Having made "special journeys" to both Babbo and Peter Luger, I was pleased to see they received a mention in the Michelin list. NYT has a full listing of the one-, two-, and three-star joints.

You should charge people more for your site if they live in nyc. Seriously. Or rather, offer a discounted rate for those that live outside of nyc and don't care about every minor thing that happens in overpriced nyc restaurants.

You do know not everyone lives in nyc, correct?

Here's the NY Times article that Becky was referring to (and related article).

You should charge people more...

I usually don't respond to crap like this, but I'm in a mood today. Charge? I don't charge anyone anything to read the site...it's completely fucking free.

You do know not everyone lives in nyc, correct?

You do know you're not the hall monitor for kottke.org, correct? You do know you're not compelled to read the site if you find it uninteresting? You do know that you're free to delete the bookmark to kottke.org and never come back? Or free to ignore the items you don't find appealing? Or free to take a walk or read a book or fly a kite or paint a picture or do a million other things aside from reading anything about NYC or food on this site? Seriously.

heh...I think he meant he was a "contributing" member...remember...your fund drive?

...thus not free. I guess he isn't getting what he thought he paid for ;-)

I guess he isn't getting what he thought he paid for ;-)

He should have thought more carefully about contributing then. It's been fairly clear for several years what I write about on the site. At times, I cover NYC and food to an extensive degree.

Ok, back on topic. Does anyone who may have occasion to eat out in Manhattan care about the Michelin Guide? Better/worse than Zagat's? Irrelevent because of Chowhound, Citysearch, and eGullet?

If you care about food at all, you care what's going on in New York City, regardless of where you live.

You are not obligated to care, however, what Michelin says about anything outside of Europe. Or Zagat. Actually, seriously consider throwing your copy of Zagat away. Yearly reviews? Christ.

Foodie community sites contain great information, but tend to be a bit overwhelming in terms of the width and breadth of topics being discussed. The reviews are good, but I'll stick to the advice of my friends who eat out.

Nothing is worse than Zagat! Charlie Suisman of Manhattan User's Guide worked there briefly and wrote a smackdown last year. I've never trusted any of their reviews.

When writing things for A Full Belly or trying to decide on whether or not a restaurant is worth a visit, my four best resources are Chowhound, eGullet, friends and food bloggers.

P.S. I'm with Becky on Babbo and Peter Luger. Hurrah for Mario Batali! Hurrah for steakhouses with excellent meat and surly waiters!

New York is overrated. It is a decent sort of place to visit, but living there is a task.

Zagat... I don't trust them. And I wouldn't want to live in NY either.

the video of the crab is crabtastic... for some reason i kind of wish it was a fish instead.

I wonder how many two- and three-stars the whole rest of the country will get?

Love Batali's reaction to Babbo's 1-star neighbor, the Spotted Pig: "They're blowing it," he said. "They can't put the Spotted Pig on the same level as Babbo."

(Mario Batali is an investor in Spotted Pig so I guess it's alright for him to say that)

Anybody know when the Michelin men are coming to other cities? I think I remember hearing that San Francisco is/was next, but now I can't find any sources for that online. And I agree that anyone who cares about food should care about NYC - I've been on the edge of my seat waiting for this list, despite living in California with no real plans to go to any of these restaurants any time soon. This is important not just in NYC, but in what it says about America within the global restaurant scene. As Scott said, it should be very interesting to see how many 3-star restaurants there end up being in the whole country as well.

That other Jack has got it bass-ackwards. NYC is not as horrible to live in or difficult at all if you have half a brain. I will admit that real estate in this city is through the roof. But once you're over that, there are tons of ways to enjoy this city more and more and in ways that don't kill you or break the bank. Make an effort and you'll reap the awards.

Here's a task for all the whiners about NYC. Just go and explore neighborhoods outside of the 'usual' places. Get out of LES and Williamsburg, grab a Metrocard and explore. You'll be amazed at how little you really know about this city if you do that.

Don't be hatin'

Nobody appears more to care about the Michelin guide than the chefs/owers of the restaurants themselves. I think it operates less as a "guide" to eating and more as a seemingly customer-centered way of rating chefs. When the french chef Bernard Loiseau killed himself in 2003, supposedly a bi-product of depression induced by a 3-star to 2-star Michelin demotion, I doubt his customers really cared as much as he or his competition did. The rating doesn't make the food taste different, right?