LA Weekly Web Award for Best Bar Blogger (Photo by Stacey Sun/dineLA)
So something pretty cool happened to me this week: This past Wednesday I was fortunate enough to pick up an award for Best Bar Blogger at the 2012 LA Weekly Web Awards party. For those following along, this is my third Web award after the two from 2009. One of my favorite drinking buddies, Thirsty in LA, won it last year. And I was up against him and fellow bloggers Beers in Paradise and The Minty for it this year. Very strong competition, making the win even that much sweeter. And thanks to the new format of the awards where they narrowed the competition to a few finalists and didn’t reveal the winner til the night of the party, it had that suspense usually characteristic of award shows. When I won in 2009, they just told me ahead of time but said I had to keep it under wraps until the official announcement. H’yeah, one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.
Winners and finalists celebrated the 2012 awards at nightclub Bardot in Hollywood. A very strange gathering considering there was no real awards ceremony nor one-time announcement but rather the winners were displayed in a slideshow while everyone milled about enjoying passed appetizers and the open bar.
That’s how I found out. I had just retrieved a Manhattan when my boyfriend pointed at the slideshow which was just running on an endless loop on the first floor of the club. “Are they already displaying the winners?” he asked. At the time I looked at the projection, it was showing the food awards. Suddenly my name flashed up there under the heading “Best Bar Blogger.” Eeeeeeeee! I wanted to squeal but wasn’t sure if that slide was a mistake. Was I supposed to know yet? Did they mean to run that slideshow now? Surely there was going to be an announcement.
Later I found out that the winners were given their awards — a framed gold floppy disk — when they checked in downstairs at the door. But when I checked in, I got nothing. So I revisited the idea that maybe that slide was a mistake. Fortunately it wasn’t and the door person handed my plastic-wrapped award to me when I checked with them. Sweet!
Afterward I celebrated with Best Food Instagrammer Finalist Stacey Sun of DineLA, Josh Lurie of Food GPS and Daniel of Thirsty in LA. Suffice it to say, I was walking on a cloud after that. And even now, every once in awhile at home I’ll blurt out, “I WON!” to no one in particular.
LA Weekly posted a list of the winners and the judges’ conclusions the night of the event. Here are just the food-related ones with abbreviated judge comments. The complete list of winners is here. Congrats to all!
Best Food Blog: Good Food — “Kleiman is the mother of our food-loving, restaurant-obsessed community.”
Best Food Twitter: @akasharichmond — “From visits to farmers markets, new dishes in her kitchen to her travels abroad.”
Best Food Instagrammer: @limer35 — “He dines all over Los Angeles, from Josiah Citrin’s Mélisse to Pondahan Filipino restaurant in a West Covina strip mall. And he Instagrams every bite.”
Best Bar Blogger: Caroline on Crack — “Need a new bar recommendation? Want to know who serves L.A.’s best cocktails? Caroline will have the details first.”
Best Online Food Presence: @kogibbq — “The brand that started the food truck movement continues to impress and engage online. Plus, their tacos are damn tasty!”
Thanks to the judges for the honor. To the bars and bartenders for the inspiration. And to my friends, plus ones, readers and followers for the motivation, encouragement and support! You all drive me to drink.