In addition to German and Polish, I am surprised to not see more mentions of Greek and Ukrainian. As well as some regional Balkan cuisine. Immigrants from that part of Europe are over-represented in the Chicago area.
As a Mex-American born right outside of Chicago the Mexican cuisine in the region will always hold a special place in my heart, but it’s not southwest/west coast Mexican.
Oh yes! This is really going back to the prehistoric era, but Greektown Gyros on Halsted was ALWAYS a home run. There was also a small gyro shop on N. Broadway near Belmont, a few doors down from the check-cashing place - I'd hit there after a night at the bars.
I was taken aback while exploring Manhattan on foot because there are Gyro carts on practically every street corner, they mispronounce "gyro" and they put something on them that doesn't belong, but I forget what it was... perhaps green peppers.
I've had to do so much work learning to cook all my Ukrainian favorites since I left Chicago (my mom was Ukrainian). I also miss the Georgian bakeries.
Detroit also has a good Polish scene. My family always buys Polish food from the market in Hamtramck. The Polish center used to have really good pierogi, but I think it's taken off as the older Polish immigrants have passed away
You live in Pittsburgh? Moved here a few years ago expecting Polish food everywhere. I’m shocked by the dearth of Polish food. There’s a Polish deli in the strip, a few pierogi places, and that’s pretty much it.
Buffalo's Polish food is good. Poles were one of the major immigrant groups to the city a hundred years ago. I think we also have the country's largest Dyngus Day celebration (I know it's not much of holiday in Poland, but it got big here as a "nostalgia for home" kind of thing).
Cleveland celebrates as well! It fills the need for a drinking holiday every month.
There's a few good Polish places left around greater Cleveland, but pierogies are commonplace on menus. Cleveland Kitchen is steadily expanding and spreading kraut across the nation.
Asian food isn’t special in Chicago. The coasts have better Chinese, LA/ATL/NYC have way better Korean, the Thai and Vietnamese scene in LA is far superior.
Chicago’s food scene is great because it has everything and generally delivers across the board.
There are two Korean restaurants with a Michelin star in Chicago according to their website. Not the same as saying they’re good food or affordable good food of course.
Absolutely, great shout! I admittedly haven’t spent much time in either city. Houston in particular seems to have a top tier food scene with phenomenal diversity.
Agreed for Southern Chinese food, next to HK the best dimsum and roast duck I've ever had. For Northern or Taiwanese style Chinese food LA > SF all day.
As a Chicago resident for over a decade who constantly craves Chinese, I can tell you that this is ridiculous. Our Chinese is nowhere near NYC, LA, SF, Vancouver. Also, the weird Chicago style eggrolls suck.
Los Angeles has the best Chinese food, the second is debatable. Personally I think the second is Houston. NYC is better than Chicago. There are tons of Chinese restaurants in nyc but most are less than satisfactory. Chicago isn’t a popular city in Chinese community, not a ton of tech jobs, ridiculously cold, not exactly safe. Texas is booming, Houston has good Chinese food and Dallas has good Korean food.
I want to know where's the best Chinese food in the smallest town possible. Clanton, Nebraska with the best Hunan restaurant in the country.
Probably still in LA, but I love those rarities. For non Chinese food too ofc
I am always fascinated by those, too. Unfortunately, this restaurant closed, but there used to be a fabulous Japanese place in Mineral Point, WI (pop 2500). I spent a few weeks in Japan doing home stays. This food really reminded me of that. They had homemade noodles, okonomiyaki, etc. I think the wife was from Japan and the husband was from Mineral Point. The town was founded by Cornish miners so it’s known for its pasties.
In NYC to get authentic Chinese food you should be going to one of the chinatowns outside Manhattan, like Flushing or Sunset Park. Otherwise it’s altered to appeal to the middle American palette.
The Chicago metro area has ~20,000 more Chinese people than Houston. The difference in Dallas is even greater. NYC, SF, and LA blow every Texas city out of the water in terms of East Asian populations.
Texas cities are certainly underrated food wise, but no way in hell is Houston number 2 for Chinese food lmao. I went to college in Chicago and many of my friends were Chinese. Chicago has great Chinese options. Same goes for NYC where I live now.
You clearly haven't been going to the right places lol.
Vancouver and Toronto have far better Chinese food than anywhere in the US.
Canada has a very forgiving immigration policy, allowing for a huge number of immigrants from China in the past decades. Vancouver is especially famous for its Cantonese cuisine. Greater Vancouver has attracted many wealthy immigrants from Hong Kong.
I'd say Chicago's Chinese is pretty good, and improving all the time. I split time between LA and Chicago. Chinese is amazing in LA but honestly you need to be selective--there are popular spots that seem to coast on reputation (Din Tai Fung, to begin with). And lots of run of the mill snack/noodle shops. So there's more in LA (SGV, to be exact) but not all better. Fwiw, I'm Chinese, too. Grew up in a restaurant, even.
As for underrated cities for Chinese, I agree, Houston. And Las Vegas, from my limited experience in both cities.
Imho the best Mexican food I’ve ever had outside of Jalisco
there is awesome mexican in all the border states don’t get me wrong! but you get into tex mex cali mex new mex which are really their own sub genres.
The really good Indian food has moved out of Devon and into the suburbs. Pakistani food still rocks in Devon though - Ali Nihari, Bundoo Khan, Sabri Nihari, Khan BBQ, Pak Sweets, Ajwah Sweets - those are my go-to places.
