Results tagged “timzagat”

Another day, another chef panel: Last night at the New York Public Library, the chef Grant Achatz met up with former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold for a talk moderated by Wired magazine editor Mark McClusky. The topic was the experimental and sometimes maligned cooking techniques like the ones practiced by Achatz at his restaurant Alinea and Myhrvold at home in his kitchen/high tech laboratory.

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.

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.

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 $44 lamb chop and the teardown it apparently heralded for their beloved old neighborhood joints with solid value, good food and owned by a chef who cooked.

-- Check out the sausage-fest at the "First Annual Male Escort Awards."

May 19-26: Tibetan Yak Cheese Week

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.

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: Apparently some kosher deli operators have already called the buliding's owners to inquire about the space! And finally, Lebewohl seems open to the possibility of reopening the deli elsewhere in Manhattan - but the new location won't have some of the old deli's old elements, as the clock and "Abe Lebewohl" (Jack's brother who founded the deliand was murdered in 1996) sign will go to Abe's children. Hmm, would you go to a reopened 2nd Avenue Deli elsewhere? Or another kosher deli that opens up at 2nd and 10th?

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 of the "hot dogs with red onions" option, instead of a basic "hot dog." Just maybe? Gothamist sees more hot dog eaters on the street eating and walking, which is natural since the vendors are on the street. But people need to enter a pizzeria to get a slice, so it seems they tend to eat at the counter (though quickly). Even after a night of Saturday night drinking, the counter is helpful for propping one's self up.

Movies that make you hungry: Big Night, Eat Drink Man Woman, Babette's Feast, Like Water for Chocolate.