Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Love it - succinct, just the right info and no purple prose ;-) and the pix are killer! I want those meat balls!

Well said - I wish that could be on billboards all over town! I just booked a May 3rd reservation for 2 at Benoit through opentable - I'll let you know about the 'tude quotient ;-)

pluots at Fairway - a typical 5 oz pluot has 80 calories

Ah, the beating heart of primordial kimchi.

Say what you will Ed, but the general public is deceived into believing that these wondrous chefs only find out the secret ingredient when it unveiled dramatically at the top of the show.

Just another sign of our culture accepting "little white lies."

Whatta we tell our kids Ed - how will we spin this?

I don't have a strong preference for letter grades vs. stars vs. numeric scores... as long as you understand the value of the rating, it's pretty much same-same to me. Being able to use plus or minus does allow for nuance, which is helpful. But the 14 possible ratings aren't much different than Zagat's 30 point scale (which in reality is more like a 14-29 scale).

But I do very strongly agree with the idea of "context" -- i.e., comparing an A+ dive to a B- haute cuisine? Their scores are relative.

Perfect real-life example: Out here in So California, the Zagat for In-N-Out chain is a 24 for food, while Morton's and Ruth's Chris are both rated 25 for food. Clearly, comparing an above-average fine-dining-type steak house to even the country's best drive-thru fast food joint, is like comparing saltines to artisanal bread. (Similarly, in NYC, Gray's Papaya at 20 vs. Nick & Stef's at 22 may be accurate, but in wholly different contexts.)

I've always wanted to see at least two levels of categorization, and ideally three or four... it's alway been my one huge peeve with Zagat, especially when you're in an unfamiliar area, and have no real way of being sure what kind of eatery you're in for.

The food looks fantastic. Great pics!

When I first saw their name it looked like "Terror" which caught me off guard.

The new rating system is simple and elegant.

Costco's has a remarkably tasty fruitcake available during the holidays. It is filled with pecans and cherries and other non-dayglo fruits. It reminds me of the kinds of fruitcakes I see for sale at Saks during the holidays for $50 but at Costco it is only $12.

Bouchon also has a delightful fruitcake like loaf. I think it is also seasonal. No problem with bad fruit overcoming the cake there, of course.

I don't like fruitcake, even when it's homemade by a talented cook (like my mother; she made it as part of her Christmas baking binge for several years).

I know I'm not alone. I once heard the Chieftains sing something called "Miss Fogarty's Christmas Cake." You can google the lyrics easily.

It wasn't until I was grown that I figured out why I hated it so: it's mostly the day-glo fruit - which is composed principally of bitter, leathery CITRON. That, plus the fact that there is far too little cake. Oh, and the raw taste of whiskey or brandy, not calculated to appeal to a child's tastebuds.

And yet I love pannettone, which is a nice challah-type bread spangled with the same day-glo fruit. But not nearly so much, and no whiskey.

If the Corsicana Fruitcake is anything like the "quintessential fruitcake of the South" that brooke29 links to - no wonder it's a thriving business. No citron!!

I always thought fruitcake was some sort of holiday gag gift. I would never think of actually eating one!