Tim and Nina Zagat, whose eponymous ratings guide started in 1979 as a two-page typed list of New York restaurants, are putting their baby on the market. Insiders peg the company’s worth at $200 million; the Times thinks the brand will prove attractive to companies like AT&T, who could use it to build exclusive mobile phone content. Sources tell the Times that the Zagats would like to see their “fabulous brand” expand further beyond what......

You know how Hispanic cooks have been replacing Italians in a lot of pizza joints? The same fate could be in store for the city’s Chinese restaurants, as the booming Chinese economy now gives chefs little incentive to take work in a declining America. Many area restaurant owners are distressed by the trend and blame it on the fact that executive chefs’ salaries in China are matching or even surpassing the U.S. pay grade. Salaries......

Last week at the 92nd Street Y some people took time to hear the fantastic Mike Colameco host the legendary chef Jacques Pepin, critic Gael Greene (now of the Insatiable Critic blog), food maven Arthur Schwartz, and old-school restaurant mogul Michael Whiteman hash out whether NYC dining scene was better then ever. Pretty cut and dry, no? Schwartz and Greene mostly argued that it is not a better scene today, lamenting the arrival of the......

-- Nothing says love like an illegal wedding at the Metropolitan Museum. -- The Brooke Astor saga is over-- her son agreed to give up guardianship, in exchange for keeping the cash he diverted from the estate. -- 50,000 people sent Katie Couric suggestions on a sign-off line. Our submission: "Suck on that, America!" -- Is Pirro really tough on pedophiles? She let 93% of the ones she caught plead out to probation. --......

May 19-26: Tibetan Yak Cheese Week We were excited merely by the title of this event -- an entire week dedicated to Tibetan Yak Cheese, presented by the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity and Trace Foundation. A week-long celebration of Ragya Yak Cheese: a new artisanal cheese based on traditional Tibetan dairy techniques combined with European gourmet cheese-making expertise. Learn more about the story behind the cheese with Jigme Gyaltsen, a senior monk from Ragya......

Or maybe you haven't. Or, more likely, maybe you've been served poorly. The Daily News highlights the (somewhat obvious) fact that New Yorkers don't like bad service in restaurants. According to Tim Zagat, who is quoted in the article, in the 2006 Zagat guide surveys, 49% of New Yorkers named bad service as their primary complaint. It is truly amazing how bad service can put a damper on an otherwise fine meal. The other night,......

The NY Times fills in some more holes with the 2nd Avenue Deli's real estate trials, which seemed to culminate in yesterday's gutting of the 2nd Avenue and 10th Street location. It turns out that owner Jack Lebewohl "owed $107,000 in back rent and other charges and that eviction proceedings had begun even before the deli closed." Well, then that $9,000 increase on $24,000 rent would have been really hard to deal with. Next tidbit:......

Zagat just released the results from their "What's your favorite New York City walking around food?" and the answer is a resounding "pizza by the slice." Zagat offered respondents six options - pizza by the slice, hot dogs with red onions, soft pretzels with mustard, roasted chestnuts, shwarma (gyro) and Italian ice - and who then had to rank the items. Tim Zagat does tell the Daily News that "maybe" the results were skewed because......

Until the documentary about Village institution, Shopsin's, I Like Killing Flies (low culture has a nice look at the film) comes out, New York foodies' film appetites will have to be whetted by Eat This New York, a doc about the struggle of opening a restaurant when you're not Rocco DiSpirito. Cameos from various NY food personalities are in the film: Keith McNally, Jean-Georges, Sirio Maccioni, Daniel Boulud, Ruth Reichl and as Manhattan User's Guide......