By Joel Magalnick, Editor, JTNews
Competition was fierce this year as readers logged in to fill out the annual JTNews “Best of Everything” survey. From Best Photographer to a restaurant’s Best Wine List, readers gave a wide range of choices in many of our categories. So, without further ado, here we go:
Planning a Celebration
Best place for a wedding: If there’s a hotel that’s elegant, classy and knows how to do a wedding right, it’s the Fairmont Olympic in downtown Seattle. Unless you’re at the top of a mountain, you just can’t beat those sweeping stairways that lead into the event rooms.
Best Place for a Bar or Bat Mitzvah: It’s modern. It’s classy. It’s way too new to allow a bunch of screaming adolescents to run around and terrorize the guests, but Hotel 1000 by the Pike Place Market takes the prize. One respondent’s favorite, the Woodland Park Zoo, was a great contender.
Best Local Party Band: Shawn Weaver is the consummate musician, and you can find him around town filling in for such bands as Sasson. But his main gig, Shawn’s Kugel, which plays soulful Klezmer and party music, takes the prize.
Best DJ: Super Dave knows how to spin ‘em like no one else. Guess he needed a career after the bad stuntman gig didn’t work out.
Best Photographer: Once again, Dani Weiss wins the category that brings memories of local events to life, but shutterbugs Joel Dames and Debra Rettman tied for a close second.
Best Florist: Petunias, morning glories, nasturtiums, roses, tulips, daisies, lilacs, and calla lilies? You’ll find them on the rock, from Mercer Island Florist.
Best Videographer: It’s the worst-kept secret in the Beltway that Joe Lieberman lost any chance of the nomination in the 2004 election after someone circulated a copy of his Bar Mitzvah video. Who knew that his tantrum after Rachel Goldberg refused to dance with him would come back to haunt him so many years later? Well, Michael Behar, as so many of our readers suggested, would never record anything so embarrassing.
Best Place to Buy an Engagement Ring: This family jewelry store has been a part of Seattle for generations, and Ben Bridge Jewelers has a full selection for every nervous gentleman anxious to pop the question.
Best Caterer: Once again, for the fourth year, Leah’s gets the nod.
Best Ketubah Artist: A major upset this year, with readers pushing out last year’s local artists for Ohio ketubah maker and woodcut artist Micol Bayer.
DELI-cious
Best Corned Beef Sandwich: There’s competition from the east with Goldberg’s, from the west with Roxy’s, and also from that corned beef place on Howell next to the ReBar downtown, but respondents decided to go kosher this year, with Albertson’s on Mercer Island taking the prize.
Best Brisket: Nothing says brisket like good ol’ home cookin’, and readers agree. If you must order out, however, try Leah’s.
Best Knishes and Blintzes: We combined the category for the results, because Leah Jaffee of Leah’s again took both.
Best Whitefish Salad: Noah’s Bagels makes you feel like you’re right back on the Lower East Side, even if you come from Newcastle on the Eastside.
Best Lox: Going straight to the source, Mutual Fish on Rainier Boulevard wins for the freshest and tastiest of the Northwest’s pride, smoked salmon.
Best Dill Pickle: Bubbie’s is available in your local grocer’s refrigerator case, but many respondents said you can’t do better than pickling them yourself.
Best Matzoh Ball on a Menu: As any of the workers in those downtown Bellevue towers with a hankering for chicken soup can tell you, Gilbert’s on Main has it, matzoh ball and all.
Best Roasted Chicken: You can go just about anywhere to find a chicken— including, as several respondents told us, their own kitchens — but the winner is Albertson’s on Mercer Island.
Best Rugelach: It appears that some of our local bakers may need to adjust their recipes, as the winner this year was, ahem, QFC. A special shout out to a couple locals whose rolled pastries have built up a fan base: Viola Borstein and popular food scribe Eileen Mintz.
Best challah: Another upset in the baking arena, as past winner Leah’s — and kosher bakers in general — were pushed out by the Great Harvest Bread Co.
Best Bagel: The back and forth between fresh and frozen leans toward the frozen this year, with Noah’s taking the prize.
Dining Out
Best Burger: Our readers know that nothing says burger like the Red Mill, three-foot-tall stacks of bacon notwithstanding. Just thinking about that Verde is making my mouth water.
Best Pad Thai: With options abounding in these parts, Thai Siam stands above the millions (or so) of contenders.
Best Romantic Dinner: There’s nothing like dinner — except dinner with a view, and impeccable service, and great food. Which is why Canlis has the category wrapped up.
