492249 Fri Feb 22 11:09:58 -0800 2008 15 33 Food Media and News 0 3424550 Cincinnati Magazine just released their Top 10 Places To Eat for 2008. They are: 1) Boca 2) Jean-Robert at Pigall's 3) Orchids at Palm Court 4) Nicola's 5) Slims 6) JeanRo Bistro 7) Cumin 8) Jo An Japanese Restaurant 9) Nectar 10) Daveed's at 934 Fri Feb 22 11:09:58 -0800 2008 121755 mikjackson77 1 3424986 Aside from Jo An, this list has a very center-city bias. Obviously Mesh up north doesn't tickle their fancy. Orchids is one of those off-the-radar places I never hear anyone talk about. Is the food that good, or is it listed for sentimental reasons (gorgeous old room, for instance)? Aren't there some good restaurants up northeast? Fri Feb 22 12:57:26 -0800 2008 3424550 12641 johnbycz 2 3425654 John, just be glad that they didn't embarrass us (ala Taste of Cincinnati) by picking national chains to be on this list. :-) Praise the Lord for that, at least :-) Fri Feb 22 16:10:51 -0800 2008 3424986 11660 TJ Jackson 3 3427682 No kidding, 20 years ago, in a survey of the best places to eat in towns around the country in a national magazine (the defunct Cook's, I think), people from Columbus said TGI Friday's was one of the best in town. Thank God the restaurants in Columbus have gotten much better since then. That said, I won't knock Cincinnati Magazine's list. All the restaurants in the top 10 are worth the trip; many are even worth the money. I just don't know how you decide Boca is better than Pigall's, or how the Bistro jumps like six places from last year when the menu hasn't changed appreciably. And lists like this invariably leave out, and do a disservice to, many other places in town worth the trip. Sat Feb 23 12:53:37 -0800 2008 3425654 12641 johnbycz 4 3433454 John, this may be off topic, but a couple of years ago the Columbus Dispatch food writer reviewede the lunch/dinner place inside Nordstrom department store and nominated it for a Top 10 award. Just be thankful...... Mon Feb 25 13:34:58 -0800 2008 3427682 15139 Diane in Bexley 4 3433622 don't get me wrong, I enjoy Slim's, but top 5? hardly. certainly not better than Daveed's or Nectar. what I found even more interesting was the chef's survey. boca was most overrated among the chefs. Mon Feb 25 14:11:04 -0800 2008 3427682 37063 kingstreet 2 3459111 went to orchids last summer when in town and did the tasting menu - it was FABULOUS! one of the best meals i've had anywhere in awhile. Definitely deserving imo. although not living in cincy i haven't made it everywhere. Have only eaten at Boca, JeanRobert, Orchids, and Daveeds. All good. Boca least impressive but still good - and I was pregnant with "off" tastebuds at the time. Tue Mar 04 11:30:57 -0800 2008 3424986 99136 AMFM 2 4103952 Guys - ANYONE. i am going to Cincinnati this weekend and have no idea where to go. i know these are supposed to be the best but some of them are soooo pricey. What's good for buffet or seafood...maybe authentic mexican? HELP! Tue Oct 14 12:55:02 -0700 2008 3424986 153905 shawnandmelisa 3 4103982 Hi: Please post on our Midwest board for Cincinnati recommendations - you'll want to include the city name in the title of your post: http://chowhound.chow.com/boards/8 Thanks! Tue Oct 14 13:06:52 -0700 2008 4103952 2 The Chowhound Team 1 3456168 Greetings, I am the author of the "Top Ten" in Cincinnati Magazine. A few responses that might lend some insight to how the list is determined. 1. I spend many months making multiple visits to dozens of restaurants all over the Greater Cincinnati area. 2. I take 2-3 additional "average" diners from a rotating list of approx. 2 dozen. None of those diners are colleagues from the magazine (this is true for all monthly reviews as well). 3. For the March restaurant issue, I developed - with the help of a statistician and psychologist (data gathering professions) - a 100-point system consisting of different categories and criteria within each. After every meal we travel off-site to plug our experience into the point system. 4. The rankings are based on those points and our experience(s), period. 5. I have no allegiance to any restaurant, at all. I am as equally surprised by the unexpected as much as I am curious as to how and why many are similar from year -to-year. I have no bias to neighborhoods, price points, cuisine types, etc. in the process of conducting the research. 