The Best Father’s Day

Did you hear what came out yesterday? The Times Union’s 2015 Best of the Capital Region. And this year the strangest thing happened.

For those who are relatively new to the FLB, you might have missed my earlier quixotic campaigns to try and influence the results of this poll. My intentions were good. The goal was to drive the chains from the list and replace those pillars of mediocrity with local businesses that more closely resembled the best of what Albany had to offer.

Don’t forget, Pizza Hut used to make the list for Best Pizza and Subway was a ubiquitous feature in the Best Sandwich category. Thankfully those days are over.

But for the last couple of years I’ve stepped away from the manipulations of the past, and largely decided to ignore the results of the poll. Except this year, something happened which really cannot be ignored.

The Fussy Little Blog was officially named one of the best blogs in the Capital Region.

I came right behind Kristi Gustafson Barlette, Steve Barnes and All Over Albany. It’s a pretty powerful trio. But you know what this means?

People actually read this little blog of mine. And then some subset of those people decided to vote for it in the Times Union poll. All on their own? Whoa. Wow. Thank you.

I’m really touched. That’s incredible.

And there are some other rays of light too. The Mop & Bucket Company took the #1 spot for best comedian or comedy troupe. Chinese and Japanese restaurants are now their own separate category. Thai food has likewise been split from Vietnamese food. These may seem like small and obvious changes, but they have been a long time coming.

Even if I wasn’t honored this year, I would still be saluting the efforts of the Times Union to make this poll better than it has been in the past.

Sure, some great businesses are still totally off the radar, like Stacks Coffee in Albany and La Mexicana in Schenectady. But other small players have made the list, like Slidin’ Dirty, which got recognized in the best new restaurant and best hamburger categories. Ala Shanghai is also on the list for best Chinese.

It’s amazing to see how far the Capital Region has come in the eight years since we first moved here. Really, that’s more valuable than any gift I could get on Father’s Day.

Before signing off for the weekend, please allow me to make a few quick plugs for Yelp.

Saturday, I’ll be manning a Yelp tent at River Fest in Troy. Come say hi.
Sunday, Yelp is a sponsor of Dad Fest on Jennings Landing.
Wednesday is the big party. There’s still room to get in on it.

It’s going to be a glorious weekend. But maybe I’m still just glowing about the news. Thanks again to everyone who took part in this lovely surprise.