Wednesday, July 19, 2006

New poll: downtown restaurants

Closing the old poll...
Time to close the old poll question, "Would you like to see the annual GF Fourth of July celebration become an alcohol-free event?". Click here to see the final results. Overall, most people don't seem to think there is a problem with having alcohol available at the event. 64% voted "No" while "Yes" got just 31% of the vote. 5% of the voters were undecided on the matter. For ongoing discussions about this topic, please see this post and this post and their respective reader comments.

Opening the new poll...
Now for the next poll question, "Which of the new downtown restaurants is your favorite?". What will it be? The Toasted Frog? Dakota Harvest Bakers? Joe Black’s? This should be less controversial than some past questions…or maybe not. The local dining scene always seems to bring out strong opinions. I’ll be interested to see which new downtown restaurant emerges as the top pick. Happy voting!

BTW, here's a look at what Marilyn thinks of these establishments...
Dakota Harvest Bakers
Joe Black's
The Toasted Frog

I wonder if the napkins were up to her standards.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd love to see her in an Iron Chef competition. Stand back and watch the hair dye fly.

Anonymous said...

Did you forget to add Sanders to the survey?

Anonymous said...

I think it said "new" restaurants....

dvjs said...

I hope Dakota Harvest Bakers will stay around as I have been there twice and it is a delight.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry. I know people around here find Marily Hagerty's writing endearing. But after 45 years my opinion hasn't changed: It's inane, empty and downright insulting.

Anonymous said...

I agree 100% about Marilyn Hagerty's writing. It stinks. Plus, Grand Forks is NOT New York City. We don't need a food critic - that's what word of mouth is for. To be honest, if I were a restaurant owner, I would not allow her in my establishment. I wonder how many restaurants have refused to advertise in the Herald after one of her ridiculous reviews.

About Dakota Harvest Bakers: I absolutely love their baked goods and the atmosphere is very comfortable. However, the service I've received on my two visits has been less than enthusiastic. Everyone behind the counter made me feel like it was chore to wait on me. That kind of attitude will kill a business much faster than a Marilyn Hagerty review!

Anonymous said...

I've always felt that because the Herald is a small town newspaper, there's no room on the staff for relatively high-skilled specialized reporters like restaurant critics, concert and arts reviewers, and film critics. I think what Marilyn offers is a "folksy" perspective and style. No matter how many times the term "Grand Cities" is thrown around, GF-EGF are still relatively small towns without any real restaurant scene per se.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this little poll. Was doing some googling for The Toasted Frog and was excited to find this as there are other restaurants I didn't know about downtown.

As for the "Eat Beat", I think it's a decent idea to have, but Haggerty has the most boring writing I have read. Anyone can write an article about eating a sandwich and she just proved it to me.