The Washingtonian Audit:

This is where the whole thing started.

The Washingtonian Top 100 is my favorite list and my favorite source of irritation.

To be clear: I love that the list exists. It gets people out trying new places and supports local restaurants. That's a good thing. Somewhere along the way, the rankings stopped making sense. 

First off, there is a category problem. You can't compare Rooster & Owl to Yellow. Both are excellent and both deserve recognition. But one is destination-worthy fine dining and the other is an exceptional counter-service operation. That's like ranking a Bentley against a bicycle. Both may be best-in-class. They are not competing in the same category.

Then there is the geography problem. Washington has thousands of restaurants inside the Beltway. Yet somehow Annapolis, Centreville, Laurel, and other locations regularly appear on a list supposedly focused on Washington dining. Many of those restaurants are good, some very hollxcWashington.

Finally, there is the hype problem. Some restaurants earn their reputation through years of excellence. Others seem to earn it through social media, marketing, publicity, and momentum. One of those deserves a ranking. The other deserves scrutiny.  So, I ate and eat my way through the list.

This section is my attempt to separate destination-worthy fine dining from neighborhood gems, genuine discoveries from marketing campaigns, and Washington restaurants from restaurants that happen to be a long drive from Washington. I paid for every meal. Nobody knew I was reviewing.

And if your favorite restaurant ends up in Massively Overrated, I respectfully invite you to buy me dinner there and prove me wrong.