It’s not New York or LA: The best food city in the whole world in 2025 is in the US

Listings bible Time Out asked a panel of food experts, editors and critics to take part in a survey to discover the world’s most exciting food destinations for 2025. One US city tops the ranking.

While the bustling metropolises on both coasts, Los Angeles and New York City offer practically every culinary creation under the sun, with gastronomy from cultures far and wide, neither city features in Time Out’s list for this year. And nor do the only two US cities to have been approved by UNESCO in their City of Gastronomy project - Tucson and San Antonio.

Each city was ranked by Time Out according to quality and affordability ratings, alongside a score from a panel of food experts. The final ranking includes the highest-scoring city in each country.

New Orleans: food lovers' paradise

Topping the list in the United States and also occupying the number one slot of the world’s most exciting food destinations for 2025 is New Orleans with 93 percent of residents rating the city highly for restaurants and eating out.

Colonized by France and then by Spain several centuries ago, New Orleans has always boasted a rich and diverse culinary history with a strong European slant. Creoles and Cajuns created their own cuisine - a blend of West African, French, Spanish, and Native American influences, adapting the ingredients produced and harvested locally in Louisiana.

Typical dishes include: Jambalaya, Chicken or Shrimp Creole, Gumbo, red beans and rice, Crawfish étouffée and an array of oyster-based appetizers - baked, chargrilled or raw.

The best places to eat in New Orleans

Time Out contributor Gerrish Lopez points us to the best places to sample New Orleans own traditional cuisine and restaurants which offer dishes from other cultures. From the iconic Antoine’s, a classic of the French Quarter since 1840 - the oldest family-run restaurant in the US, famous for its Oysters Rockefeller; to the no-nonsense Parkway Bakery & Tavern for a Po' Boy sandwich, generously filled with shrimp, BBQ beef, oysters or even alligator sausage... Parkway also offers drinks, live music and big raffle prizes.

Lopez also recommends Liuzza’s at 3636 Bienville St for Cajun Gumbo (chicken, smoked sausage, shrimp and okra soup), traditional New Orleans Creole and Italian dishes.

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