2007 Toledo Dining Awards

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published October 3rd 2007

Yes, dear readers, it's finally here - the best goshdarned restaurants in the area as voted on by you! Hundreds of you submitted ballots by both e-mail and snail mail and we want to thank you from the bottom of our gluttonous little hearts. This is the second year we've done the Dining Awards and we think we may onto something here, because we got such a great response. Thank you for participating ... and keep on eating locally.

Best Old Restaurant
Established in 1921, Mancy’s Steaks roasts the competition for the second year in a row as it’s voted the best of the oldies. Meanwhile, Byblos falafels its way into second place with its delectable Lebanese cuisine.

Best All-You-Can-Eat
Best bring a bib! The Golden Corral once again lassos the top spot for the best place to chow down endless amounts of grub, while the Hometown Buffet rolls into second place with its heavenly home-style cooking.

Best First Date Restaurant
Even if the date sucks, the food surely won’t if you take your prospective partner to Mancy’s Steaks. And if you want to show off your moves on the dance floor? Take your date to runner-up Avenue Bistro where you can swing and sway to live jazz every weekend.

Best Last Date Restaurant
Forget class when you’re dumping someone’s ass. At least that’s what our readers seem to think, choosing McDonald’s as the best place to end it, followed closely by the ever-classy Taco Bell.

Best Place to Have Dinner With Your Secret Lover
Our naughty readers like to sneak around in style by taking their undercover lovers to dine on the famous French fare of Fifi’s restaurant. And when they’re not canoodling there, they can be found cozying up in the dark corners of Murphy’s Place or Calvino’s.

Best Breakfast for a Hangover
Had one too many beers last night? Well our readers suggest the Star Diner as the best place to get a hearty breakfast and cup of coffee to clear your head (Of course you may want some things to remain fuzzy.) Café Marie scrambled its way into second place.

Best Dessert
Northwest Ohio has several sweet spots that will satisfy your sugar cravings; Diva, Avenue Bistro and Myles Baker Street all tied for offering the best confections, followed closely by Stella’s. If you are dining at any one of these joints, you can have your cake and it eat too!

Best Place to Hang Out With Beautiful People
Mancy’s Steaks sizzles as the hottest place to hangout with the finest folk, while Diva, Navy Bistro and Georgio’s hold a three-way tie for second place. Did someone say “three-way”?

Best Place to Take the Kids
For the second year in a row, Red Robin flies in as the best place for some family fun with fab food. If gourmet burgers don’t rock your robins, then check out Chuck E. Cheese, which scampered into second place.

Best Take-Out to Pretend You Made Yourself
We’re not exactly sure how this qualifies, but our readers seem to think Let’s Dish deserves the top spot in this category. At this avant-garde eatery they provide you with everything you need to make multiple meals. It’s a damn good idea so we’ll let it slide. Churchill’s steals second place.

Best Place to Have Dinner Before a Show
The Elephant Bar and Sebastiano’s can take a bow; they tied for the best place to dine before a concert, play or movie, while Byblos and Georgio’s sashayed their way to a tie for second place.

Best Place to ‘Screw the Diet’
Nothing is as dangerously delicious as some Mexican grub (Burritos and fried ice cream anyone?). That’s why readers chose El Camino Real as the place to throw health-conscious caution to the wind. If that’s not enough, perhaps you can load up on some scrumptious carbs at the closest Olive Garden. Dr. Atkins is rolling over in his grave!

Best Expense Account Meal
When it’s time to bleed the bosses dry, our readers are heading to some fancy spots to spend their companies’ cash. Mancy’s Steaks tops the list as the best place to “conduct business,” followed by the Rouge Bistro.

Hottest Waitstaff
The lovely ladies at the Star Diner once again garner this prestigious award. Luckily, the food is pretty damn good too. Strutting into second place is the City Diner, another popular “eggs-n-legs” joint.

Best Place for 3 a.m. Munchies
Why Taco Bell sounds so good after a night of partying is a mystery to us all, but our readers agree that it’s the best place to appease your insatiable appetite in the wee hours of the morning. And if chalupas and gorditas won’t quell your hunger, head over to the nearest Waffle House, our runner-up.

Best Road Trip
When our readers feel the need to get outta Dodge they roll on down to the Country Charm Café in Metamora (about a half-hour west of Toledo). For cheap, choice country cooking, it’s worth the extra gas. Feel like going north? Runner-up The Common Grill, is an upscale American bistro located in Chelsea, Mich., just west of Ann Arbor.

Place We Wish Was Still Open
Our readers are still reeling from the loss of Matthew’s Creative Cuisine, which closed over a year and a half ago, leaving Toledoans longing for their mouthwatering martinis and fine food (Chef Matthew Weston has opened up a new restaurant at the same location called The Mustard Seed). The Cooker comes in second as a long-lost love of our readers.

Best Waterfront Restaurant
The Navy Bistro makes waves as the best place to dine on the water, while last year’s winner, Real Seafood Co., splashes into second place. Ahh, there’s nothing like the smell of the Maumee River to compliment your first-class meal.

Best Happy Hour
Nothing cures a bad day at work like a cold beer and some greasy grub. That’s why our readers once again chose The Distillery as their favorite place to drown their workday blues. If you’re in the mood for a real fiesta then El Camino Real’s margaritas are sure to make you smile.

Best Toledo Bar
Doc Watson’s takes the cake — or rather the keg — as Toledo’s best bar, featuring great music and a friendly atmosphere. Second place goes to The Blarney, which serves up some of the best brews in town with good Irish eats.

Best Sylvania Bar
The ever-flowing libations of the Village Inn keep patrons coming back to this rustic watering hole which claims first place for the second year in a row. Runner-up Ventura’s blends up wonderfully wicked margaritas.

