Thursday, April 26, 2012

Take on the winner of the Best Diner Competiition

I have worked in New York City for 16 years and for 16 years I have
walked past a diner on 9th avenue and 43rd street which except for one
thing is fairly non-descript The diner seems fine although I don't
recall ever eating there but what is most memorable about it is a huge
tarp sign above it's awning about being voted Best Diner in Manhattan
by The Daily News. This sign has to be 1000 square feet big and only
gives very a vague description of the award although it does thank the
customers for their support.
The issue is that they've had this sign up for at least a decade and
it's an absolute eyesore but that isn't even the biggest problem we
have with it. First of all it is very unclear who actually voted on
this thing; was it some exhaustive thorough undertaking by highly
acclaimed food critics, was it conducted by the regular Daily News
Staff or was it some lame reader survey with 50 responses because
without knowing this, the award is worthless to me. When it comes to
diners I may actually trust a bunch of newsmen over a food critic and
definitely over it's patrons. Diner food is about grease, coffee,
quantity and speed and nothing else. Cleanliness, quality of meat,
wine pairings and healthy options take a back seat and we all know the
ballot boxes get stuffed of you leave it to the general population to
decide

But more importantly there has to be some statute of limitations when
it comes to these awards, this thing has been up for most of my adult
life It's due time for either The Daily News to award a new winner
or if they have, it is time for this joint to hang up a new sign
because it's been hanging around off 42nd street for longer than a
bunch of guys I went to high-school with and it looks just as beat up.

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