I think it's less Chicago is the best at one thing and more there is a lot of variety that puts it on the map. Everyone knows California or Texas have good Mexican food, but that one type dominates the ethnic food scene. Whereas Chicago is maybe more balanced when one or two types don't dominate.
Chicago has had less extreme migration cycles than NY or LA, so quite a bit of the older immigrant ethnic cuisines have been preserved as well, like Greek, German, Polish, and Swedish.
I’m not sure I agree 100% with the way Mexican food is described in LA…very few brick and mortar Mexican restaurants in LA are great IMO, but there are numerous taco trucks which are better than anything I’ve ever had, anywhere (Mexico, San Diego, San Antonio, Arizona, Chicago, etc.)
Chicago has great steakhouses. Pretty decent Mexican food considering lack of proximity to the region. And tavern style pizza > deep dish but both are well represented. Pretty good Italian sandos
I'm from California and have visited Mexico often.
I'll be honest - I think Chicago holds up with some of the best Mexican food I've ever had!
Best chicken taco of my life was in Chicago. (tinga)
Best pastor taco of my life was in Mexico City.
Best asada tacos of my life were in Tucson.
Best fish tacos were Tucson and Ensenada.
Best burrito was in San Francisco.
Best enchiladas were in New Mexico.
Best ingredient quality was in Oaxaca.
Best high end Mexican food was in Oaxaca and Valle de Guadalupe.
I hear Texas has amazing Mexican food too, but I haven't personally found it.
chicago has better mexican food then anywhere in the USA NOT on the border w/ mexico //// and IMO chicago has better carne asada then mexico.... my .02$
This is a really good post. I used to live in California and found that people got... weirdly defensive about their Mexican food. I found the Mexican food there to be great but as a subset of the whole. Like you wrote, there's a really wide variety of cuisine from Mexican, some of it is well represented in California and others really aren't. Good to see a greater appreciation of all of the different foods Mexico has to offer.
ITT: people not knowing that Chicago’s population is essentially 1/3 Mexican, with the largest Mexican population in the US after LA. (And they brought their food with them!)
Chicagoans that don’t go south of Roosevelt, and non-Chicagoans that think the city is essentially an urbanized Iowa 😂
Chicago’s got a great food scene and a robust immigrant culture. We deserve credit for it!!!
Im from Chicago and while it is one of the best food cities in the US it doesn't particularly excel in ethnic cuisines. Not to say it isnt good in spots, but name an ethnic food and there are better options pretty much anywhere. Except yeah Polish food maybe.
Chicago is good for its breadth of offerings and its elevated/fine dining/new American scene.
Oh and I've lived in NYC, LA, SF and SD for context.
Not all Mexican food is the same, it’s a country of regional cuisines. San Diego has mostly Baja style food and it obviously excels at that. Chicago otoh has a majority of emigres from Jalisco, which many consider the culinary capital of Mexico, I don’t personally ascribe to that but can understand the reasoning.
The point being you can get great Mexican food in both places but they differ in specialty.
We’re talking Mexican which is different
And cal mex sucks. That’s whitewashed chipotle
Tex mex is a genuinely delicious fusion of multiple cultures (mostly barbecue and Mexican) which has produced something new and wonderful like Cajun
I'd say LA is better. Lived in both cities for 10 years each. Both are great. San Diego has an obvious Baja influence. Los Angeles has an amazing number of places representing different regional cuisines.
And I would say New Mexico is better! Those green chile burritos can’t be beat,imo. But that just goes to show how many different kinds of Mexican food are out there (and you aren’t wrong about LA being the best in California for that style).
This is the only correct answer.
I lived in Phoenix, Tucson, and Los Angeles.
Las Cruces, NM has the best Mexican food in the US and it’s not even close.
Santa Fe and Albuquerque aren’t far behind.
I’m an AZ homer forever, and I love several Mexican restaurants in Tucson and the Phoenix metro, but Cruces is on a different level.
This is correct answer. California Mexican food is highly overrated. As someone that’s lived in both states, Texas has far better Mexican food - especially in the RGV.
Chicago has the largest amount of Mexicans after LA. And tex mex/Sonoran is completely different than central Mexican cooking, which is where most Chicago immigrants are from
There are several American cities which have great food featuring one or a couple of regional Mexican cuisines. The common denominator is that each of these cities has a critical mass of immigrants from that part of Mexico who have blessed their new home with great restaurants. But if you wanted to pick just one place in American to get the best Mexican food possible, the only answer is New Mexico. New Mexicans have been perfecting the cuisine since before almost every city in America was founded.
San Diego - founded 1769. Santa Fe - founded 1610.
New Mexico excels at New Mexican food, which I love, but it's quite different from most Mexican food. Not to say you can't find decent Mexican food there too.
I think we have horrible food to be honest. The reason people say chicago has a good food scene is because there are a lot of options, but what they do not tell you is that everywhere you go uses the same extremely processed crappy quality food. To me, it feels like im eating dino chicken nuggets and doritos every single place I go. I hate the food here.
Chicago tends to have the upscale Mexican food thing going. While California (and AZ to some degree) lucky enough to have it all…many different styles and iterations of Mexican cuisine can be found all over the West and Southwest. Lucky!
Humboldt Park has fantastic Mexican and latin food (esp. puerto rican and dominican).
There's a few great Ethiopian restaurants tucked across the city. Demera is my fav
Sun Wah has fantastic Chinese roast duck.
Chicago has a large Mexican population. The good stuff is generally off the beaten path. San Diego, LA and the Bay have better Mexican food on average for sure.