Best Maumee Bar
The Village Idiot reigns supreme as Maumee’s best bar thanks to its live entertainment and award-winning pizza, while its across-the-street neighbor Dale’s stumbles in as the runner-up.

Best Perrysburg Bar
Our Perrysburg readers know how to drink in style, choosing Stella’s as their most beloved boozery, while The Rose and Thistle weaves its way into second place. Just try not to get too drunk and forget about these restaurants' top-notch cuisine.

Best Bowling Green Bar
With so many bars to choose from in BG’s downtown strip it’s no wonder our readers couldn’t make up their minds. Tying for first place are Howard’s Club H (known for its kick-ass concerts) and Brathaus (known for its amaretto-inspired legal joints). Junction Bar & Grill and Nate and Wally’s Fishbowl swam into second place.

Best Bartender
Marlene Lederman at Ansara’s apparently pours one hell of a drink, because our readers elected her the best of the area’s libation gurus.

Hottest Bartender
Emily Hayward at Doc Watsons was voted most babelicious. We’d love to show you a pic, but she’s on vacation through next week.

Best New Restaurant, Best Chef, Best Decor

Rouge Bistro

If you drop steak tartare on your blue jeans at Rouge Bistro, we promise we won’t tell anyone.

Boasting “midwestern comfort with french flare” is the specialty at this classy Sylvania hotspot that swept three categories this year: Best New Restaurant, Best Chef and Best Decor.

For the design, co-owners Steve Turner and Steve Velker left their vision up to noted designer Giorgio Bakatsias, who perfectly crafted the atmosphere. Even if the dress code isn’t strictly suit and tie, this place reeks of first dates and marriage proposals. All the ingredients are there-perfect mood lighting, intimate spots for couples and a great wine list.

Pairing food and wine can be difficult, but pairing chefs can be even more so.

Executive chef Tim Childers and sous chef Dan Yeager come from extensive culinary backgrounds and have crafted the menu accordingly. With the menu changing seasonally, first timers can choose old favorites or opt for something new.

General Manager Brandon Herriott makes sure that the progression is seamless, “If you become stagnant, people will go right by you, we’re constantly trying to evolve,” he said. Word of mouth was sufficient for the first year of business and the buzz surrounding Rouge Bistro is still simmering since their opening last November.

The restaurant also features events like international wine tasting and banquet halls that have been used for casual events as well. Every day specials for wine like Thursdays “women only” martini specials not to mention a live jazz trio on weekends make this classy restaurant a traditional staple in Toledo fine dining.

Reservations can be made online at www.thebistrorouge.com. 419-824-5890.

Runners-Up:

Best Tea Room

Clara J's

Clara J’s Tea Room, located in a renovated historic Maumee residence, is a special place to enjoy delicious food, fine teas, a charming atmosphere and a touch of history.

Rebecca Jaessing, owner and self-proclaimed tea diva says the history behind the restaurant and the Georgian style home built in 1833 brings another dimension to Clara J’s distinctive dining experience. “We specialize in proper teas, but it’s also about having a place to go where ... [customers] can visit uninterrupted, in a lovely environment, in a quiet, restful place and relax, enjoy good food, and friendship. That is what it’s all about.”

Named for Clara Jaessing Keller, direct descendent of the early Maumee settlers, this tea shop, restaurant and boutique is deeply rooted in the history of its founding city. Born in 1904, Keller grew up working in her kitchen. At a time when few women attained a higher education, she enrolled at Baldwin-Wallace College to study the culinary arts. Utilizing her education and adept business mind, Keller helped establish her own restaurant in Maumee. Today, Keller’s niece Rebecca Jaessing dedicates the restaurant in name and memory to her inspiring aunt.

The menu features homemade gourmet delicacies made fresh every day in the kitchen and specialty teas that customers can’t get at just any store or restaurant. “Our menu changes weekly because here [at the restaurant] we are a scratch kitchen.”

Clara J’s is a perfect place for networking, parties, showers, special events or shopping at the adjoining Neapolitan Gift Shop in addition to lunches, Tuesday through Saturday from 11:00 until 2:00. For reservations or additional information, call 419.897.0219 or visit www.clarajsat219.com.

Runner-Up: Elaine's and Sweet Shalom (tie)

Best Greasy Spoon

Schmucker’s

Doug Schmucker, third generation owner of the family restaurant bearing his name on Reynolds Road in Toledo continues to serve the home-cooked specialties that earned the diner its fame.

“I love people; beyond good service, we want our customers to experience the feeling of being part of the family here,” says Schmucker.

Originally established in 1948, Schmucker’s restaurant’s retro style and welcoming feel creates an atmosphere unlike any other in the greater Toledo area. Great customer service, food made from scratch fresh from the kitchen, and an authentic family-friendly atmosphere makes Schmucker’s a truly special place to enjoy a meal.

“Our customers always say ‘don’t ever change [the restaurant], there’s nothing like it anywhere else,” says Schmucker. “My grandfather founded this place on three principles; to provide excellent food at a reasonable price and to make sure the customers don’t ever go away hungry.” Today, after more than sixty successful years of business, the restaurant continues to operate under those dictates.

Specialties at the unique diner include breakfasts, homestyle dinners and the famous homemade pies, boasting more than twenty flavors, baked fresh in the kitchen every morning. “My personal favorite,” says Schmucker, “is Dutch Apple pie, served warm with vanilla ice cream.”

Schmucker’s Restaurant serves American comfort food for breakfast, lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday, 5 am to 11 pm, and carry-out orders are available. For more information call 419-535-9116 or visit Schmucker’s 2103 North Reynolds Rd.

Runner-Up: Molly's

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