Just in time for World Food Day next week, WalletHub has released some new food findings. After comparing more than 180 of the largest towns, America’s Best Foodie Cities (I know, I know) were determined — with Tampa landing among the top 15.
You already knew Cigar City was a destination for epicures, though, right?
The personal finance website used 24 indicators of a culinary hotbed to separate the best from the worst this year, including the ratio of full-service restaurants to fast-food establishments, cost of groceries, average beer and wine price, number of farmers’ markets and CSA programs per capita, and presence of Michelin-starred restaurants.
It even took into account Yelp’s annual list of the Top 100 Places to Eat in the U.S.
After two other well-traveled Florida locations — Miami and Orlando — WalletHub analysts listed Tampa at No. 11 overall. By those numbers, the report shows Orlando is a more affordable food town than both Tampa and Miami, and that Miami has the best “Diversity, Accessibility & Quality” rank between the trio.
Here are the highlights: gourmet specialty-food stores per capita (No. 11), restaurants per capita (No. 13), coffee and tea shops per capita (No. 19), craft breweries and wineries per capita (No. 26), and affordability and accessibility of highly rated restaurants (No. 32).
Another Tampa Bay city, surprisingly, almost didn’t make the top 100. Overall, St. Petersburg took the 91st spot — a hair above Tallahassee, in case you’re curious.
This article appears in Oct 5-12, 2017.