Zagat released its 2010 NYC edition and, as expected, old favorites remained on top. The most popular restaurants are Gramercy Tavern (number 1), Union Square Cafe, Le Bernardin, Babbo and Daniel while top food can was deemed to be founded at Le Bernardin (number 1), Daniel, Jean Georges, Per Se, and L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon. Asiate had best decor and Per Se has best service.
The top newcomer is Marea, followed by Porchetta, Buttermilk Channel, Txikito and Char No. 4. Tim Zagat also offered some observations from the over 38,000 who completed the surveys that went into calculating the rankings: 56% are finding better deals, 37% say it's easier to get a table, and people are eating out less—3 times a week, versus 3.4 times a week in previous years.
Zagat was also rah-rah about the industry, "The restaurant industry overall, continues to expand in a very healthy way and that's part of a restaurant revolution that we've seen in New York as long as I can remember. There were 150 good noteworthy openings and only about a hundred closings."
Of course, this comes as the Zagat guide is fighting irrelevance with more people turning to food blogs, Yelp and other means to help focus their dining decision. Are you reading Zagat anymore?
