Top Cities For America's Favorite Foods Slideshow

What traveler doesn't yearn to sample a city's best pizza? While locals will almost always defend their city's pies as the best in the country, there are four cities with more pizzerias than any other; four cities that should be on any pizza-lovers next travel itinerary. Whether you're going for deep-dish in Chicago or thin crust in New York, sticking with a classic Margherita or experimenting with toppings, there are no better cities than these.

#4 Phoenix: 634 pizzerias

#3 Los Angeles: 738 pizzerias

#2 Chicago: 747 pizzerias

But, if you're really serious about pizza, there's one city that's heads above the rest...

With 1,737 pizzerias in New York City, it would be difficult to run out of cheesy, saucy, doughy options. Whether you prefer classic Neapolitan-style pies, New York-style slices, or new-fangled pizzas with all kinds of questionable toppings, no pizza-lover could go hungry in New York. It also doesn't hurt that New York was the first city in America to open a pizzeria — Lombardi's — which is still kicking and still highly recommended (see below).

The top 3 most highly recommended pizzerias in the city are:

Di Fara

Lombardi's

Lucali

Burgers have been enjoying their time in the spotlight for some time now, so burger joints have been popping up all across the country. As a result, traveling in the name of hamburgers is no longer considered far-fetched or bizarre. There's even a book about it! Only have time to stop in one burger-obsessed city?

The runner-up cities are:

#4 New York: 325 burger joints

#3 Dallas: 339 burger joints

#2 Houston: 386 burger joints

After all that, the city that can boast the most burger joints is...

Whether it's a double-double with fries from In-N-Out or a fancier burger with toppings like sundried tomatoes and aïoli, Los Angeles is a burger haven with 531 places to enjoy the savory, meaty goodness. Visitors to the city have ample opportunity to try LA's best burgers from the eastside to the ocean.

The top 3 most highly recommended burger joints in the city of angels are:

In-N-Out Burger

Umami Burger

Tommy's Original

Hot dogs are irreversibly ingrained in American food culture. Whether your dog of choice is a Nathan's Famous, a street cart dog like Sabrett's, an Oscar Mayer, or an all-beef Hebrew National, there's no denying that dogs are a summer food that's here to stay. So which city focuses the most time and energy on making the perfect wiener?

#4 Atlanta: 55 hot dog stands

#3 Los Angeles: 56 hot dog stands

#2 San Francisco: 59 hot dog stands

But while those cities battle it out for the bronze and silver medals, who sits comfortably at the top of the ranks?

With 98 hot dog stands to its name, this stylish Midwestern capital clearly loves its franks. The classic Chicago dog comes with a poppy seed bun and is topped with yellow mustard, white onions, sweet relish, tomato slices, dill pickle spears, sport peppers (small chiles pickled in vinegar), and celery salt. Chicago natives may accept certain variations on the rule, but visitors to the city should be warned: ketchup is never allowed.

The top 3 most highly recommended hot dog stands in the Windy City are:

Hot Dougs

Gene & Jude's

The Wieners Circle

While the origins of fried chicken remain a mystery, it inarguably hails from the South. Crispy and well-seasoned when it's done right, classic fried chicken is delicious on its own and is rendered irresistible when paired with its many regular accoutrements. Biscuits, gravy, steamed greens, creamed corn, French fries, and even waffles can come alongside a heaping helping of fried chicken, depending on where you are in the country. These runner-up cities are trying to perfect the chicken-fryer's art...

#4 Chicago: 67 fried chicken joints

#3 Atlanta: 68 fried chicken joints

#2 Houston: 106 fried chicken joints

But the one city that's trumped them all with fried chicken in every nook and cranny is...

Chickens in Dallas beware! With 113 fried chicken joints in the city, varieties and local favorites are much-discussed. Travelers looking for fried-fowl perfection should go no further than Dallas, where eatery proprietors are constantly striving to produce the best in the land and diners are on the hunt for the tastiest crust-to-chicken ratio.

The top 3 most highly recommended fried chicken joints in Dallas are:

Bubba's Cooks Country/Babe's Chicken Dinner (Tied for first and have the same owners)

Rudy's Chicken

Big Momma's Chicken and Waffles

A much-loved gift from our neighbor to the south, tacos have become a staple for many Americans. Arguments have sprung up from coast to coast about which city has the best Mexican food and, beyond that, which has the most authentic. But with everything from fancy food-truck varieties to crispy-shelled fast-food varieties to classic fish tacos with cilantro and cabbage (left), it's a hard contest to call. If you want to investigate the matter further yourself, start in one of these runner-up cities:

#4 San Francisco: 223 taquerías

#3 Los Angeles: 253 taquerías

#2 Chicago: 256 taquerías

Once you move past the surprise that LA doesn't have the most taquerías in the country, book your next flight to the nation's most taco-crazy city...

Houston boasts 267 taquerías, serving this simple Mexican specialty for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. One of the most loved such establishments in the city, El Rey Taquería, serves a breakfast taco so popular that it's on innumerable lists of the city's best things to eat. So anybody still holding on to the image of Houston mostly as a barbecue town should really reconsider.  

The top 3 most highly recommended taquerias in Houston are:

Tacos a Go-Go

Taco Keto

El Rey Taquería

Donuts are a blank canvas for sweet creativity — a canvas made of round, deep-fried dough. There are few toppings (within reason) that disappoint. Classically glazed, smothered in chocolate, filled with custard, or covered in sprinkles, donuts are dunked in coffee by cops, civilians, and traveling sweet-tooths from coast-to-coast. But four cities harbor enough donut shops to have a magnetic pull with donut-lovers...

#4 Boston: 194 donut shops

#3 New York: 218 donut shops

#2 Dallas: 270 donut shops

But where is America's donut mecca?

Making its third appearance on this list of hubs for America's favorite foods, Los Angeles shows itself as a lover of guilty pleasures — not least of which is donuts. Each one of its 343 donut shops proves that these little round delectables are an LA staple. Every different variety is on offer here from jelly-filled to devil's food and from old-fashioned buttermilk to fancier variations like salted caramel glazed and even donuts covered in candied bacon.

The top 3 most highly recommended donut shops in LA are:

Randy's Donuts

Stan's Donuts

Primo's Donuts

Who doesn't scream for the cold, creamy, sweetness of ice cream? Frozen yogurt, sorbets, and gelato may make mouth-watering substitutions, but they're just that. Ice cream, in all its flavors, shapes, colors, and incarnations, is an unbeatable treat. Every city has its favorite ice creamery and every denizen has his or her favorite order — a classic waffle cone, a scoop covered in some sugary topping, frozen goodness sandwiched between two cookies, even soft-serve eaten plain. There's one city, though, that loves this treat more than these runners-up...

#4 Phoenix: 201 ice creameries

#3 Chicago: 219 ice creameries

#2 New York: 291 ice creameries

But which city has an embarrassment of ice cream riches?

Of course, the city with summer weather all year round would love its ice cream. Boasting 323 ice cream shops, it's the best city in which to keep cool. With so many ice creameries, it's no wonder that some have started to offer more exotic flavors: travelers can criss-cross the city to try things like rosewater, chocolate martini, lavender, and orange blossom ice cream as well as mouth-watering classics like vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry scoops.

The top 3 most highly recommended ice creameries in LA are:

Scoops

Diddy Riese

Mashti Malone's