Best of the Best 2010 (and 2009)

So this is the second year in a row we have been voted Best of the Best by the readers of the Union Bulletin (our WW daily newspaper).  Which is pretty cool for a number of reasons.  One, at least we aren't the only business in the category being voted upon (drycleaner, dogwash, gourmet grocery, community college).  Two, we received zero votes from anybody that works for Graze, or owns Graze, or is a relative of a Graze employee/owner.  Three, we solicited zero votes from friends, acquaintances, customers, or mailing list members.  We feel we won the silly thing with a clean conscious.

It is really nice to be thought of as the Best... but then again three years ago when Graze Catering was barely know (and we were also the best caterer in town, thank you very much) the Whitman College catering service, which does very very little catering off campus won Best of the Best.  So we aren't about to let a little vote in the UB go to our heads.  Seriously now, how many people even vote for the category of Caterer?

I believe we are the best catering business in Walla Walla, not because people voted for us, but because we do a very nice job, for a fair price, with real food (as much as we can get from our local farmers)... that we make with love and care and attention.  We are proud of what we do everyday, and we are always trying to get better.  If you voted for us... thank you very much, and if you have been to one of our events and enjoyed the food enough to tell someone else about it... thank you very much, and if you have hired us (and hopefully would like to hire us again)... thank you very much.  And if you have read this far... thank you very much (don't you have anything better to do?).

[True story: In Sacramento the free weekly SN&R, ran the Best of the Best Issue every year... this was way before online voting, mobile check ins, smart phone banking, and facebook, so the vote was entirely paper and pencil balloting that readers actually had to fold and place into an envelope and put in their mailbox.  This complete train wreck of a restaurant stuffed the ballot box with their name for the category of 'best crabcake', even though they were some kind of Italian Fusion meets Neighborhood Bar mom and pop joint that maybe served ten dinners a night and probably served frozen pre-made crabcakes.  They win, then proceed to make one of those vinyl signs that read "BEST CRABCAKES IN SACRAMENTO!  Turn Right Here!" at the freeway exit.  I laughed at the absurdity of it all every time I exited the freeway.  The next year the free weekly changed the rules and made every ballot have at least 25% of the categories filled out to be valid, while mentioning nameless certain winners in years past had probably been ballot box stuffing.  At least the restaurant owners had the good sense to ballot stuff a lame category and not "best Italian" or "best fine dining"]
 
Cheers