I love that Coach is the #2 place to buy a hand bag but Payless is the #2 place for shoes. Stay ghetto fresno.

What a joke. How embarrassing... 'Nuf said.

Dumb...

What? No Tacos Tijuana? Guadalajara? Castillos? What?!?!?!

I think someone forgot to tell them Red Door Asian Bistro closed a couple of months ago, say 5. I am sure that by default some other place did a better job of just serving food during that time, MINGS maybe, just a thought.

There are so many things I disagree with about this list, but two things make me chuckle. One is that Best Casino Dining lists the only casinos in the area, not much competition there.

And second is that Chris Daniels is listed as one of the radio personalities. It's actually Daniel Fresno Mag, he hates the s at the end. Oh well, that's what he gets for selling out and giving his soul to KMJ.

Perhaps the word "Best" should be replaced by "Most Popular", or "Best Known"

And, what exactly is a "Local Burger"? In 'n Out, Red Robin? Sure, they're in Fresno, and they're also all over the Western US. Colorado Grill? I think they also have some locations in Southern California, though they may be locally owned.

I'm looking forward to trying the "Family Happy Hour" at Applebees.

wow, every year the best of fresno list is my for sure guide to wear i need not be at.

how in the heck did ruth's even place in best service? i have better service at kfc. i love the food, but the service is horrid.

Check out the winners for best live "theater house":

1. Roger Rocka's Dinner
Theater
2. Second Space
3. Good Company Players

Um, Good Company Players is a theater company, not a venue. And as a theater company, it performs IN Roger Rocka's and Second Space.

They do know that Cheif Jerry Dyer ISN'T elected right? .... Right?

Hmmm.

Not sure if Fresno's chief of police is an elected position. I'm thinking it's not.

Chief... Not Cheif.

have to say I agree with Sam's Deli, as well as PARTY DJ PARTY.

I've been to QN4U a few times and my meat is always WAY TOO FATTY. I mean i'm not a light eater or overly health conscious, especially not at a BBQ place, but this has happened twice and it was gross.

Also unfortunate to see Red Door Bistro on there immediately after closing. haha.

Fresno is just Swell

For those of you who are not familiar with genius sports writer Bill Simmons (The Sports Guy), he has a system he uses called the "Unintentional Comedy Scale." This is where you rank things that are not intended to be funny on how funny they really are. Let's just say this list is ripe with high scorers.

* I totally could be wrong about this...but I don't remember police chief being an elected office.
* At least two restaurants on the list are closed or will be soon.
* Any late night list NOT containing Robertito's is automatically out of sync.
* Etc, Etc, Etc

I guess the good news is that the issue is all about creating ad revenue and not about the quality of the list anyway...

I'm not gonna join in the fray about the ridiculousness of "winners;" But allowing submissions to categories they do not qualify for is pretty #55 if you ask me.

For example:

PetSmart is not a local pet store.
Jamba Juice is not a Healthy Option.
Geno's is not a deli, its a sandwich shop.
There hasn't been a wait at Tahoe Joe's since 1998.
Red Robin and In-n Out-are not local burger spots.
Bank of America is not a local bank.
The Fresno Art Museum is not a gallery is a... museum.

aaaaaand lest we forget, Fresno Magazine is having their latest event in Clovis.

#55 FTW

That list has nothing to do with me or mine. I have'nt even heard of the guy they picked to be best band. I'm glad they put Patrick and Mofo on the list. There's only a few Tower and Downtown winners. I guess the judges all live North of Shaw. And why did'nt they have "Best Dive" or "Best after hours grub spot"? Whatever.

Have to agree that there's a lot of weirdness going on in this list.

On the other hand, the Clovis Chamber gets a big kick out of seeing Clovis businesses are on the list!

This list is a COMPLETE joke. It's quite depressing actually. How is this lust created? It's like the only asked north Fresno. Best day care, for instance should totally be Kids Kare Schools. Largest chain, highest enrollment, has won a multitude of awards. Best Mexican? Good God. Guadalejara is amazing. Late night food spots? Helllooooo do they not know of Million Elephant?!

Cool Hand Lukes almost came away with a clean sweep of all the catergories. Better luck next year CHLs.

Riverpark, the worst designed shopping cluster (not a shopping center, it has no center) I've ever seen. I try to avoid it as much as possible or just hit the fringes when I do (e.g go to Sierra Nut House via Ingram and leave the same way).

I'm sure residences on Audubon and Nees love how all non-shopper traffic tries to go around Riverpark. I'm not dogmatic about avoiding Riverpark. There are good stores there, but I give first consideration to Fig Garden Village or even Fashion Fair (a bit out of the way for me).

