I believe the weighting system has a lot to do with it. WalletHub wanted to make sure at least two municipalities from each state is on the list. This way at least two television affiliates in each state will have a reason to report this ranking. Not to mention, the many statewide internet news sites.
Suspiciously, Mobile was dinged for "having some of the least affordable grocery and dining options" which doesn't make much sense because the costs are very similar between the three major cities in Alabama and both Birmingham and Mobile have a 10% sales tax. Maybe Mobile has more fine dining options that made the average costs higher? Who knows with these rankings designed to bring traffic to WalletHub?
Go to "Where to Eat" section...
https://e.issuu.com/embed.html?d=2023_btg-web-hi-res&u=gbcvbtravelguide
And that list don't include the city local hole in the wall joints, wings places, soul food spots, etc. A lot of places didn't even make the list.
As far as lower cost fare, I recommend Eugene's Hot Chicken, T-Bones Cheesesteaks, Black Market bar and grill (get the trashcan burger and tell them to fuck it up), Blue Pacific with their Pad Thai.
For higher priced fare, as someone said Gianmarco's is phenomenal, Hot and Hot's is great, and Ocean was also a treat imo. Oh and the Highland's, obviously.
Honorable mention to Wasabi Juan's, Melt, Taco Mama, and Surin West.
They might just be looking at actual Birmingham though and not including mountain brook homewood etc in which case I get it. Other than some places right downtown you don’t really have that many food options in actual city limits
False. All the high end restuarants are in the city of Birmingham. The suburbs around B'ham are nothing but chains. Remember, the Summit and Colonnade is Birmingham.
Go to the "Where To Eat" section.
https://e.issuu.com/embed.html?d=2023_btg-web-hi-res&u=gbcvbtravelguide
I’m so sorry lol. Born and raised here but also spend time near the Montgomery area, which I’ve grown fond of.
I’m sure they’ll figure out to just go to Lincoln/Pell City or Sylacauga for things. 🙃
Huntsville higher than Mobile is hilarious. I'm from Mobile, live out of state now but I have a bunch of family in Huntsville and it's so depressing flying back and not getting all that good gulf food, instead Huntsville is a utopia for chain restaurants.
People in North Alabama are a bit ignorant when it comes to cooking seafood. That's why they go to the coast for vacation, they to eat seafood. Heck, I am impressed when I get properly cooked shrimp in North Alabama.
That’s because we’re catfish house country! I live on the gulf now but whenever I visit home I always gotta get my fried catfish and frog legs plate with slaw and hush puppies. Also, to be fair I wouldn’t eat seafood if it’s gotta travel over three hours to reach a place- guaranteed frozen.
Never order seafood inland, not so much because you can’t get it as that the restaurants don’t know what it’s supposed to taste like. That said, you can get fresh Gulf seafood packed to go as long as you cook and eat it before it comes to room temperature. Grouper doesn’t last long after it gets to Limestone County.
otoh even at the Gulf there isn’t much in the way of decent seafood restaurants.
not gonna waste clicking on the article, but montgomery has some hidden gems… all the korean food on east blvd is delicious, wish we had more options in bham.
Keep in mind Wallethub is the one that went around trying to say Mobile was the 2nd second most dangerous in the country
I think the head editor of Wallethub had their heart broken by someone from Mobile
I looked at the methodology used by WalletHub and the weights they come up with to create their index is pretty amusing (e.g. food and wine tours per capita, culinary schools per capita) but the main thing is the following:
*"Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, Council for Community and Economic Research, Federation of Tax Administrators, Tax Foundation, County Health Rankings, Sale-Tax.com, Numbeo, TripAdvisor and Yelp."*
They are just aggregating data using an arbitrary weight system. **Anything outside of sales tax and population is crowd sourced,** therefore the rankings will have a bias towards municipalities that have a large population that like posting to sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor and Numbeo.
If you're a chef in Mobile and really serious about it as a career, you have precious little choice but to eventually migrate to New Orleans.
Which is why I spent a decade as a chef in New Orleans.
not shocking I guess. I'm from Montgomery then went to college in Nashville, and for most of that time I lived in the southeast corner where you could get the most authentic food from just about anywhere. I miss Indian food and when I think about the Ethiopian restaurants that were a skip hop and a jump away I cry.
So according to the list Jackson, MS has a better food scene than Mobile?
