Food News: Chowhounders pick their fave restos of 2007

I dread the "Oh, so you're a restaurant critic? OK, then. Where's your favorite restaurant?" question more than I can say.

It's so much more complicated than that, don't you think? Where I go for a date with my husband on a Wednesday night is so different from where I'd take my parents for their anniversary, or where my sister and I would meet for a glass of wine and an affordable dinner. There are great restaurants for each of these occasions, but they're not the same great restaurant.

And that's why the list over at Chowhound is great. Chowhounders didn't just list the five fanciest special-occasionish places in town, they listed their five favorite places, period. The result is a huge cross-section of fancy/cheap/reliable/quirky and so on. It's not the same old list you see everywhere.

No one restaurant received more than five first place votes, which I think speaks to the fact that Seattle has many good to very good restaurants but none that are head over heels better than all the others

This years winner is the same as last years winner... Harvest Vine. Harvest Vine, however, did not receive the most first place votes; that distinction goes to Lark and Union which both had five first place votes. Here's the list.

Harvest Vine 42 points (11 total votes ) {2 first place votes}
Lark 40 (10) {5}
Green Leaf 35 (10) {3}
Union 35 (8) {5}
Salumi 28 (8) {1}
Volterra 26 (8) {4}
Boat Street 25 (6) {3}
Mistral 20 (4) {4}
Tamarind Tree 18(7) {1}
La Carta Oaxaca 18 (6)
Paseo 16 (7)
Sitka and Spruce 15 (3) {3}
Restaurant Zoe 15 (6)
Café Presse 15 (5) {1}

The list goes on, so be sure to check it out.

Doesn't it make you excited about all the great restaurants you've yet to try?

[where: 98101]