East Coast Foodies and Friends, a question for you regarding your cities.

[Thorsteinn]

So my love has decided east coast, preferably the north east, here we come. We're looking to move in the Fall or Winter (yeah, not ideal but there you go). She is a Certified Sous Chef, is also a rather good Pastry Chef too, and thus any city we go to we want to have a good food culture and an exciting scene for her so she can continue climbing the ladder. I will be becoming a Driver and getting my CDL while taking more college so I'm good wherever.

What I'm hoping for is any feedback you might have. So far this is our write up copy & pasted here. What are y'all thoughts? So far we've seen that Boston, Pittsburgh, Philly, and Charlotte seem to be the best with Boston and Pittsburgh seeming to be the top of that.
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THINGS WE WANT & NEED IN ANY NEW CITY WE MOVE TO.
1.   NOT IN THE SOUTHWEST!!!
2.   Good Metro Transit System.
3.   Over 750,000 in the metro area. Highly prefer 1,000,000.
4.    Great food scene and/or large food corporations (like Mariott Foods, Airlines, Etc).
5.   Not super sunny. Not dry. Min 30 in/yr of precipitation. 40+ in/yr is better.
6.   Within 100 miles of an Ocean, Sea, or Great Lake.
7.   Prefer no city with dog breed specific ban.

Cities in the USA that meet this criteria:
Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, NYC, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington-DC, Providence, Portland(Maine), Raleigh-Durham, Allentown.

Prefer North East USA.


-Thorsteinn

[Sir Wolf]

stay away from MD

[Thorsteinn]

stay away from MD

Plan too. There & NJ are on the No Fly list for all the reasons folks here, on the HEMA Alliance, and on the AA have said.

Plus I hear Baltimore is REALLY hot & humid in the summer, like enough to make the South seem pleasant. 

[Thorsteinn]

Forgot to add that my wife is currently the Sous Chef (Restaurant Chef really as she runs the place) of Cafe del Soul at the Montbleu Casino up in Lake Tahoe, NV.

[Sir Rodney]

You might want to think about the St. Paul / Minneapolis metro area (3.3 million).  The food and micro brew scene is exploding here.

[Thorsteinn]

You might want to think about the St. Paul / Minneapolis metro area (3.3 million).  The food and micro brew scene is exploding here.

We've thought about it as Chef Zimmern has also echoed your opinion but it won't be for the 1st place we move to, maybe 2nd or 3rd. I too have heard such and it does seem like a nice place however the NE Corridor Megalopolis has more overall competition and caliber of chefs for her to train under.

[Thorsteinn]

So my wife found out that not only does Johnson & Wales Uni out in Providence, RI have openings for Culinary Instructors, and they offer a BA & MFA in Culinary Arts & Restaurant Management, but they are a legitimate college too unlike Art Institute or Le Cordon Bleu.

So she's really wanting to go there in the next few years of our move if not first.

What is y'alls opinion of the place?

For reference.
https://www1.jwu.edu/providence/

[Bernarr]

Stay away from Allentown (PA) as well, it's been going downhill for years. lots of places closing up shop and moving to better areas. The only thing it has going for it is it's international airport.

[Thorsteinn]

Stay away from Allentown (PA) as well, it's been going downhill for years. lots of places closing up shop and moving to better areas. The only thing it has going for it is it's international airport.

So shortly after that last post we moved to just outside Boston, then a year later to Raleigh. My wife is currently working as a Chef for one of the universities here.

You might want to think about the St. Paul / Minneapolis metro area (3.3 million).  The food and micro brew scene is exploding here.

Man I am still hoping we can move there next. We almost did move there the first time around by accident while driving through Des Moines. Still wondering if we did the right thing.