Man vs Food. Best places to eat in US

210 pounds burger
210 pounds burger. Made for Guinness record (to be eaten by 40 people) at Mallie’s Bar & Grill in Southgate, MI

Man vs Food is an American TV show on Travel Channel. Its host, Adam Richman, travels across the United States exploring all kind of restaurants and food shops. On each episode, he tries a few local dishes explaining its history, ingredients, and preparation. He interacts with the chefs showing the insights of the local cuisine.

All this sounds quite normal and even cultural, but in the last part of the episodes is when he takes the “big food challenge”. He basically tries to eat the biggest/spiciest/strongest plate of food in the house during a specific and limited amount of time. He can win a place on the wall of fame (normally a frame with a picture of him) if he can complete the contest successfully. Some of his outstanding challenges were: 5-pound sandwich, 11-pound pizza, 15 dozen oysters, one-meter German Bratwurst, spicy Phaal (“the hottest curry in the world”), 6-pound burrito, 12 patties topped with 12 slices of cheese, 8-pound sirloin steak.

So two years ago Adam revealed his top 12 restaurants in America in an interview with AOL. I haven’t been in all of them, but I would trust Adam, his taste, and the series producers. The list is the following:

  1. Slows Bar Bq – Detroit, MI
  2. The Black Trumpet Bistro – Portsmouth, NH
  3. Brasa Premium Rotisserie – Minneapolis, MN
  4. Girl and the Goat – Chicago, IL
  5. Bern’s Steak House, Tampa, FL
  6. Woodshed Smokehouse, Fort Worth, TX
  7. Borgne – New Orleans, LA
  8. Gramercy Tavern – New York, NY
  9. L&B Spumoni Gardens – Brooklyn, NY
  10. Nobu New York – New York, NY
  11. Fleur by Hubert Keller – Las Vegas, NV
  12. Restaurant Marc Forgione – New York, NY

The website TVFoodMaps published a complete list of restaurants by state. Click on any of the states below to expand its restaurants and see some pictures.

ALASKA (3)

ARKANSAS (3)

ARIZONA (6)

CALIFORNIA (14)

Canada (1)

COLORADO (6)

CONNECTICUT (4)

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (2)

FLORIDA (9)

GEORGIA (3)

HAWAII (3)

IOWA (3)

IDAHO (3)

ILLINOIS (6)

INDIANA (3)

KANSAS (2)

LOUISIANA (4)

MASSACHUSETTS (3)

MARYLAND (4)

MAINE (3)

MICHIGAN (7)

MINNESOTA (5)

MISSOURI (4)

MONTANA (3)

NORTH CAROLINA (10)

NEW JERSEY (6)

NEVADA (3)

NEW YORK (14)

OHIO (6)

OKLAHOMA (3)

OREGON (3)

PENNSYLVANIA (5)

PUERTO RICO (3)

SOUTH CAROLINA (3)

TENNESSEE (7)

TEXAS (13)

UTAH (3)

VIRGINIA (3)

WASHINGTON (3)

You can watch any of the episodes in Travel channel’s youtube page. I also have to say that Adam is quite funny and the show is very good.

And finally some pictures of his challenges:

Super hot dog
Super hot dog (source: lolalomanchester.com) in Manchester.
12 Cheese Burgers
12 Cheese Burgers and onion rings (source: guff.com)
Hot Wings
Super Hot Wings (source: allinlondon.co.uk)
8 pounds Steak
8 pounds Steak (source: lancashiretelegraph.co.uk)

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