# 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:** 4
**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 28, 2014, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/61 "2014-06-28T22:59:55Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Binghamton, New York. There’s a few independent restaurants that are a step above middle-end, and a few “classy” old-school Italian joints that have been around for years, but nothing approaching what would be at the lower end of the high end in Ithaca, Rochester, Syracuse, or Buffalo. > > Same thing for Elmira. Just a very blue-collar city where mid-end indies and chains are about as good as it gets. > [@weef](#): > > I was going to answer Binghamton, NY too but I was going to include all the surrounding towns too (Endicott, Johnson City, Vestal, Endwell). If you’re in any of those towns and want something upscale I guess you’re driving to Syracuse (one hour away). P S Restaurant maybe. But I think elmwood’s description is accurate - it’s more like “a step above middle end” rather than “fine dining”. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2014, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/62 "2014-06-29T01:55:14Z")
Anchorage, AK. There are restaurants that would like you to believe that they’re upscale, and the prices are certainly upscale, but the food is ordinary. Of course, nobody but tourists or pretentious assholes dresses for dinner there. Or anything else, for that matter. Bamako, Mali. Upscale is getting a fork for your rice. Lisbon, Portugal. They just don’t do upscale there. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2014, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/63 "2014-06-29T02:07:28Z")
San Miguel: joke. The large population referred to are cows. Does San Miguel even have one restaurant? Santa Cruz: wrong. You just didn’t look hard enough. There are quite expensive and also very good restaurants (not necessarily the same ones). It is a resort town with many wealthy culturally sophisticated residents. Most of the highest quality restaurants are small, sometimes tiny. And, I don’t think the best ones are downtown. Look in the neighboring towns of Aptos, Capitola, Soquel. If you want a list I’d have to work too hard, so just believe me. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2014, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/64 "2014-06-29T02:26:05Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Sacramento is pretty bad. It has some expensive restaurants, but not much that is truly upscale. The Kitchen Biba Mulvaney’s Ella I’ve only ever eaten at The Grange at lunch, but I thought it was pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2014, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/65 "2014-06-29T02:39:15Z")
> [@Busy\_Scissors](#): > > 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. There are two Michelin starred restaurants in Cumbria, is that too far for an evening? ---
**Author:** ![staili](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c57346/32.png) [@staili](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/staili)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2014, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/66 "2014-06-29T17:33:26Z")
Yeah, I don’t understand the Philadelphia or the Sydney comment. In Philadelphia, even if you’re talking about past decades, Le Bec-Fin was considered one of the best high-end French restaurants in the country starting shortly after it opened in 1970. And the fancy hotels (Bellevue Stratford, etc) have always had fancy dining rooms. Nowadays, there are a lot of high-end restaurants in Philadelphia. (Bookbinder’s was a seafood restaurant and not an English restaurant, anyway.) And Sydney has its share of upscale restaurants (assuming you mean Sydney, Australia). I don’t think that’s a recent development, either. ---
**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 29, 2014, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/67 "2014-06-29T19:41:15Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Lisbon, Portugal. They just don’t do upscale there. Guess you never went to Belcanto. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/68 "2014-06-30T01:26:15Z")
Agreeing with Salem, Oregon. Which is weird, because it does have a university, but unlike Corvallis, Portland, Eugene, and Ashland, it’s just got nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/69 "2014-06-30T08:05:52Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Agreeing with Salem, Oregon. Which is weird, because it does have a university, but unlike Corvallis, Portland, Eugene, and Ashland, it’s just got nothing. What about [Da Vinci’s](http://davincisofsalem.com/menu/)? ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/70 "2014-06-30T12:52:42Z")
> [@Nema98](#): > > What are some cities you have either lived in or visited that don’t have any very high end restaurants? > > I know mid to large size cities will have five star places, and ghost towns obviously don’t. > > But what are some cities with say 50-90,000 population range that don’t have any upscale restaurants? > > One I noticed is Santa Cruz, California. I went to UC Santa Cruz, cute city and gorgeous campus. But the city was mostly filled with hamburger and pizza places, and no fancy restaurants to speak of. > > Even the more expensive ones were not one you’d consider “fancy”. > > Any Dopers can nominate other cities? I used to travel for business to Santa Cruz twice a year. The locals never had any problem finding somewhere to eat on an expense report in Santa Cruz or the Santa Cruz area - maybe not “very high end” - but honestly, there are only a few hundred very high end restaurants in the world - but with table cloths, a good wine list, a $50+ steak, quality food and pretensions. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/71 "2014-06-30T15:13:22Z")
> [@](#): > > What about Da Vinci’s? Might be good, but I’ve never heard from anyone who’s eaten there and when I ask Salemites old and new where to eat, they say “Corvallis.” ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/72 "2014-06-30T16:16:51Z")
> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > I’m not sure Little Rock is much better. There’s a couple of places with actual table cloths, but they may be under glass. Heck, even Fu Lin’s on Bowman and Markham has actual table cloths at dinner and it’s not even under glass? We do have a few upscale restaurants here in Little Rock like Sonny Williams’ Steak Room at the River Market. Well any restaurant where you’ll spend $77 for a steak, asparagus, mashed potatoes, and a salad is pretty upscale to me. But, yeah, Little Rock is not known for having great restaurants. I don’t eat at a lot of upscale restaurants anyway but we have a dearth of mid-priced restaurants that are any good. We have a few, certainly, but the selection is poor. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/73 "2014-06-30T17:25:38Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Agreeing with Salem, Oregon. Which is weird, because it does have a university, but unlike … Ashland, it’s just got nothing. We’re only 25,000 or 30,000 people, but even with the Shakespeare Festival, the number of really upscale places ($40 a plate or more and people wearing suit and tie) is pretty slim. I can only think of two, maybe three off the top of my head, and they actually close for a month when the tourists leave. We’ve got plenty of perfectly nice restaurants in the $12 to $20 a plate range, which is just fine with me. Ashland is not an apples-to-apples comparison, is what I’m saying. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/74 "2014-06-30T17:32:38Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > P S Restaurant maybe. But I think elmwood’s description is accurate - it’s more like “a step above middle end” rather than “fine dining”. I’m not sure if it’s middle end or a step above, but there’s also a restaurant in the Ramada in Cortland that isn’t downscale, at least they have a good selection of local wines. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/75 "2014-06-30T19:33:07Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > We’re only 25,000 or 30,000 people, but even with the Shakespeare Festival, the number of really upscale places ($40 a plate or more and people wearing suit and tie) is pretty slim. I can only think of two, maybe three off the top of my head, and they actually close for a month when the tourists leave. We’ve got plenty of perfectly nice restaurants in the $12 to $20 a plate range, which is just fine with me. > > Ashland is not an apples-to-apples comparison, is what I’m saying. I can’t think of many restaurants on the West Coast or Midwest where suit and tie is normal. My husband got to eat at The French Laundry on a business trip once. I know he didn’t pack a suit - or even a jacket and tie. And I don’t think anyone would argue that it isn’t an upscale restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/76 "2014-06-30T23:08:08Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > I can’t think of many restaurants on the West Coast or Midwest where suit and tie is normal. My husband got to eat at The French Laundry on a business trip once. I know he didn’t pack a suit - or even a jacket and tie. And I don’t think anyone would argue that it isn’t an upscale restaurant. Agree, out here we don’t need no stinkin dress codes. Apparently. Only place where people regularly dress up to go out to is the opera, and I guess if you’re getting an academy award you have to. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/77 "2014-07-01T00:36:13Z")
In Minneapolis we don’t even bother to dress up for the opera. And we don’t give out Academy Awards so no one has to dress up for that :). My husband doesn’t even own a suit - he does own a jacket and slacks which he wears for job interviews, and some weddings and funerals. He certainly wouldn’t pack it for a business trip with the guys at Facebook (it was Facebook who sprung for the French Laundry). I suspect most of Facebook’s staff spooks at the sight of a suit. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/78 "2014-07-01T02:58:21Z")
When I lived in Albuquerque, that was my poor-but-happy period. I can’t think of any upscale restaurants that were in that city even though at half a million population it was the biggest in New Mexico. Maybe I just didn’t pay attention since I was so broke all the time, but I can’t recall any there. Same with the capital, Santa Fe. People are all pretty laid back, and I don’t remember anyone dressing up for much of anything let alone to go out to dinner. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/79 "2014-07-01T03:27:53Z")
I live just outside of Flint, Michigan. Which has some very good restaurants but nothing I’d call “upscale” - this entire county, even the very wealthy parts, is extremely blue collar. The closest thing I’d consider even remotely “upscale” is the [Redwood Lodge](http://www.theredwoodlodge.com/) in Grand Blanc. But still, it’s basically a brewery/steakhouse and they don’t have a dress code - that really wouldn’t work around here. Also I see on their home page they have numerous misspellings and palate is spelled palette. :rolleyes: So, not upscale. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481/80 "2014-07-01T21:41:14Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > I used to travel for business to Santa Cruz twice a year. The locals never had any problem finding somewhere to eat on an expense report in Santa Cruz or the Santa Cruz area - maybe not “very high end” - but honestly, there are only a few hundred very high end restaurants in the world - but with table cloths, a good wine list, a $50+ steak, quality food and pretensions. I’m not talking extreme high end, but still the restaurants are mostly middle of the road. Not a good selection either, too many pizza/pasta places. I love Santa Cruz, but come to think of it, there is no high end shopping either, only American Apparel, Forever 21, or Gap. No chic department stores, which is cool. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-no-upscale-restaurants/691481.md?page=5)