I know that us Flyertalkers have quite a bit of restaurant info tucked away in our heads, the problem is that VERY little of this information is getting put in the appropriate forum, the Flyertalk Dining Forum that is.

In order to pick the dining brains of the Flyertalk community, I have come up with my own contest, the winner will win a United System Wide Upgrade (expiration of 3.31.03) or a United Domestic (continental US) roundtrip ticket (must be ticketed by 9.15.03)

To be eligible to win, four (4) separate dining posts must be made, two (2) from your hometown/local area and two (2) from your travels outside of your hometown/local area. More bonus points will be issued for additional posts, but I don’t wish for this to be a number of entries contest because as in dining, quality counts.

Posts should contain as much info as possible about the restaurant such as: Name, address, phone, hours, and most importantly what the restaurant is known for or what/why do you enjoy eating there. As an example posts such as “eat at Eddie’s, they have great food” will not be counted by me as it tells the reader nothing about the restaurant.

Posts about Nationwide chain restaurants do not count towards your total (i.e. Red Lobster, Olive Garden etc.). A local or regional chain will be counted, but preference is given towards independent restaurants.

Prior posts on the Flyertalk Dining Forum (or elsewhere) do not count. Everyone starts at zero (0) posts from January 11, 2003, 8AM Central Time.

Contest runs from 8AM central time on January 11, 2003 to midnight on February 1, 2003. At which point I will make a determination as to the winner and post/contact the winner on February 3, 2003.

Posters should do a search before they post about a restaurant to see if the restaurant has been discussed prior in any Flyertalk Dining Forum thread. As I am one of those types who despises free for all posting when the staff of Flyertalk has worked hard to come up with the various forums we have the privilege of using.

As you can see there is no exact science as to how to win and I will make the decision as to the final winner.

I am not promising this at the moment, but I am working on 2nd and 3rd place prizes as well if I can swing it.

Edited to add: Missydarlin came up w/a good idea, once you have completed your four posts, email me a listing. I will do my best to see who’s qualified, but an informational email from each entrant would help, but is not required to win.

Edited to Add #2: I have decided on a second place prize, any single award up to 40,000 Hilton HHonors points. At the highest level properties for Hilton, this would allow either one free weekend night or two free weekend nights using point stretchers. This prize must be booked through me (not used, but booked) by May 31, 2003.

[This message has been edited by Sweet Willie (edited 01-15-2003).]

What a generous offer Sweet Willie!

http://www.flyertalk.com/dining/ftdining_forum/thumbsup.gif


------------------
" Lambert International, St. Louis --- the Bermuda Triangle of the Midwest."

Get Paid... With Your Free Email at
http://www.zwallet.com/index.html?user=born2broadcast

This is great - I will work on my contribution over the next two weeks! (I think this is the first time that I have ever entered this forum).

bump for editing.....

Sweet Willie,
I am new FT'er as I just started in December and am excited to be part of the community. Everyone who I have spoken (actually written) to have been so kind, generous and informative. It is nice to find a group of people that are all looking out to help each other. Your offer of some United Rewards for making a few posts is very generous. I was surprised at how little activity is on the dining section of the forums. I would wish that a great number of people use this opportunity to create a buzz similar to that in the miaeage section. As a native Los Angelino, there are a number of places that most people would never hear of (Ocean Seafood in Chinatown (great dim sum), to Phillipe's for French Dip Sandwidches. I am sure that there are a great number of restaurants like this throughout the world that none of us would know about without people posting these experiences. I can't imagine a better place than on the FT forums where you have all of the travellers attention.

I am excited about sharing my experiences in dining and thank you for both the courage and motivation to do so. I hope that everyone is going to follow in my footsteps and let everone know of their favorite hangouts.

I have already posted a couple of reviews. One under the Las Vegas topic for Delmonico's Steakhouse and another one for the Wine Bistro in Studio City. From what I saw from one of your posts regarding Thai food at the buddist temple, I gather that you are in the Los Angeles Area. If you haven't tried the win bistro, that should be on your short list.

Once again, thank you in advance. I look forward to reading everyone elses posts.

Andrew

Best Ethnic Food and Unique Setting, Cleveland, Ohio

Sokolowski's University Inn,
1201 University Rd

Cleveland, OH 44113-3642
Phone: (216) 771-9236

$$$$ ($20 and under)

Sweet Willie, For all of your excellent posts on travel and dining, we should be offering you the free trips.

Here is my first post and dining review in the Sweet Willie Sweepstakes.


Imagine a bustling cafeteria style restaurant overlooking the Scenic Cuyahoga River in the Industrial Section Of Cleveland's near West Side. A sweeping panaroma of Cleveland's skyline is before you and the Industrial Antiquities of a prior age are beneath you.

