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Comment by ramesh31 | Hacker News Reader

Food is the one thing I'll give SF and the bay area. I've never lived in NYC, but I can imagine it's the only place in the US that comes close. Things are just at another level there than anywhere else I've seen.

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It really depends on what you're looking for. Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Chicago all come to mind as cities with a strong food culture. I'd add Portland and Seattle too with the caveat that you've gotta be a bit more picky.

I have lived in both, SF food is amateur hour and its expensive in comparison to NYC. $4.50 for a slice of "pizza" that is really a panini open faced sandwich GTFOH.

IMO median food in NYC is much lower quality than what you can get in SF. It just is unhealthier and less fresh. Maybe for pizza or fine dining NYC is better but SF takeout just seems much more nourishing and higher quality. I’ve also been served really terrible food in NYC on several occasions, which has never happened in SF.

Yeah you can get fantastic food in SF but it requires maybe more effort to find than in other big Metros. I would speculate it's the fact that a lot of folks are vegetarian and therefore tend to cook for themselves at home: The fact that they are no longer in the "restaurant eating" pool of people negatively impacts the restaurant scene.

Also, California restaurants tend to emphasize ingredient quality over other factors- I don't know what's in a slice of pizza when I go to New York, all I know is it is delicious.

Again, just wildly speculating here

Honestly it’s unclear. The quality ingredient thing - maybe just marketing? Who is honestly serving quality ingredients when they cannot afford the rent or paying their staff. There’s a lot more mediocrity that flies here versus Manhattan . There are some great restaurants there but unless you are killing it or serving pasta, you are going under in like 12 months . Even standard coffee shops have great food as a result (bodegas excepted). As a data point , the tenderloin I have noticed has the best food at the best price points, if you are willing to go there.

How are you going to compare pizza in SF to NYC pizza? How many places in the world has better pizza than NYC at a lower price?

What I love most is the Persian food

I moved to Vegas, both cities have a great assortment of amazing foods.

very true

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