Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

https://atlanta.eater.com/2023/9/28/23894110/chicago-hot-dog-chain-portillos-opening-atlanta?utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=eater.socialflow&utm_medium=social&utm_content=eateratlanta&fbclid=IwAR1GCr5TEtxKy281NngHVmolFrF6fQX-E7VK47OIKFE4Rk1lbdy5At-UoCY

Is Portillo's authentic?  I think we dined at one in Orlando.

https://atlanta.eater.com/2023/9/28/23894110/chicago-hot-dog-chain-portillos-opening-atlanta?utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=eater.socialflow&utm_medium=social&utm_content=eateratlanta&fbclid=IwAR1GCr5TEtxKy281NngHVmolFrF6fQX-E7VK47OIKFE4Rk1lbdy5At-UoCY

Is Portillo's authentic?  I think we dined at one in Orlando.

Yes, I'd call it authentic. There are better local places in Chicago to get Italian Beef IMHO, but their Chicago Dogs pretty much set the standard for me. 

Although not a "Chicago" food specifically, their burgers are REALLY good. 

And the cheese sauce for the cheese fries? Yeah... I think there's some cocaine in there or something. I never go to Portillo's w/o ordering cheese fries. 

Orlando, Florida - Location | Portillo's (portillos.com)
Orlando, Florida - Location | Portillo's (portillos.com)

This was across the street from where we stayed in Orlando last year, I recall dining there once.  We didn't think it was anything special at the time, my wife is a bit finicky about food, I don't recall what I had.  We're going back after baseball (so I can rest a bit) so I'll try it again.  I had one Chicago dog a long time back and liked it.  That was some place in Chicago.

What is the largest US city you have never been in or through?

It's probably Boise for me.  I don't think I was there.  Salt Lake if you don't count the airport.

San Antonio is much larger than Boise.  Considering only the urban core within city limits, San Antonio is larger than both Dallas and Austin.  It doesn't have the extensive suburbs and exurbs though.

If you're looking for any recs around the city I could give you a few.

As far as largest cities I've never been to-- I've never been to Detroit, is that considered a large city?  I've been to or through pretty much every other major city in the US.

San Antonio is much larger than Boise.  Considering only the urban core within city limits, San Antonio is larger than both Dallas and Austin.  It doesn't have the extensive suburbs and exurbs though.

If you're looking for any recs around the city I could give you a few.

Will be in the city only one night on the Riverwalk with my in-laws, and then hanging out at their place down southwest of the city. I'm sure they'll be showing us around. 

As for the city vs metropolitan area, though, I always consider the overall metropolitan area population rather than just w/in city limits. Cities across the country developed SO differently over time so I don't really view population within the formal limits as meaningful.

 I.e. a city with 700K in the official city limits but 4M overall will generally have a more rich "scene" as a tourist than a city with 1.1M in official city limits but only 2M overall... 

Philly is the largest I have been to.  Have to go pretty far down the list to get to the next one. 

My only purpose in citing city center sizes was to demonstrate that San Antonio is a major urban area compared to Boise.  Comparing it to Dallas and Austin proper rather than something like, maybe, Modesto, which is a more apt comparison for Boise.

All that said, I'm not sure I agree with your subjective point that I highlighted.

#1: Agreed. I didn't feel like it was worth looking up for the purposes of "largest metro you've never been to" since I'll be there in ~10 days. But I had a feeling it was significantly larger than Boise. 

#2: I'm sure there are exceptions. But I tend to believe that the network effects of a larger population within any metro area leads to a greater range of goods, services, activities/experiences, and cultural enrichment opportunities compared to smaller. I.e. if you've got a metro of 1.5M people and 3% of them are into opera, you may not have enough density of that niche to support a theater performing opera. But if you've got a metro of 9M people and 3% of them are into opera, perhaps you do. And for every metro of 1.5M people, that means that many niche interests won't be viable, whereas for a metro of 9M people, most niche interests will be viable and much fewer will not be.