dcdining.com Restaurant Awards - Please Suggest Categories

[DonRocks]

Please suggest categories - as many as you wish - for an annual awards program to be given out by our most educated, trusted members on this website. The awards will be called "dcdining.com," even though they take place on donrockwell.com - it's something of an identity crisis having both names, but I believe that on a national basis - which is what these awards will eventually be - dcdining.com will probably have more gravitas than donrockwell.com.

Or, maybe not - we'll see.

Some example postings:

Best Restaurant

Best New Restaurant

Best Chef

Best Seafood Restaurant

Best Bar

Best Customer Service

Best Steakhouse

Best Pizza

Best Vegetarian

Etc.There could be (and might be) 100 different categories. In 10 years, the winners might get a $1,000 prize and endless national-media recognition; this first year, they'll probably get a letter from me congratulating them, and possibly a chance to buy (at cost, with no profit to us) a framed certificate to hang on their wall.

dcdining.com is a big, important name, and for our member panel to vote for winning restaurants will have real meaning; not PR-driven BS like so many other award programs are.

I've put over ten years of my life into this, and am prepared to make this the biggest, most important awards program in the country, given enough time. It all depends upon how things shape up in the near future.

Please come up with as many "Best Of's" as you can; unlike the other post in this form, which is limited to one restaurant per member for now.

Cheers,

Rocks

[JSnake]

I'd be interested in:

Best Italian

Best Fast Food

Best Fast Casual

Best Atmosphere

Best Value

[ALargeFarva]

Proposed additions:

Best Service

Best Value

Best Ramen

Best Sushi

Best Decor

Best Fine Dining

[weezy]

Ditto best service, best value and best fast casual.  as much as i love fine dining, my budget doesn't allow for much of it.

[pras]

How about an award for different ethnic cuisines: Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese (regional), Korean, Indian, Salvadorean, Peruvian, Persian, Moroccan, Lebanese,  Ethiopian, and so on and so on.

[curls]

Ditto all the above categories with some additional categories:

• best deli
• best take out
• best supermarket hot bar & restaurants (rating the selections at H Mart, Wegmans, Whole Foods)
• best desserts
• best retro desserts (baked alaska, watergate salad, pineapple upside down cake, rice pudding, pudding, etc.)
• best pastries
• best breads
• best bagels
• best ice cream desserts (coupes, ice cream cakes, baked alaska, etc.)
• best ice cream shop
  • best shake / best malt / best sundae / etc.
• best frozen yogurt
• best gelato

[curls]

Another potential category best food trucks

[Seanchai]

Best restaurant beer program.

[Pool Boy]

Agree with the bulk of the above suggestions.

[DonRocks]

I'm not going to let this die down, even if it means starting small.

It may be too late to do anything for 2016, but I want dcdining.com awards (that's a much better name than donrockwell.com awards) to begin no later than in 2017, and we could still do something this year, although we're pretty much out of time. 

The first "award" will probably be a virtual handshake and a "congratulations."

I don't want to be the one to decide the award winners, though I don't mind having a hand in the nomninees. I want this to be decided by our experienced members - the ones who can see this forum. If you're reading this post, you are exactly the person I want voting on these awards.

Let's keep this moving. I want the dcdining.com awards to become a great institution going forward, and in future generations, and that starts with planning things properly. 

This thread can be used for discussion, so please chime in with ideas. I can certainly, at the minimum, get framed certificates for our winners next year. I should really offer framed certificates for all restaurants ranked in Italic and Bold also, but that's more of a "me" thing; I want the awards to be member-based, and I want only our most-experienced, valued members to be voting on them.

[curiouskitkatt]

5 hours ago, DonRocks said:

I'm not going to let this die down, even if it means starting small.

It may be too late to do anything for 2016, but I want dcdining.com awards (that's a much better name than donrockwell.com awards) to begin no later than in 2017, and we could still do something this year, although we're pretty much out of time. 

The first "award" will probably be a virtual handshake and a "congratulations."

I don't want to be the one to decide the award winners, though I don't mind having a hand in the nomninees. I want this to be decided by our experienced members - the ones who can see this forum. If you're reading this post, you are exactly the person I want voting on these awards.

Let's keep this moving. I want the dcdining.com awards to become a great institution going forward, and in future generations, and that starts with planning things properly. 

This thread can be used for discussion, so please chime in with ideas. I can certainly, at the minimum, get framed certificates for our winners next year. I should really offer framed certificates for all restaurants ranked in Italic and Bold also, but that's more of a "me" thing; I want the awards to be member-based, and I want only our most-experienced, valued members to be voting on them.

Community supported reviews awarding the best of the best DC has to offer. 

This may prompt more frequent visits to the District. Donrockwell.com represents all that is good in,and outside the Beltway.

You certainly have my attention.

DCdining awards may very well become the new standard. 

kat

 

[Rieux]

Best Coffee Shop?

