Ten Top Cities For Foodies

Aug 22, 07 | 1:57 am
By Shivani Vora, Forbes.com

When Helen Lee plans her vacations, she is often more focused on what she'll be eating than what she's likely to see.

"I love to eat, and the first thing I do when I'm away is to check out the food," says the 31-year-old marketing manager from New York City. "And, I'm more motivated to go somewhere if there will be great food."

Her passion for good grub explains why she has visited Paris, a city that she considers the ultimate destination for foodies, three times in the last five years. ("I literally eat my way through the city," she says.) Each trip has consisted of indulging in baguettes and pastries from boulangeries, sampling cheeses and local honeys from open-air markets like Beauvau, and checking out nonassuming bistros for steak frites and grilled fish.

There's more where that came from. The City of Light is just one of the 10 spots on our list that are the best bets for foodies.

What defines "best"?
"A foodie city has a good mix of restaurants--some with an international reputation and that are true classics, others that are excellent but that people may not have heard of," says Martin Rapp, senior vice president of leisure at Altour International, a New York and Los Angeles luxury travel consultancy. "It has food markets that sell produce as well as local products, such as oil and cheeses. It also has good artisanal bakeries."

Meals Worth Traveling For
It's these offerings experts say increasingly draw true food lovers. Such travelers aren't content with simply dining at famous or pricey restaurants; they are looking for a more authentic experience because of the increasing limelight the media, particularly the Food Network with shows like Food Finds and Giada's Weekend Getaways, has placed on discovering local foods.

"Some people collect the big name restaurants that they've been to like notches on a belt," says Richard Bruce Turen, who plans food-focused trips through Churchill & Turen, a Naperville, Ill., luxury travel consultancy. "Foodies thrive in discovering obscure restaurants and like to impress others with their discoveries."

Appetizing Big Apple
In New York City, Bubby's is such a place. The Tribeca eatery is popular among local brunch lovers and offers dishes such as sour cream pancakes with bananas and sour cherries that are large enough to share. Besides the food, this restaurant is worth a visit for the people-watching that includes celebrity regulars like Robert De Niro.

For a bazaar-like experience, visitors might explore Chelsea Market, which is a gold mine of several dozen gourmet food stores including Ronnybrook Dairy, an upstate farm that makes ice cream, shakes and creamy yogurt, and Amy's Bread for olive picholine loaf and chocolate-stuffed rolls.

Then there are the ritzy restaurants. For a three-Michelin-star meal in New York City, book a table at Per Se and sample Thomas Keller's $250 nine-course tasting menu that changes daily, based on the market availability of ingredients. Balthazar, a Keith McNally-owned casual French bistro in SoHo, has classic choices like duck confit and steak frites.

Source: Forbes.com