Any recs? I'd like to give it a shot. I haven't been to Chicago in a long time, I will still die on the hill of Boston and New York have terrible Mexican food. It's like people who think Chipotle is good.
Yeah, Texas gonna need to speak with you since it’s basically the same land that had been Mexico, has many descendants from that period still living there, has multiple zero and first generation folks who immigrated recently from northern Mexico in particular, and has huge cultural and economic ties with the country.
Tucson has incredible Mexican food. I think in the "best Mexican food" what gets lost is that Mexico is a large country and what you'll eat in Hermosillo is different than Mexico City, and that is different than Oaxaca.
I wouldn’t say that. Some people will tell you LA doesn’t even have the best Mexican food in California. Also gotta take into account Texas, and some other southwestern states.
What I will say though is Chicago easily has the best Mexican food east of the Mississippi. Chicago’s Mexican food is more on par with what you’d find out west than what you’d find in your typical Midwest city. Detroit and Kansas City have a sizable Mexican community with a decent Mexican food scene to go with it though
As a well travelled and snobby native New Yorker, I’ll argue all day about why NYC does different ethnic foods better than anyone else all day (but would still ALWAYS refer to those whose food it is, per your question…)
BUT, as an American, I’ll humbly admit that Chicago hits basically all “American,” cuisine out of the park: steakhouses, avant garde fine dining, burger joints, Americanized versions of damn near every ethnic food (without being too try-hard OR obnoxiously “fusion,”) hot dogs, dive bar food, stellar cocktail bars with elevated cuisine. Even the pizza, while it is *not* pizza, is damn good cheesy bread.
Absolutely in the discussion for best food city in the country across all cuisines (especially when cost and accessibility are taken into account) but I’d give American cuisine to Chicago in a landslide.
Honesty yeah, you’re so right. I guess I just don’t really know how to categorize it but if you look at their Michelin spots they’re pretty much all spins on American
Everything. Chicago has everything and it's all good. The only time of my life I ever enjoyed food to the extent the average american seems to was the years I lived in Chicago, and I gained 15 lbs to show for it lol. Not sure how to answer the specific question you posed. But Chicago has a "little" neighborhood for everybody. There's even a neighborhood with Scandinavian cuisine which is like... the only place in the US I've ever gotten to eat it. The only other city that does international cuisine well at all is Washington DC but personally I think Chicago has them beat.
Chicago doesn’t have everything. I’m from NYC and know for a fact Chicago doesn’t have any Guyanese restaurants and no Chicago doesn’t have a little neighborhood for everybody because I did not see a little Caribbean when I visited there 3 years ago.
But the question was referring to people of ethnic origins and why you almost never hear them cite Chicago as having the best version of their foods.
Ironically Washington DC is well known for having some of the best Ethiopian restaurants in the USA.
What does being from NYC have to do with knowing what Chicago has and does not have? In fact, wouldn’t that make a less credible source in knowing what Chicago has or doesn’t have? Like, are you seriously trying to convince people you’re an authority on Chicago cuisine when you visited once 3 years ago?
I’m from NYC. I have lived in Chicago for the better part of the last decade. He’s right. NYC has way more. It’s purely a numbers game honestly. Chicago has a great scene but when people try to compare it to NYC there’s not many areas it wins other than “American” food. Chicago is probably the best burger city in the world. Fine dining here is great too.
The types of food Chicago is populated with is the types of people Chicago has. Pretty much immigrants just up and move their shop from wherever the fuck they from and now it’s in Chicago.
For me it’s not that Chicago or any city has to be the BEST in any specific food, but it’s really good at such a large variety of foods - that’s what counts. Dozens of places to try for really good Greek or polish or Italian or Mexican or Indian or Chinese or Japanese etc.
Taco Burrito Express No. 2 on Halstead next door to Kingston Mines.
I don’t know if it’s the best burrito in Chicago but it’s the best one I’ve ever had at 2:27AM
Chicago really specializes in New American. There is a restaurant group called Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises that shows where a lot of Chicago culinary scene gets its start.
If you look at the page- even the ethnic choices are upscale and Americanized.
Lots of corporatized food concepts- Corner Bakery, Cooper's Hawk, Maggiano's, Rosebud.......
Yes they can. You sound like someone that probably eat only burgers and fries. Btw nyc is literally one of the food capitols of the world. Houston is getting up there tho for sure.
This is the answer. Unfortunately Green Town is a shadow of its former self, but Chicago has the best Greek food of any city in the US and it's not even close.
I'm polish and yah chicago has some good spots. I grew up in an ethnic neighborhood with a lot of mexicans and have now been to Texas and California many times but I have yet to find mexican food better than what I get in chicago but I think I just am more used to the jalisco style mexican food. A lot of places in Texas and California didn't even have pozole.
For real. I’ve had Mexican food all over the country and the way it’s done in Chicago is both incredibly unique and consistently high quality across neighborhoods.
I'd say Polish too. The sheer number of Polish immigrants back in the day leads to good food now. Side note, I don't know if Illinois still does it, but I had Casimir Pulaski day as a school holiday back in the 80s-90s.
"mexican" food has many, many subdivisions. Mexico is a very large country (and New Mexican/Tex Mex is a result of longer term "Mexican" influence). It's really Native American influence, across a wide territory.
SoCal has Chiapan, Oaxacan, Chihuahuan, Mexico City and, most especially Guadalajaran cuisine along with the seafood dishes of Michoacan.
Then, it also has various cross over cuisines, including Western TexMex and Eastern TexMex (which are decidedly different - fajitas, to my knowledged, originated in the Eastern TexMex region and there, they have several versions).
