A note to those who moan that Champaign-Urbana “doesn’t have any good places to eat.”
The folks at Thrillist highly disagree.
The site offered up C-U at No. 3 on its list of Illinois cities ranked by food and drink. We were placed behind Chicago (duh) and Evanston (we’ll get payback on the basketball court next season), but ahead of everyone else, including a whole bunch of Chicago suburbs. Springfield came in No. 4, and Peoria was No. 5.
Of C-U, the folks at Thrillist wrote, in part, “Of course, there is the college bar scene that offers endless opportunities for bad decisions, but outside campus is a dining scene that’s both eclectic and overflowing with choices. From mornings spent over hot, flaky croissants and freshly brewed coffee to evenings indulging in sweet local wine and juicy steaks from community farms, it’s truly one of Illinois’ premier culinary hotspots.”
How did they come to this conclusion?
From the site: “By employing several metrics — including bars/restaurants per capita, restaurant growth data from Nielsen, number of bars/restaurants included on past Thrillist best-of Illinois lists, number of awards won by bars/restaurants in each city, and walkability of downtown areas with high bar/restaurant concentrations, weighing all local joints more heavily than chains.”
As an example: A separate Thrillist article placed Black Dog among its top 12 Illinois restaurants not in Chicago. You’d get no argument from us.
