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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Local bars and restaurants cleaned up at the fifth annual Best of TL Readers&#8217; Choice Awards on Tuesday night.</p><p>The Times Leader Media Group presented 150 awards to over 100 community businesses at the event, held at Best Western Plus Genetti Hotel and Conference Center.</p><p>&#8220;This is the largest attendance we&#8217;ve ever had,&#8221; said Mike Murray, publisher of the Times Leader. &#8220;It&#8217;s tremendous to be able to showcase the outstanding businesses and services that serve our community and it&#8217;s nice to see the fact that our readers support these businesses.&#8221;</p><p>Some 25,000 readers voted for their favorite businesses in various categories through both online and print ballots. Kerry Miscavage, advertising director for the Times Leader Media Group, said the voter response was &#8220;one of the highest&#8221; in recent years.</p><p>She also said many new businesses attended the banquet this year, including first-time award winners such as The Avenue Diner, which was named Best Restaurant for Breakfast.</p><p>Dave Krappa owns the Wyoming-based eatery and said it&#8217;s an honor to be recognized by the community. &#8220;It&#8217;s a payoff for all the hard work my staff and I are doing to provide for the area.&#8221;</p><p>He also said many of his customers describe the diner as &#8220;a home away from home&#8221; and staffers are on a first-name basis with many of them.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a family environment,&#8221; said Krappa.</p><p>Besides being known for its lobster and home-style meals, the diner has also hosted famous personalities like then-presidential candidate Barack Obama in the fall of 2008 and news personality Diane Sawyer.</p><p>Staffers at Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s Cork Bar &amp; Restaurant, which took home nine awards, also believe a home-like environment at the bar is one of the reasons why it&#8217;s so popular among TL readers.</p><p>&#8220;We have so many regular customers that we know everything about them,&#8221; said manager Carolyn Saporito. &#8220;It&#8217;s like Cheers.&#8221;</p><p>Louanne Starch, a waitress at Cork for five years, often finds herself asking patrons about their families and their lives.</p><p>Starch was recognized as Best Server and Saporito received a silver award for Best Bartender. In addition to many other honors, Cork also received the distinction of being named the Best Place for a First Date.</p><p>The restaurant tied with Crabby&#8217;s Seafood Grill, of Dallas, which also walked away with nine different awards. Those included Best Seafood, Best Takeout, and Best Wings to name a few.</p><p>&#8220;That makes us feel fantastic,&#8221; said owner Ron Roberts. He said the eatery received many more awards than it did last year as it had been open only six months at the time. &#8220;We feel appreciated, because we have keyed in on making it quality food, always fresh, and hospitality.&#8221;</p><p>Head chef Kim Svec said Crabby&#8217;s best sellers are the crab cakes and shrimp biscuits. &#8220;It&#8217;s all fresh homemade,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Check out the Times Leader&#8217;s special section Saturday profiling some of the Best of TL Readers&#8217; Choice winners.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Karen Williams and Courtney Brenner, of Reruns Consignments Shop in Wyoming, wait in line for the dinner buffet during the Best of TL Readers&#8217; Choice Awards banquet at Genetti&#8217;s in Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL032818BestofTL1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Karen Williams and Courtney Brenner, of Reruns Consignments Shop in Wyoming, wait in line for the dinner buffet during the Best of TL Readers&#8217; Choice Awards banquet at Genetti&#8217;s in Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday night. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL032818BestofTL3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">President and CEO of United Way of Wyoming Valley Bill Jones engages in conversation with Mary Erwine, owner and founder of Home Health &amp; Hospice, during the Best of TL Readers&#8217; Choice Awards at Genetti&#8217;s in Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL032818BestofTL3.jpg</photo1><caption1>President and CEO of United Way of Wyoming Valley Bill Jones engages in conversation with Mary Erwine, owner and founder of Home Health &amp; Hospice, during the Best of TL Readers&#8217; Choice Awards at Genetti&#8217;s in Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL032818BestofTL4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Times Leader Media Group publisher Mike Murray gives an introduction to guests before awards are presented at the Best of TL Readers&#8217; Choice Awards at Genetti&#8217;s in Wilkes-Barre. In the background is Kerry Miscavage, Times Leader Media Group advertising director. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL032818BestofTL4.jpg</photo2><caption2>Times Leader Media Group publisher Mike Murray gives an introduction to guests before awards are presented at the Best of TL Readers&#8217; Choice Awards at Genetti&#8217;s in Wilkes-Barre. In the background is Kerry Miscavage, Times Leader Media Group advertising director. </caption2><photoCredit2>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL032818BestofTL2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Toni Tabone and Donna Brenner, of Cookie Corner Nursery-Day Care in Wyoming, pose for a photograph with their gold award at the Best of TL Readers&#8217; Choice Awards banquet at the Best Western Plus Genetti Hotel and Conference Center in Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL032818BestofTL2.jpg</photo3><caption3>Toni Tabone and Donna Brenner, of Cookie Corner Nursery-Day Care in Wyoming, pose for a photograph with their gold award at the Best of TL Readers&#8217; Choice Awards banquet at the Best Western Plus Genetti Hotel and Conference Center in Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday night. </caption3><photoCredit3>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Kulsoom Khan</p><p>kkhan@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p>Check out the Times Leader&#8217;s special section Saturday profiling some Best of TL winners.</p></factboxMeta></div>

More than 100 businesses honored at Best of TL Readers’ Choice Awards