OK, hear me out. Yes, Los Angeles has a great food scene. Of course — I'd never deny that. But to get to those top-notch restaurants, you have to criss-cross all manner of freeways, pray fervently to the parking gods and hope that the restaurant hasn't permanently closed in the months it takes for you to actually make it there.

Meanwhile, in more compact Orange County, you have access to myriad of global cuisines — maybe you can even visit a few of them in one day — with more time eating and less time battling traffic, and you likely won't have to parallel park! Take that, City of Angels.

I do admit, however, that being able to taste those different cuisines is particularly important to me. I had a multi-cultural childhood, growing up in Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates and

See Full Page