# Cities With No Upscale Restaurants **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 23, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481 "2014-06-23T21:13:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/21 "2014-06-24T05:50:15Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Just because a restaurant has fancy decor and high prices, doesnt mean the food is all that great. I’d rather pay for good food than ambiance. The food at upscale restaurants is almost always great. The quality of the food, after all, is part of the attraction and they don’t skimp on expense. That doesn’t mean that the best meal in town is the most expensive meal. You’ll often find some little neighborhood place where somebody’s grandmother is back in the kitchen making the best linguine with clam sauce in town or something like that. But while these places may have great food, they’re not aiming for the same thing as the upscale restaurants we’re talking about here. Upscale restaurants combine great food with great service and great atmosphere (and high prices). It’s both a meal and a show. They’re designed to be impressive and sometimes that’s the experience you’re looking for. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/22 "2014-06-24T05:55:50Z")
I disagree. I think there area lot of upscale, overhyped restaurants out there. It’s an emperor has no clothes kind of thing. I think that’s especially true of an upscale restaurant that gets ‘hot.’ After a few months, they aren’t able to put out at the higher quantity while maintaining the same quality. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/23 "2014-06-24T06:38:03Z")
Nothing I can remember in Eau Claire Wisconsin. Wonderful area though, especially Chippewa Falls/Lake Wissota. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/24 "2014-06-24T08:42:32Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > I disagree. I think there area lot of upscale, overhyped restaurants out there. It’s an emperor has no clothes kind of thing. I think that’s especially true of an upscale restaurant that gets ‘hot.’ After a few months, they aren’t able to put out at the higher quantity while maintaining the same quality. Yes, there can be too much hype. But I think it’s more a case of great food being overhyped as sublime masterpieces rather than mediocre food being overhyped as great. Take away the hype and these places are still serving great food. That said, I’m not part of this scene so I may be missing the nuances. I don’t enjoy the upscale atmosphere so I’d rather get a great meal at a family-type restaurant than an equally great meal in an upscale restaurant. I prefer to relax around a meal. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/25 "2014-06-24T09:45:59Z")
I’d like to nominate Sydney. {ducks and runs}😛 ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/26 "2014-06-24T10:03:30Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > I disagree. I think there area lot of upscale, overhyped restaurants out there. It’s an emperor has no clothes kind of thing. I think that’s especially true of an upscale restaurant that gets ‘hot.’ After a few months, they aren’t able to put out at the higher quantity while maintaining the same quality. I think if your spending over $50 a person for a meal your brain is going to always think its good no matter what. Do you notice that the more expensive the food the longer the description and the longer the waiter spends describing it? ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/27 "2014-06-24T10:14:21Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Yes, there can be too much hype. But I think it’s more a case of great food being overhyped as sublime masterpieces rather than mediocre food being overhyped as great. Take away the hype and these places are still serving great food. > > That said, I’m not part of this scene so I may be missing the nuances. I don’t enjoy the upscale atmosphere so I’d rather get a great meal at a family-type restaurant than an equally great meal in an upscale restaurant. I prefer to relax around a meal. You know when it comes down to it, it doesn’t matter what the meal costs or where its from or what celebrity chef cooked it, the next day you will be pooping it out. AND you will be hungry all over again. ---
**Author:** ![Cognoscant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Cognoscant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cognoscant)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/28 "2014-06-24T10:31:56Z")
> [@stui\_magpie](#): > > I’d like to nominate Sydney. Sydney, Nova Scotia? You might be on to something there (although I know what you meant). My experience with isolated Canadian cities’ food has been lacking at best. For example, North Bay, Ontario, just over the OP’s line of 50,000 population. I think their finest dining is the local truck stop. OK, I exaggerate, but [this here restaurant](http://www.thewhiteowlbistro.ca/), which started out as a place serving “the largest ice cream cones in the Bay”, appears to be the most upscale place in a casual search of the place. You can see the, um, stately facility in the background of the owners’ picture. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/29 "2014-06-24T11:00:07Z")
> [@stui\_magpie](#): > > I’d like to nominate Sydney. > > {ducks and runs}😛 Sydney certainly has its fair share of pretentious and over-hyped ‘upscale’ restaurants. As indeed does Melbourne. But to suggest that Sydney - a city of 4.5 million or so people - hasn’t any high end restaurants at all is too silly even to be humorous.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/30 "2014-06-24T12:08:40Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Ahh, but your only about 100 miles from Lambert’s Cafe - Home of the thrown rolls. > > Actually the food is pretty good. But not exactly upscale 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/31 "2014-06-24T14:18:01Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > I think if your spending over $50 a person for a meal your brain is going to always think its good no matter what. > > Do you notice that the more expensive the food the longer the description and the longer the waiter spends describing it? The food is positively full of adjectives. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/32 "2014-06-24T16:25:30Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > You know when it comes down to it, it doesn’t matter what the meal costs or where its from or what celebrity chef cooked it, the next day you will be pooping it out. > > AND you will be hungry all over again. The best part of a banquet is the first bite. Or so I’ve heard. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/33 "2014-06-24T16:54:57Z")
