New Zagat guide to 635 San Francisco bars and cocktail lounges
Mar 16, 2002, 11:35 pm
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New Zagat guide to 635 San Francisco bars and cocktail lounges
Source: sfgate.com
Ted Zagat wonders how it will look to have his picture taken with a beer bottle in his hand. "I never drink anything without alcohol in it," he says, partly joking.
The 26-year-old son of the founders of the ubiquitous Zagat restaurant guides is leading a few members of the media on a pub crawl in the San Francisco night to promote the new Zagat guide to 635 San Francisco bars and cocktail lounges. He opts to pour the beer into a glass.
Wherever the tour goes, restaurant owners come out to kiss the young prince's ring. At Bix, chosen most popular by the 1,200 amateur surveyors who filled out the forms from which the nightlife guide's reviews were compiled, owner Doug Biederbeck smiles broadly. "I met your father at Aspen," he says.
Tim and Nina Zagat, his parents, started out in 1979 with a mimeographed list of restaurants rated by a few friends. As the list grew, so did the demand for copies. Annual sales now exceed $20 million. The yearly New York City restaurant guide alone sells more than 650,000 copies. The company operates out of Columbus Circle offices with 110 employees.
Harvard-educated Ted Zagat joined the company two years ago with the intention of producing a guide to bars and clubs to accompany the restaurant books. By the end of the year, he will have introduced nightlife editions in seven U.S. cities.
Zagat himself, who grew up eating in restaurants with his parents, says he dines out nightly in Manhattan, usually find-
ing his way to a table around 10 o'clock and then staying out club-hopping until 4. At the converted one-bedroom apartment in New York's Flatiron district he shares with a roommate, the refrigerator contains a bottle of vodka, a few beers and some yogurt for breakfast. "I don't think I've ever turned the stove on," he says.
At the light, airy and tony Brannan Street restaurant Bacar, wine director Debbie Zachareas is pouring a white wine made from Austrian Gruner Veltliner grapes that has everybody marveling at the velvety taste. Zagat is discussing the 20 to 30 methods the survey department uses to foil fraud. He can't say too much, however, he explains, lest too many trade secrets be revealed.
"It's like Rumsfeld talking about our strategy to find Osama bin Laden," he said.
With amateur critics submitting reviews, the guide sometimes comes up with peculiar choices -- Oakland's Paramount Theatre, where occasional big-ticket concerts take place, was selected top "Live Music Club." Cafe Flore, where Ted Zagat's media tour is starting, won as best "Lesbian" nightclub, even though there appear to be few, if any, lesbians eating at the Castro evergreen as Zagat and posse climb into the limousine that whisks them off into the night.
Zagat says he thinks film critics learn too much about movies to stay in touch with popular tastes, although he doesn't think the same is true of food writers for some reason. He calls the people who filled out the forms that built the nightlife guide "avid consumers" and says he targeted white-collar workers in their 20s as reviewers. Each reviewer gets a free copy of the guide and the taste of eternal life that comes with having one's opinions thus enshrined. It's an anti-elite, populist philosophy that has obviously struck a chord with the public.
"The consumer's opinion is as valued as anyone else's," Zagat says. "Maybe not about sparkplugs or doctors. Just because you've had an operation, you are not necessarily qualified to rate your doctor, except for bedside manner."
Ted Zagat wonders how it will look to have his picture taken with a beer bottle in his hand. "I never drink anything without alcohol in it," he says, partly joking.
The 26-year-old son of the founders of the ubiquitous Zagat restaurant guides is leading a few members of the media on a pub crawl in the San Francisco night to promote the new Zagat guide to 635 San Francisco bars and cocktail lounges. He opts to pour the beer into a glass.
Wherever the tour goes, restaurant owners come out to kiss the young prince's ring. At Bix, chosen most popular by the 1,200 amateur surveyors who filled out the forms from which the nightlife guide's reviews were compiled, owner Doug Biederbeck smiles broadly. "I met your father at Aspen," he says.
Tim and Nina Zagat, his parents, started out in 1979 with a mimeographed list of restaurants rated by a few friends. As the list grew, so did the demand for copies. Annual sales now exceed $20 million. The yearly New York City restaurant guide alone sells more than 650,000 copies. The company operates out of Columbus Circle offices with 110 employees.
Harvard-educated Ted Zagat joined the company two years ago with the intention of producing a guide to bars and clubs to accompany the restaurant books. By the end of the year, he will have introduced nightlife editions in seven U.S. cities.
Zagat himself, who grew up eating in restaurants with his parents, says he dines out nightly in Manhattan, usually find-
ing his way to a table around 10 o'clock and then staying out club-hopping until 4. At the converted one-bedroom apartment in New York's Flatiron district he shares with a roommate, the refrigerator contains a bottle of vodka, a few beers and some yogurt for breakfast. "I don't think I've ever turned the stove on," he says.
At the light, airy and tony Brannan Street restaurant Bacar, wine director Debbie Zachareas is pouring a white wine made from Austrian Gruner Veltliner grapes that has everybody marveling at the velvety taste. Zagat is discussing the 20 to 30 methods the survey department uses to foil fraud. He can't say too much, however, he explains, lest too many trade secrets be revealed.
"It's like Rumsfeld talking about our strategy to find Osama bin Laden," he said.
With amateur critics submitting reviews, the guide sometimes comes up with peculiar choices -- Oakland's Paramount Theatre, where occasional big-ticket concerts take place, was selected top "Live Music Club." Cafe Flore, where Ted Zagat's media tour is starting, won as best "Lesbian" nightclub, even though there appear to be few, if any, lesbians eating at the Castro evergreen as Zagat and posse climb into the limousine that whisks them off into the night.
Zagat says he thinks film critics learn too much about movies to stay in touch with popular tastes, although he doesn't think the same is true of food writers for some reason. He calls the people who filled out the forms that built the nightlife guide "avid consumers" and says he targeted white-collar workers in their 20s as reviewers. Each reviewer gets a free copy of the guide and the taste of eternal life that comes with having one's opinions thus enshrined. It's an anti-elite, populist philosophy that has obviously struck a chord with the public.
"The consumer's opinion is as valued as anyone else's," Zagat says. "Maybe not about sparkplugs or doctors. Just because you've had an operation, you are not necessarily qualified to rate your doctor, except for bedside manner."
