Originally Posted by
Blumie
If your goal is "to keep this list limited to high quality options (both affordable and high-end) that would make anyone delighted," it's destined to fail. The thing about restaurants is that people don't always agree. Grill 23 is "[h]ands down the best steakhouse in the city of Boston"? There are lots of Abe & Louie's patrons who would beg to differ. (I'm not a steak guy, so don't have a view on that one.) Island Creek Oyster Bar is the type of place that "give[s] New England seafood the great reputation it has today"? Actually, the city has been starved for most of my life for a real high quality, high end seafood restaurant. I love B&G Oyster and Neptune Oyster, but both have somewhat limited offerings. Based on what I read about Island Creek -- and I agree that it generally has been getting raves -- I thought we finally would have the seafood restaurant that this city deserves. But when I finally went for the first time last month, I was somewhat disappointed. (That said, I definitely will give it another chance. I hate to write off a place -- particularly one as well regarded as Island Creek -- based on a single visit.)
My point, I guess, is that there's a reason why sites like chowhound.com provide a forum where people can debate the merits of different restaurants, as proposed to pretending one can compile an objective list of only the bests. And given how comprehensive chowhound is, I'm not sure it's worthwhile to try to recreate that forum here.
You make some points that make sense (people are bound to disagree, and yes Neptune is fantastic - I'll add that to the list) and others that are irrelevant. My goal is to grow a list of dining options that offer something unique to Boston or something special that would delight most people. Trust me, I've been in the business long enough that I know what makes people happy. I get the 80/20 rule - I know that the above options will make the majority of folks happy. Should you choose to side on the minority and disagree, please go ahead and voice your opinion below with concrete observations that will allow others to come to their own conclusion. Considering that in previous posts you say that,
"Some of the best seafood is being served up at Island Creek Oyster Bar...", and here you say you disagree, I'm not sure what to think.
At the end of the day, people come to FT for a wide array of recommendations: flights, hotels, shopping, dining, etc. Why not make it that much more valuable and offer a concise listing of options based on location. Lists that grow to massive proportions lead to confusion.
Originally Posted by lo2e
One suggestion though would be to not have a paragraph with each establishment, but rather one sentence or so depicting what each place has to offer. If the list blossoms (and I hope it does), a paragraph for each place might be a bit too much to "digest" (pun absolutely intended ).
Valid point. I'm thinking I'll keep it as it is for now however. Once a few more places are added, I will absolutely cut it back for all the dining options listed.
Also, I don't believe the link in the Master Thread is working.