Sophie Ho, special to wtop.com
WASHINGTON — D.C. may not have the coffee of San Francisco or the bagels of New York, but food lovers can rejoice nonetheless. The nation’s capital was recently ranked in the top 10 cities for foodies.
Livability — a website that compares the best places to live, work and travel in America — ranked the District the tenth foodie city, praising its neighborhood eateries, farmers markets and access to fresh produce. According to the list, District residents often eat at local restaurants and spend more than the average citizen on food.
It’s the first time D.C. has made the list since Livability began the comparisons in 2012. The list of foodie-friendly cities is based on a number of criteria, including the frequency residents dined at local restaurants, the amount citizens spent on food, access to healthy food options and the number of restaurants and farmers markets in the city.
With those in mind, it makes sense why the capital city made the leap onto the list of foodie meccas — the city boasts 67 farmers markets, according to a new list compiled by personal finance website NerdWallet, and local eateries are often courted by tourism services like the DC Metro Food Tours.
In recent years, the city also has seen an explosion of restaurants, at times linked to the growing movement of young people to neighborhoods such as Logan Circle and Chinatown. More than 700 new restaurants opened in the city between 2001 and 2011, according to the Washington Post.
You can find Livability’s full list here.
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