Dolinsky's 9 Restaurants to Remember from 2000-2009

Did anyone see Steve Dolinsky's list of Chicago restaurants to remember from the decade? Check it out here: http://blogs.vocalo.org/dolinsky/2009/12/the-decade-that-was-chicago-food-featuring-guest-blogger-steve-dolinsky/10766
What would you have included in this list?

Andrew,

Nope. I find your vocalo site almost impossible to navigate, and it seems to cause my computer to crash. Good luck with your continued efforts to promote it though.

Kenny

The link worked fine for me and here it is again so we could help "promote" it.
http://blogs.vocalo.org/dolinsky/2009/1 ... nsky/10766

Not sure Dolinsky made it down there, but high on my list of restaurants from the past decade which I can only remember, as it's long gone, is Tacos del Pacifico, my gold standard for the fish taco. I've never had a fish taco in Chicago or anywhere else (in the US or Mexico) that compares with this far southside gem that flashed upon us and then was gone within months. Now, I and the others who enjoyed the brief transit of this place esteem it with Riverview-like reverence, a wonderful little spot taken from us too soon.

Kennyz wrote:Andrew,

Nope. I find your vocalo site almost impossible to navigate, and it seems to cause my computer to crash. Good luck with your continued efforts to promote it though.

Kenny

What am I missing here? I see only one post by Andrewgill who I would guess to be
Andrew Gill, Web Producer, from WBEZ's Vocalo.....
How is one post considered to be "continued efforts"

And FWIW, I take no umbrage seeing food content from other NFP sites being mentioned. Flogging this board with personal food blogs (when they could just post their comments here) is bothersome however....

I find the title misleading. I was expecting the article to be about restaurants we enjoyed this decade but are no longer in business.

For those having trouble following the link, here is the list:

2000 – Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab
2001 – Hot Doug’s (part 2)
2002 – Opera
2003 – Avec
2004 – Moto
2005 – Alinea, Schwa
2006 – Marigold
2007 – Smoque, The Violet Hour
2008 – The Publican, Mado, Great Lake
2009 – Downscale for high-end chefs: Xoco, DMK, Belly Shack, Big Star

Of course, Mr. Dolinsky's piece -- which I thought was definitely worth reading -- is filled with a lot of insights and observations.

=R=

mhill95149 wrote:

Kennyz wrote:Andrew,

Nope. I find your vocalo site almost impossible to navigate, and it seems to cause my computer to crash. Good luck with your continued efforts to promote it though.

Kenny

What am I missing here? I see only one post by Andrewgill who I would guess to be
Andrew Gill, Web Producer, from WBEZ's Vocalo.....
How is one post considered to be "continued efforts"

And FWIW, I take no umbrage seeing food content from other NFP sites being mentioned. Flogging this board with personal food blogs (when they could just post their comments here) is bothersome..

Since you asked...
I have several problems with this. First, I have 2 computers that both crashed nearly every time I tried to access this site a month ago. Maybe it's improved since then. Second, I don't think Andrew Gill is so famous that he should assume people know who he is. If you're promoting your own venture here, you're supposed to divulge your professional affiliation. To me, this post is little more than spam. Third, the site navigation really does suck. It's got meaningless menu headings and navigation features that only the designers and their friends can make sense of.

nsxtasy wrote:I find the title misleading. I was expecting the article to be about restaurants we enjoyed this decade but are no longer in business.

There’s no reason we can’t make this thread about just that

mhill95149 wrote: Flogging this board with personal food blogs (when they could just post their comments here) is bothersome however....

just curious, do you have an issue with folks who have their own food blog & perhaps provide a link to it in their signature ?


As for the article, its an interesting read, a few places I have been and liked, a few places I have not been & want to go to, and quite few places I am not interested in going to.

jimswside wrote:

mhill95149 wrote: Flogging this board with personal food blogs (when they could just post their comments here) is bothersome however....

just curious, do you have an issue with folks who have their own food blog & perhaps provide a link to it in their signature ?


As for the article, it is an interesting read, a few places I have been and liked, a few places I have not been & want to go to, and quite few places I am not interested in going to.

Nope, just the ones who say something like "I covered this on my blog" and then
provide a link without adding any value HERE....

I've go no problem with link in signatures ( and look at them often!)

mhill95149 wrote:

Nope, just the ones who say something like "I covered this on my blog" and then
provide a link without adding any value HERE....

I've go no problem with link in signatures ( and look at them often!)

cool, I do as well.

I am glad we are seeing the year end "best of" lists coming out. This year will be tough, I ate pretty darn good.

Kennyz wrote:

mhill95149 wrote:

Kennyz wrote:Andrew,

Nope. I find your vocalo site almost impossible to navigate, and it seems to cause my computer to crash. Good luck with your continued efforts to promote it though.

Kenny

What am I missing here? I see only one post by Andrewgill who I would guess to be
Andrew Gill, Web Producer, from WBEZ's Vocalo.....
How is one post considered to be "continued efforts"

And FWIW, I take no umbrage seeing food content from other NFP sites being mentioned. Flogging this board with personal food blogs (when they could just post their comments here) is bothersome..

Since you asked...
I have several problems with this. First, I have 2 computers that both crashed nearly every time I tried to access this site a month ago. Maybe it's improved since then. Second, I don't think Andrew Gill is so famous that he should assume people know who he is. If you're promoting your own venture here, you're supposed to divulge your professional affiliation. To me, this post is little more than spam. Third, the site navigation really does suck. It's got meaningless menu headings and navigation features that only the designers and their friends can make sense of.

