Morning Metro: Suburban Design Along the Beltline, Three Taverns Talks Home Brewing, and Dog Cartoons!
Decatur Metro | November 8, 2012- Op-Ed: Suburban style development is “bad news” for the Beltline [CL]
- Three Tavern’s Brian Purcell talks home brewing [Eatocracy]
- GSU cutting 110 positions [AJC]
- Don’t forget Terrific Thursdays start tonight [COD]
- McDonald’s looking at second Clairmont Road location near Briarcliff [TNT]
- Cliff Bostock’s top 10 Atlanta restaurants for 2012 [CL]
- The Big New Yorker book of dogs [Brain Pickings]
Rendering courtesy of CL
My favorite comment on CL about the Bostock picks “So this makes it clear that one of creative loafing’s food critics knows jack about good restaurants, and has a column where he gets to plug dumpy little neighborhood spots.”
That food column is downright embarrassing. Basically, it’s a plug for places near where he lives, plus a couple of places he went with his friends. I’m not going to put down Grant Central as a decent neighborhood place, but, really, is it the best of anything? Small town food writing at its worst.
From the article itself:
“It’s time for my annual list of my 10 favorite restaurants. As usual, I remind you that “favorites” are not typically new. Nor are they “bests.” These restaurants’ moderate price and relative proximity to my home in Grant Park make them regular destinations. Except for the No. 1 restaurant at the end of the list, they are not in any particular order.”
“Small town food writing”? Maybe. But as as someone who has discovered many cool and interesting local restaurants over the past 10+ years thanks to Cliff’s columns, I wouldn’t call it the “worst” of anything. Then again, I guess I’m just small town, too, and, apologies to John Mellencamp, that’s good enough for me!
You beat me to it, J_T. I was charmed by Cliff’s differentiation of “favorites” vs. “best.” I get a bit fatigued by all this trumpeting about The Best.
Slider Night. Ahhh. Todd’s done a fine job at The Shed since Lance left for Bantam & Biddy. I love that joint. Y’all stay in Decatur and leave more room for Cliff ‘n’ me.
Sliders night at the Shed rules — stumbled upon it by accident a couple mos ago…
I’m going to offer Liz some support here, at least to say that the article is pretty darn annoying. The title implies it is a top 10 list, which Bostock then disclaims in the first sentence. Really, these are supposed to be his favorite restaurants, not necessarily the best. But then a few sentences later, he suggests they’re not even his favorites so much as places close to his home which he happens to visit quite often. Cool story, bro.
Geez, lighten up, folks. It’s a friggin’ blog entry that was probably mis-headlined by an underpaid web editor. I’m sorry that Cliff’s favorite restaurants aren’t your favorites. Unless he’s getting free meals from these places for mentioning them, I don’t see what the big woo is.
Lost me at “Cool story, bro”. Haters gonna hate as the kids might say, eh?
Looks like J_T just poured out a ladle of burnsauce. It’s embarrassing when people refuse to read an article and process context before trashing its contents.
There is nothing that brings out the snark, the meanness, the holier-than-thou-ness, the intolerance quite like restaurant reviews. I can’t figure it out, but just looking at Yelp or comments on CL columns or DM commenters on restaurant closings makes it clear. It’s worse than politics.
Hilarious and sad all at once.
What is annoying is that people really don’t get it or either they are posting a comment to get other readers riled up. What is the first word in the title folks? The title is “Cliff’s Top Ten….” not “The Top 10 Best….”…. Three out of ten being in home base (Grant Park) ? That seems odd to you.?? I could assure you that 3 out of my top ten would be in Decatur.
One thing I like about Cliff’s list is that it’s a real-world list, not one made up of the best restaurants when someone else is paying.
That would be a fun list to compile.
#1 on that list for me would be Floataway Cafe.
I’d much rather read a list of places people actually enjoy going than read about what is best. In my experience, the “best” restaurants are virtually guaranteed to be stuffy, overpriced, and uncomfortable.
FM Fats’s Favorite Beaneries:
Noni’s Deli
4th & Swift
Wisteria
The Shed at Glenwood
Carver’s Grocery
Ammazza
H. Harper Station
Leon’s Full Service
Ziba’s Bistro
Two Urban Licks
I don’t have time right now to join in the fun, but I like this idea! Perhaps there should be a separate DM post where folks get a chance to list their 10 favorites (or best – whatever folks prefer in their own list). I bet we’d find some hidden gems out there!