64 Best Things In Dallas: Quest For The Bestest

Posted on June 2nd, 2008 1:16pm by Adam McGill
Filed under Local News

64besticon_sm.jpgHello, kind, sweet FrontBurnervians. Have we got a fun timewaster for you. Actually, it’s not wasting time. It’s helping us determine the Best Thing in Dallas. There’s a long(ish) explanation of what we’re up to here, but the gist of it is this: We’ve come up with some of our favorite things about Dallas. Sixty-four of them, in fact. We then pseudo-randomly pitted those things against one another in head-to-head comparisons. Now we’re asking for your help to determine the winner of those match-ups. Yes, many of the match-ups are apples to oranges, which is part of the fun.

Each week, we’ll let the winners advance for a new round of voting until we’re down to the final four, which will be announced in the August issue of D. So go vote. Let us know who wins: West Village or Brother’s Fried Chicken? The Graffiti at Adair’s or Dallas’ Shopping? Bishop Arts District or Deep Ellum Nostalgia?

Vote on each of the 32 match-ups of the 64 Things. You can vote once a day on each of ‘em, if you like. And expect more gentle encouragement to vote in the days and weeks to come.

28 comments

  1. From a Web editor perspective, it would be helpful if the next matchup would display after you make your choice. After casting a couple of votes, I stopped because clicking the “Next” link below got tiring.

    @ 1:25 pm on June 2, 2008

  2. @ Tom: Agreed. The voting is cumbersome. Sadly, we are at the mercy of a less-than-accommodating CMS. I know it is a poor workman who blames his tools, but our tools are to blame. (We will also be upgrading our CMS in the coming months.)

    @ 1:33 pm on June 2, 2008

  3. Adam – I hear ya. You don’t know how poorly a CMS performs until it’s gone. You’d be shocked to know what kind of junk the hard-working bees at our only daily newspaper have to deal with.

    @ 1:40 pm on June 2, 2008

  4. How’d you come up with the first round matchups? Badu v. the Arts District? Both final four, or at least elite eight in my book.

    @ 1:41 pm on June 2, 2008

  5. Brothers Fried Chicken. Go there for lunch. Now.

    @ 1:43 pm on June 2, 2008

  6. yeah, voting was kind of a beat down.

    also, re: first round matchups: strippers vs. greenville parade? two heavyweights; shouldve met later on

    @ 1:59 pm on June 2, 2008

  7. I bailed after about the fifth “decision” in which I realized I couldn’t care less about either choice … so page 12, maybe?

    @ 2:06 pm on June 2, 2008

  8. How do you compare the graffiti at Adair’s to shopping?? Doesn’t make any sense to me…

    @ 2:07 pm on June 2, 2008

  9. Why not have them side by side in a running list where you can click on either side? There could be a hyperlink on each “best place” that you can click on to find out a description if one desires. I think all the “bests” are pretty self- explanatory without a description, though.

    Anyone could get through the list in less than 5 minutes using this format.

    • xyz vs. 123 •
    • xyz vs. 123 •
    • xyz vs. 123 •

    @ 2:18 pm on June 2, 2008

  10. While it’s nice being thanked 64 times, it’s also a little tedious. And when the Southlake Townsquare and the Mustangs in Irving become among the best things in Dallas?

    @ 2:29 pm on June 2, 2008

  11. you forgot the category for WORST tool in the shed vs a root canal. I waded thru and voted for most… sorry, I don’t ever complete a ballot because I don’t care about everyone/everything on the ballot and refuse to pull a lever. Sharpen your tools or I won’t be back for the top 32 or the sweet 16, etc. BTW, your poll reminded me of something aol would have posted mid-90s. UPGRADE!

    @ 2:34 pm on June 2, 2008

  12. Small thing: Interchange is misspelled “High Five Intechange”

    @ 2:52 pm on June 2, 2008

  13. Thanks, Bobby. So noted and updated.

    For everyone else, we are looking at different ways to present the polls for the upcoming rounds. Just grab a cold beverage, clinch your teeth real hard, and click the “next” button a few more times. Please. Thanks for understanding.