Andrew Owns WBEZ? Cool! Welcome aboard
How come TAL only references Torey Malatia at the end of hour and not you?


As far as the nav of the side goes, I've only been there to read RF's new media column and I can find that right there on the front page. so, it works just fine for me...

Mel,

I would respond, but the names and abbreviations in your post make as much sense to me as the Vocalo website navigation scheme

Kenny

Kennyz wrote:Mel,

I would respond, but the names and abbreviations in your post make as much sense to me as the Vocalo website navigation scheme

Kenny

TAL = This American Life

RF = Robert Feeder

@Kennyz Sorry if you considered my post spam. I thought I made it clear enough what I was talking about. I did just start my account, but I do intend to use it for more than just linking to posts related to my work at WBEZ (thus, no LTH bio including my affiliation). If I was only interested in spamming do you think I'd use my real name?

Re: the terrible navigation on Vocalo.org I want you to know we agree that it needs to be improved. (The link I posted here is to the newly launched blogs.vocalo.org, which is a completely different site than Vocalo.org) We're working on improving UI across the board and hope to relaunch all Chicago Public Radio sites in the next six months.

In the meantime, I'm trying to get our content to people who might be interested in it. Hence my posting here.

If I was mistaken and LTH Forum isn't interested in what Dolinsky has to say, I'll kindly dismiss myself.

andrewgill wrote:@Kennyz Sorry if you considered my post spam. I thought I made it clear enough what I was talking about. I did just start my account, but I do intend to use it for more than just linking to posts related to my work at WBEZ (thus, no LTH bio including my affiliation). If I was only interested in spamming do you think I'd use my real name?

Re: the terrible navigation on Vocalo.org I want you to know we agree that it needs to be improved. (The link I posted here is to the newly launched blogs.vocalo.org, which is a completely different site than Vocalo.org) We're working on improving UI across the board and hope to relaunch all Chicago Public Radio sites in the next six months.

In the meantime, I'm trying to get our content to people who might be interested in it. Hence my posting here.

If I was mistaken and LTH Forum isn't interested in what Dolinsky has to say, I'll kindly dismiss myself.

Andrew,

Thanks for responding. As clearly evidenced above, I do not speak for LTHForum members, many of whom seem quite happy with the link you provided.

I don't think you intended to spam, but I do think you should have divulged your affiliation with Vocalo. You know taht your name is connected to it, but I don't think most readers of LTHForum do. Again - my opinion, and I speak on no one's behalf.

In the same spirit of full disclosure, I should note that my problems with Vocalo go well beyond your post. There are other incidences of what I have perceived as underhanded practices which probably color my opinion of what you've done here.

Kenny

andrewgill wrote:If I was mistaken and LTH Forum isn't interested in what Dolinsky has to say, I'll kindly dismiss myself.

As with any community, some people will be interested and some will not. I am. Welcome to LTHForum, and sorry if the reception was in some ways as chilly as the weather. Hope to hear more from you.

Thanks David- No harm, no foul. I can take a little criticism...

first "To me, this post is little more than spam."

then "I don't think you intended to spam..."

sheesh, this is hard to follow.

Makes a good case why Opera was a more seminal restaurant than it seems... but I'm still not convinced Marigold pulled off the same trick with its ethnic cuisine.

Glad to see Smoque on the list instead of one more fine dining place.

Andrew,

LTHForum does have a loosely enforced policy of removing posts that simply link to blogs, we also have a policy, strenuously enforced, about disclosing affiliations.

That said, I don't think your intent was to spam LTHForum and we, or at least me, are always interested in the words and wisdom of Steve D.

Welcome to LTHForum, looking forward to your future posts.

Enjoy,
Gary

Onto the content of the Dolinsky piece, it's hard to argue against the notion that these were all important openings, with the exception of Marigold. That place serves overpriced, dumbed down food, and Dolinsky himself notes that Tiffin had already taken Indian food upscale for Chicago diners, so I don't see why Marigold made a Top Anything list. Also, a list of Chicago restaurants of the decade that doesn't include even one Thai place is lacking in at least one glaring arena. Those things aside, it's an enjoyable, well-written piece.

EvilDoc wrote:first "To me, this post is little more than spam."

then "I don't think you intended to spam..."

sheesh, this is hard to follow.

Once I took a bite of what I thought was a chocolate bar, but turned out to be a carob bar. Even though I never intended to eat a carob bar, it can't be argued that I didn't do it. We've all done things in life that we didn't intend to do. Hope that helps.

Andrew, thanks for posting. And welcome to LTHforum. There are lots of personalities here, and lots of opinions. Sometimes they grate, sometimes they are great. Hopefully you'll find this site enjoyable and useful.

I still don't understand how a list of 16 restaurants and 1 bar, all of which are still open, can be titled "9 restaurants to remember".

I also think that the the Ed. note in the piece fails to capture what Dolinsky was writing about, and is actually quite misleading. The note says in a couple of places that the piece is about the "best" restaurants of the decade, but a quick read of the Moto description makes clear that when Dolinsky wrote "worth remembering," (at least I assume he wrote that, though maybe that was an editorial addition too) he did not mean "best".