Dining Guide - the Source Weekly

Last week the Source Weekly published their Dining Guide for 2008 complete with their restaurant of the year and their favorite 100 restaurants in Central Oregon that provide dinnertime table service. Sounds good...is there a restaurant in Bend that provides dinnertime table service that is NOT in the list?

Not counting the chain restaurants like Applebees or Outback...I can only think of La Costa Azul as not making the list but I don't know if they're even open anymore. So if basically every restaurant is in this list, why are they referring to the Dining Guide as "100 of Our Favorite Dining Spots?" I mean, that's all there is.

Before I get too far into my rant on the Dining Guide, let me say that I like the Source Weekly. I like that it is free in print and ONLINE (Bulletin). I like the editors that I've met and or emailed with. I think all in all, they do a good job for being advertiser funded. I am going to complain about the Dining Guide for a few issues but all in all, I think it is a good list of restaurants that serve dinner, offer tables and chairs, and employ waitresses.

So hopefully anything I complain about will be viewed as constructive criticism.

#1 - The restaurant of the year - I don't get it. What is the criteria for this sort of honor. Marz will have the plaque in the window for the next few years but what does it mean? Why or how did they beat out the rest of the competition? Because they "broke the steak and potatoes mold 10 years ago" tells me that they should have won restaurant of the year ten years ago. This isn't the hall of fame where your name comes up for eligibility years after retirement.

#2 - Why bother with Standouts and Regrets. We all know that the paper is advertiser funded and 90% of the ads in the Dining Guide are restaurants. So why have a Regrets line if all you're going to say is "can be a bit noisy", "can be a bit rowdy", "a bit inconsistent", "it's hard to extract yourself from those comfy chairs"....OOOO you sure taught them a lesson with that one. Every regret is a bit this or a bit that or could be this or maybe a little more that. Man up and just say it. "It's flippin noisy as hell in there. Makes my ears bleed." Or you could say "Sure they make their own beer but the food is served in plastic baskets, why are they on this list?"

#3 - Celina's Latin Bistro opened on Friday...two days AFTER the Dining Guide was published. Shouldn't a restaurant open before it gets a good review. I mean sure, the "regret" listed is "untested menu" but if it is untested, then why is it even listed in the Dining Guide? Who wrote the description?

#4 - La Rosa hasn't moved to Northwest Crossing yet.

#5 - Jake's Diner doesn't offer the Elvis Cinnamon Roll anymore.

#6 - "the most comprehensive and honest assessment of the Central Oregon dining scene you'll find anywhere around - guaranteed." See #3. I love coming across guarantees like this. Reminds me of Tommy Boy - "...I can take a shit in a box, and slap a guarantee on it, ...but all you're getting is a guaranteed piece of shit."

#7 - Prineville only has two restaurants listed. I mean come on! Oh wait, no, that's actually accurate. The Prineville Princess says that Barney Prine's is great but Club Pioneer is "glorified Sizzler." Isn't there a Chuck E Cheese in Prineville? There should be.

You can read the online version of the Dining Guide at:

http://www.tsweekly.com/index.php?option=com_mtree&task=listcats&cat_id=42&Itemid=142

Currently it is the 2007 version online but hopefully that will be updated soon.

The Source Weekly
http://www.tsweekly.com/