A better comparison would be city proper size vs city downtown size. [Detroit proper is 142 square miles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit) and [downtown is less than 1.4 square miles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown_Detroit). All of the upscale restaurants are in downtown; the rest is basically a food wasteland. Barbecue shacks and greasy Koney Islands are everywhere, but I dare say not a single upscale restaurant. You will often find decent places to eat just across the city limits in the suburbs, but not in Detroit proper outside of the “green zone” next to the sports and casino complexes. Dayton Ohio is very similar. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/34 "2014-06-24T17:09:02Z")
When I was growing up, Philadelphia had only one upscale restaurant (Bookbinder’s) and it served undistinguished English food. This has changed and they have some excellent restaurants now. My next candidate also goes back a while (about 50 years), but Champaign-Urbana, IL, not only didn’t have any upscale restaurants, it didn’t even have any mid-scale ones. I tried the Chinese restaurant once and it was dreadful–the only Chinese restaurant I have ever eaten that I would so describe (although there was one in Tsukuba, Japan that came close, but they catered to ultra-poor Chinese workers). But getting back to Champaign-Urbana, I still recall taking an invited speaker to what was advertised as the best steak house in town. When I ordered a bottle of red wine, the waitress told me sadly that they none in the fridge. I don’t know if the worst part of this story was that she thought that red wine should be at refrigerator temperature or that a steak house with a wine list wasn’t actually ready to serve it. Of course, I told to bring it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/35 "2014-06-24T18:06:21Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > My next candidate also goes back a while (about 50 years), but Champaign-Urbana, IL, not only didn’t have any upscale restaurants, it didn’t even have any mid-scale ones. My mom was in Champaign-Urbana for a business meeting some time in the 90s. She said that she went out with her coworkers for a drink after work one day, and the bar they went to was playing porn on the big screen TVs. I imagine my mom’s threshold for what constitutes porn might be a little lower than mine. But I still always think of Champaign-Urbana as a magical place where the bars show porn. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/36 "2014-06-24T18:07:02Z")
Stretching the definition of upscale here (or maybe compressing it), but the lack of a Michelin-starred restaurant in Manchester, UK, is the source of much angst for the professional footballers who infest the suburbs. Where are they supposed to eat? 3 million people in the wider metropolitan Manchester area - 100 great restaurants, but none that are recognised as truly top drawer. ---
**Author:** ![Tully\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ab992/32.png) [@Tully\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tully_Mars)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/37 "2014-06-24T18:10:24Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The food at upscale restaurants is almost always great. The quality of the food, after all, is part of the attraction and they don’t skimp on expense. That’s what I used to think, too. But, here in the Fort Worth area, my experience has been about 50/50. About half of the $100+ per couple meals we’ve had have been mediocre or downright bad. The atmosphere and service have been there, but the food has been inconsistent. I used to assume that once you paid more than $100 per meal, you were always getting the good stuff. Aboute three months ago, we spent $150 at one of the better rated steakhouses in Grapevine and, I kid you not, I’ve had better food at Denny’s. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/38 "2014-06-24T18:32:08Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > [http://www.littlezagreb.com/](http://www.littlezagreb.com/) > > [Janko’s Little Zagreb](http://www.littlezagreb.com/) is a very good restaurant, bordering on excellent > [Tallent](http://www.restauranttallent.com/) was nominated for a James Beard award. > Esan Thai is remarkably authentic for the Midwest. > > The first two definitely qualify as fine dining. > > Pizza and authentic Italian in the area still suck balls as far as I can tell. I was cheering you on right up to that last sentence. Mother Bear’s has some of the best Pizza I’ve ever had. I still bring a couple back any time I find myself in that town. [Mother Bear’s](http://www.motherbearspizza.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Wednesday\_Evening](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Wednesday\_Evening](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wednesday_Evening)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/39 "2014-06-24T18:57:38Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > I would also nominate San Miguel, Ca., a thriving metropolis having a population in the range of 50-90,000 but much closer to the 50 people end of that range. I see what you did there. Wednesday, SLO county resident ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/40 "2014-06-24T19:27:17Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > When I was growing up, Philadelphia had only one upscale restaurant (Bookbinder’s) and it served undistinguished English food. This has changed and they have some excellent restaurants now. :dubious:That sounds a little off, almost in the category of the Sydney guess above. Plus, at least the last time I was in Philadelphia, there were two different Bookbinders, each claiming to be the “original” in some way. :rolleyes: Unless one was upscale and the other wasn’t. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481.md?page=3)