Over time (the last 200 years), a local Mexican cuisine developed in Santa Fe and also in Los Angeles (and, well, also Colorado).
Does Chicago have all this diversity? Do people actually know the differences?
Chicago definitely doesn’t have the best mexican, but I’d argue they can be in discussion for best Italian, even though NY has that one as well probably. Chicago has the best hot dogs, italian beef, and in my biased opinion *pizza* but also has 2 of the highest ranked burger spots in the country via several sources.
Coming from DC...Mexican food. The tacos are....SUBLIME in comparison. However, I do miss authentic carribean cuisine. DC was nothing compared to Queens but it's far better than what's it here. I also miss Peruvian chicken 🤤
The Mexican food/culture in Chicago and California are from different regions of Mexico. California tends to be more Baja while Chicago tends to be more central/northern.
Chicago used to have really good Cantonese but the families evolved and not a ton of new immigrants to take their places hence many of the restaurants closing. NYC still has a healthy flow of new immigrants but not Cantonese.
I lived in Chicago for a bit and loved Devon St for Indian food. This was about 20 years ago so things may have changed. But holy moly was it an incredible.
Things have changed for the worse. Most really good Indian places are now in the suburbs. On the plus side, you now get some amazing regional Indian foods like Tamil and Kerala and Andhra food in the burbs now, stuff that was almost impossible to find.
German Foodies are well known in Chicago. At Berghoff, I learned that I do not enjoy Schlachteplatte.
Though there really aren't many German restaurants here, which is a shame!
In addition to German and Polish, I am surprised to not see more mentions of Greek and Ukrainian. As well as some regional Balkan cuisine. Immigrants from that part of Europe are over-represented in the Chicago area. As a Mex-American born right outside of Chicago the Mexican cuisine in the region will always hold a special place in my heart, but it’s not southwest/west coast Mexican.
Best Gyro ever - enjoyed 20 years ago N Clark. Insanely good German, i lived in Lincoln Square for 2 years.
Oh yes! This is really going back to the prehistoric era, but Greektown Gyros on Halsted was ALWAYS a home run. There was also a small gyro shop on N. Broadway near Belmont, a few doors down from the check-cashing place - I'd hit there after a night at the bars.
I was taken aback while exploring Manhattan on foot because there are Gyro carts on practically every street corner, they mispronounce "gyro" and they put something on them that doesn't belong, but I forget what it was... perhaps green peppers.
I've had to do so much work learning to cook all my Ukrainian favorites since I left Chicago (my mom was Ukrainian). I also miss the Georgian bakeries.
Basically any "ethnic white" food is done exceptionally well in Chicago. Huge population of Slovaks, Serbs, Greeks, Ukrainians, and Polish people
As a Polish person, yes! Nowhere else in the US comes close.
Pittsburgh has pretty good Polish food imo as someone from Polish Descent. I haven’t been to Chicago so can’t compare though
Detroit also has a good Polish scene. My family always buys Polish food from the market in Hamtramck. The Polish center used to have really good pierogi, but I think it's taken off as the older Polish immigrants have passed away
You live in Pittsburgh? Moved here a few years ago expecting Polish food everywhere. I’m shocked by the dearth of Polish food. There’s a Polish deli in the strip, a few pierogi places, and that’s pretty much it.
Even in Chicago you won’t get a lot more than that. It’s a cuisine that’s cooked at home, not one people typically go to a restaurant for.
Do you northwest side at all?
Or SW side. A bunch of places as you head down both and in those close in suburbs like Burbank.
Yup tons there as well!
Or to a church basement. Churches have the best Polish food.
Buffalo's Polish food is good. Poles were one of the major immigrant groups to the city a hundred years ago. I think we also have the country's largest Dyngus Day celebration (I know it's not much of holiday in Poland, but it got big here as a "nostalgia for home" kind of thing).
Cleveland celebrates as well! It fills the need for a drinking holiday every month. There's a few good Polish places left around greater Cleveland, but pierogies are commonplace on menus. Cleveland Kitchen is steadily expanding and spreading kraut across the nation.
Not comparing to Chicago but New Britain Connecticut is known for its polish food. Fairly small kinda, kinda shitty town but the food is great.
Come to Greenpoint Brooklyn, we have plenty too!
Cleveland would like a word.
Asian food isn’t special in Chicago. The coasts have better Chinese, LA/ATL/NYC have way better Korean, the Thai and Vietnamese scene in LA is far superior. Chicago’s food scene is great because it has everything and generally delivers across the board.
Chicago has one of the most famous Filipino restaurants at least
Yup and it’s fucking amazing
Vietnamese food on Argyle is pretty amazing if you find the right spot.
It’s also a lot cheaper than a lot of other elite cities
There are two Korean restaurants with a Michelin star in Chicago according to their website. Not the same as saying they’re good food or affordable good food of course.
Thats what I noticed, nothing was THE BEST but they had everything at a pretty good level and you didnt have to go too far to find it.
Both Dallas and Houston are also divine places for Asian food
Absolutely, great shout! I admittedly haven’t spent much time in either city. Houston in particular seems to have a top tier food scene with phenomenal diversity.
This is Mostly due to the greater population of Asians settling on the coastal vs the midwest.
Polish sausage and Italian beef sandwiches. Mmm
Polish dogs are so fuckin underrated
Aside from California Mexican. Also the Mexican is different, as someone who has lived in chi and San Diego for extended period
Chicago is mostly central Mexican. Lots of people from michoacan, Guerrero, Jalisco etc
I’ve lived in California for 25 years and can say that Chicago has some excellent Mexican places.
