San Francisco: Star wattage

Coi. Fleur de Lys. La Folie. It’s no accident that when the Michelin Guide rolled into California, its first stop was San Francisco, not L.A. Stars of the other kind shine here too. Iron Chefs (Mourad Lahlou). Top Chefs (Jamie Lauren). Food Network talent (Tyler Florence). Difference is, diners here can tell a culinary artist from somebody who plays one on TV.

Score: 8

About the scoring: We weighed each writer’s argument against Sunset’s collective food IQ and then scored. Cities earned up to 10 points in each category except “smug factor,” where they lost points.