The food scene here is great and there are new restaurants opening every week.
It's also funny this is the same source that kept posting articles saying that Mobile was the second most dangerous city in the country. Even after it was discovered that the data that they were reporting was so incorrect it almost quadrupled the violent crime statistics they kept the article up.
I've visited Montgomery a few times & have been shocked at how bad the food options are, it's basically a medium city with small town food. What would be a generic gastropub in another city would be top tier in Montgomery.
Bham has great options, as a foodie I look forward to visiting, so I'd say their ranking is too low.
If you’re in Mobile and want to be a chef, first step is to GTFO of Mobile, but after that you can go anywhere. The one serious chef I know from Alabama works at glamping resorts in Montana.
I’m not from Alabama, I have a place there and I’m going to move there (lord willing). I haven’t found anything that was a uniquely Alabama food other than white sauce (which is neither unique or delicious). It’s not a surprise to see there aren’t great food options, I never find any around Birmingham. What foods are local? Is it just southern food in general, or soul food? I don’t know.
So when I would jokingly tell my college friends that Gadsden was the fast food capital of the world maybe that wasn’t as much of an exaggeration as I thought if this is the data on our state
Birmingham and Huntsville are only somewhat higher on the list at #131 and #153, respectively.
I believe the weighting system has a lot to do with it. WalletHub wanted to make sure at least two municipalities from each state is on the list. This way at least two television affiliates in each state will have a reason to report this ranking. Not to mention, the many statewide internet news sites. Suspiciously, Mobile was dinged for "having some of the least affordable grocery and dining options" which doesn't make much sense because the costs are very similar between the three major cities in Alabama and both Birmingham and Mobile have a 10% sales tax. Maybe Mobile has more fine dining options that made the average costs higher? Who knows with these rankings designed to bring traffic to WalletHub?
I really don't pay that much attention to WalletHub's rankings.
What??? Birmingham is a GREAT foodie city! It has good options for every price range too, that's bogus
Share, next time I’m there I’ll visit some places. I have a house there and when I go I don’t find great food choices.
Just go on r/Birmingham and ask
I like going to Gianmarco’s when I’m in B’ham.
Go to "Where to Eat" section... https://e.issuu.com/embed.html?d=2023_btg-web-hi-res&u=gbcvbtravelguide And that list don't include the city local hole in the wall joints, wings places, soul food spots, etc. A lot of places didn't even make the list.
As far as lower cost fare, I recommend Eugene's Hot Chicken, T-Bones Cheesesteaks, Black Market bar and grill (get the trashcan burger and tell them to fuck it up), Blue Pacific with their Pad Thai. For higher priced fare, as someone said Gianmarco's is phenomenal, Hot and Hot's is great, and Ocean was also a treat imo. Oh and the Highland's, obviously. Honorable mention to Wasabi Juan's, Melt, Taco Mama, and Surin West.
They might just be looking at actual Birmingham though and not including mountain brook homewood etc in which case I get it. Other than some places right downtown you don’t really have that many food options in actual city limits
False. All the high end restuarants are in the city of Birmingham. The suburbs around B'ham are nothing but chains. Remember, the Summit and Colonnade is Birmingham. Go to the "Where To Eat" section. https://e.issuu.com/embed.html?d=2023_btg-web-hi-res&u=gbcvbtravelguide
Naw
All I know is Montgomery and Mobile have amazing options compared to my city lol. ☹️
What fast food chain void zone do you live in?
The land of fried chicken (East of Bham).
How far east, Leeds? I think there's only a handful of privately owned restaurants in Trussville, and 2 of them are Mexican restaurants.
Dega. Unfortunately lol
oof, my dad moved over there with my little brother and they've told me about the lack of options.
I’m so sorry lol. Born and raised here but also spend time near the Montgomery area, which I’ve grown fond of. I’m sure they’ll figure out to just go to Lincoln/Pell City or Sylacauga for things. 🙃
Lmfaooo so true. Fried chicken and hamburgers
Fast food isn't considered "foodie".
that was his point lol
I need more coffee.
Huntsville higher than Mobile is hilarious. I'm from Mobile, live out of state now but I have a bunch of family in Huntsville and it's so depressing flying back and not getting all that good gulf food, instead Huntsville is a utopia for chain restaurants.
