Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Hmmm... some interesting food for thought (pun, of course, intended.)

Here are a few disparate thoughts:

-- As mentioned in the comment above, a gradation of stars allows for a list of ratings to be scanned easily. Yes, a list of letter grades can be scanned as well, but not as easily.

-- You talk about docking the perfect hot dog a perfect grade because there's no theoretical seat. The Ny Times and NY Mag do this as well. NY Mag even says as much at the end of the review -- "3 star food minus one star for the loud room." Hmmm... maybe this is where Zagat actually got it right? They break out the rating of food from service from setting. For those who REALLY care about the food -- those, dare I say it, who are SERIOUS about food, the pure food rating is what matters, no?

Ed, losing weight, as you know is a pretty basic math equation. Calories in minus the calories burned.

You seem, understandably, to have trouble controlling the total number of calories in. Again, considering your line of work, totally understandable.

So why not tackle the other side of the equation -- burn more calories. How? More exercise. If you could truly dedicate an hour a day to some hard-core fitness I bet you'd see a dramatic change. (Just be sure not to splurge on the calories after the workout!)

Peter

Not bad, not bad at all.

I'll give you the aforementioned Marco Polo exemption on the salt and what the heck, on the olive oil too.

But you blew it on the yogurt. And buying that other yogurt made in Queens may not have helped -- it depends on where they get their milk. It doesn't help to get yogurt made in Queens if the milk is trucked in from another time zone. ;)

A cook who dabbles in ugly-but-yummy baking.

Ithaca? No problem!

Burger? Glenwood Pines -- about 5 miles up the west coast of the lake -- check it out here: http://www.glenwoodpines.com/

Pizza - The Nines in Collegetown is not to be missed.

As a burger and pizza guy, you might also want to check out Louie's Lunchtruck on campus.

Stay warm!

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.

Ed - I like your alpha-rating system for one simple reason - NYC is "starred" out - just completely starred out - TONY, NYM, NYT, RG, etc ad naseum. If you had chosen to go with stars I think you would have created dis-interest from the outset.

I also think that the alpha-system allows you to go into more areas of the eating/dining experience...
Food A
Bun C
Burger A
Seating D
Decor B
Service A
etc, etc

Good luck - I look forward to your reviews - have always loved to read your take.

I like the flexibility that A through F with all the + and - involved gives you, but be wary... its hard to stay consistent with so many options. A review you do 3 months from now may get a B+ even though a similar experience garnered an A- today... and even though they're very close, A- feels a LOT better than a B+.

In any case, i think the biggest problem with ratings systems is not so much how many starts you can give or how wide the range is, but clearly defining what each of the ratings MEAN. Maybe a C+ in your book is actually quite good, and you never/rarely plan to give any A's. It may all be codified in your head but its important to get it down on paper (or screen as it were) and let everyone else know what you're thinking. Plus, it will help avoid that gradual grade inflation/deflation i mentioned above.

Good luck!

man, I feel your pain. I really do. I love fat, pork fat, beef fat, butter fat, duck fat...I gotta go, I'm making myself hungry.

How about just exercising more?