Do Zagat Ratings Make Sense?

Let me start by saying that I have been a devoted Zagat fan, follower, whatever for years. It has been my source of choice when deciding on which retaurant to go to. I’ve had an online subscription for years and rate restuarants for their survey. I would quote Zagat ratings whenever a group of us had to try and decide on which retaurant to go to and even used it to factually back-up my arguments on which restaurant was best – Zagat says so, argument closed! You can say that I was the poster child for Zagat.

I used to travel a lot for work. I was a consultant so always on the road, spending way too much time in Dallas, Atlanta and even Arkansas. Since New York restaurants were my reference point I created my own system for adjusting Zagat ratings in other cities so that I could gauge food quality against New York. Of course, New York restaurants set the standard so ratings in all other cities were adjusted lower. A 25 rating in Dallas represented the equivalent of a 20 rating  in New York, though that may be too generous but that’s another blog. This of course drove people in Texas crazy, but I stuck to my point adjustment scheme wherever I went. My basic rationale was that people in other cities do not have the same reference point – logical right?

The problem now is that I think New York restaurants have inflated ratings. It was one thing to believe that ratings were inflated everywhere but New York. This has thrown my whole rating scheme and the natural order of things for me into turmoil. How do I now judge restaurants in New York let alone in other cities? Some examples include recent visits to Aureole and Tamarind (more on that in an earlier post). Aureole has a 27 food rating, it was good but did it really deserve a 27? 27 should be wow, but it was good, well executed food, but not a wow. Tamarind witha 25 rating is the highest rated Indian restaurant in New York. It’s good but not the best. I think Devi is better, but inconsistent. Is it that the ratings are inflated or my standards are just too high? Were they always inflated and I was foolish to have the faith in the ratings that I did?

So where do I go from here? I’ve started using the ratings in New York as general indications rather then absolute values. Anything over 25 is very good, 28 or higher should be a wow, anything between 18-21 is just ok, anything under 18 is to be avoided and anything between 22-25 is good, not exceptional. Also, within each band restaurants are comparable rather then better then one another.

Lets hope this works better for me. Of course I’ll still keep my Zagat online subscription.

Anyone else have any ideas for me? Do you think the Zagat ratings are inflated? 

Coccola, Hillsborough, NJ

Over the weekend my wife and I decided to finally go to Coccola in Hillsborough for brunch. This was our weekend without the kids and we were trying plenty of restaurants. Also, we hadn’t been out for brunch in a while (kids do that) and it was time to go get some eggs benedict. Coccola is located on Rt. 206 at the northern end of Hillsborough in a really weird location. If you know the area, it’s basically like an industrial zone next to Lora’s gas station, so you wouldn’t really expect anything decent there.

We checked out their website (www.coccolarestaurant.com), place looked great in the pictures and the variety in the brunch buffet looked too large to be real. Got there around noon and there was a large private party in one of there rooms. The place is really attractively designed inside and much better then most places in the area. All the more surprising for the location.

We had the option of either the buffet or a la carte menu. We went for the buffet. Our waitress informed us that a hot beverage and mimosa or bloody mary were included. I went for the mimosa which hit the spot! As she got our drinks we went and surveyed the buffet – what can I say, we were overwhelmed by the sheer choice. Of course they had eggs benedict, an omelette station, pancakes, brioche french toast (really good), but also sushi, oysters, shrimp, smoked salmon, and a ton of main courses which were too numerous to remember, including lasagne, roast lamb, prime rib. Of course thay also had fruit, breads, bagels, pastries and desserts.

The overall quality was pretty good, especially the french toast, eggs and desserts. I didn’t try the pancakes (even I couldn’t try everything, though I tried hard). The oysters were just ok and the sushi was a little light on the fish, but what do expect for just $25. Yes, just $25. This must be one of the great deals going around.

Service was earnest. The staff was a little overwhelmed with the private party going on, but it was attentive and everything was just right. The manager even came over to check if everything was going well. They seemed eagar to make sure we had a good experience.

This is definately a place I would go back to. I would like to try dinner one of these days and see if dinner justifies my current opinion of the place.

I did go back and here’s a post https://foodielifestyle.wordpress.com/2007/12/17/coccola-revisited/

Indian Food Day in NYC

My wife and I decided to spend Saturday in NYC, well it was probably more like I wanted to spend a day in NY and harrassed her until she agreed. We drop the kids off at her sister’s and drove into the city around 11am. It must have been my lucky day but I actually found street parking just where I wanted it, 5th and 20th. Major score!

Our plan was to just walk around a bunch of neighborhoods and enjoy what New York has to offer. Unfortunately it was the coldest day we’ve had, coming in in the 30s. Boy it was cold.  We decided to just walk down to Union Square and check out the fresh market until it was time to go get lunch. That place has some really great stuff. If I had a cooler in the car I would definately have picked up some sausages, rack of lamb and some bread. Oh well, next time I’ll know to be better prepared.

