I live in Rhode Island, and I am surrounded by Massholes. I'm originally from California, and some friends up here told me how I just had to have Five Guys Burgers and Fries, it's the best thing ever, etc, etc. I came, I saw, and frankly, it's not In-N-Out. Having In-N-Out for 25 years spoiled me. The Five Guys stuff was ok, but In-N-Out is the best fast food on Earth. People from Alabama, Mississippi, etc all claim to have the best BBQ. So, it dawned on me: Every state/locality/whatever claims they have the best "_____________". FOCUS: What do you have around you that is, in your opinion or the opinion of experts, the "best __________ around!"? I'm in Rhode Island. We have a lot of rocks. And shitty beaches. And deer ticks that carry Lyme disease (hey, thanks for that, Connecticut!) I can't think of anything this state has that even qualifies for this discussion. What do you expect from a state that has "coffee milk" for it's official drink? However, since they have locations here and we're small enough to be included in the MA/CT region, I'll go with Mary Lou's Coffee. Good coffee served by cute girls in tight t-shirts. It's like a caffeinated Hooters.
New Haven, CT has some of the best damn pizza around with Modern and Pepe's. Willimantic was also dubbed "Heroin Town," as well.
Here in Yuma, Five Guys and In N Out are right across the street from one another. Immediately sensing an East vs West challenge, I got double bacon cheeseburgers from both of them and tried them out. In N Out narrowly beat Five Guys with the burger, but their fries were inedible. Dry, hard, overcooked to the point of dessication. I'll have to go back sometime (or to a different In N Out) to see if they do it differently. Focus: Yuma appears to have the best coyote hunting in the country. That's because there's NOTHING ELSE HERE.
Focus: Minnesota has the best lakes, and a shit ton of them too. Al's Breakfast in Minneapolis is the best breakfast diner that exists. It is a very narrow (literally hole in a wall place) and seats only a dozen people so the waiting line easily goes out the door and down the block on weekends. However the line is worth eating at a place that has no equal. The food is spectacular, service is fast, and it's altogether the perfect "greasy spoon" experience.
I make fun of my husband for bragging about this all the time. We have puddles in potholes that are bigger than most of your lakes.
I am from AZ and live in LA. For some weird reason, the In-N-Out's there taste differently than the originals here in SoCal, this same phenomenon exists in NorCal too. This leads me to ask the question: Does 5 Guys taste different on the East Coast than it does out here? There is no comparison, In-N-Out hands down destroys 5 Guys. (my favorite city on the planet) Seattle has, without a doubt the best seafood in the country, take the coffee too. The best microbrews in the world come from the Pacific NW. I'd stab all of you and crawl over your still warm corpses if I was able to move back there.
I lived in Santa Cruz, Ca for many years. I am pretty sure is is best (ie worst) at hippies. There are more hippies than actual humans.
I live in Camden County, NJ & work in the city of Camden. We have some of the best crime in the country. Really, I mean, other cities are close, but ours is just terrific. Otherwise, I've got nothing that isn't Philly-related.
Alt Focus: The mayor of "my" city (read: not really my city, but I claim it as my own) is allegedly the "worst person in the world".
Focus: My home every other weekend, Ottawa ON has the best diverse quality of food - it has some of the best Pizza, Chinese, middle-eastern/med, Italian, and probably every other specified cuisine - it's not always an example of the BEST OF THE BEST pizza (like say, Chicago or New York or wherever you think the best pizza is), but it's top tier in so many different categories. Where I normally live is mostly just known for the crazy longevity of our mayor <a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazel_McCallion" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazel_McCallion</a>
I think Dayton is in the running for highest percentage of population welfare. That's about it. Oh, and the "Birthplace of Aviation", although I think I remember someone on here having a rant about OSU a while back, which became a rant about Ohio and how it doesn't even have anything to do with aviation. We do have the National AF Museum though...that's something?
I know the east coasters always claim to have the best pizza around but Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix has been voted the best pizza in the US a few times, so the best pizza discussion can end right now. We also have the best sheriff as well, Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Houses inmates in tents, runs chain gangs, feeds them bologna and dress them in stripes and pink boxers.
Ohio has produced the most astronauts, apparently something about your state makes people want to leave the planet. I think Muncie is home to one of the top 10 bars in the USA. woo alcoholism.
Ohio is a 4 letter word in my house. I lived in Cincy and worked in Dayton for the worst 6 months of my life. I'd rather go back to Kabul for 2 years than spend 6 months in Ohio. Even though it's against the laws of physics, Ohio both sucks and blows at the same time. Fuck that place. Ohio State can suck donkey dick for all I care, fuck them and their sorry ass retarded, inbred fans too. And what is that fucking horrible abomination of ratshit on a plate that they call "Chili"? I could take a Mexican from Texas with an onion and make better chili than that garbage. I wouldn't wish that shit on my worst enemy.
I don't recall a porn in res (unless you mean the stripper thing), but there was a porn shot at a frat house near campus. One of the guys in it was my physics TA. Really, dude? I'll grant that the shawarmas in Ottawa are hard to beat, and my favourite pho restaurant is there, and you can certainly find some good restaurants in Ottawa, but diversity of choice isn't exactly its strong point. I've lived in Ottawa for a time (am moving there soon, in fact), been living in Toronto, and I've spent a bunch of weekends in Montreal, and Ottawa really pales in comparison, mostly because it is so small compared to Toronto or Montreal. And I don't just mean in terms of which ethnicity you can find (although come to think of it, where are the Portuguese, or Jewish, or Korean neighbourhoods in Ottawa?); a variety of restaurant styles, price points, and the uniqueness of a place (aside from just being "Italian" or "Chinese") just aren't the same. And then try going to somewhere like Berlin or New York for having a diversity of food choices and Toronto starts looking like small fry by comparison. That said, I'm not sure there's anything Toronto really is "the best" at. Aside from inspiring rage from the rest of the country. We're pretty good at that.
Bigger than this lake? The state is also the starting point for the largest river in North America. Minnesota has every kind of lake. Insult the state all you want, but not the lakes lady. My parent's hometown has some of the most ludicrous claims for this topic. Welcome to Marshalltown, Iowa. They have declared their taco john's to be the best in the world. Oh no sir, it's different here. You may have had taco john's, but not this gourmet style cheapest beef available/lettuce/some cheese on a tortilla. They are the proud producer's of the 'world famous' made rights, a sandwich so awesome it doesn't even need a real name. Basically, imagine a sloppy joe except it sucks a little bit more. Impressed yet? Wait, it gets better. Have you tried the tap water? That's right! Home to finest drinking water you can pour out of your very own faucet! It'll have you believing the pipeline runs all the way to the fountain of youth. I live between St Augustine and Jacksonville now. A few off the top of my head: - St Augustine is the oldest city in America. Yes, it's older than Jamestown. Aside from a great bar street that's built in a 16th century European style there's a lot of tourist attractions if you're into that sort of thing. - Some of the best sports bars I've ever seen. Sneakers is really good, as is the ale house on south side. - Golf courses. Haven't played much lately, but they host the player's championship here, have the world golf village, and a number of really good courses. The minigolf is also pretty off the hook. Oh yeah. - The best traffic of any major city I've lived in. This is because Jacksonville is the largest city in America, but not even close to having the largest population. This one isn't flashy, but on a daily basis I'll take it over 95% of the 'best of' anyone can list.