Chicago Food Tastes Better than LA and I Don't Know Why.
Except for Asian cuisine, Chicago food just tastes noticeably better than LA and it's not even close. I have a few theories but I'm not completely sure why.
Lived in Chicago for 7 years and LA for 5. Did a trip back to Chicago to visit and the food is as good as I remembered it. The Michoacanas, Jibaritos y Mas, Girl and the Goat, Mindys Hot Choc (RIP), hotdogs, mexican, burgers - the quality of the food is just better.
When I lived here it almost guaranteed that a hole in the wall was going to have at least one or two killer dishes, if not most of the menu. I rarely ate at a place where the food wasn't that great. Even the salsa tastes better here.
LA was a disappointment, especially when it came to Mexican food. A hole in the wall was either mediocre or just awful unless there was some sort of hype around it. However, the Asian food - Indian, Vietnamese, Japanese - phenomenal. Sawtelle, little Japan, K-town, Monterrey Park always had bangers.
I'd say Avenue 26 tacos or the random street taco vendor usually had the best tacos.
That being said, as soon as you were south of LA the mexican food got better. SD's cuisine is fantastic.
I personally think it's because Chicago is surrounded by farm land and slaughterhouses so the meat is better and raised in the area. LA is in the middle of a food desert. I can't really think of any other reasons though. Anyone have a similar experience?