Did you see the news? Proof on Main has been named one of the 101 Best Hotel Restaurants in the world by the website The Daily Meal.
Now, before you get all excited for Proof, our first-rate home team homies, think for a second about that statement: 101 best in the world.
Is it really possible to make such a statement?
I’m no scientist, but I’d estimate the number of hotel restaurants to be somewhere in the millions.
So can any single group of people ever say with solid evidence that they’ve picked out the 101 best hotel eateries—or of anything at all—in the world?
I think not. As in hell no, no way, not possible in anyone’s wildest dreams no.
Yet, here’s the story claiming it.
I love Proof. I think it’s a great restaurant, easily one of the city’s finest and a place to which I often refer locals out-of-towners. Great food and service. Period. So let me be clear: I have no qualms whatsoever with Proof getting any love.
I’m just so over the “Best of” lists that I want to form my own “Worst of” list, which would have one item: “Best of Lists.”
Doubtless, such lists are popular and attract eyeballs by the millions, and I’m sure advertisers like to be near such lists—not that any respectable publication would ever do such a thing as concoct a popularity list to lure advertisers.
Most of these lists stink because they merely say is what’s best without telling you why—which is how you compile these things without doing any significant research. And if they do add a descriptor or two, it’s just a sentence—really deep insights! (To this list’s defense, it’s nowhere as sinfully bad as the Zagat list naming Louisville as one of the globe’s top eight foodie destinaitons.)
Ask me why Proof is great and I’ll tell you about the food I’ve had there, the service, the drinks—I’ll skip the price of the drinks, such as that $14 Hendricks martini I fetched last fall—the chefs, the operators … not just, “Oh, it’s the best EV-er!”
Which is all these lists say.
Well, they do deliver immense publicity to the properties so blessed by the honor to be on these hackneyed, thinly researched lineups.
To wit, here’s a sentence from the story I read that mentioned the list:
“Our list was carefully curated by consulting the Michelin Guide and other trusted sources and through recommendations from The Daily Meal’s editors, who have traveled and dined extensively around the world.”
In other words, “We haven’t actually been to all these places, much less even a fraction of the places we didn’t get to that might be as good or better. But for you dimwitted list lovers, here’s what we say is the best of the best in the world! And what choice do you have other than to believe us?”
I’m writing this on Thursday, Aug. 30 (and I’m not expecting to post it until the 31st), and I’ve not heard or seen a press release from the Mayor’s office or Proof on Main. But you can almost hear the PR mills getting ready to grind that Louisville—yes, Possibility City!—is home to one of the 101 best hotel restaurants in the world! It’ll happen. Mark my word.
Even if it doesn’t—and they’re fools not to ride this news, no matter how dubious—Proof will still be great.
But one of 101 greatest hotel restaurants in the world? Really?
Steve Coomes is a Louisville restaurant industry veteran turned food writer. In his 22-year career, he has edited and written for dozens of national trade and consumer publications including Nation's Restaurant News and Southern Living. A past restaurant critic and food feature writer for Louisville magazine, he pens features for ...