I find the whole list to be more thought provoking in so many ways rather than useful.

hahahahaha

The truth is, this is unfortunately an accurate gauge of what Fresno Magazine's readership thinks. The problem isn't so much the list itself, as it is calling it "Best of Fresno". As we cooler people know, very few of these choices are the best our city has to offer.

wow, I had absolutely NO idea I was even on the ballots...I just assumed I wasn't even on there...cool...Although, credit where credit is due. I have a LOOOOOONGG WAY before I earn my name amongst Joe Lenigan or Mofo Party Band. Those guys have been doing it for years and still put out great music and shows...

This list is a joke!

It's like the Mayor and a couple of city council Mayors met at Fort Washington and came up with a list and called it good!

How are the Grizzlies the favorite sports team in this town? That's a joke! This town has always been Fresno State bulldog country.

Who the hell ever shops at Patrick James?
Only person I imagine would shop there are Thurston Howell III from Gilligan's Island and Carlton Banks from the Fresh Prince.

I wish they would not put out this list, it only only makes other media outlets around the country put this town on worst places to live lists.

BEST LOCAL WEBSITE fresnobeehive.com!!!!!!

This list = Fail
Congratulations!
(Smears poop on face)

Crappy list, is Mike Oz pissed cause he didnt get his name in this??

Male Elected Official

Chief Dyer is not elected and his department has many PR/HR issues.

Perea is the guy who threw a fit after getting rolled by Ashley for mayor.

Nunes is a bada$$ though, he deserved to win.

Best local prostitute: Shamrock LaHendra Morris.
Thug nasty.

so, i scored free tickets to this event, and i will have you know that the view looks good from here, fresno will be attending. tons of free = good for me.

something i'm glad about:
-all three downtown restaurants are still open, which is apparently more than can be said of everything on the list

something i'm confused about:
-reza assemi as the best visual artist. this ain't sour grapes & i think reza is a great artist, but i think even he would disagree with the rank and not just out of humility. maybe because he's been a driving force in the cultural arts district. or, maybe he's done a bunch of shows lately i'm unaware of.

something i need to do for next year:
-not want to kill people that voted for thomas kincaid gallery as best art gallery. good lord, the anger is rising as i type that.

NO. No. And no.

Anyone who believes even one word of this list needs to put a bullet in their own head immediately. This list is based on real or potential ad revenue and nothing else.

This list, as well as the entire magazine, is a self serving waste of paper and ink.

It's sad that Fresno is a one magazine / newspaper town because the competition would bring out the best in both publications - and force Fresno Mag to publish at least one honest issue per year.

Why not Best Gun Store?

And that would be Gillman Mayfield firearms.

There's been some talk in Internet Land about "The Great Divide". It does seem that the folks who voted here live quite a few steps over that line from me.
Doesn't make 'em bad, but ...quite different I guess.
I'm glad they could *name* three places in the Tower.

I hate that people think Jamba Juice is healthy.

Best Family Entertainment - Fresno Chaffee Zoo!

How is best asian not shanghai?
How is don pepes not on at LEAST top 3 mexican?
I hate this list. It bums be out :/. Applebees should never be on any list for best anything ever.

The "Best of Fresno" list has always sucked. The people that read the magazine are nothing but a bunch of wannabee rich people that will greedily devour the pablum that's thrown in front of them.

There's literally hundreds of businesses through all the categories that I find to be far better than those listed.

Best Asian has 2 chains and a closed restaurant. Why bother with "Best Asian" anyways, since there's so many different cuisines in that category. I'd like to see it broken down into CH, JP, Sushi, KR, and SEA/pho.

I'd like to complain about the number of non-local chain restaurants and businesses that are on the list. Most of the restaurants that are listed are non-local chains, which is a HUGE problem for the local guys. One of the best burger joints in town (Daily Delite) closed up because of the lack of traffic caused by all these chains. I don't know about you, but I don't like cookie-cutter food.

Late-night eats? Who hasn't found themselves in the drive-thru at Robertito's, Arsenio's or one of the other taco kiosks at 2AM?

Best Place For Worthless List Of Bought Awards And Pour Reading:
Fresno Magazine...Yeah! They ARE the best at something themselves!

Worthless, North-End magazine that "Wants" to be something. Scewed demographics, add based articles and poor across the board. Oh, "Best At Taking Money For With Least Valued Return."

Always a joke, always will be.

Mike, you need to start your own list. "Mike O's List" event. I'm sure sponsors would be interested in an event that actually reached realy people with realy opinions.

I'd be interested in working on that event with you, for sure.

C$

Don't know if it has been done or partially done, but why not do a Beehive (or Fresno Bee) Best of Fresno. Just curious to see what results it will yield. I would assume it takes a little work, but hopefully not enough that it is not doable.

No wonder most of your picks did not win "Best of", I bet none of you sent in a ballot, right? You can't complain about the results if you didn't vote.

If the writing samples listed above are any example of how educated Fresno is, I need to move to Clovis myself because half of you morons can't even spell! How did you ever make it out of school? Get a job? Have a life? Scary!

