The Biting The Bay State 1st Annual Awards

That's right, I have decided to bow into the Academy Award fever and make my own awards (so what if they were on Sunday? I can still do them). These awards will honor my favorite eats during the year of 2011 in several categories. Enjoy!

BEST BREAKFAST: Since the only nominee is Metro Diner, I'll give it to them. Still, it was a decent breakfast anyway and it is deserving of something.

BEST LUNCH:
Nominees:
*New England Soup Factory
*Deluxe Station Diner
*Wasabi
*Alfileritos 24

And the winner is... Deluxe Station Diner!

This had everything-good atmosphere, nice service, fitting price and stellar food-that the other nominees lacked. This isn't to say that the other nominees were bad (New England Soup Factory is a close second and Wasabi and Alfileritos have something to them), but honestly, in a circumstance like this, the diner would win every time.

BEST DINNER:
Nominees:
*Botin
*Pizzeria Regina
*Bartley's Burger Cottage
*Trattoria Pulcinella

And the winner is... Botin!

Honestly, this was a tough one. In the end, it came down to which had the best food because all the other one were so close. And honestly, the more enjoyable food I had at was Botin, but once again, the other ones were really, really good, but Botin was just better in the end.

BEST ATMOSPHERE:
*Deluxe Station Diner
*Botin
*Alfileritos 24
*Bartley's Burger Cottage

And the winner is... Alfileritos 24!

Another close one, but Alfileritos should definitely get this one. It had an amazing, honestly, AMAZING atmosphere that blows one away. Yes, it is sort of a maze, but that just added to the atmosphere. It's clean, elegant, refined, and makes you want to stick your head in to see it. And that is exactly how an atmosphere should make you feel.

BEST SERVICE:
*Bartley's Burger Cottage
*Botin
*Trattoria Pulcinella

And the winner is... Botin!

It is really hard to do something like this, as service is really hard to review. But what gave Botin the win is that the service was able to move speedily, diligently and without neglect while being able to tend to a twenty-something large group of tourists to my right. If that doesn't make a good service, I don't know what does.

BEST FOOD (that made up for everything else):
*New England Soup Factory
*Wasabi
*Kouzina

And the winner is... Kouzina!

I decided to add this category to highlight the places I went to where the food rocked, but everything else was less than satisfactory. I don't mean these places are bad, they just have some flaws. Of these three choices, the best food would be Kouzina, it was consistent, fresh, and made up for quite a few of the flaws I encountered at the restaurant. It definitely deserves a mention.

BEST MEAL OF 2011:
*Deluxe Station Diner
*Botin
*Bartley's Burger Cottage
*Demos

And the winner is... Botin!

Just read my review and you'll understand. Botin is perfect. The food, price, atmosphere, service, everything. It nailed it. Botin is by far the best meal I had in 2011, and in the best I've had in my life. And why shouldn't the world's oldest restaurant be number one?

P.S. Don't worry, the next post will be a review, and it's not going to be the only one in a month on the last day of the month. My new year's resolution is to update more often, and I'm going to follow through on it. Trust me, you're going to see much more this year.