Still Life with Robin: The Best of DC According to WTOP

Baked by Yael

by Peggy Robin

If you’ve been following this column even for a short time, you know I love contests, opinion polls, and awards shows. Vote for the panda name you like best. (My first choice has lost every time.) Name the Potomac River Dolphins. (My entry Mac & Chessie won! I am prouder of that than lots more substantive things I’ve done in my life!) Vote for the best kid-drawn Google Doodle – and a John Eaton student was a finalist! I could list a few more, but you get the idea.

Now add to that love of contests my enthusiasm for all things Cleveland Park, and you can imagine my delight at getting to vote in the WTOP contest, The Top Ten Best of DC – with ten categories, and in each of the ten, at least one nominee from Cleveland Park or an adjacent neighborhood (Woodley Park, Tenleytown, Cathedral Heights, Forest Hills – all prime listserv membership territory.)

Here were my choices in that contest:

Best Bakery: Baked by Yael. This one was a no-brainer – Baked by Yael has unquestionably got DC’s best cakepops! Bagels too!

Best BBQ: Fat Pete’s BBQ – in the heart of Cleveland Park. I’m not really that big a BBQ fan but I wouldn’t dream of voting for anyone else.

Best Brunch: The clear choice was Silver Diner - even though the version we have in Cleveland Park is not technically a diner -- it's the Silver Brasserie. I was fine with voting for the whole restaurant group.

Best Burger: Picked the one right here in Tenleytown - Z Burger. The burgers come out fast but they never taste like fast food. 

Best Coffee: Another Tenleytown pick, Steak ‘n’ Egg Kitchen - the old-fashioned, down-home breakfast bar. Nothing yupscale about it.

Best Crabs. Dancing Crab is no more! So had to sit this one out.

Best International: Taim. Yes, they’re a listserv sponsor! Yes, my vote was influenced by that. When people support the listserv, I support them back. It’s a choice that’s more than justified by the good food they produce at extremely reasonable prices.

Best Vegetarian: It’s Taim again. All the other choices on the WTOP list in this category were far, far away.

Best Pizza: 2 Amy’s Neapolitan Pizzeria, right on Macomb St at the Western edge of Cleveland Park.

Best Place to Get a Drink: So many great choices in Cleveland Park did not make the list of finalists. Only Matchbox (Cathedral Commons) was a nominee close to home, so they got my vote. Only wish that Cleveland Park Bar & Grill (they hosted my Jeopardy watch party) had made the list!   

On August 17 2021 WTOP announced the winners in each category – they’re all here: 
https://wtop.com/gallery/media-galleries/winners-wtops-2021-top-10-contest/   

So thrilled to announce that Baked by Yael won Best Bakery! I’m pretty sure that listserv voters played a big part in the victory!

As they say in the award-show biz, it’s an honor just to be nominated – so congratulations to all our neighborhood businesses that were WTOP finalists!

And you can bet that in 2022 we’ll be organizing to support our local nominees well in advance of the vote!

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Still Life with Robin is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays.