Asheville ranks among the best places to eat in the country. This photo was taken at the vegan restaurant Plant.
Juli Leonard
jleonard@newsobserver.com
North Carolina is home to three of the nation’s top cities for foodies — so be prepared to chow down, new rankings show.
Asheville, Kill Devil Hills and Wilmington earned spots on a list of smaller cities that make a big mark on the U.S. dining scene, according to figures published Wednesday, June 29.
To create the rankings, the business review website Yelp considered places with fewer than 250,000 residents. It also “looked for the cities that had the highest restaurant ratings from out-of-towners and then took a look at what visitors were loving on Yelp,” results show.
In total, 10 regions made the national list, called “Small Towns, Big Flavor.” Of those, three were in North Carolina, making it the state with the most top-ranked foodie destinations.
Earning the highest spot in the rankings was the Western North Carolina tourist hot spot of Asheville, which received a nod for its “mountain-to-urban creative food scene.” Within the past year, the city has also ranked among the nation’s trendiest travel destinations and among the top places for beer drinkers, McClatchy News reported.
Also making the list at No. 4 was Kill Devil Hills, a town on the Outer Banks barrier islands. While the area off the North Carolina coast is known for its beaches, “its food scene is one to keep an eye on,” according to Yelp, which recently named an ice cream shop in nearby Nags Head the best in the state.
Rounding out the North Carolina cities at No. 7 on the list was Wilmington, a gateway to beaches in the southeastern part of the state. Yelp said the city had a “must-try food scene filled with Southern cuisine and seafood,” including crab dishes. If you’re a dessert fan, you might also be in luck, as the city is home to the state’s top-ranking cupcake shop, McClatchy News reported.
Outside of North Carolina, the highest-ranking regions for foodies:
- Hawaiian Islands (Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina and Kapa‘a areas)
- San Luis Obispo, California
- Bend-Redmond, Oregon
- Charleston, South Carolina
- Boise, Idaho
- Santa Fe, New Mexico
- Savannah, Georgia
Simone Jasper is a reporter covering breaking stories for The News & Observer and real-time news in the Carolinas.
