Jeff’s Top Five

By: Mr. Wilson on December 3, 2010
Many of you are aware that Jeff Korbelik has been doing his "Jeff's Top 5" feature in the Ground Zero for the past year or so. Each week he features his five favorite "somethings" in the Lincoln dining scene. It could be the best restaurants in a certain category, the best of a particular dish, or whatever. Now he's ending the series with his top five restaurants overall, but he's doing them one at a time. Number five on his list is Billy's. I'm trying to guess what the next four will be. Trouble is, it's not clear what his criteria are. For example he mentions the word "favorite" at one point, but he also uses the phrase "top 5". To me those aren't necessarily the same thing. The restaurants that I think are the "best" aren't necessarily the same as those that I would list as my "favorite". Favorite foods and restaurants are deeply personal and, as a result, sometimes wholly irrational. That being said, what do you think Korbelik's next four choices will be? Will he stick to the same "fine dining" theme? If so, he might finish out his list with the likes of jtk, Dish, The Oven, Blue Orchid, Bread & Cup, and Venue. Perhaps he'll be daring and mix up the genres, adding in local favorites like Paul's, a Morales restaurant (El Toro, La Mexicana, etc.), and Tina's. Or perhaps he'll really go over the top and mirror KFOR's "Best of Lincoln" poll and choose Amigo's, Valentino's, and Red Lobster. Any guesses?

Comments

See what your friends and neighbors have to say about this.

Nikkidemas
December 3, 2010 at 2:59PM

I think it’ll include:
- The Oven
- Lazlo’s
- a good BBQ place
- a fast food favorite (for good measure)
- Wild card:  Parthenon

I don’t visit the LJS site often, but I was a fan of the Top 5.

JT
December 3, 2010 at 3:34PM

I bet he sticks with fine dining.

Oven
Dish
JTK
Venue

Moses
December 3, 2010 at 3:48PM

He always seems to stray out of town and include the Black Crow in Beatrice in his lists.

julie
December 3, 2010 at 5:13PM

Jeff rarely lays out his standards.
For example, his top 5 ethnic restaurant ...what does ethnic mean? Stuff non-white people cook?  Greek but not Italian? What about French? 

And he clearly holds prejudice against chains/franchises for no obvious reason. It’s not like he has chosen to exclude them categorically because they do appear in his lists.  I guess maybe I am naivee for even suggesting that great food and highly successful business models are not necessarily mutually exclusive. 

That said, I understand his purpose was just to name-check as many restaraunts as he could.  I don’t have a problem with that at all, but his lists would seem to read better if either he removed “top” from the title or provided some sort of insight into his rationale for ranking.  Iron Chef judge, he is not.

Mr. Wilson
December 3, 2010 at 5:17PM

Good point, Moses.

Fletch
December 3, 2010 at 8:47PM

I agree. I think the lists are just an excuse to drum up comments on the LJS website. There’s no rhyme or reason to most of them.

Mr. T
December 4, 2010 at 4:42PM

I enjoy Jeff’s lists. Its a purely subjective judgment on his part. I like them as they sometimes identify places I had never considered or even heard from.

Kevin
December 6, 2010 at 3:24PM

I agree with Mr. T. on this one. Restaurant ratings are necessarily subjective. There’s really nothing about them that can be objective: atmosphere, quality of service, taste…these things are nearly impossible to quantify.

Remember, the column is called “Jeff’s Top 5” and not “the best” or “everyone’s favorite.” There really is no such thing. It’s what Jeff likes. I really have enjoyed reading them and we’ve checked out several of his favorites that we hadn’t been to before. Some of them are favorites of ours now!

Share your thoughts with the community.

Commenting is no longer permitted on this post.