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Washington City Paper "Best of D.C." 2008


Joe Riley

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So, this is a darned interesting issue of the Washington City Paper.

Focusing on the Food & Drink section, what do you agree with, and what do you disagree with? How painfully-obvious are some of their selections and how distressingly-far off of the mark are they with some other selections?

[Linda Richman voice]"Talk amongst yourselves."[/Linda Richman voice]

For my part, I haven't had time to review the entire issue yet, but I'm seriously pleased to see Adam Bernbach of Bar Pilar pictured on page 24 (though the write-up on Bar Pilar is many pages later). Congratulations to Adam! ;)

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Freakin' readers' polls. City's full of culinary morons, I tell ya.

Duffy's is a good lead, though, for a wing-hound like myself (and anyone in search of a good neighborhood dive).

Yeah, pretty solid and classic, though no where near as good as Temperance Hall (refusing to call it by the new name!).
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Freakin' readers' polls. City's full of culinary morons, I tell ya.

Duffy's is a good lead, though, for a wing-hound like myself (and anyone in search of a good neighborhood dive).

I was a little surprised to see Duffy's on a list of best 'anything' when it comes to food. Everything I've eaten there has been slightly overpriced and moderately acceptable in quality. Nothing seriously wrong with it - just not worthy of "Best Of". Now I recall the wings at Temperance Hall being excellent eats. And the wings at Nellie's were pretty tasty, too (though I admit to having a very foggy memory for that one).

I was hoping to see what the academy designated as Best Jamaican (or West Indian) restaurant. Did I miss that one? And congrats to an erstwhile dr.commie for her contributions to this edition. ;)

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I was a little surprised to see Duffy's on a list of best 'anything' when it comes to food. Everything I've eaten there has been slightly overpriced and moderately acceptable in quality.
Yeah I forgot about the insanely priced Duffy's wings. They come out to about a $1 each. Def. not worth a $1 a piece.
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Hmmm.......

Best Restaurant Overall

Piola

Can a chain restaurant really be the best the city has to offer, "overall?"

This was one of the sketchy ones, as was Mie & Yu as Best Wine Bar. ;)

But a lot of these were really well done, and a special shout to Carrie Allan, Jule Banville, Tim Carman, Mike DeBonis, Jamie Liu, Melissa McCart, Scott Reitz, Heather Shorter, and Erin Zimmer.

Cheers and congratulations!

Rocks

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I like Wempel's introduction to the issue, where he circumvents the question of why CP has taken up a "Best of DC" list again after so long by jabbing at the Washingtonian. But the reason why CP made the list is the same reason why the Washingtonian does it, or any publication for that matter -- it sells ads, tons of them. Just look at the size of this thing, it's about twice as thick as your usual issue, with places like Ben's and Bar Pilar taking out full-page ads. But there didn't seem to be anything in the food picks that was greatly at odds with what the Washingtonian or the Washington Post have on their top restaurant lists, or that went beyond Carman's previous reporting on our city. I'm not saying CP doesn't deserve a chance at the honey pot, but for me the effort came across as grasping.

With one exception -- the profile of Frank Ruta, which captured everything I love about Palena and his cooking. That could have been a standalone "Young & Hungry" column.

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I was a little surprised to see Duffy's on a list of best 'anything' when it comes to food. Everything I've eaten there has been slightly overpriced and moderately acceptable in quality. Nothing seriously wrong with it - just not worthy of "Best Of". Now I recall the wings at Temperance Hall being excellent eats. And the wings at Nellie's were pretty tasty, too (though I admit to having a very foggy memory for that one).

I was hoping to see what the academy designated as Best Jamaican (or West Indian) restaurant. Did I miss that one? And congrats to an erstwhile dr.commie for her contributions to this edition. ;)

Dang. I was happy and then you crushed the joy out of me.

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Dang. I was happy and then you crushed the joy out of me.
According to my wife, it's what I do best.

Nellie's is only a block away from Duffy's and has a much more "convivial" atmosphere. Check out Bingo on Tuesday nights. We stopped in there to watch the Caps game and have dinner before the New Porns show at the 9:30 and Bingo was a howl. Seriously. The food at Nellie's is also overpriced and below average in quality, with the exception of their wings. Really good stuff. And a decent beer list. And a nice "rooftop" deck.

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I do not think that Five Guys has particularly good french fries, let alone the best.

They vary greatly from location to location, hell even from day to day at the same location. I have had some really great ones, but I agree they are certainly not the best.

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But a lot of these were really well done, and a special shout to Carrie Allan, Jule Banville, Tim Carman, Mike DeBonis, Jamie Liu, Melissa McCart, Scott Reitz, Heather Shorter, and Erin Zimmer.

Cheers and congratulations!

Rocks

Thanks, Don, and thanks to Tim for asking me to work on it. It was a fun project.
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