Water 2 Wine? The franchise winery whose only California location is in Clovis and all the rest are in Texas with one in Denver? Really? People could think of only two local wineries and then had to default to a company whose homepage claims to offer "100 wines from 13 countries"?

Just one more joke in the long, long line listed above.

This really is embarassing. Where are these votes coming from? What's the process? Are write-in candidates considered or is it from a pre-selected list of advertisers and those profiled in the mag? Sadly, the suspect selection process of the "winners" take away from the credibility of the "winners" who may perhaps deserve the status. If you want to throw a party for your friends and advertisers, call it what it is.

FAIL list is FAIL!

I like that the list is crappy, It keeps all my fav spots on the DL. Thomas Kinkade really? I cant stand that crap...

Any best of list should make chain stores be voted on by location.

Example: how many Starbucks are there in the area? If there are some GREAT Starbucks out there, I want to know which store. Then let places like the Revue have to go head to head with individual stores, not giant national chains.

for the dumbest city in america this list really fits the bill

best place to get a tan, best plastic surgeon.. all they need is the best place to find a rich husband and they'll be set

that and the top chef in town, who is on his way out (hear they love cabbage rolls in madrid btw), has his restaurant mentioned as a good place for wine and service but not food; go figure.

as far as the best of the best goes i think what we've got here is a failure to communicate... that can probably be said for the rest of the list as well

Fresno Magazine did not create the winners--the voters did. If you hate the results, relaliate with action and vote in 2010!

Mike:
Ballots can be found in the magazine. This year they went out in February and April.

Re: Bikes

Best (serious) 'Road Bikes' at excellent prices / excellent service:
'CyclePath'
(across from People's Church)
-they were 3rd behind Tri-Stevens last year.
CyclePath rocks, they don't demand your first (or second) born in payment, will build excellent rides according to your budget, and they stand behind their stuff at great rates.
I'd go there first for any serious road bike.

Best 'family bikes' (recreational)

'Fresno Schwinn'
(Ashlan/Fresno)
Tremendous shop run by a guy and his nephews who often beat my prices at my big-box sporting goods store. --excellent selection, excellent service, very reasonable prices.

'Sumners Schwinn'
(down off of peach... I think on Belmont? (not sure) --a good solid 'old school' schwinn shop, great repair work, deserves your support, good prices.

Repairs:
'Tower Velo.' (across from ClubFred/Audi's)
What Chris Eacock has forgotten about Bikes (of all types?) is more than I'll ever know... and believe me, I know.
Excellent prices, very ethical work, this guy wants you to be safe, have fun and turn your ride into real transportation.
Fresno is honored to have this guy wrenching in this town, you can trust him.

BMX (competition) Family (sales/svc)
'Bike World' in Clovis (behind Fat Jacks)
this guy has been working with BMX since BMX began. He's a small one man shop, but his work is excellent.

Cruisers?
'California Cruisers' (in clovis) good people, good bikes, small outfit, no monkeying around.

Big Box Store (sales/svc)
Come talk to me...
I've kept two major sportinggoods stores across the street from each other on blackstone in excellent and affordible bikes for 3 years now and our team(s) will not steer you wrong.
(I've lost count,
but I think I'm up to something like 3000 bikes built in the past three years,
It's scarey, I've actually built and repaired them in R.E.M. phase...

When I become a nurse? It's gonna be weird working on something that doesn't have deralieurs...

Re: The other folks mentioned in the 'Best Of'?

Rubber Soul's great, no doubt there,
the man is the founding father of Fresno cycling.

But the list for 'Best of Fresno' is 'big coin,' and NOT geared towards 'the average buyer,' looking to buy and run a bike for themselves and/or their family.

You want something affordable? with excellent people behind it?, go with my list.

Having worked at this rag at the very beginning (when there was still hope of it being a real city mag)I know for a fact that this list is comprised only of businesses that already advertise or may someday advertise in the magazine. Bottom line, this list is patently false. The Fresno Bee's is only marginally better. Make your on lists people. And while you're at it, get your news elsewhere too, you may actually learn what real newspapers and magazines are about. I'm just sayin' you know.

I agree w/all the people here who say this dumb "best of" list is self serving. Do yourselves a favor: get REAL referrals/REAL reviews before you drop your hard earned money, if you must, on any of the lame retailers listed. Seen Warners Jewelers ads from big dramatic ones w/the misses & kid to the one w/ no pics & banner across it like they're selling swap meet style....what happened to Ray Appleton show telling us all about it while ANGELS coo-coo-d in the background, darn it, MISS that! Or Fashion Furniture's swap meet style ads, too? They DID get your money but they aint got so much no mo', huh? My point is forget the propagandizing I mean voting...buy food and merchandise that you REALLY like (or that someone you personally know will vouch for) and need, that represents REAL value, and forget this crap joke of a list!