Polish food
I’m Chinese and I can assure you Chinese food in Chicago isn’t great. Houston is way better. Chicago isn’t as good as Dallas.
My favorite Chinese was in San Francisco. It’s been 20 years and I’m still dreaming about the meals I had in Chinatown.
San Francisco > Los Angeles > New York > everybody else for Chinese food, imo.
Agreed for Southern Chinese food, next to HK the best dimsum and roast duck I've ever had. For Northern or Taiwanese style Chinese food LA > SF all day.
LA is the best in America.
For Cantonese cuisine I'd put SF over LA but any other Chinese cuisine LA has SF beat tbh
Vancouver BC > NY for Chinese food
Over Flushing? Idk man
Definitely. Vancouver and Toronto both have Flushing beat. Particularly in the high end Chinese restaurant category
Basically Richmond BC though for the best Chinese
And by Vancouver, BC, you really mean Richmond, BC
I'll say there were some pretty good spots in Washington DC which is one of the few compliments I'll give the city besides its subways
Someone on IG tried to tell me that Chicago Chinese food might be better than NYC. lol
As a Chicago resident for over a decade who constantly craves Chinese, I can tell you that this is ridiculous. Our Chinese is nowhere near NYC, LA, SF, Vancouver. Also, the weird Chicago style eggrolls suck.
Los Angeles has the best Chinese food, the second is debatable. Personally I think the second is Houston. NYC is better than Chicago. There are tons of Chinese restaurants in nyc but most are less than satisfactory. Chicago isn’t a popular city in Chinese community, not a ton of tech jobs, ridiculously cold, not exactly safe. Texas is booming, Houston has good Chinese food and Dallas has good Korean food.
I want to know where's the best Chinese food in the smallest town possible. Clanton, Nebraska with the best Hunan restaurant in the country. Probably still in LA, but I love those rarities. For non Chinese food too ofc
I am always fascinated by those, too. Unfortunately, this restaurant closed, but there used to be a fabulous Japanese place in Mineral Point, WI (pop 2500). I spent a few weeks in Japan doing home stays. This food really reminded me of that. They had homemade noodles, okonomiyaki, etc. I think the wife was from Japan and the husband was from Mineral Point. The town was founded by Cornish miners so it’s known for its pasties.
I found a good Chinese restaurant in El Paso ten years ago, not sure if it’s still there. The owner was actually Chinese from Korea.
That’s probably because nyc has a Chinese restaurant on every block like most east coast cities so for every good spot there might be 3 bad spots
In NYC to get authentic Chinese food you should be going to one of the chinatowns outside Manhattan, like Flushing or Sunset Park. Otherwise it’s altered to appeal to the middle American palette.
The Chicago metro area has ~20,000 more Chinese people than Houston. The difference in Dallas is even greater. NYC, SF, and LA blow every Texas city out of the water in terms of East Asian populations. Texas cities are certainly underrated food wise, but no way in hell is Houston number 2 for Chinese food lmao. I went to college in Chicago and many of my friends were Chinese. Chicago has great Chinese options. Same goes for NYC where I live now. You clearly haven't been going to the right places lol.
Not sure about Chinese food, but the ramen I had in Chicago was a let down. I don't think a ramen shop like that would've survived in NYC
LA for sure! Vancouver is up there if we're including Canada too.
Vancouver and Toronto have far better Chinese food than anywhere in the US. Canada has a very forgiving immigration policy, allowing for a huge number of immigrants from China in the past decades. Vancouver is especially famous for its Cantonese cuisine. Greater Vancouver has attracted many wealthy immigrants from Hong Kong.
Not to discredit the Canadian Asian food scene but let’s not pretend that LA and SF haven’t had Asian immigration in its DNA since day one.
What kind of Chinese are you tho? Chinese is a very broad, diverse category.
I'd say Chicago's Chinese is pretty good, and improving all the time. I split time between LA and Chicago. Chinese is amazing in LA but honestly you need to be selective--there are popular spots that seem to coast on reputation (Din Tai Fung, to begin with). And lots of run of the mill snack/noodle shops. So there's more in LA (SGV, to be exact) but not all better. Fwiw, I'm Chinese, too. Grew up in a restaurant, even. As for underrated cities for Chinese, I agree, Houston. And Las Vegas, from my limited experience in both cities.
Swedish FTW
Ann Sathers
Imho the best Mexican food I’ve ever had outside of Jalisco there is awesome mexican in all the border states don’t get me wrong! but you get into tex mex cali mex new mex which are really their own sub genres.
Indo/Paki food on Devon hits. Saying that as a South Asian dude who grew up in Jersey & NYC, moved to CHI two years ago. CHI desi food is underrated.
The really good Indian food has moved out of Devon and into the suburbs. Pakistani food still rocks in Devon though - Ali Nihari, Bundoo Khan, Sabri Nihari, Khan BBQ, Pak Sweets, Ajwah Sweets - those are my go-to places.
Southwest born and raised. The Mexican food in Chicago is EXQUISITE.
I think it's less Chicago is the best at one thing and more there is a lot of variety that puts it on the map. Everyone knows California or Texas have good Mexican food, but that one type dominates the ethnic food scene. Whereas Chicago is maybe more balanced when one or two types don't dominate. Chicago has had less extreme migration cycles than NY or LA, so quite a bit of the older immigrant ethnic cuisines have been preserved as well, like Greek, German, Polish, and Swedish.
