Zagat Buzz
We took a look at the Jones Wood Foundry on the Upper East Side when the spot announced its soft opening...
In our new Chef Secrets column, we catch up with notable toques and ask them for some insider secrets...
Cadaqués Tapas Bar has flown under the radar since it opened in Williamsburg last fall. The resto is...
Is your peanut butter and jelly an objet d’art? The Openhouse Gallery on Mulberry Street thinks so. On...
By Betsy Andrews, ZAGAT.com staff editor
It used to be that fame, beauty, style or the right connections were what it took to get past the velvet rope at hot nightspots. But these days just about anybody can buy themselves into the scene via bottle service.
The trend started in Europe, spread to New York and is now common throughout the States. From Philly's Denim to Vegas' Risqué to LA's Spider Club, you'll find patrons partying like rock stars at tables with bottles of liquor and mixers, making their own drinks or having their servers pour.
The appeal for club owners is as clear as a dry martini: bottles typically sell for $250 and up – a 1,000% markup – and minimum purchases apply. But the impresarios believe there's also lots in it for customers. Says Noah Tepperberg, co-owner of NYC's Marquee, "You...
By Carol Diuguid, ZAGAT.com staff editor
Seems there are two things that no superstar chef can be without these days: a sharp knife and a Vegas restaurant. Among those rolling the dice in Sin City: Daniel Boulud (DB Brasserie, opening in April), Tom Colicchio (Craftsteak), Thomas Keller (Bouchon), Nobu Matsuhisa (Nobu), Bradley Ogden (Bradley Ogden), Wolfgang Puck (Spago) and Jean-Georges Vongerichten (Prime).
What's drawing them? Demand and dollars. "Las Vegas is not just a place to gamble anymore – people go there with high expectations about the food," says Nobu Matsuhisa. He's clearly meeting those expectations – his Vegas Nobu, in the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, was rated No. 1 for Food in our last Las Vegas Survey.
Bradley Ogden, whose eponymous restaurant is set in Caesars Palace on the glitzy Strip...
Here are some of our all-time favorite voter comments, including some that were too outrageous to use in reviews.
Suffers from delusions of adequacy.
Took a doggy bag home; the dog refused it.
If this place doesn't get you laid, nothing will.
Saves fuel bills – the heartburn will keep you warm all winter.
The immature eating the indelible.
Like a skunk, it's small, it's cute and it stinks.
Abandon taste buds all ye who enter here.
A petri dish gone horribly, horribly wrong....