Racers Cafe (7722 Harford Road, Parkville)!

Congrats, Racers! 

I tallied all the votes, which took some time, considering how many different places were nominated. That only makes sense -- Baltimore County was by far the biggest territory we've covered in the Commenter's Choice Awards. Just wait until we get to the entire state of Delaware.* ...

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Posted by Sam Sessa at 3:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Commenters' Choice Awards
        

We've done Hampden, Canton, Federal Hill, Mount Vernon and Fells Point (am I missing any?).

Now, I'd like to show a little county love. What, in your humblest of opinions, is the best neighborhood bar in Baltimore County? And why? Remember, you only get one vote each ...

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Posted by Sam Sessa at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (55)
Categories: Commenters' Choice Awards
        

The Midtown Yacht Club (15 E. Centre St.), hands down!

None of the other bars were even close. But why Midtown?

Well, the barrel of peanuts, the drink prices and friendly crew of regulars all factored into the many votes for this Mount Vernon drinkery.

Congrats, Midtown, for winning the Midnight Sun Commenters' Choice Award!

And, as always, thanks to everybody for voting.

By posting my highly scientific vote-tallying method (pictured), you can see there are no smoke and mirrors and absolutely no possibility of vote-rigging when it comes to the Commenters' Choice Awards.

Here are the runner-ups ...

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Posted by Sam Sessa at 9:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Commenters' Choice Awards
        

We've done Fells Point. We've done Canton. We've done Federal Hill. We've done Hampden.

I love how long this paragraph is getting.

Now comes a real challenge: What, in your opinion, is the best neighborhood bar in Mount Vernon? And why? Everybody gets one vote.

For the purposes of this contest, I'm defining Mount Vernon with these boundaries in mind: Guilford Avenue to the East, Fayette Street to the South, Howard Street to the West and Mount Royal Avenue to the north ...

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Posted by Sam Sessa at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (61)
Categories: Bars & Clubs, Commenters' Choice Awards
        

Captain Larry's (601 E. Fort Ave.)!

Ivars and the gang beat out a bunch of other South Baltimore bars to win the Midnight Sun Commenters' Choice Award for Federal Hill's Best Neighborhood Bar.

People seemed to gloss over (or dispute) my description of the physical boundaries of Federal Hill as defined by this contest.

To them, I say: Pbth.

Here are the runner-ups ...

Continue reading "As per your votes, Federal Hill's best neighborhood bar is ..." »

Posted by Sam Sessa at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)
Categories: Bars & Clubs, Commenters' Choice Awards
        

We've done Canton. We've done Hampden. We've done Fells Point (and what a doozy that was).

Now, let's tackle Federal Hill.

What is the best neighborhood bar in Federal Hill? And why?

The "why" is crucial.

Oh, and by the way, I've come up with a name for this little series: the Midnight Sun Commenters' Choice Awards. I might even make awards for the winning bars, and give them out at the next Shindig.

To jog everyone's memories, this is what I mean by neighborhood bar ...

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Posted by Sam Sessa at 3:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (104)
Categories: Bars & Clubs, Commenters' Choice Awards
        

Bad Decisions!

Big surprise, eh? Hee hee.

Sorry it took me so long to post this -- it took quite a while to go back through all 135ish comments and tally the votes.

But as you can see from this highly scientific chart, Bad Decisions was the clear winner, with 45ish votes.

Hey, I'm a journalist, not a mathematician!

Thankfully, parachuting marine soldier toy was there to keep watch over the vote tallying. Fairness is most important when it comes to such a prestigious award.

Here are the runners up ...

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Posted by Sam Sessa at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Bars & Clubs, Commenters' Choice Awards
        

A little while ago, I nominated the Cat's Eye Pub as Fells Point's Best Neighborhood Bar. After much deliberation, I'd like to change my vote to Bad Decisions ...

Continue reading "Actually, I'd like to change my vote" »

Posted by Sam Sessa at 1:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (21)
Categories: Bars & Clubs, Commenters' Choice Awards
        

We've done Canton. We've done Hampden.

But those were just warm-ups.

Now, it's really time to open Pandora's Box. What, in your humblest of opinions, is the best neighborhood bar in Fells Point? And why?

Only one bar will win.

And there are so, so many low-key bars to choose from. Fells Point has more neighborhood bars than just about any other neighborhood in Baltimore.

So what's it gonna be?

I'll tell you what bar gets my vote ...

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Posted by Sam Sessa at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (141)
Categories: Bars & Clubs, Commenters' Choice Awards
        

None other than Frazier's on the Avenue (919 W. 36th St.)!

I tallied all the votes, and Holy Frijoles (908 W. 36th St. pictured) came in a close second, with Griffith's Tavern placing third.

It was a close one, gang.

I've never been to Griffith's, but I've been to Holy Frijoles and Frazier's more than a few times.

I was a little shocked to see Holy Frijoles get so many votes for being a neighborhood bar ...

Continue reading "As per your votes, Hampden's best neighborhood bar is ..." »

Posted by Sam Sessa at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Bars & Clubs, Commenters' Choice Awards
        

Now that we've voted Mahaffey's the best neighborhood bar in Canton, I'd like to know:

What's the best neighborhood bar in Hampden?

I was considering allowing Remington in this one, but I think I'll tack that onto the best neighborhood bar in Charles Village thread. We'll get to that in a couple weeks.

For now, let's focus on Hampden.

Rocket to Venus (3360 Chesnut Ave.) has an attitude that, in my opinion, makes it the antithesis of a neighborhood bar ...

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Posted by Sam Sessa at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (31)
Categories: Bars & Clubs, Commenters' Choice Awards
        

Mahaffey's!

The bar with the neighborhood's biggest beer selection wins. Bartenders comes in second and the Baltimore Taphouse takes third place.

Gecko's and Canton Station tied for fourth place.

After re-reading all 80-some responses, I was intrigued by the heated debates over the owners of Mahaffey's and the Pickled Parrot. Man, some of you guys really took the Pickled Parrot to town.

But I was pleased to see the owners of the Parrot and Bartenders responding to questions and complaints about their establishments ...

Continue reading "As per your votes, Canton's best neighborhood bar is ... " »

Posted by Sam Sessa at 9:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (27)
Categories: Bars & Clubs, Commenters' Choice Awards
        

I'd like to kick off a little series where all of us vote for our favorite neighborhood bar, one neighborhood at a time.

I'm not going to get to tiny little neighborhoods like Sharp-Leadenhall, but I'd like to cover the big neighborhoods.

Let's start with Canton.

What, in your humble opinion, is Canton's best neighborhood bar? And what, for that matter, makes a bar a good neighborhood bar?

I think it's a few things ...

Continue reading "What's the best neighborhood bar in Canton?" »

Posted by Sam Sessa at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (89)
Categories: Bars & Clubs, Commenters' Choice Awards