# What are the most popular restaurant types in your town? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 12, 2006, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-popular-restaurant-types-in-your-town/372404 "2006-09-12T14:07:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-popular-restaurant-types-in-your-town/372404/1 "2006-09-12T14:07:18Z")
Fill in the blanks. “There are more \_\_\_\_\_\_ restaurants in my town of \_\_\_\_\_\_, \_\_ than any other. \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ restaurants are second on the list. Third would be \_\_\_\_\_\_. There are practically no \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ places.” For practical purposes, let’s ignore fast food chains, pizzerias, and sub shops. “Real” restaurants only, please. Examples might be: Seafood Mongolian BBQ BBQ Chinese Thai Italian Irish Pub-style In Boston, MA, the most ubiquitous types seem to be, in order: Chinese Italian Thai-Indian-Irish (tie) There are almost no French restaurants. There is only one German restaurant, and it sucks. In my home-away-from-home of the Cape and Islands: Seafood Seafood More seafood Asian restaurants except for the occasional bad Chinese place are pretty much unheard of. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-popular-restaurant-types-in-your-town/372404/2 "2006-09-12T14:16:01Z")
The one-pig town I live in is crawling with the standard “Come-in-and-drink-fancy-concoctions-and-eat-buffalo-wings-and-bring-all-your-friends” kinda places. Chili’s and those kind of places. Ho-fuckin’-hum. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-popular-restaurant-types-in-your-town/372404/3 "2006-09-12T14:20:36Z")
Ooh! Mad Libs! Fun! “There are more \*\*Indian \*\* restaurants in my town of \*\*the neighborhoods of Rogers Park and West Rogers Park in Chicago \*\*than any other. **Mexican** restaurants are second on the list. Third would be **Thai**. There are practically no **German** places.” (The Reader only lists 3 Mexican and 2 Thai places, but that’s wrong, wrong, wrong!) ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-popular-restaurant-types-in-your-town/372404/4 "2006-09-12T14:51:21Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] For practical purposes, let’s ignore fast food chains, pizzerias, and sub shops. “Real” restaurants only, please. [/QUOTE] That disqualifies all but about 2 restaurants in my town. Welcome to middle America, land of fast food, pizzas, and subs. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-popular-restaurant-types-in-your-town/372404/5 "2006-09-12T14:51:58Z")
“Greater Houston Restaurants” is hardly complete, but the proportions seem pretty reasonable. [www.houstonrestaurants.com/content/category/3/85/115/](http://www.houstonrestaurants.com/content/category/3/85/115/) #1: Mexican. This includes Tex-Mex, “Interior” Mexican & places serving recent immigrants (& smart gringos.) Hardly a surprise, even though many are missing from the list. After all, The Great Robb Walsh is restaurant critic for The Houston Press. [www.houstonpress.com/special/texmex.html](http://www.houstonpress.com/special/texmex.html) #2: “American.” A pretty generic category. #3: Chinese. PLUS many Thai, Indian, Vietnamese, etc… Sadly deficient in Kosher cuisine. Or Other cuisines, prepared Kosher. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-popular-restaurant-types-in-your-town/372404/6 "2006-09-12T14:56:54Z")
[QUOTE=Athena] That disqualifies all but about 2 restaurants in my town. Welcome to middle America, land of fast food, pizzas, and subs. [/QUOTE] So, what are the 2 restaurants? Even in big cities, where you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting haute cuisine, fast food, pizza, and subs dominate. “Forheretogo” is a more common term that “hello” around here. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-popular-restaurant-types-in-your-town/372404/7 "2006-09-12T15:22:04Z")
**Bridget Burke** left out Italian. Houston is awash in Italian restaurants, even if you leave out pizza joints. It’s the cuisine most likely to run the gamut of price ranges. We’ve also got lot of seafood. Many of our seafood restaurants are grim (e.g., the Landry’s family of crappy overpriced restaurants), but the seafood in restaurants that don’t explicitly specialize in it can be excellent. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-popular-restaurant-types-in-your-town/372404/8 "2006-09-14T18:07:29Z")
There are more **BBQ** restaurants in my town of \*\*Houston, TX \*\* than any other. **Mexican** restaurants are second on the list. Third would be **seafood**. There are practically no **Polynesian** places. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-popular-restaurant-types-in-your-town/372404/9 "2006-09-14T18:47:06Z")
There are more **Mexican** restaurants in my town of **Boise, Idaho** , than any other. **Chinese** restaurants are second on the list. Third would be **Italian or seafood**. There are practically no **French** places. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-popular-restaurant-types-in-your-town/372404/10 "2006-09-14T18:59:04Z")
