Welcome to 2008! It's a brand new year, and to start it off on the right foot, Columbia Metropolitan
has made some changes to the look and content of the magazine. You may
have noticed some slight variations in the last couple of issues with
new section headers and a cleaner look to our layouts. We are
continuing that trend this issue and spicing up some of our favorite
sections.
Over the years, we have received many compliments
about our Restaurant Guide – from native Columbians who just need a
different idea for dinner as well as visitors who pick up the magazine
to see what our town has to offer in the way of cuisine. So, in this
issue, we've taken on the task of improving one of our most valuable
sections and offering more information to our readers.
We have
divided our "Good Eats" restaurant guide into areas of town to make
your decision-making even easier. Now, after selecting a geographic
location, simply find this location in the listing and see all of the
types of food available in the area. In each issue we'll also be
featuring a short review of one of our city's dining establishments.
This time, we ventured over to Arizona's in the Northeast and
thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. If your mouth doesn't water looking at
the picture, just wait until you visit the restaurant and soak in all
the delicious aromas – you are sure to be satisfied. Also, in each
issue we will offer a featured menu from one of our advertisers to give
you a sneak peek at all of the delicacies it has to offer – don't miss
Mr. Friendly's fabulous southern cuisine in this month's featured menu.
With the start of the New Year, we also announce our brand new Best of
Columbia winners for 2008. Our readers have made their decisions, cast
their votes and the "best" have been declared. After 17 years of
compiling the Best of Columbia contest, we realized that many of our
victors have been sweeping their categories year after year. As a
result, we developed the "Best of Columbia Hall of Fame" for those
winners who have won five or more years. Peruse the list starting on
page 36 and you will see the Hall of Fame winners notated in red and a
special golden logo in their ads. Congratulations to all of our winners
this year and to all of our Hall of Fame achievers for their continued
success.
I hope you are as excited as we are about the New Year, and I hope you enjoy the issue. Your comments are always welcome!
Sincerely,
Emily Tinch
Editor
About The Cover:
The
cake honoring our 2008 Best of Columbia winners was designed by Janet
Ochronek of Tiffany's, which has been voted Best Bakery year after year.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFF AMBERG
This Issue