Shout Reuben-Off Results - The Battle For Boone Revealed -
By Sam Calhoun

The results are in.

Last issue, SHOUT Magazine- your first source for food critiques and general confusion- called for an inaugural Reuben-Off to see who had the best Reuben in Boone. We prepared for weeks- gathering a 9-person taste-test council, sitting through email votes and organizing a plan of attack for all 13 restaurants that participated.

Finally, the day came. Yes, unbeknownst to me, I planned the Reuben-Off for Good Friday- yes, on a day that Christians are not supposed to eat meat. It didn't seem to faze the council.

Before we get to the results, let me thank all who participated. A heartfelt thank you- a SHOUT-out, if you will- goes to Blimpie, Boone Bagelry, Cafe Portofino, Jersey Mike's, Joe's Italian Kitchen, Murphy's, Macado's, Mr. Originals, Our Daily Bread, Peppers, The Library, Troy's 105 Diner and Wolfie's. All the restaurants gave us free sandwiches and treated us with respect- two things we are not used to at all.

And a thank you goes out to our taste-testers- Beke Zergeron, Sparky Washington, Hans, Dego Wopanoli, Sasafras Molly, Jimmy Jazz, Wolf Larson, Dopey, and The Virgin Reuben Eater. Believe it or not, those aren't their real names. We have withheld their true identities for protection. FYI...our taste-testers represented a somewhat even cut of our general population. We had writers, bartenders, beer-tenders, lawyers, students, graphic artists, teachers, cooks and local business owners- no, they weren't all hippies or our friends.

Taste-testers rated each sandwich with painful precision, giving 1-5 ratings on each of the bread, sauce, corned beef, sauerkraut and cheese. They also has to record the order in which the sandwich was eaten; their occupation, age, name and where they lived; they had to describe themselves in one sentence; they had to rate their mood based on the seven dwarfs (most were either happy, dopey or sleepy); they had to describe each sandwich in five words or less; and rate the sandwich on a scale of ew, mm, mmm, mmmm or mmmmm. (I know; it's pretty scientific.)

Our local statistician took the data collected from the taste-testers and compiled the results.

Without further ado, the winner of the inaugural SHOUT Magazine Reuben off is...

Joe's Italian Kitchen!!

Joe clocked in with a score of 21.6 points overall and an average of 4.5 Ms. Congrats Joe, you just won ads in both SHOUT and High Country Press and all the bragging rights.

But I must add that Joe only won by 0.2 points! The Library clocked in with a score of 21.4 points and an average of 4.5 Ms. Congrats Baxter and Blake!

Close behind in the race was Cafe Portofino with a score of 20.4 points and an average of 4.4 Ms on their regular Reuben, and Our Daily Bread with a score of 17.1 points on an average of 2.8 Ms.

Troy's 105 Diner, Blimpie and Jersey Mike's were next in line.

A full breakdown of the results can be obtained by coming to my desk at work. I will only share results with business owners or general managers.

The results don't tell the whole story, though, Thoughtful comments- both negative and positive- peppered the taste-testers' sheets, making us laugh, cry and think about whether we would ever eat food at some establishments again. But you don't get to know what comments match up to each restaurant. That wouldn't be nice. That wouldn't be nice at all.

We will be back very soon with another food contest. Yes, it may be the Jamaican JERK-OFF or the Liquor-Off or a Pizza-Off, but should email us- This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with your opinion on what we should do next.

I had a great time and I my apologies to the friends, family and significant others who had to be in close proximity to our taste-testers after the contest- I know that didn't smell good at all.

If you want to throw in your two-cents about the Reuben-Off, be sure to click to ShoutMag.net and post your comments!