Fill in the blanks. “There are more Italian restaurants in my town of Albany, NY than any other. Indian restaurants are second on the list. Third would be ‘American’ (steakhouses, etc.). There are practically no German places.” ---
**Author:** ![NE\_Texan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e99b99/32.png) [@NE\_Texan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NE_Texan)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-popular-restaurant-types-in-your-town/372404/11 "2006-09-14T19:44:02Z")
When I lived in Manchester, NH, it seemed like there were a ton of bland “American” type places, many seafood restaurants, and a fair amount of Italian places. Pretty much no Mexican food, and what there was, sucked. In Austin, TX, there are many, many, Mexican/Tex-Mex restaurants (whoda thunkit?), and BBQ places. Everything else is in good supply, also; off the top of my head, I’m not sure I could find a type of restaurant we have none of. Maybe German, but I know that there are towns not far away that have German. ---
**Author:** ![goldenmean1975](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@goldenmean1975](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/goldenmean1975)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-popular-restaurant-types-in-your-town/372404/12 "2006-09-14T22:22:50Z")
There are more catfish places than any other type of food places except fast food. The folks around here love their catfish! ---
**Author:** ![FormerMarineGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/65b543/32.png) [@FormerMarineGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FormerMarineGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-popular-restaurant-types-in-your-town/372404/13 "2006-09-14T22:27:49Z")
“There are more Colombian restaurants in my area of South Florida than any other. Japanese restaurants are second on the list. Third would be Italian restaurants. There are practically no seafood places.” ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-popular-restaurant-types-in-your-town/372404/14 "2006-09-14T22:30:02Z")
There are more **Mexican** restaurants in my town of Fremont, CA than any other. **Chinese** restaurants are second on the list. Third would be **Thai**. There are practically no **seafood** places, which really bums me out. I guess the rest of the Bay Area has it covered so well we just don’t even bother. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-popular-restaurant-types-in-your-town/372404/15 "2006-09-14T23:22:09Z")
In my big ol’ 8 square mile metropolis, we have four or five diners/coney islands, a plethora of pizza/sub/fast food joints and over a dozen bars, most with kitchens. We’re not so big on variety, unless you’re looking for a different place each night to get the same greasy american food. 😃 However, within ten miles I’ve got plenty of choices, Chinese and Mexican places are the most popular, and I know at least one each German, Japanese, Mongolian, BBQ and Thai. Add in all the chain flair-wearing places within that same radius and one could probably go for weeks without cooking or repeating a visit. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-popular-restaurant-types-in-your-town/372404/16 "2006-09-14T23:27:50Z")
In my local suburb I’d say Thai. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-popular-restaurant-types-in-your-town/372404/17 "2006-09-15T01:41:49Z")
In Dallas, I’ll Tex Mex is number one. Mexican is number two. 3rd is probably steakhouses. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-popular-restaurant-types-in-your-town/372404/18 "2006-09-15T14:31:48Z")
[QUOTE=dalej42] In Dallas, I’ll Tex Mex is number one. Mexican is number two. 3rd is probably steakhouses. [/QUOTE] I’d say burger joints, barbecue and Italian probably round out the top six, although with the exception of Dickey’s and Sonny Bryan’s, the DFW area seems kind of deficient in barbecue when compared to Houston or Austin. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-popular-restaurant-types-in-your-town/372404/19 "2006-09-15T15:01:12Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] Fill in the blanks. “There are more Italian restaurants in my town of Albany, NY than any other. Indian restaurants are second on the list. Third would be ‘American’ (steakhouses, etc.). There are practically no German places.” [/QUOTE] There is more than one Italian place in upstate NY? Say it ain’t so!!!1111eleventyone! :eek: In Rochester, there weren’t many German places, but the few that did exist were wunderbar. ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2006, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-popular-restaurant-types-in-your-town/372404/20 "2006-09-15T15:04:06Z")
Fill in the blanks. “There are more seafood/fish restaurants in my town of Key Largo, FL than any other. Steak house restaurants are second on the list. Third would be classic diners. There are practically no Indian places.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-popular-restaurant-types-in-your-town/372404.md?page=2)