Find out Which City in New York Is Nation’s Top Place for Foodies

If you like to get your snack on, New York is one of the best places to be. A new national roundup deemed the Empire State a paradise for foodies.

Let's go back in time and explore the food scene I enjoyed when growing up in Connecticut. We had killer sea food restaurants... and chain restaurants. If you wanted to go to a super amazing Italian or Japanese restaurant, you had to pack into your car and drive about 45 minutes to get there.

Now that I am living in Central New York, the dining possibilities are endless. Gone are the days of hoofing it to Mystic for Cajun food or to Danbury for Lebanese food.

If I ever find myself craving BBQ, Thai, Indian, Turkish or Polish food - I now have multiple options located within a small radius. Even better, all the options are top-rated and totally delicious.

That said, when New York made a new roundup naming the top foodie cities in America, I wasn't surprised in the slightest.

Which City in NY Reigns Supreme?

WalletHub released a new study looking into the best and cheapest local foodie scenes. The survey was inspired by World Food Day fast approaching, which is celebrated on October 16.

The study also comes as the nation's average restaurant prices have risen an additional 6.5% due to inflation. Prices surged that much between August 2022 and August 2023.

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WalletHub scrutinized the largest cities across the United States and compared them across 28 key metrics. They investigated data such as affordability and accessibility of high-quality restaurants, to food festivals per capita to craft breweries and wineries per capita.

That said, shocking absolutely no one, was New York City ending up in the top 20 - in 20th place.

Now before you raise your torches and pitchforks in protest, just know that while NYC is known for having super-expensive restaurants, they are awash in affordable options.

I lived in the Inwood section of Manhattan and was able to sniff out all the wallet-friendly eating spots as well as the places that were worth the splurge (looking at you, ChocNYC.)

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As for what caused NYC to only make 20th place, blame their high prices for beer and wine. Overall, the city claimed to have the third highest average price for alcohol.

Two other NY cities claimed spots in the top 50, with Buffalo and Rochester respectively coming in 41st and 48th place. Yonkers, NY, also landed in the roundup in 144th place.

For those wondering why Utica or Syracuse missed this new roundup, WalletHub didn't include them in the study because they are smaller than the other cities used in this roundup.

Syracuse is home to about 146,000 people while Utica only has 64,000 residents - per most recent census data.

On the other hand, Buffalo has roughly 276,800 residents while Rochester has 210,6000 people living there. I don't think we need to explore just how big NYC and Yonkers are.

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Either way, now that National Food Day is coming up, tell me which area restaurants are your favorite. I'd love to use the data to do a roundup of the most popular spots.

I'll make my nomination: Cafe Del Buono in New Hartford. Small but mighty and always delicious!

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