NYC Named A Top Hotspot For Foodies

NEW YORK — Diners in New York City can find French fare on one block, fried chicken on the next and a Michelin-starred restaurant around the corner. It's not surprising, then, that the Big Apple was named one of the nation's best foodie cities in a WalletHub study published Monday.

The personal finance website ranked 182 U.S. cities on 29 factors of "foodie-friendliness," from the cost of groceries to restaurant diversity.

New York City came in at No. 4 in the nation, grabbing the top ranking in several categories, including the accessibility and affordability of high-quality restaurants. The city also took high honors for the sheer amount of foodie-friendly spots, ranking first for the per-capita number of restaurants, butcher shops, grocery stores, coffee and tea shops and other establishments,

New York is among the more expensive cities for foodies, the study shows. It has the nation's fourth-highest cost of groceries and the third-highest average beer and wine price, WalletHub found. The city's restaurant meal cost of $80 ranked 170th in the nation.

New Yorkers in search of an even better food scene could swallow their pride and head west to Portland, Oregon, which ranked No. 1 on WalletHub's overall list. But Patch readers say the Pacific Northwest city is no match for New York when it comes to pizza, no matter what Roberta's former pizza czar says.

Voracious diners might as well stay away from Pearl City, Hawaii, which came in dead last in WalletHub's ranking.

Here's the full list of the nation's top 10 best foodie cities, according to WalletHub. Check out the full study here.

Top 10: Best Foodie Cities In The U.S.

1. Portland, Oregon
2. San Francisco, California
3. Miami, Florida
4. New York, New York
5. Los Angeles California
6. Orlando, Florida
7. Las Vegas, Nevada
8. Seattle, Washington
9. San Diego, California
10. Austin, Texas

(Lead image: Food served at Dinner With Jean-Georges Vongerichten during the New York City Wine and Food Festival on Oct. 11, 2018. Photo by Robin Marchant/Getty Images for NYCWFF)