Well lets see, I look at this as recommend something to someone with little knowledge of anime so
Angel Beats (good music,funny,emotional)
Baka and Test (One of my favourites, really funny/entertaining)
Clannad (while not really one of my favourites it is a classic, so to say.)
Spice and Wolf (it's educational about economics)
and some kind of Gundam, probably either Seed or 00.
Plus say what you want about dubs, but they're all dubbed so it's easier to watch for newcomers.