Are we truly one of worst places for dining out?

People love lists.

Here are a few reasons why:

1. They crave order.

2. They enjoy obsessively debating the proper ranking of items.

3. Lists made for an excellent subplot in Nick Hornby's "High Fidelity."

This year, in the annual State of the Region report from Old Dominion University, economic forecasters examined how two well-regarded guides graded Hampton Roads as a place to live. In short, they did a lot of heavy thinking about lists.

The most interesting things they found in these lists:

1. This area has more Starbucks shops than normal. (27)

2. Goldsboro, N.C., may well be among the worst places in the country to live. Be thankful to call Hampton Roads home.

3. People like dating in Norfolk because an exceptional number of flowers are given as gifts.

But none of this is more than trivia. So allow me to present the top two most disturbing and meaningful findings about how outsiders purportedly view Hampton Roads.

1) On a scale of 1 to 10, with one being the worst and 10 being the best, the ODU staff looked at how guidebooks and the always-questionable "other industry sources" graded Hampton Roads restaurants based on quality and availability. And the answer?

The area got a 1 - the worst score.

2) If it makes anyone feel better, no Southern metropolitan area fared better than a 3.

This is hard to swallow, like learning the market price on a bowl of soup is more than $10.

A list, in order, of my reactions upon reading that Hampton Roads may be among the worst regions in the country for restaurants:

1. A 1?

2. Really?

3. It's the grits thing, isn't it? Try them, people. Cheese-coated grits aren't bad.

4. The food is that much better someplace else on the elitist East Coast?

5. More appropriately, there are no restaurants where the food is worse than it is here? This is as bad as it gets? There are places here other than Hardee's.

"They are apparently tough graders," the staff at ODU wrote.

It's not like Hampton Roads is some kind of gastronomical mecca. Hampton Roads doesn't have a proliferation of Polish or Scandinavian restaurants where pierogies or pickled herring and a bag of chips make for a decent weekday lunch. The fare doesn't carry a particularly regional flavor like other places in the South where dishes are "New Orleans-inspired." To be completely fair, there are probably a few too many hot dog joints. (But they're so good!)

But consider a short list of my favorite foods at Hampton Roads restaurants:

1) The quesadilla and guacamole at Luna Maya.

2) The crab dip at Tautogs.

3) (Feel free to add your own favorite local food here. I'm likely to agree.)

4) Subway. (What? It's gotta be paella all the time?)

The results depict the people of Hampton Roads as having an unsophisticated palate. I could even understand a score of 3 or 4, although I probably wouldn't rank us that low myself. 1?

"We ought not place undue weight on scores and rankings that sometimes can be misleading, but we should listen carefully to the broader message that stands behind them," the report reads.

So what is that message? What does it all mean?

"It means they haven't eaten here much," said James Koch, who edits the State of the Region report each year. "It reflects more on the evaluators than the evaluatees."

Which is another way of saying, don't take someone else's word on where to eat.

A short list of items that I see as nothing more than barely worthwhile conversation fodder:

1. National high school football rankings.

2. Magazines that tout the "best" CDs of the year.

3. Area restaurant ratings based on some guidebook writer used to the taste of his own foot.

Mike Gruss, (757) 446-2277, mike.gruss@pilotonline.com