Originally Posted by
braslvr
I'll second that. The greater LA area is foodie paradise. Second place would go to the San Francisco bay area, not necessarily the city itself.
Relative to its size, San Francisco itself has incredible food creativity and resourses. Add in Napa/Sonoma, the East Bay, Marin etc, and you have outstanding options at all price points.
LA's great advantage is the influx of immigration, especially in the last 10 years. People who might previously come to live in the Bay Area or Canada now migrate to places like the San Gabriel Valley, and their restaurants follow. Not just the well known szechuan or hunan, but also food from areas like dongbei,
Yunnan, shannaxi, and the muslim/halal areas in the west. All available in the SGV.
And the Ramen craze in the US essentially started on
Sawtelle Blvd.