What does Atlanta do better than traffic? Food.
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In fact, the metro was recently recognized among the top foodie cities in America in personal finance website WalletHub’s 2018 ranking, thanks to the multitude of restaurants per capita, explosive flavors and cost-effective dining around town.
To determine the best and cheapest local foodie scenes in the country, analysts compared 182 cities — including the 150 most populated in the U.S. and at least two of the most populated cities in each state — across two key dimensions: affordability and diversity/accessibility/quality.
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They further evaluated the dimensions using 29 relevant metrics, including cost of groceries, restaurant tax, restaurants per capita, restaurant diversity, food trucks per capita, craft breweries per capita and more.
Of the 182 cities on the list, Portland, Oregon earned top honors, followed by San Francisco and Miami.
Pearl City, Hawaii; West Valley City, Utah, and Montgomery, Alabama, rounded out the bottom three.
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Atlanta came in at No. 11 on the list, ranking 15th for both the affordability and diversity/accessibility/quality dimensions.
Here’s more on how Atlanta fared:
- Overall rank: 11
- Affordability: 15
- Diversity/accessibility/quality: 15
- Restaurants per capita: 8
- Gourmet specialty-food stores per capita: 19
- Coffee and tea shops per capita: 19
- Craft breweries and wineries per capita: 30
- Affordability and accessibility of highly-rated restaurants: 32
Two other Georgia cities on the list, Columbus and Augusta, ranked 176th and 179th, respectively — placing them among the bottom 10 overall.
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But for Atlanta, this isn't the first time the metro's been recognized as a food lover's haven. In June, the city was ranked one of the 50 foodie capitals of the world for its 44 national cuisine offerings. And last year, the city ranked ninth in Zagat's 30 most exciting food cities in America.
You can also explore The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's 2018 Spring Dining Guide which illuminates Atlanta's global mashup movement, from cheap street tacos exploding in Korean, Hawaiian or Middle Eastern flavors to Italian and Mexican twists to Southern staples, such as collard greens and ricotta fritters.
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