Sandya and I are no longer West End Girls (does that make us East End Boys?), so it's time for our thoughts on where we've been so far. All you naysayers said we wouldn't finish, and while we're not done yet, we have crossed the magical line that is Broad Street, which signifies a landmark in our epic quest to sample all the food-serving establishments on South Street. We're leaving Westeros and entering... Easteros? Maybe the whole thing is more like Hobbiton, since they enjoy second breakfast and we're indulging in the sin that is gluttony. South Street is our precious after all.
So, without further ado, here are my picks for some arbitrary categories that a grand total of two of you lovely readers suggested for us, plus a few we decided to include.
Winner - Best Chinese AND Friendliest Service: Fortune
Well, in terms of best chinese, all of the places we visited (Fuzhou House, Fortune and New South China) are all your standard "I need hangover food" spots. But Fortune had the most amount of flavor with the least amount of greasiness and saltiness you get with chinese take-out places.
Fortune also wins for friendliest service, because it's the one place that I truly remember what the service was like. Generally, that means the service was either really terrible or really great. In this case, it was the latter, merely because the woman ringing up our food was incredibly friendly and apologized a hundred times when she had to come over and ask us for $3 because she forgot to charge us for our beverages.
In fact, here is a quote taken directly from my Fortune review: "I would recommend ordering take-out from Fortune if you live in the area, as it is so far the best chinese take-out restaurant I've encountered with friendly service (n=2)."
It's almost as if I anticipated this.
Winner - Best Fine Dining: Pumpkin
This one was tough for me - it was a close call between Entrée and Pumpkin. They were both some of the best meals I've had so far on our journey, but in the end, Pumpkin had the best overall fine dining experience - ambiance, food, service and all.
Winner - Best Bar: Ten Stone
Best bar is kind of a tough category for me - do I only consider bars in the traditional sense? What about the fancy restaurants that have a bar but where you probably wouldn't go for just one drink? In the end, I feel like Ten Stone is the best choice. It's hard not to be biased - I had a fantastic birthday here last year and it's one of the closest bars to my house. However, I do feel like their bar food is pretty fantastic and cheaper than other places - especially dat truffle popcorn with parmesan cheese. I think they have figured out a beer list that works well for being a neighborhood bar too - nothing too rare, but always something new to try and always a solid standard beer on tap. While places like the Cambridge may have a more eclectic beer list and some truly mouth-watering appetizers (see: pork belly crostini), their cost/enjoyment ratio is not as high as Ten Stone.
Honorable mention goes to Jet Wine Bar here, because of its great happy hour wine flight deal and the tasty food. However, it is on the smaller side space-wise and I am more of a beer drinker than a wine drinker - which is why it's not at the top of my list.
So, without further ado, here are my picks for some arbitrary categories that a grand total of two of you lovely readers suggested for us, plus a few we decided to include.
Winner - Best Chinese AND Friendliest Service: Fortune
Well, in terms of best chinese, all of the places we visited (Fuzhou House, Fortune and New South China) are all your standard "I need hangover food" spots. But Fortune had the most amount of flavor with the least amount of greasiness and saltiness you get with chinese take-out places.
Fortune also wins for friendliest service, because it's the one place that I truly remember what the service was like. Generally, that means the service was either really terrible or really great. In this case, it was the latter, merely because the woman ringing up our food was incredibly friendly and apologized a hundred times when she had to come over and ask us for $3 because she forgot to charge us for our beverages.
In fact, here is a quote taken directly from my Fortune review: "I would recommend ordering take-out from Fortune if you live in the area, as it is so far the best chinese take-out restaurant I've encountered with friendly service (n=2)."
It's almost as if I anticipated this.
Winner - Best Fine Dining: Pumpkin
This one was tough for me - it was a close call between Entrée and Pumpkin. They were both some of the best meals I've had so far on our journey, but in the end, Pumpkin had the best overall fine dining experience - ambiance, food, service and all.
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| DAT POPCORN |
Best bar is kind of a tough category for me - do I only consider bars in the traditional sense? What about the fancy restaurants that have a bar but where you probably wouldn't go for just one drink? In the end, I feel like Ten Stone is the best choice. It's hard not to be biased - I had a fantastic birthday here last year and it's one of the closest bars to my house. However, I do feel like their bar food is pretty fantastic and cheaper than other places - especially dat truffle popcorn with parmesan cheese. I think they have figured out a beer list that works well for being a neighborhood bar too - nothing too rare, but always something new to try and always a solid standard beer on tap. While places like the Cambridge may have a more eclectic beer list and some truly mouth-watering appetizers (see: pork belly crostini), their cost/enjoyment ratio is not as high as Ten Stone.
Honorable mention goes to Jet Wine Bar here, because of its great happy hour wine flight deal and the tasty food. However, it is on the smaller side space-wise and I am more of a beer drinker than a wine drinker - which is why it's not at the top of my list.
Winner - Best Dessert: Rex 1516
Any place that gets you to order dessert after a belly-filling brunch must be doing something right. And providing fried pieces of chocolate pecan cookie dough to dunk into a rum-spiked milkshake is one way to accomplish that feat.
Loser - Worst Overall: DELIcious Bites
Do I really need to say anything else that I didn't say in my review? Spoiler alert: This might also be the funniest thing I've ever written.
Winner - Best Overall: Miles Table
This was a pretty easy choice for me - when people ask what the best place I've been to far on this adventure, my answer is always immediately Miles Table. I think it's the best so far for several reasons: The quality-to-cost ratio is fantastic. The staff is very friendly (they gave us free empanadas!). The food is amazing. There are several different types of delicious dishes to choose from. You order at a counter and they deliver your food, cutting down on wait time. The location is great (South between Broad and 23rd is a hot area of town). The inside decor is welcoming and bright. The music selection is great. Breakfast is served all day. Seriously, do I need to keep going here? This place is fantastic.
So there you have it, a summary of some of the best (and worst) places we've been to so far on our journey. Sorry, I'm still not going to use a star based system, because that's even more arbitrary than my random musings. Although someone suggested I use cats as a rating system instead, which in theory could work, but I would probably give every place a 5 cat rating so I could always post 5 pictures of cute cats.
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| mmm... fried deliciousness |
Any place that gets you to order dessert after a belly-filling brunch must be doing something right. And providing fried pieces of chocolate pecan cookie dough to dunk into a rum-spiked milkshake is one way to accomplish that feat.
Loser - Worst Overall: DELIcious Bites
Do I really need to say anything else that I didn't say in my review? Spoiler alert: This might also be the funniest thing I've ever written.
Winner - Best Overall: Miles Table
This was a pretty easy choice for me - when people ask what the best place I've been to far on this adventure, my answer is always immediately Miles Table. I think it's the best so far for several reasons: The quality-to-cost ratio is fantastic. The staff is very friendly (they gave us free empanadas!). The food is amazing. There are several different types of delicious dishes to choose from. You order at a counter and they deliver your food, cutting down on wait time. The location is great (South between Broad and 23rd is a hot area of town). The inside decor is welcoming and bright. The music selection is great. Breakfast is served all day. Seriously, do I need to keep going here? This place is fantastic.
So there you have it, a summary of some of the best (and worst) places we've been to so far on our journey. Sorry, I'm still not going to use a star based system, because that's even more arbitrary than my random musings. Although someone suggested I use cats as a rating system instead, which in theory could work, but I would probably give every place a 5 cat rating so I could always post 5 pictures of cute cats.
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