6. In regards to the comment about "...leave out and do a disservice to many other places in town worth the trip" - read the entire article. I agree with you. My opening intro explains why I retooled it from the original "Top 25" to the new format. Instead of ranking 25 restaurants, I wanted to narrow the focus of the rankings and broaden the conversation regarding more restaurants. Many restaurants that might not meet all the criteria for a top ten list - mine or yours - are still worthy of our attention, patronage, and dollars. The complete article (beyond this simple list posted above) gives shout-outs to more than 40 restaurants in one way or another. 7. Most importantly - this list /article is not a commandment, but a starting point. I don't expect you to have the same experience or opinion, but I do hope you'll revisit a place you haven't been to in a while, somewhere that's been under your radar, or discover something new. A vibrant culinary scene is key to a vibrant local economy. Thank you for your time. ~d.c. Mon Mar 03 14:47:53 -0800 2008 3424550 171546 cmwriter2005 2 3461760 It's a good list, Donna Like any list, it's highly subjective. Have a hundred of us make up our own list, and you'd likely get 100 different lists, some with some commonality but no two exactly the same. As we said earlier, your list is a far better representation of Cincinnati than what the taste of cincinnati did to us, and we appreciate that. I still miss your work on Citybeat, but glad to see you still in the business of reviewing food in Cincinnati. Finally.....I'm sure we all want to get onto this rotating list of diners you mentioned, particularly if Cincinnati Magazine is picking up the tab :-) Send us application forms right away! :-) Wed Mar 05 07:49:09 -0800 2008 3456168 11660 TJ Jackson 3 3463526 Re: "...100 different lists..." - I agree 100%. Re: Citybeat: Thank you for the kind words. Re: Rotating list - LOL! It is the second most popular question I am asked after (ironically), "What are your ten favorite restaurants?" Wed Mar 05 14:18:16 -0800 2008 3461760 171546 cmwriter2005 3 3465422 "Like any list, it's highly subjective." I think that what Donna's explaining is that she worked hard to make the list as objective as possible. Luckily, at Cincinnati Magazine, she has the resources to do that. Those of us she left behind at CityBeat do our best on a shoestring ... but we certainly try! "A vibrant culinary scene is key to a vibrant local economy." Couldn't agree more, my friend! Good list, great article. - AM Thu Mar 06 07:42:54 -0800 2008 3461760 163911 tizzie 4 3465868 I still like the stuff on Citybeat, Annie McM.....nothing against the stuff you guys produce now, not at all. Much better than the airy fluff produced by that p.o.c. weekly that tries to pretend it is an independent weekly and not the junior college arm of the Enquirer, not to mention the dining drivel in the Downtowner (tho thankfully she's not written a piece since last Halloween) Thu Mar 06 09:29:15 -0800 2008 3465422 11660 TJ Jackson 4 3466089 Ms. "Tizzie" brings up a very good point. One of the luxuries of reviewing restaurants for a monthly over an alt-weekly is the considerably larger expense budget. Because of it, I (and all of us who write for CM's Dine section) are able to visit a restaurant up for review as many times as needed (a minimum of twice, usually 3-4) to grasp the levels of quality and complexity. As one of the biggest selling issues of the year, the March restaurant issue has a budget in accordance and provides me a foundation for thoroughness. At Citybeat (I'm assuming the same budgetary rules apply as the five years I was there), we were budgeted for 1 visit, - or 2 if absolutely necessary. Citybeat reviewers have to be able to absorb a lot of information in a short period of time and translate that experience with a balanced voice of critique and entertainment. That's much easier to do when the restaurant is operating at a high level of food and service (not to mean expensive), and difficult at best when it falls where most restaurants do - somewhere in the middle. Thu Mar 06 10:17:51 -0800 2008 3465422 171546 cmwriter2005 1 4400258 I did like the new format for 2008, giving various 'shout outs' to other worthy establishments. I look forward to March 2009's article, especially the sidebars with interesting comments about those not on the Top Ten List. Much more interesting than the old format. And by the way, I like what the new editor has done to the magazine. Mon Feb 09 07:30:06 -0800 2009 3424550 249199 dumas