By Joel Magalnick, Editor, JTNews
You gotta love technology—unless it doesn’t work. Sadly, that was the case with the electronic version of our survey, so the results of this year’s Nu? The Best of Jewish Washington will be a bit abbreviated. Not to worry, though. We still had a ton of fun with it! We promise to make it up next year. So here it is: the best of Jewish Washington!
Chicken soup: Bubbe, of course. Who else even comes close?
Latkes: David Cohanim makes ‘em fresh and yummy is what we hear.
Challah: Perhaps people were afraid of challah retribution, but very few respondents even filled out the box. Winners are a tossup between Nosh Away and the Albertson’s on Mercer Island.
Kugel: Leah’s takes it, hands down.
Bagel & lox: Noah’s University Village? Have we sunk that far in the land of the world’s best salmon?
Reason for party: Any happy lifecycle is a good reason, but a 65th anniversary is the best!
Place for party: The Skansonia in Lake Union. Sure it doesn’t go anywhere, but who wouldn’t want to have a party on a boat?
Bakery wedding cake: Once again, Leah’s wins.
Christmas Eve activity: The Matzoh Ball (but which one?) is the clear winner, even if it wasn’t held until the next day this year.
Late night nosh: You know it’s a sleepy town when the best we can do is 13 Coins, but we take what we can get, right?
Way to meet A Jewish girl/boy: Shul takes it, but one answer says it all: “If I figured this out, I’d have a boyfriend alreadyÖ”
Place for first date: The Fairmont Hotel Lounge. Fancy.
Place for second date: We got a few suggestions for movie theaters, but the Highland Ave. scenic overlook in Queen Anne is much more romantic.
Movie theater: Well call it a tossup between Cinerama and the Harvard Exit.
Romantic dinner: Canlis or Ray’s Boathouse? Both excellent choices.
Beach: Who doesn’t love Golden Gardens?
Bike ride: There were plenty of suggestions around the city, but Lake Washington Blvd. is the popular choice.
Italian: It’s not the name of a restaurant, but we’ll take it anyway: “it’s in New York.”
Indian: Taste of India on Roosevelt. No question.
Chinese: Bamboo Garden won, though not emphatically.
Japanese: How’s this for a surprise? The North Seattle Community College cooking school with 50¢ sushi. “Amazing!” our respondent writes.
Caffeinated milkshake: Keeping it local and independent, the Cherry St. Coffee House in downtown Seattle wins.
Falafel: The new guy in town wins this one—CafÈ Kineret at the JCC.
Deli: Roxy’s deli it is.
Regional cuisine: Nobody gave us a restaurant they like, but apparently any place that serves fish works for them.
Restaurant in Seattle: Canlis and the Metropolitan Grill tied!
Restaurant on the Eastside: Apparently very few Eastsiders go out to eat (or want to tell us about it), but the few responses we got tipped toward Andre’s.
Chocolate fix: Fran’s, hands down.
Microbrew: With so many local breweries making such good beer, we had to pull this category from the hands of the Pyramid lovers and give the prize to Hale’s Ales.
Mojito: Mojito’s on Lake City Way and the Buenos Aires Grill tied, but we’ll make that hop, skip, and jump from our office to the Buenos Aires to taste it, just to be sure.
Pizza: We would have given it to the Panini Grill, but since they are no more, second-place Piecora’s gets the nod.
Dessert: Mom’s in University Village’s ice cream sundae sounds yummy to us!
Kosher section supermarket: Back to UVillage. QFC wins.
Jewish-interest Web site: RenegadeRebbetzin.blogspot.com. It looks hilarious, and the blogs are where it’s at today.
Weekend getaway: Get on a ferry and point yourself northwest. You can’t go wrong.
Fictional movie of the year/Documentary of the year: You can tell the leanings of our readers with this category. The winner for both was Fahrenheit 9/11!
Non-fiction book of the year: Either it’s the one that Stephen Covey forgot or perhaps the first seven wore off and people aren’t as effective as before, but The 8th Habit of Highly Effective People takes it. We will give a special nod to Amos Oz’s A Tale of Love and Darkness. Brilliant. Just brilliant.
Way to spend a weekend morning: Shul.
Place to kiss: Home? Some people need to get out a bit more. We liked Belfast as the best answer.
Place to break up: In a bus station takes it. Hopefully the breakup took place as the bus was leaving.
Where to take the kids on a sunny day: There were so many answers, we’ll just round them all up and make it simple: someplace warm, local, and with a beach.
Where to take the kids on a rainy day: Most of our responses were museums, with tips toward MOHAI and the Museum of Flight.
Kid’s book of the year: Although it took soooo long to read that it felt like it was from 2004, the fifth Harry Potter book—the only response to this category—actually came out in 2003. Sorry!
Bedtime read: Harry Potter can legitimately claim this category.
Toy shop: Top Ten Toys, by a mile!
Family movie: Lots came out this year, but The Incredibles blew them all away.
Jewish musician: Does Wendy Marcus, Temple Beth Am’s music director, as a choice give away which rabbis might have turned in their survey?
Jewish comedian: A tossup between Jerry Seinfeld and Al Franken was looking ominous, but Seattle’s own Jack Schaloum, as seen at Giggles, can take the honors.
Jewish politician: Joe Lieberman is the clear winner.
Jewish social commentator: Dennis Prager wins this one.
Cravings: All of the responses revolved, not so surprisingly, around food. It was all food, however, that you’re best off finding in New York City. Go figure.