The city’s most half-assed Best-Of roundup has just released, to pretty much no fanfare: The AOL City’s Best awards voted on by users and comprising of a list of winners, containing absolutely new editorial material.
Ok, no, seriously. It’s always exciting to win best of something, and while the democratic element of this ensures that crowd favorites like Billy Goat Tavern wins best burger, some of the results are pretty intriguing:
Best Cheap Eats: Pompei, where a slice of pizza’s under $4, a decent sandwich is under $6, and hand-cut gnocchi (drool) comes in under a Hamilton.
Best Chinese Restaurant: Ben Pao. Is this a joke? Maybe AOL subscribers are contractually prohibited from going to Chinatown.
Best Dessert: Eli’s Cheesecake Cafe, which is appropriate given that today is National Cheesecake Day (no,seriously).
Best Fine Dining: David Burke’s Primehouse, which we’re willing to concede is a legitimate contender, but come on: Alinea coming in fifth? After N9NE, among others? Sacrilege.
Best Hot Dog: Portillo’s Hot Dogs. Okay, now they’re just asking for it. This is like saying that a Pizzeria Uno in New Jersey is the best deep-dish in Chicago. We are starting to have our faith in internet democracy shaken.
Best Pizza: Speaking of pizza, the winner here is Home Run Inn. Could’ve done worse.
For the full list, click the phrase that’s about to follow the colon: this one!
[Photo: Eli’s booth at Taste of Chicago, via zesmerelda’s Flickr]