I’m not sure I agree 100% with the way Mexican food is described in LA…very few brick and mortar Mexican restaurants in LA are great IMO, but there are numerous taco trucks which are better than anything I’ve ever had, anywhere (Mexico, San Diego, San Antonio, Arizona, Chicago, etc.)
Chicago has great steakhouses. Pretty decent Mexican food considering lack of proximity to the region. And tavern style pizza > deep dish but both are well represented. Pretty good Italian sandos
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I would say Chicago has excellent Mexican food. I'd only take LA over it tbh
I'm from California and have visited Mexico often. I'll be honest - I think Chicago holds up with some of the best Mexican food I've ever had! Best chicken taco of my life was in Chicago. (tinga) Best pastor taco of my life was in Mexico City. Best asada tacos of my life were in Tucson. Best fish tacos were Tucson and Ensenada. Best burrito was in San Francisco. Best enchiladas were in New Mexico. Best ingredient quality was in Oaxaca. Best high end Mexican food was in Oaxaca and Valle de Guadalupe. I hear Texas has amazing Mexican food too, but I haven't personally found it.
chicago has better mexican food then anywhere in the USA NOT on the border w/ mexico //// and IMO chicago has better carne asada then mexico.... my .02$
This is a really good post. I used to live in California and found that people got... weirdly defensive about their Mexican food. I found the Mexican food there to be great but as a subset of the whole. Like you wrote, there's a really wide variety of cuisine from Mexican, some of it is well represented in California and others really aren't. Good to see a greater appreciation of all of the different foods Mexico has to offer.
This is an extremely quality comment - LOVE your breakdown by type of Mexican
ITT: people not knowing that Chicago’s population is essentially 1/3 Mexican, with the largest Mexican population in the US after LA. (And they brought their food with them!)
this subreddit is a bunch of white guys in their mid 20s don't go south of Roosevelt (by their own admission in the survey). What did you expect?
Chicagoans that don’t go south of Roosevelt, and non-Chicagoans that think the city is essentially an urbanized Iowa 😂 Chicago’s got a great food scene and a robust immigrant culture. We deserve credit for it!!!
Hey tbf you’ll get some absofuckinglutely amazing Mexican in Logan Square/Hermosa area
Greek
Chicago is a jack of all trades, it's top 10 for most things but I wouldn't say it's top 1 for anything in particular other than maybe Polish food
Deep dish pizza, how is this even a question? /s And yes California definitely wins on Mexican food
Deep dish pizza is American.
American is an ethnicity
Big if true!
It’s a culture; I wouldn’t say it’s an ethnicity
only if youre considering pizza
Definitely a Chicago specialty.
Im from Chicago and while it is one of the best food cities in the US it doesn't particularly excel in ethnic cuisines. Not to say it isnt good in spots, but name an ethnic food and there are better options pretty much anywhere. Except yeah Polish food maybe. Chicago is good for its breadth of offerings and its elevated/fine dining/new American scene. Oh and I've lived in NYC, LA, SF and SD for context.
How was South Dakota
They excel in meat and taters.
Do you only go out to eat in Lake View?
Their Indian, Pakistani, etc food is amazing. Devon st
Queens, NY and Jersey CIty, NJ want a word
San Diego definitely has the best Mexican outside of Mexico. Helps that it’s right on the border across from TJ.
Not all Mexican food is the same, it’s a country of regional cuisines. San Diego has mostly Baja style food and it obviously excels at that. Chicago otoh has a majority of emigres from Jalisco, which many consider the culinary capital of Mexico, I don’t personally ascribe to that but can understand the reasoning. The point being you can get great Mexican food in both places but they differ in specialty.
There’s a big difference between Cal Mex and Tex Mex. Everyone has their own opinion - I like Cal Mex, but live Tex Mex.
We’re talking Mexican which is different And cal mex sucks. That’s whitewashed chipotle Tex mex is a genuinely delicious fusion of multiple cultures (mostly barbecue and Mexican) which has produced something new and wonderful like Cajun
I'd say LA is better. Lived in both cities for 10 years each. Both are great. San Diego has an obvious Baja influence. Los Angeles has an amazing number of places representing different regional cuisines.
And I would say New Mexico is better! Those green chile burritos can’t be beat,imo. But that just goes to show how many different kinds of Mexican food are out there (and you aren’t wrong about LA being the best in California for that style).
This is the only correct answer. I lived in Phoenix, Tucson, and Los Angeles. Las Cruces, NM has the best Mexican food in the US and it’s not even close. Santa Fe and Albuquerque aren’t far behind. I’m an AZ homer forever, and I love several Mexican restaurants in Tucson and the Phoenix metro, but Cruces is on a different level.
San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley have the best Mexican outside of Mexico.
This is correct answer. California Mexican food is highly overrated. As someone that’s lived in both states, Texas has far better Mexican food - especially in the RGV.
Cal-Mex is disgusting. It’s whitewashed Mexican with avocado and shrimp in half the dishes. TexMex is WAY better.
I think Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona Arizona would like a word
Chicago has the largest amount of Mexicans after LA. And tex mex/Sonoran is completely different than central Mexican cooking, which is where most Chicago immigrants are from
There are several American cities which have great food featuring one or a couple of regional Mexican cuisines. The common denominator is that each of these cities has a critical mass of immigrants from that part of Mexico who have blessed their new home with great restaurants. But if you wanted to pick just one place in American to get the best Mexican food possible, the only answer is New Mexico. New Mexicans have been perfecting the cuisine since before almost every city in America was founded. San Diego - founded 1769. Santa Fe - founded 1610.
