Word: zagat
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...fish for breakfast. Ask for the $17 sushi set at Sushi Dai, one of the many seafood eateries at the outdoor market adjacent to Tsukiji. Or try any place with a crowd or a line. Tokyo residents pride themselves on knowing good food--they shocked the folks at Zagat's with the harshness of their survey responses--so they'll queue for the best stuff...
...dressed in Birks and burlap, they feast on authenticity, while their Boston sisters simply eat because Olé was named “Best of Boston” about 800 times by Boston Magazine. For the latter, the magazine’s picks rate about as highly as a Zagat four-star. Anyway, Prada and tragically hip in the “I’m-wearing-ethnic-clothing-because-it-makes-a-fashion-statement” sense reigns in a restaurant that doesn’t struggle hard to maintain a Mexican patina. Aztec and Toltec and Mixtec objets...
...early history of do-it-yourself criticism, a signal event was the rise of the paperback Zagat restaurant guides, which compile the opinions of actual customers who replied to questionnaires. Beginning in 1979 with a single volume devoted to New York City, the Zagat empire has expanded to 45 cities and, of course, a website. There is comfort in knowing that the Zagat reviewers are ordinary diners who paid for their meals and had the real experience of a place, not the special treatment accorded to food critics who might be known to the chef. "Some critics sniff, Well, what...
...healthy appetite. The vox-popping of taste may have begun with the Zagat Guides, those svelte booklets offering restaurant reviews based on the opinions of thousands of ordinary foodies. Since 1979 Zagat has grown from one New York City volume to 36 editions nationally and five abroad. It is now as influential as many newspaper critics. "Some critics sniff, 'Well, what does the public know?'" says Merrill Shindler, who edits the Los Angeles guide and is himself a veteran restaurant reviewer. "I reply, 'Well, what do the critics know...
...Zagat tries to make sure that the ballot box isn?t stuffed by chefs and restaurateurs eager for a high rating. "There?s a control group which overall rankings are compared to. It?s rare when there are big variations." (So why not just use the control group?) Zagat also severely edits the opinions, usually quoting only a few snippets in any item. For the raw, logorrheic voice of the people, check out the movie websites: the anyone-can-play screeds on the Internet Movie Database or on the film page of epinions.com. It?s instructive, and wearying. Those...