The Best of Treasure Valley (Boise, Meridian: house, high school, live)

[kimbercutes824]

There is a restaurant listed under the sushi category and it lists a sushi place called Big City Sushi. I have never heard of this place and when I google it nothing comes up.


This thread can be used for any discussion about the Best of Treasure Valley voting and results.

[enigmadsm]

Best Sushi in Boise...Downtown called Shige's.

I've been to IOU a few times, not quite as quality but a good priced all you can eat with nice sized rolls to

/thread

[ramenfan]

Are you talking about the Statesman's Best of Treasure Valley poll? This year's poll is still open for voting, and I don't see any mention of a Big City Sushi from last year.

Best Sushi | Best of Treasure Valley | Idaho Statesman (http://www.idahostatesman.com/2009/07/10/828969/best-sushi.html - broken link)

[Syringaloid]

The problem with these types of polls is that usually chain lovers and a small and narrow minded part of the population will answer the questions. I don't put a lot of trust in the outcome because I have this deep burning feeling that a lot of the people answering are high school kids and adults who think Olive Garden is a gift from God. I am a major foodie snob, and when it comes to the best food in Boise the winners will always be the locally owned restaurants that cook food from scratch and use as many local ingredients as possible. The people who tend to like the local scene will not waste their time taking part of the Best Of in the Idaho Statesman. The people who love the chain restaurants in the strip malls in Meridian and West Boise will answer and that is why some really nasty chain restaurants will be listed among the winners.

[ramenfan]

Originally Posted by Syringaloid

The problem with these types of polls is that usually chain lovers and a small and narrow minded part of the population will answer the questions. I don't put a lot of trust in the outcome because I have this deep burning feeling that a lot of the people answering are high school kids and adults who think Olive Garden is a gift from God. I am a major foodie snob, and when it comes to the best food in Boise the winners will always be the locally owned restaurants that cook food from scratch and use as many local ingredients as possible. The people who tend to like the local scene will not waste their time taking part of the Best Of in the Idaho Statesman. The people who love the chain restaurants in the strip malls in Meridian and West Boise will answer and that is why some really nasty chain restaurants will be listed among the winners.

Heh, well you just said what I had pretty much wanted to say, and I can get pretty snobby about it too. I don't put any stock into them either and trust the judgments more from real food critics and people on places like Yelp and Chowhound, but I will admit it does aggravate me to see results like McDonalds winning best fries three years running. Or to see what passes as a best Mexican restaurant around here (Chapalas hardly qualifies for that). Going to Sizzler is probably a big night out for these voters. Too many people with lazy or non-cultured, uneducated palettes stuffing those ballots. I think people would get a good laugh if these results made the rounds to some of the bigger cities.

What cheapens the survey more is that you can vote as often as you want, so as long as you do it only once a day.

[grmi66]

To play the devil's advocate, maybe the reason the chains win is because Boise does not have any truly great restaurants. Hold on now, don't jump on me yet - let me explain. I'm not a food snob, but I do like to hit locally owned restaurants as much as possible. When I lived in Phoenix there were tons of locally owned restaurants that made you go "wow, I need to tell everyone I know about this place!". But here in Boise, I've been to a lot of solidly good restaurants, but none of them made we want to drag my friends and family immediately.

I always tell our visitors that Boise has a lot of good restaurants, but not any that are great. About the only one that is unique and borders on greatness is the new Vietnamese deli over on Orchard & Franklin. To me a great restaurant is one that you can't find anywhere else in the country.

Last summer I went around to all of the local hamburger joints to try and find the best hamburger. Sad to say, but Red Robin beat them all. You could tell that all of the local joints got their supplies from the same place and there was not much variation between the different restaurants. All the places made okay hamburgers, not a bad one in the bunch, but nothing to write home about.

[grmi66]

Upon reflection, what I do have to brag about is Boise's beer culture. Been traveling a lot for work the past year and have been to almost every region of the country. There is a better selection of beer at my local grocery store than there is at most of the specialty beer and wine stores that I have gone to. Of all of the breweries that I have gone to around the country, Sockeye Brewery in west Boise has the best beer. Had some family from out of town and we decided to find the best beer in Boise and we kept coming back to Sockeye.

[Syringaloid]

Originally Posted by ramenfan

Heh, well you just said what I had pretty much wanted to say, and I can get pretty snobby about it too. I don't put any stock into them either and trust the judgments more from real food critics and people on places like Yelp and Chowhound, but I will admit it does aggravate me to see results like McDonalds winning best fries three years running. Or to see what passes as a best Mexican restaurant around here (Chapalas hardly qualifies for that). Going to Sizzler is probably a big night out for these voters. Too many people with lazy or non-cultured, uneducated palettes stuffing those ballots. I think people would get a good laugh if these results made the rounds to some of the bigger cities.

What cheapens the survey more is that you can vote as often as you want, so as long as you do it only once a day.

I can be pretty vocal sometimes
The Boise Weekly best of winners are more indicative of what makes the restaurant scene in Boise so unique for a city this size. In their categories the local establishments usually win because a certain demographic group of the population is voting in The Weeklys surveys vs. the demographic that votes for the Statesman surveys. Food & Wine and several other food oriented magazines have written about the impressive variety and quality of restaurants, mainly the locally owned in the city..mainly the downtown scene and I agree again that the results from the Statesman do not reflect the "best of" restaurant scene. I have lived in a few larger cities and they do not hold a candle to what Boise offers, so I feel fortunate there are a lot of great local restaurants and diversity to keep my mouth happy At the same time I realize that Boise is not going to offer what other larger cities offer. When friends and family visit me here one of the major impressions Boise has left on them is the dining scene, moreso the downtown dining scene.
I lived in London for a while, loved eating curry, and Bombay Indian in the Idanha is just as good as what I could get in London imo. Barbacoa is so unique and delicious and I cannot wait until they re-open this fall. Red Feather is one of the best casual/bistro restaurants I have eaten at in any city, and Shige has a fantastic new upper scale Japanese steak house and Saketini bar which is pretty impressive for a smaller isolated city such as Boise to have. The new Twigs wine bar/restaurant in the basement by the Hoff Building is really impressive and tasty too. Chaing Mai and Thai Nalyn are my favorites for Thai but I have yet to find a really impressive Mexican restaurant. I hear the one in Kuna is the best in the valley but I have not eaten there yet.
but, Cafe Vicino is one of the best restaurants I have ever eaten at, I met a few friends there last night for dinner and was blown away, so I have to include their website because this place is amazing. Cafe Vicino

[snowsurfer]

LOL, where I live the locals voted Wendy's as the best Chili !!!!!! WTH?

[LillyLillyLilly]

Originally Posted by grmi66

About the only one that is unique and borders on greatness is the new Vietnamese deli over on Orchard & Franklin.

Hey grmi66, I walk by there all the time but haven't stopped in yet. What can you recommend to a person new to Vietnamese food?