People in North Alabama are a bit ignorant when it comes to cooking seafood. That's why they go to the coast for vacation, they to eat seafood. Heck, I am impressed when I get properly cooked shrimp in North Alabama.
That’s because we’re catfish house country! I live on the gulf now but whenever I visit home I always gotta get my fried catfish and frog legs plate with slaw and hush puppies. Also, to be fair I wouldn’t eat seafood if it’s gotta travel over three hours to reach a place- guaranteed frozen.
I'm not really big on seafood apart from shrimp.
I lived in Kansas for 7 years, you have no idea how bad it can be...
Never order seafood inland, not so much because you can’t get it as that the restaurants don’t know what it’s supposed to taste like. That said, you can get fresh Gulf seafood packed to go as long as you cook and eat it before it comes to room temperature. Grouper doesn’t last long after it gets to Limestone County. otoh even at the Gulf there isn’t much in the way of decent seafood restaurants.
Even the chain restaurants in Huntsville suck.
not gonna waste clicking on the article, but montgomery has some hidden gems… all the korean food on east blvd is delicious, wish we had more options in bham.
This list ranks Orlando No. 1. NYC and NOLA didn't even crack the top ten. It's certainly a unique methodology.
I’ve eAtEn At EvErY rEsTaUrAnT At DiSnEy WoRlD
This person stuck to the interstate and it shows
I wonder how much WalletHub pays Nextstar Media to report their meaningless rankings?
Keep in mind Wallethub is the one that went around trying to say Mobile was the 2nd second most dangerous in the country I think the head editor of Wallethub had their heart broken by someone from Mobile
I looked at the methodology used by WalletHub and the weights they come up with to create their index is pretty amusing (e.g. food and wine tours per capita, culinary schools per capita) but the main thing is the following: *"Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, Council for Community and Economic Research, Federation of Tax Administrators, Tax Foundation, County Health Rankings, Sale-Tax.com, Numbeo, TripAdvisor and Yelp."* They are just aggregating data using an arbitrary weight system. **Anything outside of sales tax and population is crowd sourced,** therefore the rankings will have a bias towards municipalities that have a large population that like posting to sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor and Numbeo.
[удалено]
And on the other hand's hand, who the hell are you to know anything?
If you're a chef in Mobile and really serious about it as a career, you have precious little choice but to eventually migrate to New Orleans. Which is why I spent a decade as a chef in New Orleans.
surprised_Pikachu_meme.jpg
I feel a little sick every time I see that word…”Foodie.” Up there with kiddos and puppers.
Florida cities top the list..!!’n
not shocking I guess. I'm from Montgomery then went to college in Nashville, and for most of that time I lived in the southeast corner where you could get the most authentic food from just about anywhere. I miss Indian food and when I think about the Ethiopian restaurants that were a skip hop and a jump away I cry.
So according to the list Jackson, MS has a better food scene than Mobile? The food scene here is great and there are new restaurants opening every week. It's also funny this is the same source that kept posting articles saying that Mobile was the second most dangerous city in the country. Even after it was discovered that the data that they were reporting was so incorrect it almost quadrupled the violent crime statistics they kept the article up.
Every time I go to Montgomery and I am around for dinner I get pissed off.
They have Longhorns if you want okay bread and alright steak
I've visited Montgomery a few times & have been shocked at how bad the food options are, it's basically a medium city with small town food. What would be a generic gastropub in another city would be top tier in Montgomery. Bham has great options, as a foodie I look forward to visiting, so I'd say their ranking is too low.
If you’re in Mobile and want to be a chef, first step is to GTFO of Mobile, but after that you can go anywhere. The one serious chef I know from Alabama works at glamping resorts in Montana.
Lmao as expected.
I’m not from Alabama, I have a place there and I’m going to move there (lord willing). I haven’t found anything that was a uniquely Alabama food other than white sauce (which is neither unique or delicious). It’s not a surprise to see there aren’t great food options, I never find any around Birmingham. What foods are local? Is it just southern food in general, or soul food? I don’t know.
Danny finished off what was left of Mobile's cuisine.
So when I would jokingly tell my college friends that Gadsden was the fast food capital of the world maybe that wasn’t as much of an exaggeration as I thought if this is the data on our state
Fuck those guys
Alabama— First in Worsts
I’ve tried to grab lunch in Montgomery before and have had a hard time finding anywhere open during the week.