Best of The Burg: The winners
By Liz Barry on Feb. 04, 2009
Complete list of winners follows story
Independent businesses fared well against national chains in this year’s Best of the Burg contest.
Starbucks, which won best cup of coffee for the past two years, didn’t even make the top three. White Hart Café on Main Street ran away with first place, followed by drive-through favorite Joe Beans in second, and a tie for third place between Starlight Café and The Good Cherry Coffee & Tea.
Olive Garden, voted best Italian food last year, got knocked out by Isabella’s Italian Trattoria, which scored first place by a landslide, followed by two other mom-and-pops in second and third, La Villa Da Toto and Monte Carlo Italian Restaurant.
Barnes & Noble was ousted as best bookstore by Givens Books and Little Dickens by a generous margin.
Among the returning local favorites were La Carreta Mexican Restaurant (best Mexican food), King’s Island Restaurant (best Asian food), Bull Branch (best bar atmosphere), The Cavalier (best French fries) and the Weenie Stand (best hot dog).
Reigning chain champs were T.G.I. Fridays (best happy hour), Buffalo Wild Wings (best wings), Red Lobster Seafood Restaurant (best seafood) and Five Guys Burgers and Fries (best hamburger).
Two new categories were added to the ballot this year, best new business (Speakertree Records on Fifth Street) and biggest news story of 2009 (Obama elected president). With food and gas prices on the rise, it’s almost impossible to find a meal under $5 in town, so we changed the category to “best meal under $10.” Last year, McDonald’s won, this year it was La Carretta Mexican.
Two first-time winners got double accolades. Rivermont Pizza won for best beer selection and best pizza. Shoemakers Fine Dining, which opened in 2007 in The Bluffwalk Center, took first for best fine dining and best restaurant atmosphere.
This year’s ballot included open-ended questions, which elicited a smattering of strange, silly and snarky answers.
Some people have very specific ideas of “What’s the best thing to do in this town.” The most colorful answers were “drag race,” “read comic books and/or visit Marcy the Opossum at the Nature Zone” and “drink and commingle with persons of sexual interest.”
For the question “What does Lynchburg lack,” some of the standout responses were “snooty French restaurant and a strip club,” “indoor water park,” “an ocean,” “a decent gay population” and “Chuck E. Cheese.” Cynicism seeped to the surface in this category; several people simply wrote “culture;” another wrote, “The question should be, ‘What doesn’t Lynchburg lack.’”
Here is the complete list of winners. Thanks to the 165 people who voted. Some categories came down to a two- or three-vote margin, so every vote counted.
The Winners
Best new business:
1 Speakertree Records
2 The Good Cherry Coffee & Tea
3 TIE: Folk/ WaterStone/ Rivermont
Pizza
Best cup of coffee:
1 White Hart Café
2 Joe Beans
3 TIE: Starlight Café / The Good Cherry
Coffee & Tea
Best beer selection:
1 Rivermont Pizza
2 Vines
3 WaterStone
Best bartender:
1 Ashleigh Kubik
2 Sam Gravitt(Bull Branch)
3 Faith Austin at Kirkley Hotel &
Conference Center
Best bar atmosphere:
1 Bull Branch
2 Rivermont Pizza
3 The Neighbors Place
Best happy hour:
1 T.G.I. Fridays
2 The Neighbors Place
3 La Carreta Mexican Restaurant
Best winery:
1 TIE: Rebec Vineyards & Winery and Veritas Vineyard & Winery
3 Peaks of Otter Winery
Best pizza:
1 Rivermont Pizza
2 WaterStone
3 TIE: The Original Italian Pizza &
Restaurant and Upper Crust Pizza
Co.
Best wings:
1 Buffalo Wild Wings
2 Moe’s Southern Style Hot Wings
3 Mudpuppy’s Pub
Best BBQ:
1 Daddy Bim’s Barbeque
2 Silver Pig Barbeque
3 Dickie’s Barbeque Pit
Best Italian restaurant:
1 Isabella’s Italian Trattoria
2 La Villa Da Toto
3 Monte Carlo Italian Restaurant
Best Asian restaurant:
1 King’s Island Restaurant
2 TIE: Jade Place Restaurant and
Thai 99
Best french fries:
1 The Cavalier
2 Five Guys
3 McDonald’s
Best hot dog:
1 Weenie Stand
2 TIE: Moore’s Country Store and
Dave’s Dawg
Best hamburger:
1 Five Guys Burgers and Fries
2 The Cavalier
3 Texas Inn
Best vegetarian meal:
1 Milan Indian Cuisine
2 TIE: Dish, Hot & Cold Café, King’s
Island Restaurant
Best Mexican restaurant:
1 La Carreta Mexican
Restaurant
2 Pueblo Viejo
3 Mi Patron Mexican Restaurant
Best seafood restaurant:
1 Red Lobster Seafood
Restaurant
2 Blue Marlin Seafood Market
3 Harbor Inn Seafood
Best dessert:
1 Main Street Eatery
2 Dish
3 Charley’s Restaurant
Best fine dining:
1 Shoemakers Fine Dining
2 Dish
3 Crown Sterling
Best restaurant atmosphere:
1 Shoemakers Fine Dining
2 Dish
3 WaterStone
Best meal under $10:
1 La Carreta Mexican
2 Texas Inn
3 Big Lick Tropical Grill
Best local band:
1 The Worx
2 Blue Newt
3 Steal the Prize
Best live music venue:
1 Cattle Annie’s Restaurant &
Entertainment Club
2 Speakertree Records
3 Jazz Street Grill
Best karaoke:
1 Local Pub
2 Charley’s Restaurant
3 TIE: Cattle Annie’s Restaurant &
Entertainment Club/ Big Lick’s
Tropical Grill
Best bookstore:
1 Givens Books and Little Dickens
2 Barnes & Noble
3 Inklings Books and The White Hart
Café
Best place to see art:
1 The Academy of Fine Arts
2 Riverviews Artspace
3 The Maier Museum of Art
Best place for shopping bargains:
1 T.J. Maxx
2 Goodwill Industries
3 Ross Dress for Less
Best local attraction:
1 Amazement Square
2 Five-way tie: Old City Cemetery,
Poplar Forest, D-Day Memorial,
Peaks of Otter, Monument
Terrace
Biggest news story of 2009:
1 Barack Obama elected
president
2 The economy
3 Obama visits the Burg
Best thing to do in this town:
1 Eat
2 Hiking/biking/walking Blackwater
Creek Trails
3 Drink, with responses varying
from “get wasted” to “enjoy alcoholic
beverages in moderation”
Best annual event:
1 The Virginia Wine & Garlic
Festival
2 Kaleidoscope
3 Virginia 10 Miler
Lynchburg’s best kept secret:
1 Downtown/ Fifth Street
2 Premier Room
3 TIE: Old City Cemetery and The White Hart Café
What does Lynchburg lack?
1 Nightlife/ more entertainment
options (dance club, more bars,
water park, art house movie
theater)
2 “Real” or “better” music venue
3 Civic center
COMMENTS
I lived in Lynchburg 42 years ago and, while it had its charms and rewards even back then, it was a tough place to be a young single. I’m happy to learn it has developed some night life yet still values one-of-a-kind restaurants run by local people who care.
It’s not surprising that last year’s winners didn’t even show up in the top three finalists this year. People tend to get bored of the same place and the same products and they search for diversity. That is why some restaurants change their profiles over time, to offer variety and diversity. This is a marketing secret that keeps business going over the time.