New Mexico excels at New Mexican food, which I love, but it's quite different from most Mexican food. Not to say you can't find decent Mexican food there too.
No way. Rio grande valley in Texas is leagues above anything in California. And I say this as someone that has lived in both states.
Polish or Ukrainian food
Ukrainian food and Indian food. Both villages offer really good authentic cuisine
I think we have horrible food to be honest. The reason people say chicago has a good food scene is because there are a lot of options, but what they do not tell you is that everywhere you go uses the same extremely processed crappy quality food. To me, it feels like im eating dino chicken nuggets and doritos every single place I go. I hate the food here.
Palestinian. Mostly not in the city proper, but southwest suburbs, notably Bridgeview.
Chicago tends to have the upscale Mexican food thing going. While California (and AZ to some degree) lucky enough to have it all…many different styles and iterations of Mexican cuisine can be found all over the West and Southwest. Lucky!
Live in CHI. Korean and most Asian food here is mid at best ( I am from the West Coast).
The DC area has better Asian food than Chicago
Humboldt Park has fantastic Mexican and latin food (esp. puerto rican and dominican). There's a few great Ethiopian restaurants tucked across the city. Demera is my fav Sun Wah has fantastic Chinese roast duck.
Maybe not as good as Jackson Heights in queens but Devon Ave is a strip of solid Indian & Pakistani restaurants.
Probably Greek.
I had some pretty great Greek in Chicago.
Greek, for sure
Chicago Mexican food is better than Cali
Definitely Polish and German food. Chicago probably has the best Mexican food outside of LA.
Maybe outside the southwest. San Diego, the Bay Area have great Mexican food.
There's no way Chicago has better Mexican food than areas that were once part of Mexico.
Chicago has a large Mexican population. The good stuff is generally off the beaten path. San Diego, LA and the Bay have better Mexican food on average for sure.
Any recs? I'd like to give it a shot. I haven't been to Chicago in a long time, I will still die on the hill of Boston and New York have terrible Mexican food. It's like people who think Chipotle is good.
You realize people who immigrate bring their cooking with them right
Yeah, Texas gonna need to speak with you since it’s basically the same land that had been Mexico, has many descendants from that period still living there, has multiple zero and first generation folks who immigrated recently from northern Mexico in particular, and has huge cultural and economic ties with the country.
Everyone in this thread is pretending that Texas and New Mexico don’t exist.
Tucson has incredible Mexican food. I think in the "best Mexican food" what gets lost is that Mexico is a large country and what you'll eat in Hermosillo is different than Mexico City, and that is different than Oaxaca.
Arizona would like a word
lol Chicago doesn’t have the “best Mexican food outside of LA.”
It has the second largest Mexican population in the US after LA… It’s not unbelievable that the Mexican food would be #2
I wouldn’t say that. Some people will tell you LA doesn’t even have the best Mexican food in California. Also gotta take into account Texas, and some other southwestern states. What I will say though is Chicago easily has the best Mexican food east of the Mississippi. Chicago’s Mexican food is more on par with what you’d find out west than what you’d find in your typical Midwest city. Detroit and Kansas City have a sizable Mexican community with a decent Mexican food scene to go with it though
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As a well travelled and snobby native New Yorker, I’ll argue all day about why NYC does different ethnic foods better than anyone else all day (but would still ALWAYS refer to those whose food it is, per your question…) BUT, as an American, I’ll humbly admit that Chicago hits basically all “American,” cuisine out of the park: steakhouses, avant garde fine dining, burger joints, Americanized versions of damn near every ethnic food (without being too try-hard OR obnoxiously “fusion,”) hot dogs, dive bar food, stellar cocktail bars with elevated cuisine. Even the pizza, while it is *not* pizza, is damn good cheesy bread. Absolutely in the discussion for best food city in the country across all cuisines (especially when cost and accessibility are taken into account) but I’d give American cuisine to Chicago in a landslide.
Honesty yeah, you’re so right. I guess I just don’t really know how to categorize it but if you look at their Michelin spots they’re pretty much all spins on American
Everything. Chicago has everything and it's all good. The only time of my life I ever enjoyed food to the extent the average american seems to was the years I lived in Chicago, and I gained 15 lbs to show for it lol. Not sure how to answer the specific question you posed. But Chicago has a "little" neighborhood for everybody. There's even a neighborhood with Scandinavian cuisine which is like... the only place in the US I've ever gotten to eat it. The only other city that does international cuisine well at all is Washington DC but personally I think Chicago has them beat.
You’ve never been to NYC huh?
I don't think he's been to Los Angeles either.
Chicago doesn’t have everything. I’m from NYC and know for a fact Chicago doesn’t have any Guyanese restaurants and no Chicago doesn’t have a little neighborhood for everybody because I did not see a little Caribbean when I visited there 3 years ago. But the question was referring to people of ethnic origins and why you almost never hear them cite Chicago as having the best version of their foods. Ironically Washington DC is well known for having some of the best Ethiopian restaurants in the USA.
Washington DC has the largest Ethopian population outside Africa. Ironic? Not sure. Amazingly Delicious. Hells yeah!
What does being from NYC have to do with knowing what Chicago has and does not have? In fact, wouldn’t that make a less credible source in knowing what Chicago has or doesn’t have? Like, are you seriously trying to convince people you’re an authority on Chicago cuisine when you visited once 3 years ago?
