The votes are in! In Knoxville's longstanding metric of worth, the reader-powered
Best of Knoxville from Metropulse is now out for 2012 and there are some cool winners.
In particular, shout out to
Rob St. Clair for best artist. Best Twitter feed is
@dooleys_pants (and it's awesome), and best local Facebook page is
WBIR's. Neat.
Best rock band?
The Dirty Guv'nahs, which should be no surprise as those boys have been tearing it up all over the country with a band they never expected would expand beyond local! They really do rock.
Best new restaurant is Shuck Raw Bar & Ale, which I must try (
my friend Matt did), but all the
best of food winners will make you drool. Congratulations to
SideSplitters for best live comedy venue -- they get a top-notch lineup of well-known comedians out there.
Although our
comedy cruise isn't half bad... Maybe next year!
Best book store, do I have to say it?
McKay's, naturally. Best health food shop/grocery was
Three Rivers, which is great (I'm a shareholder), although
Earth Fare is good too. Three Rivers is close to me and I like their curated selection of incredible food and delicious hot and cold bars. You can sit down and eat there, which is a welcome respite away from the kitchen for work-at-home people like me.
I should note that best new business, a very important category, is
Boyd's Jig and Reel. I think this speaks to the fact that consumers want a great experience, even at a bar. Theme isn't just tacked on, they live it over there and everything about the experience at Boyd's is great Scottish fun. Crown and Goose does the same thing for
Anglophiles (and was voted best of the new businesses back in 2008).
Congratulations to the winners!
