Best of Davis poll?

[jspazzer.livejournal.com]

I have seen a lot of discussions here about this cafe vs. that one or these burritoes vs. those, but without wading through the hundreds of comments I can't get any numbers showing which places are the real Best of Davis according to the wise folks at Davis_Square.    So, how about a Best of Davis poll?   There are several obvious categories that have several places to compare right in the Square (Cafe, Burrito, Insurance agency, drugstore, bank branch, bar) and prolly lots of other that the creative folks here can come up with.   What is the easiest way to set up such a poll, and who wants to be the Davis Gallup?

Update: it looks like the concensus is to have single-question polls at regular intervals ("Welcome to the workweek, today's poll is...").  Since I am a cheap bastard (tm) with a free account, anomie666 and surrealestate will organize polls and decide what places qualify as Davis or not.  Obvious first poll needs to be Best Burrito, then probably Best Coffee.  Maybe  one of you creative types can  make an official-looking certificate for delivery to the winners ("Best of Davis LiveJournal Poll 2008").[Unknown site tag]

Comments

[ron_newman]

You need to have a Paid LJ account to create a poll. (So I can't do it, either. Maybe one of the other mods can?)

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

I can set up a poll if people want. But we should have a list of each of the options first, because I'd know I'd forget some.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

And I can do it if we don't trust him.

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

You better do it, I'm not to be trusted.

So should be have one post with lots of different categories or one at a time? Burritos are just "Anna's Taqueria", "Boloco", and "Chipotle" right?

[vonelftinhaus.livejournal.com]

Do not trust him- he uses that cowbell to mesmerize us into having a good time out on the town and meeting new friends

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

Rats, the secrets out!

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

We could have on poll category a week, kind of spread it out longer.

[ron_newman]

I like that.

[ron_newman]

Cafe: not a very well-defined category. Mr Crepe, Blue Shirt, Diesel, Starbucks, True Grounds, what else?

Burritos (in west to east order): Rudy's, Blue Shirt Cafe, Chipotle, Anna's, Boloco, Qdoba, Tacos Lupita. Did I miss any?

Insurance agency: I haven't a clue, other than the one I use (Wedgewood Crane & [Jack] Connolly)

Banks: Middlesex Federal, Central Bank, Bank of America, Sovereign Bank, Wainwright Bank, Citizens Bank, Winter Hill Bank, East Cambridge Savings Bank [at Highland and Cedar]

Bar (again west to east): Rudy's, PJ Ryan's, Sabur, Orleans, Johnny D's, Burren, Joshua Tree, Redbones, Sligo, Rosebud (does it count?), Sagra. Did I miss any? I haven't included any in Cambridge or even Powderhouse or Ball squares.

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

Rudy's and Blue Shirt have burritos? Qdoba and Tacos Lupita really aren't in davis square.

[ron_newman]

Rudy's has burritos. I can't remember if Blue Shirt calls their things wraps or burritos, but if we include Boloco we have to include them, too. I'll leave it up to the OP or whoever posts the poll to decide what our geographic range should be.

[ruxxell.livejournal.com]

razzys!

[ron_newman]

Razzy's has burritos? I think that's too far east to be even the fringe of Davis, but I'm not the one calling for a poll.

[ron_newman]

As for drugstore: not much of a choice, CVS or Osco Brooks Rite-Aid. You have to go all the way to either Inman Square or Arlington to find a Walgreens or a non-chain place.

[cos]

Rather than just having categories with hard lines between them and fretting over which category each venue belongs in, how about also some "soft" categories like "best hangout" or "best coffee" - where the same venue could be a contender in multiple categories, if it fits. Dunkin Donuts could compete with Starbucks & Diesel in the coffee category, though it's not a cafe, and while the Burren and Orleans would compete with them in the hangout category even though they don't serve coffee (or do they? I don't know, I don't drink coffee).

... or we could have categories tailor-made for one venue each, like "hottest dykes" for the Diesel :)

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

Sound Bites has Middle Eastern wraps. Do those count as burritos?

[ron_newman]

Yes, though I'm not sure whether Ball Square counts as Davis. I'll leave that up to the OP or whoever else decides to define these polls.

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

But everyone has a different opinion. Especially regarding the burritto wars. In fact, physical violence has been known to happen when arguing over the mexican faux delicacy.

[magpie-leah.livejournal.com]

Best Store Named After a Bird.

ha ha.

Maybe DARBI would want to run a poll on YourDavisSquare.com? Just a thought. Maybe not though since I think they try to be pretty equitable to all Davis businesses.

BTW, look at the news we just heard today!
http://thephoenix.com/THEBEST/Boston/Shopping/JewelryStore/
http://thephoenix.com/THEBEST/Boston/Arts/NonGalleryArtSpace/

[mistresshellena.livejournal.com]

wow! congrats, leah.
I love my yellow bowling pin earrings.

[magpie-leah.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And I'm the one who made those particular earrings. Wheee!

[nungnung.livejournal.com]

Hey, congrats!! TOTALLY well deserved. :)

[magpie-leah.livejournal.com]

Thank ya nungnung! We're soooo psyched.

[ifotismeni]

Best new addition: SNAPPY SUSHIIII

Category ideas:

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

Barbers, hairdressers (not the same thing in MA, license-wise)

Accountants, Dentists, Primary-care physicians?

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

PS, also on the Phoenix poll, Davis won as "best place to live." Does that mean we've officially jumped the shark?

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

There goes my rent, thanks alot Phoenix! #$%@#$!!

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

No, it just means we're going to be invaded by hipster zombies. Note to self, start carrying katana to work.

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

I thought we already had those.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

MORE hipster zombies.

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[dylanesque29.livejournal.com]

They also said that Sacco's was closing, which isn't true. But they did mention
how you don't have a prayer in hell of getting a seat in Diesel on a weekend.

[righteousness-1.livejournal.com]

http://thephoenix.com/THEBEST/Boston/Life/PlaceToLive/

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

I see this ending in fire.

[somertricky.livejournal.com]

Best insurance agency? This sounds like the Somerville news trying to curry favor with advertisers; Pat's Tow won "Best Tow Company" in their latest Best of Somerville.

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

Aren't the owners of Pat's Towing part owners of the Somerville News?

[ron_newman]

Yes

[lena-a-mermaid.livejournal.com]

Also coincidentally, the owners of the Somerville News own a real estate company which won Best Real Estate Company in their non-biased poll and Bob Trane won best politician.


On another note...have you ever noticed that Live Journal spell check has some interesting suggestions for the correct spelling of Somerville:

Somerville:
Seville, Servile, Smelly, Marvell, Smellier, Sawmill, Semivowel, Smiley, Seminole, Merciful, Scurvily, Somali, Marvel, Mercifully, Samuele, Smaller, Smilier, Small, Somalia, Misfile

Hey LJ, We Don't Smell! Quit it!

[lefauxfrog.livejournal.com]

Best freaky public statues of people:
Davis Square, School St. in Boston, Red Auerbach sitting on the bench in Quincy Market...

Scratch that last one. I like the statue of Red.

[ron_newman]

Don't forget the two of James Michael Curley, just north of Quincy Market along Congress Street.