Underrated US Cities

[UconnU]

I dated a girl from Vanderbilt way back when and she had a friend who lived on (in?) Lookout Mountain. Surprisingly nice.

Nice. I lived there for 2 months while working a project for work. The views from the incline railway up there are phenomenal. I’ve found the people there to be very nice as well. If you’re the outdoorsy type it’s a great place to live or visit. Big fan of Chattanooga.

 

[superjohn]

BBQ - I believe it was on the corner of 53 and S. Dorcester, but I doubt it is still there. It is all hipster places now in that neighborhood.
Bucktown - don't remember
Lincoln Park - Taco Burrito Joint #2. It was on the corner of Wrightwood and Lincoln. It is gone now, but it was the best fast food Mexican in the entire country. Let's have a moment of silence.
Wrigley - Cubbie Bear. Tourist trap bar with super hot waitresses and great food.

I was in Chicago 2 years ago, and the local takeout was still incredible. I was staying in Old Town.

Edit: I forgot Heaven on 7. That place is freaking incredible. Cajun, and the one I went to was in the same building with a movie theatre downtown. Pro tip: Don't challenge the waitress with "do you have anything hotter" when it comes to sauces. You will regret it.

Tony's Burrito Mex is the same people from Taco Burrito Joint #2, same food. It's at corner of Belmont and Damen. I'm trying to think of the Mexican place in Bucktown you're thinking of, that's where I live.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

They say Bucktown is the home of the original gun clappers.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

They say Bucktown is the home of the original gun clappers.

Smif n Wessun?

 

[BPT2Storrs]

5) Oklahoma City - A third tier city in every way imaginable

Care to elaborate? Might have to travel there in the near future. I was looking forward to visiting it but I guess I should reconsider that excitement.

 

[huskiesNhoos]

San Diego is a real weird one for anyone to call underrated, so how bout Carlsbad just north of it? Tiny beach town with a neat little downtown area. Nothing spectacular just a cool spot that has the CA vibe but way less people.

And on the subject of totally not underrated CA towns I vote for Carmel. Super schwanky beach town with tons of money but great food, cool galleries (if that's your thing) and of course sits right at the northern tip of big sur

 

[uconnbaseball]

Nashville is trash; wannabe New York City. There is no reason to visit there unless you have family down there or are watching a game at Vanderbilt.

Tennessee sucks in general.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Care to elaborate? Might have to travel there in the near future. I was looking forward to visiting it but I guess I should reconsider that excitement.

Food is mediocre, downtown is mediocre, people are mediocre. It doesn't suck, but there is absolutely nothing compelling about the place at all.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

You're never going to get me to argue that Chicago Mexican isn't great, it is IMO, undebatable, unless you want to drill down to specifics like street cart fish tacos.

But in Houston, you can swing a cat around and hit a half dozen really good SE Asian dives where you can eat well and relatively cheaply. Especially Vietnamese/Cambodian. I'd even venture to say that if one really loves that cuisine, Houston is a destination city (unless you're on the West Coast, where you head to San Jose or Garden Grove). For BBQ, yeah, you're probably best off sticking with known quantities like Gatlins, Pit Room, Pinkerton's or Roegels.

There's a whole lot of "when in Rome" that applies to eating well and cheaply in the US while avoiding chains. If you're trying to find good pizza in TX, FL, AL, TN or even a food city like NO, and expecting that to rival the pizza belt, you've got warped expectations. Read the room.

The only reason I ordered pizza in Houston was because I was working late and the other takeout places near the hotel I was staying at looked worse. I would use TripAdvisor if I went back today, but sometimes I just need a quick bite and don't have time to find the great hole in the wall. I end up with average food for the city, and "average" food for Houston is pretty bad.

My issue with Houston is that a rapidly growing city often has a lot of crappy restaurants because the restaurants don't need to be good to stay in business. The competition in a slower growth town like Chicago, New York, Boston or San Francisco is brutal, so restaurants need to bring their A game every night. In Houston, there are more customers than they can handle, so many restaurants mail it in.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Care to elaborate? Might have to travel there in the near future. I was looking forward to visiting it but I guess I should reconsider that excitement.

It's flat, mostly new and recently created. I find all such cities lack some character. But most aren't bad in any way. Oklahoma City Hotels, Things to Do, Restaurants & Events (visitokc.com) Have not spent much time there. A friend goes every year for some big equestrian event in the fall.

My worst ever business trip was to Ottawa. What a dreary and awful place.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The only reason I ordered pizza in Houston was because I was working late and the other takeout places near the hotel I was staying at looked worse. I would use TripAdvisor if I went back today, but sometimes I just need a quick bite and don't have time to find the great hole in the wall. I end up with average food for the city, and "average" food for Houston is pretty bad.

My issue with Houston is that a rapidly growing city often has a lot of crappy restaurants because the restaurants don't need to be good to stay in business. The competition in a slower growth town like Chicago, New York, Boston or San Francisco is brutal, so restaurants need to bring their A game every night. In Houston, there are more customers than they can handle, so many restaurants mail it in.

And chains dominate in such places, even local chains. That one good spot in the older part of those cities will spread out with the growth in additional locations.