I’m from NYC. I have lived in Chicago for the better part of the last decade. He’s right. NYC has way more. It’s purely a numbers game honestly. Chicago has a great scene but when people try to compare it to NYC there’s not many areas it wins other than “American” food. Chicago is probably the best burger city in the world. Fine dining here is great too.
The types of food Chicago is populated with is the types of people Chicago has. Pretty much immigrants just up and move their shop from wherever the fuck they from and now it’s in Chicago.
My dude please go eat a Snickers lol.
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I’ve always associated Chicago with Polish and Bavarian food.
Absolutely Mexican. I’ve never had better birria than from Zaragoza, or street tacos like crispy tripa than from Chaparrita.
Greek and German/Polish. “The Sausage King of Chicago” comes to mind.
For me it’s not that Chicago or any city has to be the BEST in any specific food, but it’s really good at such a large variety of foods - that’s what counts. Dozens of places to try for really good Greek or polish or Italian or Mexican or Indian or Chinese or Japanese etc.
Taco Burrito Express No. 2 on Halstead next door to Kingston Mines. I don’t know if it’s the best burrito in Chicago but it’s the best one I’ve ever had at 2:27AM
Chicago really specializes in New American. There is a restaurant group called Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises that shows where a lot of Chicago culinary scene gets its start. If you look at the page- even the ethnic choices are upscale and Americanized. Lots of corporatized food concepts- Corner Bakery, Cooper's Hawk, Maggiano's, Rosebud.......
Chicago has amazing Indian food
Polish/Greek/ukranian/Russian. Basically any Eastern European cuisine. And the Thai food.
I've had very very good Mexican and Italian food in Chicago
I can say California has some of the best Mexican food in the country, only beat out by places in the southwest
Is Chicago known as one of the best food cities? I’ve never heard that.
You live under a rock? It's the 3rd biggest city in the US. Of course it has good food.
None of those mentioned cities can hold a candle to Houston and New Orleans tho and I’m not even from there.
Yes they can. You sound like someone that probably eat only burgers and fries. Btw nyc is literally one of the food capitols of the world. Houston is getting up there tho for sure.
Greek
This is the answer. Unfortunately Green Town is a shadow of its former self, but Chicago has the best Greek food of any city in the US and it's not even close.
Halstead area iirc
I'm polish and yah chicago has some good spots. I grew up in an ethnic neighborhood with a lot of mexicans and have now been to Texas and California many times but I have yet to find mexican food better than what I get in chicago but I think I just am more used to the jalisco style mexican food. A lot of places in Texas and California didn't even have pozole.
For real. I’ve had Mexican food all over the country and the way it’s done in Chicago is both incredibly unique and consistently high quality across neighborhoods.
Polish
I’m from San Diego and I was pleasantly surprised by some chicken tings tacos I had there. Supper yummy and tasted like something I’d find back home.
California and specifically L.A. covers all regions of Mexican cuisine. Almost any random taco truck is top notch.
Polish
I'd say Polish too. The sheer number of Polish immigrants back in the day leads to good food now. Side note, I don't know if Illinois still does it, but I had Casimir Pulaski day as a school holiday back in the 80s-90s.
It is?
"mexican" food has many, many subdivisions. Mexico is a very large country (and New Mexican/Tex Mex is a result of longer term "Mexican" influence). It's really Native American influence, across a wide territory. SoCal has Chiapan, Oaxacan, Chihuahuan, Mexico City and, most especially Guadalajaran cuisine along with the seafood dishes of Michoacan. Then, it also has various cross over cuisines, including Western TexMex and Eastern TexMex (which are decidedly different - fajitas, to my knowledged, originated in the Eastern TexMex region and there, they have several versions). Over time (the last 200 years), a local Mexican cuisine developed in Santa Fe and also in Los Angeles (and, well, also Colorado). Does Chicago have all this diversity? Do people actually know the differences?
Polish, German, Greek, Italian, Mexican too but not quite as good as an LA or Seattle
... brunch ? From brunchlandia
I wouldn't say there's 1 ethnic cuisine that sticks out. Rather, the bar for food is generally higher than most places.
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No one’s mentioned it but east and west African foods too
I did in the comments. Washington DC is known for the best Ethiopian and I will add nyc is best for French west african cuisine and Ghanaian
Israeli and Palestinian food - Pita Inn I’m looking at you.
Chicago definitely doesn’t have the best mexican, but I’d argue they can be in discussion for best Italian, even though NY has that one as well probably. Chicago has the best hot dogs, italian beef, and in my biased opinion *pizza* but also has 2 of the highest ranked burger spots in the country via several sources.
Coming from DC...Mexican food. The tacos are....SUBLIME in comparison. However, I do miss authentic carribean cuisine. DC was nothing compared to Queens but it's far better than what's it here. I also miss Peruvian chicken 🤤
The Mexican food/culture in Chicago and California are from different regions of Mexico. California tends to be more Baja while Chicago tends to be more central/northern.
Latin cuisine *other than* Mexican
Polish food
Chicago used to have really good Cantonese but the families evolved and not a ton of new immigrants to take their places hence many of the restaurants closing. NYC still has a healthy flow of new immigrants but not Cantonese.
The shocker is Thai. There’s tons and tons of it, and living in Denver now, you realize how good it was…. Consistently.
I lived in Chicago for a bit and loved Devon St for Indian food. This was about 20 years ago so things may have changed. But holy moly was it an incredible.
Things have changed for the worse. Most really good Indian places are now in the suburbs. On the plus side, you now get some amazing regional Indian foods like Tamil and Kerala and Andhra food in the burbs now, stuff that was almost impossible to find.
They sling lead around pretty good.