Tampa, A Culinary Conundrum, Two In A Series

Starting to look at top ranked eateries lists for some validation that would put Tampa even in the top 50 US markets for dining out. Sure there is Bern's but one place does not warrant dining Mecca status and there are many better steak places too.

Gavot list? No Tampa entries on their 2013 top 40. In fact, none in Florida. One in New Orleans, August. Tough crowd. Bern's did make their top 10 Steakhouses list. Yes! Top 10 new places? Nope. Nice to see Mise En Place made Top 40 hottest restaurants list. Nice surprise.


On to Open Table, the new owners of Foodspotting and their top 100 of 2012.  No Tampa entries on this list and one Florida entry in Miami. This list is based on diners choice entries for last year.

From the Daily Meal:

"We try hard to represent a wide geographical spread, but the fact is that there are "food towns" around the country — Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Portland (both Oregon and Maine), San Francisco, and a few others, including (grumble away) New York City — where many of the best restaurants seem to be congregated, at least sometimes because talented chefs and restaurateurs from other regions gravitate to there. There are some 71 urban areas in the U.S. with populations of 500,000 and above, and while they’re all full of restaurants, does each of these have one or two places that can really be compared with the best America has to offer? Maybe. But probably not."

174 people were on the choosing panel for this list and Bern's was the lone Tampa entry at #60 on the
varied list of eateries around the country.

Next comes the 2012 Forbes list, again, another top 100 ranking. A somewhat unique approach to rankings and Tampa did not place any restaurants in this list. New York and Cali were heavily represented here. The writer lamented the absence of Las Vegas as a city of cuisine recognition.