I don't think this has been done and maybe it falls under a different blog's subject matter, but how about some sort of top ten or hot 10 happy hours? My husband and I are always looking for good happy hour spots -- food wise and drink wise -- and struggle to find good places in Baltimore.

I think that's an excellent idea. I'm happy to claim it right for this blog. EL

How about a top ten on best deals in nice restaurants?

For example, Oceanaire has a special in July - 4 courses - $32.95. And the food, atmosphere and service there are exceptional! Will be heading out with a girlfriend to take advantage next week.

I like this topic, too. It's narrower than just "bet deals," which makes it more interesting. Thoughts? Of course, Restaurant Week will skew this, so it should probably be done in August. EL

How about Top Ten Cocktail Garnishes? I love a drink with a snack!

Hmmm ... Top Ten Girls Night Out or Top Ten Places to Get Good Cheese ...

Which is worse, I wonder: getting in trouble with my wife or my physician??

Oh please do the Top 10 Happy Hours! Best drink specials! Best food specials! Best atmosphere! The criteria are endless! You could do the best HH's for each day of the week!! *slowly taking finger off of exclamation point button*
I'll go back to work now.

I'm for top 10 cheese places and nominate Atwater's. The "cheese lady" really knows her stuff, and they don't stock the "same old stuff" all the time. The selections change often enough that you can sample a lot of different kinds of cheese.

There are only three of us for "girls' night out," and we usually pick a chain that doesn't care how long we stay, as long as we're still consuming something.

In lieu of Hot 10, some suggestions:
Quality 10
Not the Worst 10
Could Do Worse 10
Pretty Good 10
Above Average 10
Adequate 10
Adjudicated 10
Decidedly Better than Mediocre 10
Starting Point 10
Suggestion 10
Suggestive 10
Bo Derek

How about the Top Ten Places to Eat Cheese with your Girlfriends?

This just made me laugh (QTMS then LOL). Did you ask for Top Ten ideas? No, you asked for input for an idea to loosen the yoke of Top Tennitis. Go for it. Hot Ten scans better on the front page of whatever newspaper this is. Different is better, better is better, hot is better. HOT TEN!

I am in one of those moods where I just feel like swearing and rambling a lot for fun, so I must leave you now.

HOT TEN!

But first, in the interest of being oblivious to this particular post, I am going to tap three times on my warm can of Mr. Pibb and reproduce one of the most swearific and best speeches in movie history with all the swear words replaced with "teddybear". And if you hear someone repeating this speech in a bar tonight with a Scottish accent, that's me.

I hate being Scottish. We're the lowest of the teddybearing low, the scum of the earth, the most wretched, servile, miserable, pathetic trash that was ever teddybear-pooped into civilization. Some people hate the English, but I don't. They're just wankers. We, on the other hand, are colonized by wankers. We can't even pick a decent culture to be colonized by. We are ruled by effete teddybear-holes. It's a teddybear-poop state of affairs and all the fresh air in the world will not make any teddybearing difference.

How awesome would a Trainspotting puppet show be? Teddybearing awesome!

Although I'm glad to get suggestions, and I'm squirreling them away. I'm almost down to the bottom of the barrel, which is top ten bagel places, a post I'll do and then shoot myself in the head. EL

I like the Adequate 10.

Most of the Top 10 places are in the city. I don't know if the Sandboxers are mostly city residents, or if there is any way to even find out, but many times the 'burbs are pretty much neglected.
If there are enough Sandboxers spread out over the metro area, we could expand the Top 10 to cover specific areas. That would spread out the Top 10's for quite a while.
Then we could revisit some of the other Top 10's and expand on the answers by including more 'burb locations.

Susan WNAJ, if your idea takes flight, I can cover what my Bostonian niece calls "one of those big rectangular states out west."

Adequate 10: those places where you don't want to spend a lot, you don't want to cook (read: stop and shop, then go home and cook), you're already in the car, anyway, so what's adequate? Where can you go that you won't hate yourself after you pay the bill.

The "Adequate 10" reminds me of an old Dilbert character named "Phil, the Prince of Insufficient Light".

When I used to go out a lot with "the girls", Amicci's in Little Italy was the best place. They gave us a room to ourselves (our group numbers from about 10-15 depending on who's on vacations, etc), and let us have the time to eat, drink and hang afterwards. Plus they have enormous servings that everyone could taste and share. We tried a lot of haunts but pretty much settled on that one because it was amendable to our needs. Plus that Shrimp thing in the bread bowl! To die for!

Sarah B., see my post on the Top 10 Places to Get a Sandwich . . .

We should go to a top 11 list. You see, most blokes, you know, will be go to ten. You're on ten here. Where can you go from there? Where? What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do? We go to 11. It's one better.

But I love TTT.

Personally, I like matt's idea of the Bo Derek List. Her poster still adorns the back of my bedroom door. Those beads were certainly ahead of her time. I'm disappointed in myself for not thinking of it first, but I guess after all these years I take her for granted. (sigh). Cheers, matt.

RoCK, you are being ridiculous, you know this blog only goes to 10. Perhaps you should go back to your job as a haberdasher

I like the idea of going to 11! Very loud.

"Hot Ten" just sounds like trendy, contentless jargon to me. It is just silly. Top 10 is, too, but at least it is old and traditional, like Easter egg hunts.

I like the idea of an Adequate 10. There are times when I just want decent food at a decent price.

What I'm hearing is that EL thinks the Top 10 Tuesday thing is getting stale (and boring), and she wants something else to go on the first web page and suck people in. A gateway post, so to speak. Unfortunately, I'm not coming up with anything. Focusing on a neighbourhood or even a block or two area? Adding voting, so folks could come back to see if their favourite sandwich shop is now too trendy to like? Contests where the prize is a guest Top 10?

The "Adequate 10" reminds me of an old Dilbert character named "Phil, the Prince of Insufficient Light".

"Remember, mediocrity is not a mortal sin" -- How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Robert of CK.... Why not just make the loudest setting number 10?

Well, you see, this one goes to 11....

People are cows. Give them trendy. Trendy? Isn't that something that is popular right now? So that makes it hot. Hot Ten! Clever and subtle doesn't sell front pages:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2b/NYPost.jpg

how about the worst 10?

it would be the restaurants that are so bad you don't know how they manage to keep their doors open. endless possibilities for chain bashing.

And then there's the "old cow new cow" theory.

RoCK... I think that the problem *may* have been, that there was a Stonehenge monument on the stage that was in danger of being *crushed* by a teddybearing *dwarf*. Alright? That tended to understate the hugeness of the object.

The old John Waters would have loved this site for all the eccentric characters and eccentric messages on it. Truly some far-out people.
However, the new John Waters is too "in" to stoop to our level.
I love Baltimore and the Baltimorons (and I mean that in the nicest way) that are members of the Sandbox. That includes you Bucky, our adopted Baltimoron!

'how about the worst 10?'
I think that's a great idea. Need to take some precautions though. Sort of like short-selling. Can't allow manipulators and naked shorts.

You know, bread, meats, cheeses, even avocado (for the hopelessly decadent), are all readily available for the ordinary consumer. Sprouts, tomatoes, many variations on the lettuce theme are also openly available in many local shops. The makings of a damn fine sandwich are available to all, making a list of places to buy such a thing a silly venture to begin with.

Ten best places to get Peking duck, beef Wellington, or any other dish that's a pain in the bottom to make for one's self; that's list worth having.

The problem with that theory is the sandwich list got 10,333 page views Tuesday. That's a lot of people who want to know about sandwich shops. EL