 After walking around for over an hour, it was time to hit the 1st of our restaurants. We walked over to the Bread Bar at Tabla. I’ve been there maybe 20 times in that last 4 years, but my wife has never been and I wanted her to experience one of my absolute favorites – the pulled lamb and mustard mash potato naanini! Place was pretty empty, perhaps another 2 couples were there when we walked in and another 2 came in after us. It was still pretty early for lunch. 2 other couples ordered the pulled lamb too. I guess everyone knows about it. Apart from the pulled lamb, we also ordered the black pepper shrimp. This was my first time trying the shrimp – those shrimp were huge – the term shrinp doesn’t do it justice. The shrimp was really tender, cooked to perfection and had a natural sweetness. The pepper was a little too heavy handed, but it’s definately a dish worth ordering. I probably would cut back on the pepper and add some lime juice. I have Floyd Cardoz’s (the chef at Tabla and Bread Bar) book and will try his recipe with some modifications one of these days.

Moving onto the pulled lamb naanini. This has to be one of the greatest creations of all time. I have introduced so many people to this and every single one loves it. The lamb is marinated and cooked to tender.  None of the spices are overwhelming and work so well together. The mashed potato is a perfect with the lamb. Both placed betwen 2 slices of crispy naan. The sandwich is huge and perfect to share. It comes in 3 pieces – why not just make it an even number and then sharing would be so much easier. Oh yes, and my wife loved it too. I did once try re-creating it at home from taste alone, and while it was pretty good, it wasn’t close to the original. I’ll keep trying. If I ever figure it out, I’ll be sure to post the recipe.

For dessert we shared the cheesecake. This has to be one of the best cheesecakes I have ever eaten. So light and with a mint syrup and pineapple. It just worked perfectly. The one thing that didn’t work was the Chai – what was that? It was basically steamed milk. Where was the actual tea?

After walking around a few more hours – we went down to Chinatown via the village and SOHO and then up to 45th and 6th with a detour in Washington Square where we watched s great street show.

We went up to 45th and 6th to go for tea and some Indian sweets at Sukhadia. I’ve been to the one in Edison which is great. Well this branch was no where close. We ordered some mediocre tea (I try tea everywhere) and laddoos (indian ball shaped dessert). The laddoos were cold and rock hard. Not worth the trip up.

 After walking around and killing a few more hours we headed down to Tamarind for our 8.30 reservation. We walked of course. I think we must have walked over 125 blocks (no typo). We needed some way to work off all this great food.

At Tamarind we were seated promptly. The place was packed and the tables were a little too close together. We ordered the cod with crab cake and Soolee as appetizers. The cake was flavored with fennel and onion seed. It was good, but more cod then crab. The Soolee was great, marinated lamb, grilled and on a skewer. For the mains we shared  a tandoori platter that had 2 types of grilled chicken, a lamb chop and tandoori chicken. It also came with creamy lentils. The lamb chop was fabulous and the grilled chicked was great too. While the tandoori chicken had a good tandoor flavor, it could have done with more spice since it was a little bland. The lentils were better then most. We also ordered the Kolapuri Chicken with naan. The chicken was tender, well spiced, not too overwhelming. All the spices were perfectly rounded. Having really enjoyed our dinner, we left thinking that the meal was great, but was it good enough to justify the highest Indian food rating on Zagat? We both agreed that it wasn’t. I think the food at Devi is probably the best Indian food I have eaten in NY. Devi recently closed and re-opened so not sure how the food stacks up now.

The service at Tamarind is immaculate. When we got our bill, I was surprised how cheap dinner was – it’s definately good value for money. A nice surprise to end a great day of eating and just experiencing a great city.

Princeton Area Restaurants Don’t Make the Cut, Except….

I’ve lived in the Princeton area for about 5 years now and the one thing that struck me has been the lack of quality restaurants. You would think, or atleast I did that with the ethinically diverse community in the area and the general wealth that there would be better restaurants. With great hope I have tried a number of restaurants and continually been underwhelmed by them. Is it that the folks who live in the area are just happy to have somewhere to eat out that the quality of food doesn’t matter?

 In the past year a PF Chang’s opened up on Route 1 by Marketfair Mall. I thought that would raise the average food quality in the area – pretty sad thought! Apart from PFC’s we have our share of casual chains, including Chilli’s, Macaroni Grill, Break for the Border and of course plenty of pizza / pasta places, chinese and mediocre Indian. I find myself excited that Chipotle has opened up in nearby Bridgewater and North Brunswick.

 While it’s been bleak for a while, things have started to look up. My current favorite restaurant in the area is Witherspoon Grill. I love this place. In the last 4 months I have been there 3 times. Even Salt Creek Grill is an improvement and has decent burgers and seafood. Because both these places represent significant improvements in the area, they are always packed no matter which day of the week. This just goes to show that Princeton is dying for better restaurants.  I’ll write longer reviews on both these places later.