that fuses Cajun, Creole, Italian, and French cuisines as seamlessly as New Orleans, and has a world-class cocktail bar scene—we’ll wait. Even though it plays host to iconic, enduring restaurants like Galatoire’s and the Commander’s Palace, where three-martini lunches are alive and well, New Orleans never rests on its laurels. Known for classic cocktails like the French 75 and Sazerac (which happens to be the official cocktail of the city) there’s an unmistakable current of fresh energy behind the dining scene. You can experience the full spectrum in the form of a ten-course, wine-fueled tasting menu at St. Germain, or as a perfect fried bologna and potato chip sandwich at Turkey and the Wolf.
The Morrisons/Pizzaiolo1. Oakland
There’s no wrong neighborhood from which to start exploring Oakland’s staggeringly diverse food scene. In Temescal, located in the north of the city, you’ll find buzzy soul food spot Burdell, as well as out-of-the-box pizzas (think toppings like Monterey Bay squid and chanterelles) at fan-favorite Pizzaiolo; Fruitvale, named after the fruit orchards that dominated this part of town in the mid-19th century, is packed with taco trucks that serve some of the best birria in the country. The city also has a strong taproom and winery tasting room scene, making it easy to plan your entire visit around eating, drinking, or some combination of the two.