Ah, the food. Hearty fare such as Pierogies, Haluska, Salisbury Steak and other Eastern European meals await the local Steel Worker, Politician, Priest or Business Person. All are welcome in a warm, family atmosphere. Did I mention the homemade pies, cakes, puddings and Strawberry Rhubarb Pie to well, you know what for.

One of a kind and a must eat if you are ever in the Cleveland area.

G


P.S. I tried to identify my post upfront with a what and a where, not sure if that helps our readers. I'm open to any suggestions and I hope this thread gets some steam!!!

Sweet Willie, this is a great idea to stimulate this area of FT! Count me in... http://www.flyertalk.com/dining/ftdining_forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Gandalf:
Best Ethnic Food and Unique Setting, Cleveland, Ohio..........
</font>

Gandalf, I'm glad you have entered. Please post this restaurant info in the Midwest forum below so when people search the forum they can see your entry. http://www.flyertalk.com/dining/ftdining_forum/smile.gif

now a 2nd place prize added......

Hi, Great Idea....and thanks. I'll be posting my experiences.

Roy

Sweet Willie - I just discovered this forum this morning and immediately started posting restaurant reviews from our recent vacation in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, I placed them in the wrong location. Please move if you are the moderator.

We will be in Las Vegas 2/5-19, so I should be able to add a few more reviews on our return.
Contact me @ westie2f@hotmail.com if you have any concerns or observations on anything I have written.
- Frank -

[This message has been edited by westie2 (edited 01-18-2003).]

ONLY A FEW DAYS LEFT IN THE CONTEST.
If I’ve figured correctly, the following FT’ers have qualified to win one of the two prizes offered.

They are:

AROSEN
CATMAN
CHITOWNFLYER
CNDIJ
ESSXJAY
JOHNNYP
LH738
MISSYDARLIN
MJM
SLC-YYZ
TERENZ
WESTIE2

If you are not on the list and feel that you have qualified (2 restaurant reviews for your “local” area and 2 outside of your “local” area.) please email me.

Sweet Willie -

YGM

See New York City
and Germany.

Sweet Willie,

Count me in. See New York. I'll try to add others later.

Echelon

The suspense is killing me!!!

Jumped in on Jan. 31 with two in San Francisco, one Bangkok and one Paris.

FINAL DAY.....

Oops ... just realized there was a Bangkok category. I put mine under Thailand. http://www.flyertalk.com/dining/ftdining_forum/redface.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by letiole:
Oops ... just realized there was a Bangkok category. I put mine under Thailand. http://www.flyertalk.com/dining/ftdining_forum/redface.gif</font>

I caught it. http://www.flyertalk.com/dining/ftdining_forum/smile.gif

Thanks to all who entered and posted in the contest. I know my stomach will be anticipating the great eats that I read.

I have decided to make this contest have three winners, rather than two. To do this I have added another SWU to the prizes. So the prizes given away will be:

1st place: One United SWU or choice of any Hilton award under 40,001 points

2nd place: One United SWU or choice of any Hilton award under 40,001 points IF
the 1st place winner did not choose the Hilton award.

3rd place: Whatever prize is left after 1st & 2nd place have chosen.


AND THE WINNERS ARE:

1st place: SLC-YYZ

2nd place: missydarlin

3rd place:


(applause) (applause) (applause)

[This message has been edited by Sweet Willie (edited 02-03-2003).]

Great job Sweet Willie of encouraging our fellow Flyer Talkers to share there dining experiences.
Thank you for your generosity
Happy Travels and many more Great Meals
My congratulations to the winners!

------------------
AA & Starwood,Marriott Platinum
Hyatt, Hilton Diamond
Swissotel Club Gold
U/A 1k

http://www.flyertalk.com/dining/ftdining_forum/biggrin.gif Thanks Sweet Willie!

PaulGQ has been disqualified.
The reasons are personal in nature and due to this I will not state in public what they are, yet they have been conveyed to PaulGQ in an email.

Willie


[This message has been edited by Sweet Willie (edited 02-10-2003).]

Sweet Willie, thanks for considering my posts. It is good of you to give someone else a chance to enjoy the fruits of your generosity.

Congrats winners!

Thanks, Sweet Willie, for your generosity and for going through all dining posts. Let's hope that FT Dining won't fall back in the "avg 0,5 post a month period".

Sweet Willie, On behalf of the FT Dining Community, Thanks for creating all of the enthusiam and posts.

I am looking forward to tracking down some of the gems in here and enjoying a good meal!

Thanks again.

G

P.S&gt; Do you ever eat at home???

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Gandalf:
P.S&gt; Do you ever eat at home???</font>

yes, I state (while patting myself on the back http://www.flyertalk.com/dining/ftdining_forum/wink.gif ) that I am a pretty good chef. I do all the cooking at home.