# In your city, and your city only, what are the fanciest restaurants? What are your favorite restaurants (fancy or otherwise)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 21, 2025, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-city-and-your-city-only-what-are-the-fanciest-restaurants-what-are-your-favorite-restaurants-fancy-or-otherwise/1025029 "2025-11-21T06:45:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2025, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-city-and-your-city-only-what-are-the-fanciest-restaurants-what-are-your-favorite-restaurants-fancy-or-otherwise/1025029/61 "2025-11-24T16:12:13Z")
Here in Corpus Christi the fanciest place is Republic of Texas, a steak restaurant at the top floor of our fanciest hotel. Even there, however, one wouldn’t be out of place in a polo shirt and blue jeans. Despite being the fanciest, they aren’t the best steakhouse. That honor goes to Niko’s, a local steakhouse where the chef knows how to get better flavor from steaks (despite them using USDA choice) than any of the three places that serve USDA prime beef. As far as other types of cuisine, Howard’s serves the best barbecue, Kiko’s is the best sit down Mexican restaurant, and there’s a taco stand called El Tri that serves the best street tacos. For Indian food, there’s a place in Kingsville (IMHO part of the greater Corpus Christi area) called Spice Station that serves what is probably the best Indian food in all of Texas outside of Houston or Dallas. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-city-and-your-city-only-what-are-the-fanciest-restaurants-what-are-your-favorite-restaurants-fancy-or-otherwise/1025029/62 "2025-11-25T00:28:04Z")
I live 2 blocks away from a super-fancy restaurant that used to be Michelin starred (I think). I live 5 blocks away from a current 3 Michelin starred restaurant. Tres chic. I live probably 10-15 minutes away from about 12 other Michelin starred restaurants. What’s that you say? Oh. Yes, I do live in San Francisco. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-city-and-your-city-only-what-are-the-fanciest-restaurants-what-are-your-favorite-restaurants-fancy-or-otherwise/1025029/63 "2025-11-25T00:38:48Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > The cost to a city to have a Michelin Guide is reportedly over a million. Can you explain further? Do you mean the cost to have a Michelin starred restaurant (after all, anyone can have a guide)? Who pays the million? And whom do they pay it to? Do you mean the city with the restaurant must pay Michelin a million bucks? ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-city-and-your-city-only-what-are-the-fanciest-restaurants-what-are-your-favorite-restaurants-fancy-or-otherwise/1025029/64 "2025-11-25T00:46:02Z")
I live in El Cerrito, CA, a city of around 26,000 people. It’s across the bay from San Francisco, which has lots of fancy restaurants. So do nearby Berkeley and Oakland. Not El Cerrito, though. I’d say the fanciest place here is Mugunghwa, a Korean restaurant: [https://www.yelp.com/biz/mugunghwa-el-cerrito](https://www.yelp.com/biz/mugunghwa-el-cerrito) ---
**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:** [November 25, 2025, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-city-and-your-city-only-what-are-the-fanciest-restaurants-what-are-your-favorite-restaurants-fancy-or-otherwise/1025029/65 "2025-11-25T00:54:18Z")
“A city gets a Michelin Guide through a partnership where the local tourism board or city government pays Michelin a substantial fee to conduct inspections and create a guide for that area. While Michelin maintains that cities must have a high quality of cuisine to be considered, the financial contribution is a necessary step for a city to be officially included in the guide’s coverage.” Also: “Tourism boards, or a coalition of them, pay Michelin to have their restaurants inspected and included in the guide. These are sometimes referred to as “partnership fees” and can cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars over time.” ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-city-and-your-city-only-what-are-the-fanciest-restaurants-what-are-your-favorite-restaurants-fancy-or-otherwise/1025029/66 "2025-11-25T01:08:11Z")
A million dollars doesn’t really sound like a lot of money for any city big enough to have restaurants worthy of a Michelin rating. You can probably spend that much building a roundabout or repaying a few blocks of sidewalk. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-city-and-your-city-only-what-are-the-fanciest-restaurants-what-are-your-favorite-restaurants-fancy-or-otherwise/1025029/67 "2025-11-25T01:22:16Z")
thanks! ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-city-and-your-city-only-what-are-the-fanciest-restaurants-what-are-your-favorite-restaurants-fancy-or-otherwise/1025029/68 "2025-11-25T02:56:40Z")
Theres an Aladdins in Mentor also. Mentor has good restaurants, not that I could afford any. Theres a place called The Indian Kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-city-and-your-city-only-what-are-the-fanciest-restaurants-what-are-your-favorite-restaurants-fancy-or-otherwise/1025029/69 "2025-11-25T07:00:30Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > A million dollars doesn’t really sound like a lot of money for any city big enough to have restaurants worthy of a Michelin rating. How this place affords it, if the rumoured fee is true, I have no idea… > **[Picturesque Berkshire village spoilt for choice of Michelin restaurants](https://www.getreading.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/bray-picturesque-berkshire-village-spoilt-26479777)** > > Bray is home to two of eight UK restaurants with three Michelin stars ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-city-and-your-city-only-what-are-the-fanciest-restaurants-what-are-your-favorite-restaurants-fancy-or-otherwise/1025029/70 "2025-11-25T07:11:46Z")
> [@iamatractorboy](#): > > How this place affords it, if the rumoured fee is true, I have no idea… > The Fat Duck owned by celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal was described as “exceptional” by judges, while The Waterside Inn was lauded as “a bastion for culinary excellence”. > > Italian restaurant Caldesi In Campagna and The Hind’s Head - also owned by Heston Blumenthal - make up the other Michelin starred restaurants in the village. That’s probably the explanation right there - Blumenthal is either paying for it out of pocket, or he contributes so much to the local economy that he’s convinced the local authorities to shoulder the cost on his behalf. I’ll probably never dine in one of his restaurants so long as I live, but he’s famous enough that restaurants all over the world have copied his recipe for french fries, so he can probably afford it. > **[Triple-cooked chips](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple-cooked_chips)** > > Triple-cooked chips are a type of chips developed by the English chef Heston Blumenthal. The chips are first simmered, then cooled and drained using a sous-vide technique or by freezing; deep fried at 130 °C (266 °F) and cooled again; and finally deep-fried again at 180 °C (356 °F). The result is what Blumenthal calls "chips with a glass-like crust and a soft, fluffy centre". > Blumenthal began work on the recipe in 1993, and eventually developed the three-stage cooking process. The Sunday Time... ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-city-and-your-city-only-what-are-the-fanciest-restaurants-what-are-your-favorite-restaurants-fancy-or-otherwise/1025029/71 "2025-11-25T13:20:59Z")
It’s probably been three months since I’ve eaten in a restaurant, _any_ restaurant near home, let alone a fancy one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-city-and-your-city-only-what-are-the-fanciest-restaurants-what-are-your-favorite-restaurants-fancy-or-otherwise/1025029.md?page=3)