I've said it for years to anyone who was willing to listen: You would be hard-pressed to find so many great restaurant choices in a similar-sized city in America.

Well, the results are in and I was correct!

 

Atlantic City is one great food destination! (And a great place to live thanks to all our wonderful food choices!)

Folks at the Shane Company's The Loupe did a study to find "The U.S. Cities with the Most Award-Worthy Food" and Atlantic City scored big!

The editors used past James Beard Award winners as a basis for their study. James Beard Awards are kind of the pinnacle awards for restaurants and chefs. If you're awarded a James Beard, you're happening!

According to the editors, here's how they came up with their results:

"We analyzed over 800 James Beard Foundation award-winners over the past 20 years from across the country. We then categorized these award-winning restaurants by U.S. city and state to determine which areas of the country are ripe with award-winning cuisine and which areas are stale and dry."

So, what about those results?

Well, the study determined that Atlantic City is among a small group of smaller-sized cities (less than 200,000 people) to have 4 or more James Beard Awards!

Atlantic City boasts four James Beard Awards!

Now, I thought, the awards were won by some of the celebrity chef-owned restaurants in some of the casinos.

I was wrong!

The four James Beard Awards have been won by two very local restaurants!

Atlantic City's Chef Vola's (the hardest reservation in South Jersey) won 2 awards for "America's Classics" for both restaurant and chef in 2011.  (Chef Vola's was also a semifinalist in 2018 and 2019.)

Meanwhile, the classic Atlantic City Sub Shop, White House Sub Shop won 2 awards in 2000 for "America's Classics" for both chef and restaurants.

You've got to love Atlantic City's food scene and the great choices we have!

Another reason for us to love where we live!

SOURCE: The Shane Company's The Loupe and James Beard Awards.

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