Best sit-down downtown lunch

Best fast casual downtown lunch

Best cheap downtown lunch

[curiouskitkatt]

On 3/27/2016 at 7:52 PM, weezy said:

Ditto best service, best value and best fast casual.  as much as i love fine dining, my budget doesn't allow for much of it.

best cheap eats. 

cheap doesn't always mean bad. 

Some of the best meals Ive had cost less than Uber trip from Dupont to Falls Church.

[curiouskitkatt]

Best place to talk shop with industry folks. 

I find the best conversations Ive had,& treasure were the ones in the Biz.

[DonRocks]

5 hours ago, kitkatpaddywak said:

Community supported reviews awarding the best of the best DC has to offer. 

This may prompt more frequent visits to the District. Donrockwell.com represents all that is good in,and outside the Beltway.

Kat, you've been very kind to me, and I appreciate it. 

I need help with categories, for sure, but even more than that, I need help with the "How" aspect.

I can come up with a really good list of candidate questions that I can propose for people, and also administer polls with relative ease.

Does anyone know a printer who could do certificates? Or a proper venue that would show winners the correct amount of respect? These are the types of questions I need help with. (There won't be any "Rammys-type" party in year one, or even in year five, but we can certainly work towards that.) Trust me when I say that I know of some people who are Rammy judges, and you folks are more qualified. That's not a slam on the Rammy judges; it's a comment on how knowledgeable you all are.

I'd like to add that I have no desire to hold these awards for "us"; I want to reward people doing excellent work, and have them reap the benefits, and take the bow. I couldn't care less about whether or not this advances our own cause.

 

[curiouskitkatt]

7 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Kat, you've been very kind to me, and I appreciate it. 

I need help with categories, for sure, but even more than that, I need help with the "How" aspect.

I can come up with a really good list of candidate questions that I can propose for people, and also administer polls with relative ease.

Does anyone know a printer who could do certificates? Or a proper venue that would show winners the correct amount of respect? These are the types of questions I need help with. (There won't be any "Rammys-type" party in year one, or even in year five, but we can certainly work towards that.) Trust me when I say that I know of some people who are Rammy judges, and you folks are more qualified. That's not a slam on the Rammy judges; it's a comment on how knowledgeable you all are.

I'd like to add that I have no desire to hold these awards for "us"; I want to reward people doing excellent work, and have them reap the benefits, and take the bow. I couldn't care less about whether or not this advances our own cause.

 I can certainly help with the, "how".

[Bart]

This one is my own particular hang up and maybe it's half award and half hall of shame, but how about Best Lit and Worst Lit restaurant?

(or just delete the entire post!)

[curiouskitkatt]

Best Date Spot

Best Communal Dining

Best Happy Hour

Best Late night eats

Best People Watching( cause you know you do)

Best Set List, Best Tunes

[DonRocks]

15 minutes ago, kitkatpaddywak said:

Best Date Spot

Best Communal Dining

Best Happy Hour

Best Late night eats

Best People Watching( cause you know you do)

Best Set List, Best Tunes

Thing is, I want these awards to be taken seriously by the industry, and to really mean something. Best Chef. Best Sous-Chef. Best Line Cook. Best Pastry Chef. Best Sommelier. Best Bartender. Best GM. Best AGM. Best Restaurant (maybe on several levels). Best Wine List. Best Beer Program. Best Cocktail Program. Best Restaurateur. Even Best Dishwasher (and I'm being completely serious here - ask any Chef how important a good dishwasher is). 

[curiouskitkatt]

12 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

Thing is, I want these awards to be taken seriously by the industry, and to really mean something. Best Chef. Best Sous-Chef. Best Line Cook. Best Pastry Chef. Best Sommelier. Best Bartender. Best GM. Best AGM. Best Restaurant (maybe on several levels). Best Wine List. Best Beer Program. Best Cocktail Program. Best Restaurateur. Even Best Dishwasher (and I'm being completely serious here - ask any Chef how important a good dishwasher is). 

In that case, Id like to throw Avellino name into the pool. 

Same dishwasher at Corduroy's from day 1.

[curiouskitkatt]

9 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Thing is, I want these awards to be taken seriously by the industry, and to really mean something. Best Chef. Best Sous-Chef. Best Line Cook. Best Pastry Chef. Best Sommelier. Best Bartender. Best GM. Best AGM. Best Restaurant (maybe on several levels). Best Wine List. Best Beer Program. Best Cocktail Program. Best Restaurateur. Even Best Dishwasher (and I'm being completely serious here - ask any Chef how important a good dishwasher is). 

My apologies, Don. 

My snark has no place for this serious effort. 

I whole heartedly agree with all the categories you listed. 

The  back of the house supporting staff at the restaurant are rarely ever recognized. 

I also like to add, Best Non-alcoholic Beverage program. May seem odd, but it is such an oversight at fine dining establishments.

[DonRocks]

8 hours ago, kitkatpaddywak said:

My apologies, Don. 

My snark has no place for this serious effort. 

I see no snark whatsoever. 

This is just something that I want to do right, and for it to be respected by people in the industry, which is why I hope they'll chime in and help plan it.