 

[pepband99]

San Diego is a real weird one for anyone to call underrated, so how bout Carlsbad just north of it? Tiny beach town with a neat little downtown area. Nothing spectacular just a cool spot that has the CA vibe but way less people.

And on the subject of totally not underrated CA towns I vote for Carmel. Super schwanky beach town with tons of money but great food, cool galleries (if that's your thing) and of course sits right at the northern tip of big sur

On what planet is Carmel underrated? I would move there tomorrow, if i could afford it.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

On what planet is Carmel underrated? I would move there tomorrow, if i could afford it.

My wife spent two weeks in Carmel. It's "whimsy" was too much for her. Hobbit vibes.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

My wife spent two weeks in Carmel. It's "whimsy" was too much for her. Hobbit vibes.

This. It’s like walking around an amusement park or a movie set. Big Sur and that whole coastal area is physically gorgeous - it doesn’t get much better than the Post Ranch Inn for a weekend getaway - but Carmel itself is skippable.

 

[HuskyHawk]

This. It’s like walking around an amusement park or a movie set. Big Sur and that whole coastal area is physically gorgeous - it doesn’t get much better than the Post Ranch Inn for a weekend getaway - but Carmel itself is skippable.

Probably not a popular opinion, but I prefer Capitola by the sea. The area isn't quite Big Sur like, but the town is more fun.

 

[Icculus]

It's flat, mostly new and recently created. I find all such cities lack some character. But most aren't bad in any way. Oklahoma City Hotels, Things to Do, Restaurants & Events (visitokc.com) Have not spent much time there. A friend goes every year for some big equestrian event in the fall.

My worst ever business trip was to Ottawa. What a dreary and awful place.

I had to visit Ottawa a few years ago for a work trip.
I will say that for a nation's capitol, it was a bit underwhelming....the whole capitol area makes you say "hey, that's all there is to it? for the whole entire country? really?"
But, i kinda liked the city. The whole canal area was charming. I ate some excellent poutine. The people were really nice. And, for a city, it was exceptionally clean (like an order of magnitude cleaner than a NorthEastern U.S. city)

 

[huskiesNhoos]

On what planet is Carmel underrated? I would move there tomorrow, if i could afford it.

And on the subject of totally not underrated CA towns I vote for Carmel.

specifically said it wasn't...but san diego came up which is probably the pinnacle of not-underrated cities, hence the mention with disclaimer

 

[Vancat]

My wife spent two weeks in Carmel. It's "whimsy" was too much for her. Hobbit vibes.

"Is it illegal to wear high heels in Carmel CA?
Permit Required to Wear High Heels

Though often mistakenly thought of as an urban myth, the municipal code of Carmel bans wearing shoes having heels more than 2 inches in height or with a base of less than one square inch unless the wearer has obtained a permit for them."

 

[Madmannsucks]

Out of curiosity what's awesome about it? I spent a week there once for a trial and didn't dig it.

What were you charged with-that may have slanted your view.

 

[upstater]

San Diego is a good call. The main issue is the cost of living, at least in the desirable areas like north county, is totally out of control. Like 3k rent for a nice place. But still easily the best area of CA to live.

I know between 10-20 people who work in San Diego but after giving it a try to live there a few years, they all picked up and moved to LA. They do the 1 hr. commute south.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I know between 10-20 people who work in San Diego but after giving it a try to live there a few years, they all picked up and moved to LA. They do the 1 hr. commute south.

Hard to imagine anybody volunteering for that commute. It's at least two hours, unless you mean southern Orange County as "LA". I think that stretch of northern San Diego county from Oceanside south has been growing a lot too.

 

[superjohn]

Hard to imagine anybody volunteering for that commute. It's at least two hours, unless you mean southern Orange County as "LA". I think that stretch of northern San Diego county from Oceanside south has been growing a lot too.

Yep, I'm gonna call bull on upstater's story, if off hours that's almost a 2 hour commute each way and anything near rush hour times and it's a lot longer.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Hard to imagine anybody volunteering for that commute. It's at least two hours, unless you mean southern Orange County as "LA". I think that stretch of northern San Diego county from Oceanside south has been growing a lot too.

I would never want to do it every day but if I have to be in San Diego for work I love taking the Pacific Surfliner from Union Station. People can be fairly insane about their commutes out here. When I first started working I was at a firm downtown and there were partners commuting in from Lake Arrowhead, Laguna Niguel, Claremont . . . not as far as San Diego but insane nonetheless.

 

[Madmannsucks]

I would never want to do it every day but if I have to be in San Diego for work I love taking the Pacific Surfliner from Union Station. People can be fairly insane about their commutes out here. When I first started working I was at a firm downtown and there were partners commuting in from Lake Arrowhead, Laguna Niguel, Claremont . . . not as far as San Diego but insane nonetheless.

Yeah it is well over 100 miles each way-with gridlock-you are talking 5 to 6 hours a day.

 

[upstater]

Hard to imagine anybody volunteering for that commute. It's at least two hours, unless you mean southern Orange County as "LA". I think that stretch of northern San Diego county from Oceanside south has been growing a lot too.

They got tired of driving up to LA constantly for something to do. They work in La Jolla and one is in OC w/ spouse at Chapman, but the others live in Laguna and a few points north, one in Palos Verdes. They tell me it's an hour drive to La Jolla. Their whole social life was in LA.