Highest per capita Restaurant Quality in the Country?

Brad Delong today wrote about the virtues of Caribou Coffee in Washington. This reminded me of how much I missed Victors Coffee in Madison when I lived in Washington. And it in turn brought back memories of all the great tastes in Madison.

For me, Madison has the country's best ice cream (Michael's Frozen Custard), hamburger (Dotty Dumpling's Dowery), beer (New Glarus Spotted Cow) and coffee (Victor Allen's). It also features the best bagel outside of NYC (Bagel's forever). For special occasions, L'Etoile was, to me, a match for Chez Pannise in Berkeley. Madison had two very good Italian restaurants (Pasta par Tutti and Wild Iris) and two very good Mexican restaurants (La Hacienda and El Dorado Grill). Monte's blue plate diner always served delicious, creative food, and was fun. Needless to say, prices at these places were much lower than prices in New York, Washington or even Chicago.

So while LA and San Francisco and New York have more good restaurants than Madison, or a per capita basis, Madison may well beat them all.