Suggestion for Forum of Chowists Favorites

This may exist here, but would be great to have some place to list what to order and experiences at the chowists favorites such as restaurants in chinatown, thai places, etc. That way there would be an easy way to reference and print out suggestions for the different places.

psychchef wrote:This may exist here, but would be great to have some place to list what to order and experiences at the chowists favorites such as restaurants in chinatown, thai places, etc. That way there would be an easy way to reference and print out suggestions for the different places.

You can probably accomplish what you are looking for by using the search function and typing in the name of the restaurant. That way, you can see everything that has been posted about it no matter what the subject heading might have been.

I'm a big lover of lists and such. A few years ago, I pushed a "desert island restaurant" thread on Chowhound. The idea being, if you had to be banished to a desert island, what ten (or so) restaurants would you take with--not necessarily the best restaurants in Chicago, but the ones you'd most want in the long run. Plus, I think my rules, which I had cribbed from a similar thread on, I think the LA board, allowed for 2 out of town places. Anyways, I'd be game to play that again, although I have to think about the other 8 places after Gene and Judes and La Quebrada. Also, when I have a few more spare minutes, I'll look up the old thread on chowhound and post a link.

Rob

Doesn't Mike's FAQ sort of address this?

i looked at the FAQ section, i guess it could but there is no thread on board favorite for restaurants, with menus, suggestions, etc.

mrbarolo wrote:Doesn't Mike's FAQ sort of address this?

I do not think so generally, the FAQ is a pointer to key threads on Chowhound. But also, first of all, there are tons of new posters with opinions since the FAQ was created, let alone all those posts faqed to. Second, people's opionions change. Is your top 10 today the same as it was 3 years ago. For instance, I had no knowledge of Spoon Thai then, now its like the best place in Chicago.

The FAQ on the site is just a generic phpbb faq which deals with technical issues. The Useful Stuff section promises a FAQ but I can't see that happening until we have 10,000 posts which have covered the city much more comprehensively.

I don't think there should be anything that officially says "La Quebrada/Spoon/Gene & Jude's/whatever is the best..." I don't think the purpose of the site is for a group who happens to be involved in launching it and moderating it (a job which mostly consists of being happy there's nothing to moderate at the moment) to start laying down dictates about what's good and what isn't, and the rest of you should follow like sheep. I absolutely believe in every individual user coming to their own conclusions about whose opinion to take seriously, what recommendations to act on, etc. Also, I have to say, the general run of comments here is so good so far that heck, why should we think we're anything special? I'm happy to learn here as much as anybody.

That said... my idea for a series of "The Essentials," much like the idea of ten best lists, is that it gives everybody an opportunity to call special attention to something, while still not making it the "official" opinion of the site. So I hope there will be lots of these kinds of posts which help prioritize certain places as being especially worthy to check out, and point toward certain dishes which are unusually good-- in the opinion of somebody here, anybody.

Just to throw in my 2 cents. I agree with Mike G. The occasional list post (like VI's desert island post) can be fun, but creating "official" lists and best-ofs may ossify things.

Also, the Search functionality on the board seems pretty powerful, so seekers can use that to at least get a good start.

RE: VI's desert island thread. I have long played a much simpler game of this to challenge people's essential foods. What single food would you take? (Clue: Macaroni and cheese is not a single food.)

Potato wins for me, hands down. Of course, must have sea water (preferably sea weed) and fire, but then the other things that people usually suggest (haven't posed the questions since pre-Atkins days, however:-) are pasta, beans, rice, bread. Which require fire as well. I guess fire is a given:-)

Of course, I cheerfully (having eaten potatoes yesterday both in Indian and Latin preparations) admit to suffering at times from potato deprivation psychosis.

It would help to have a cow. Just for nutrition's sake, I'm not that fond of dairy:-) But that would put Mac and cheese back in the running.....

See, it's no easier when it's one food than ten restaurants.