Earlier this year, Washington Post restaurant critic Tom Sietsema set out to rank America's top 10 food cities, visiting more than a dozen destinations and taking in each location's restaurants, bakeries, farmers markets, cocktail bars and more.

So which major metropolis ranked No. 1? Was it New York? San Francisco? Los Angeles?

Try Portland.

Sietsema swung through the Rose City in June, Ubering his way through a marathon eating itinerary that included personal favorites Davenport, Sweedeedee, Langbaan, Ataula, Expartriate and Ox. (Full disclosure: Though I spent a couple of sunny days eating and chatting with Sietsema during and after his visit, I never would have guessed he'd place Portland No. 1.)

Here's some of what Sietsema had to say about our fair city:

"Most of all, I love the ingredients here -- 300 kinds of truffles, berries so delicate they don't leave the state -- and what a small contingent of talented chefs does with them. One of the scene's few missing ingredients: fine-dining establishments. "Portlanders prefer places where they feel comfortable in their hiking boots and fleece," says Michael Russell, the restaurant critic for the Oregonian. Personally, I'd pick first-class farmers markets or some of the country's trailblazing Asian retreats (hello, Pok Pok!) over a place that charges triple digits for dinner. Admittedly, I picked summer to visit, when Portland's flavors are peaking. But superb coffee, wine and bread - crucial building blocks of any gastronomic destination - know no season. And it doesn't hurt that everyone, fellow customers and servers alike, is Minnesota Nice. In one week, I never once heard a car horn."

Agree? Disagree? Read the complete article here, then join me in the comments.

-- Michael Russell