Best Brunch: You’ll need a shovel to eat your way through all the yummy seafood and extras that Salty’s serves up, but it sure is good!
Best Seafood: We’re in a town that specializes in great fish and seafood, so there’s no reason to think a place like Anthony’s wouldn’t be a favorite.
Best Kid-Friendly Restaurant: It’s kosher, it’s vegetarian, it’s Chinese, and the kids love it — that’s why Bamboo Garden in lower Queen Anne takes the prize.
Best Italian: For a town that lacks true greatness in what is now such a mainstream cuisine (unlike, say, New York or Chicago), Machiavelli Ristorante is the carpaccio of Capitol Hill.
Best Sushi: People who love sushi eat it at I Love Sushi, both in South Lake Union and in Bellevue.
Best Asian: The crispy wide rice noodles and the vegetable crepe at the Tamarind Tree are just two of the dishes that make this upscale Vietnamese place in Little Saigon so darn good.
Best Indian: Let’s go kosher! Pabla’s in Issaquah and Renton take the prize. You can read why when you check out the review at Jew-ish.com.
Best Middle Eastern: In a town where you have to spend five bucks for a lousy falafel in a stale pita, Cedar’s in Seattle’s University District has figured out how to get it right.
Best Mexican: It’s hard to find good Mexican food on this side of the Cascade Curtain, so for El Sombrero to take the prize should be considered a big deal. We did like the folks who suggested the “truck parked in the gas station lot on Rainier Ave.”
Best Wine List: Pinot Noir or Zinfandel? Wine enthusiasts on the Eastside know, with Sip in Issaquah taking the honors.
Best Martini: Martini enthusiasts on the Eastside will have to drive across one of the floating bridges, as the best martinis to be found are at the Waterfront on Pier 70 in Seattle.
Best Happy Hour: Northenders rejoice! The best happy hour is steps from Green Lake and even fewer steps from the corner of 65th and Latona, at Mona’s.
Best Pub: Every day is St. Patrick’s Day at the Galway Arms in the University District. At least, that’s what you Irish Jews tell us.
Sweet Tooth
Best Bakery: Kashrut fights back! Leah’s takes it!
Best Cheesecake: Apparently our readers like the place with the obnoxious ads inside its menus for tanning salons featuring models that obviously don’t eat cheesecake. Cheesecake Factory, at a mall near you, wins.
Best Chocolatier: We’re going to call out the top three winners here, since chocolate truly is something special, and locally handmade chocolate just takes something fantastic and brings it up to the next level. So, in order, we’ve got Oh! Chocolate on Mercer Island with shops in Madison Park and Bellevue Square; Theo’s, which makes its creative offerings in Fremont by the shores of the ship canal, and, finally, Fran’s chocolates, which have been tantalizing Seattle’s sweet tooth for 25 years, at University Village and in old Bellevue.
Best Dessert with a View: Does anyone find it shocking that the most romantic restaurant, Canlis, would also take this honor?
Shop Till You Drop
Best Jeweler: In addition to the engagement rings, Ben Bridge Jewelers has the bling for all of your precious stone and metal needs.
Best Destination When I’m Shopping for Clothes for Myself: Since the name of the category is so long, we’ll restrict the winner’s name to one word: Chico’s.
Best Kidswear: It’s a playspace. It’s a pair of overalls. It’s Gymboree!
Best Home Furnishings: Though they’re practically impossible to get to without getting stuck in the Mercer Mess, Far Fetched, with a limited selection of sustainable wood furniture from around the world, wins the prize.
Best Independent Toy Shop: The indies abound in this town, making Toys ‘R’ Us look like the unfathomable mess that it really is, but in the vast array of offerings, Top Ten Toys in Greenwood stands above.
Best Place to Shop With Out-of-Town Visitors: Was there really a contest? Nothing compares to that most unique of public spaces, the Pike Place Market.
Best Outdoor/Neighborhood Shopping: Local and unique stores are becoming harder to find at this upscale Northend Seattle mall, but University Village still draws the hearts and wallets of our readers.
Best Bike Shop: How could you not love a bike shop that takes donations and runs a program that teaches local kids how to build and fix their own two-wheelers? For that, BikeWorks in Columbia City takes the prize.
Best Art Gallery: Gunnar Nordstrom Gallery in Kirkland has been exhibiting what it calls “whimsical and expressionist” work since 1985. Their most recent show, Home for the Holidays, certainly fit the bill.
People of the Book
Best Independent Book Shop: Seattle just fell to second place for America’s most literate city to, of all places, Minneapolis, but the book scene in this town is still thriving. Pioneer Square icon Elliott Bay Book Co. is simply the cream of the crop.