    @ 2:58 pm on June 2, 2008

  14. Yes, kind of a whip. But, the overall concept is fun and I will be back to vote the next bracket(s).

    @ 3:11 pm on June 2, 2008

  15. just voted…glad i was looking to kill 20 minutes at work. i’m gonna go out on a limb and say the Cowboys Cheerleaders walk away with the crown

    and this just made me giggle “…Dallas is probably only surpassed by NYC…” as far as recognizable skylines go

    wow. really? do yous actually think that anyone knows what that hideous thing (reunion tower) is and that it’s in dallas? really? no one outside Texas knows what it is and no one sees it on the tele and goes “Oh, jeepers there’s that ball thingy with the lights…they must be in downtown Dallas.” no one does that, man, no one.

    manhattan’s skyline is obviously far superior to anything else in the U.S. and A. LA has a downtown like Dallas, i.e. not so much and the Hollywood sign can’t be included in a skyline discussion. Chicago has the sears tower and numerous other recognizable bldgs. seattle has the needle and not much else, thus not really a skyline

    but San Francisco is instantly recognizable from it’s skyline, as are a few other cities, including my beloved Filthadelphia, but Dallas has a bldg outlined in green neon and some other weird tall structures, but believe me, man, i never hear anyone that’s been north of the red river say, “gee that dallas skyline is something else”

    bring it…tell me how i’m wrong or how wrong i am, as i ‘m looking to kill another half hour

    @ 3:18 pm on June 2, 2008

  16. Bill’s Records, Deep Ellum, the Cowboy Cheerleaders, and Erykah Badu make up my final four.

    jrp is right; the downtown phallus does not represent anything about Dallas. Ok, it does represent the Napoleanic Syndrome* of so many of our ‘city fathers’.

    *(Some of the ladies refer to it as ‘little penis syndrome’ but I could not comment on that, since I have no experience with that malady…)

    @ 3:27 pm on June 2, 2008

  17. I crack myself up…

    @ 3:27 pm on June 2, 2008

  18. Wow, some people really want to complain today. Weekend too short? Girlfriend not being **friendly**?

    Any poll that is looking for a “Best” is going to have it’s flaws to different people. That is why this is d magazine’s Best Things In Dallas and not:

    Jim’s 64 Best Things in Dallas
    or
    RB’s 64 Best Things in Dallas
    or
    Best in Dallas’ 64 Best Things in Dallas
    or
    the cynic’s 64 Best Things in Dallas
    or
    jrp’s 64 Best Things in Dallas

    IJS

    @ 3:38 pm on June 2, 2008

  19. i should have added “But, the overall concept is fun and I will be back to vote the next bracket(s)” to my original comment

    @ 4:26 pm on June 2, 2008

  20. ^ Yes, that might have helped. :-)

    @ 4:37 pm on June 2, 2008

  21. no, and i agree with ya, Huh? i really like adam’s choices and the matchups and all

    IJS, the dallas skyline sux. period. and isn’t well known or easily recognizable outside these parts regardless what some of yous may think

    @ 4:41 pm on June 2, 2008

  22. Does Adam work for the Ticket now? Shouldn’t a writer have at least one original phrase?

    @ 4:54 pm on June 2, 2008

  23. i agree that chicago and probably san fran (the bridge, transwestern building) have better, more recognizable skylines than dallas. but im not impressed with philly’s. and dallas will only get better with the river/bridges and woodall rogers park / arts district.

    this guy agrees, for whatever thats worth

    http://www.diserio.com/top15-skylines.html

    @ 5:00 pm on June 2, 2008

  24. Let’s face it – my fellow Wildcat Mariano’s margarita trumps all else.

    @ 5:29 pm on June 2, 2008

  25. Should’ve had Nora Jones vs Erykah Badu. That would have been a fight worthy of Dallas.

    @ 5:47 pm on June 2, 2008

  26. Worst voting format of all time. Should something like this really take 20 minutes and 7k clicks?

    @ 6:24 pm on June 2, 2008

  27. Dude…the letters c and l should never be that close together next to a number.

    @ 7:08 pm on June 2, 2008

  28. Actually, nice job. one thing, I’d really have added:
    White Rock Lake, is on my top 5 things.

    @ 8:38 am on June 3, 2008