About six months ago, The Journal published a ballot asking readers to pick their LA Jewish favorites: delis, party places, bookshops, etc. The ballots came back with a few surprises, some familiar old choices, and a lot of fervor. Like the old saying goes, 500,000 Jews, one million opinions.
The following list does not purport to be a “Best of” guide, or an index to the only good establishments or products serving the community. (For complete lists, check your Yellow Pages or online guides.) We retitled the categories from “Best” to “Favorite” just to avoid that confusion.
What we wanted to do is gather the experiences and opinion of our readers and serve them up for your information. We published two complete ballots with voting instructions last spring, and tallied the results over the summer. Ties were listed together, and please keep in mind that sometimes two votes separated the Number One from Number Three. Agree wholeheartedly or disagree absoluteley — these choices reflect the thoughts and tastes of at least a sampling of our readers.
The responses, tallied by editorial intern Sarit Kattan, ranged from the precise to the hilarious. Among the latter were several that exposed an undying New York-centrism (Favorite Place for a Wedding: New York. Favorite restaurant for Homesick New Yorkers: No place); one that portrayed despair (Favorite place to meet your Beshert: Let me know!); and at least one that read like an old joke (Favorite Hotel to House the In-laws: One that’s far away).
Enjoy, maybe learn a little, and thanks to all those who sent in ballots.