Best Jewish-Content Book and Jewish Author: We joined this category because Shalom Auslander, new Jewish media darling, and his latest book, Foreskin’s Lament, a hilarious (and angry) take on one man’s disillusionment with his Orthodox upbringing, bring home this year’s kosher pen award.
Matchmaker, Matchmaker
Best Place to Meet a Nice Jewish Boy or Girl: The winner, apparently with strong backing from the 20s and 30s crowd, is at any Jconnect event. With a new director and a new focus, they’re kicking things up a notch.
Best Online Dating Site: All of the Seattleites with a profile have dated each other already, but the perennial winner, JDate, still managed to eke out a victory.
Best Jewish Pickup Line: We’ll call this category more subjective than objective, so here are our favorites, both with an overt Passover theme: “Are those matzoh balls in your pants?” and “You know, hiding that matzoh is only half the fun.” Looks like someone won’t be getting many seder invites this year.
Community Matters
Best Local Jewish Organization: Every year we do our “Best of” survey, this organization, which helps so many in the Jewish community (and the general population as well) with family education, poverty and hunger resources, grief counseling, refugee resettlement and so much more, takes the category. So it’s our honor to once again give the prize to Jewish Family Service.
Best Youth Organization: The Conservative movement must be doing wonderful things to help keep its kids in the fold, as United Synagogue Youth wins.
Best Jewish Camp: Some kids like to get away for the summer while others like to sleep at home. It’s the camp in their own backyard that won this year, with Sephardic Adventure Camp taking the honors.
Best Jewish Web Site: Not to toot our own horns here… well, okay, we’re tooting our own horns. Jew-ish.com, the site we launched last year for our 20–30something local Jewish population took top honors, with jtnews.net, the companion to the venerable newspaper you hold in your hands (unless, of course, you’re reading it online at jtnews.net!), coming in second.
Best Volunteer Opportunity: Seattle Hebrew Academy’s Joyful Reading Groups takes the prize.
Religious Reflections
Best Congregation: Our readers know what they like, and when it comes to synagogues, we had two that tied for favorite. Way to go, Sephardic Bikur Holim and Herzl-Ner Tamid!
Best Mohel: Steady now! Who you choose for circumcision is a deeply personal matter, as any male knows, so the right person for the job is one with a steady hand and a good bedside manner. In this area, our Sephardic rabbinate knows how to get the job done, with Rabbi Simon Benzaquen taking top honors and Rabbi Salomon Cohen-Scali coming in a close second.
Best Supplemental Jewish School: Sunday mornings just wouldn’t be the same without the Seattle Kollel’s ToTal Sunday School.
Best Adult Education Program: It doesn’t matter the subject, the time the class starts, or the location, as long as it’s taught by JTNews columnist and Seattle Hebrew Academy’s head of school, Rivy Poupko Kletenik.
When Chicken Soup Won’t Do
Best Family Doctor: Dr. Gary Spector works from offices on First Hill, and he’s known for his outgoing, friendly personality as well as his concerted effort to treat all of his patients with knowledge and affability. Way to go, Doc!
Best hospital: I’ll vouch for them, since they did a great job of delivering my own kid. Currently with two locations and a third on the way, Swedish Hospital takes the prize.
Best Dentist or Orthodontist: Seattle Hebrew Academy supporters know him as one of that school’s cheerleaders, and the kids there whose braces he removes also smile (in relief) when they hear the name Dr. Bobby Cohanim of Cohanim Smileworks in Capitol Hill.
Best Naturopath: If you’re looking for a natural alternative to the “take two aspirin and call me in the morning,” Dr. Boaz Hoffman is your man.
Best Fitness Club: There are almost as many health clubs in this town as there are Thai restaurants (see a connection?), which is why it’s great that the Stroum Jewish Community Center worked up such a sweat with our readers this year.
Best Spa Experience: When you need that day of pampering and a relaxing pick-me-up, Ummelina International Day Spa in downtown Seattle’s just the place.
Grab Bag
Best Jewish Political Figure: Would the wannabe Senator from Minnesota please stand up? Thank you, Mr. Franken.
Best Jewish-Themed Film of 2007: Sorry folks, but Ushpizin no longer qualifies, having been released three years ago. But those Israeli films keep getting better and better. Coming in second was the slice of modern Israeli life in the Israeli Film Academy winner A Touch Away.
Best Washington Weekend Getaway: For relaxation, top-notch treatment, and the constant sound of rushing water, go no farther than the environs of the lovely Salish Lodge.