If you want a literally world-class meal in the Bay, you don’t have to travel far. Oakland was just ranked the best food city in the United States by Conde Nast for 2024, beating out other heavy-hitters like New Orleans and Chicago. (See below for the full list.)
Oakland snagged the honorific in CN Traveler’s “The Best Food Cities in the US: 2024 Readers’ Choice Awards,” which is based on more than half-a-million reader votes. It’s a bit of an odd list: Places that one might not normally associate with incredible food are on there, including Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Lexington, Kentucky. But anyone who’s dined at Oakland’s fantastic restaurants — from Vietnamese to Mexican to Michelin starred Commis — will probably agree with its top billing. (Also: In your face, San Francisco, nyah nyah nyah!)
“There’s no wrong neighborhood from which to start exploring Oakland’s staggeringly diverse food scene,” writes Oset Babür-Winter, the author of the piece. “In Temescal, located in the north of the city, you’ll find buzzy soul food spot Burdell, as well as out-of-the-box pizzas (think toppings like Monterey Bay squid and chanterelles) at fan-favorite Pizzaiolo; Fruitvale, named after the fruit orchards that dominated this part of town in the mid-19th century, is packed with taco trucks that serve some of the best birria in the country.”
The magazine goes on to praise the city’s “strong taproom and winery tasting room scene,” with new breweries and boutique wineries popping up seemingly every other month. Want to know which other cities merited inclusion? Here’s the full list, and for the reasoning behind each one, head to CN Traveler (cntraveler.com/gallery/best-food-cities-in-the-us-readers-choice-awards):
Best Food Cities in the U.S.
1. Oakland
2. New Orleans
3. Chattanooga, Tennessee
4. Lexington, Kentucky
5. Detroit
6. Milwaukee
7. Chicago
8. Columbus, Ohio
9. Honolulu
10. Philadelphia
