Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Two more quick things...

Just kidding Claire! I kid because I love. :-)

and...

I do think it's valid to say that DiFara's isn't as good as it used to be. If you loved it, but think that maybe it's slipping. Fine. Or maybe you had one bad experience? Not every pizza can be perfect. But to say it's bad and has always been bad is just crazy talk!

I'm pretty sure you could have come to these exact same conclusions without leaving the burgers out overnight!

Shake Shack's fries are terrible, and Five Guys fries are amazing. And Five Guys has grilled mushrooms and jalapenos. And Shake Shack doesn't have any grilled toppings... So I think the overall scores don't really reflect the overall experience of eating at the three places.

I still agree with you that Shake Shack makes the best burger, but I don't think the overall experience of eating at Five Guys is as bad as your overall score would indicate. I think the real purpose of a side by side analysis is to determine where you would go if all three of these places were located right next to each other... and for me I think it would be a three way tie.

I know everybody is entitled to their own opinion, but there is something wrong with this world when a frozen potato product of unknown providence is considered better than fresh cut potatoes.

Had this burger on Sunday and thought the flavor was just soooo good. Though I am sorry to report that they still haven't changed the bun...

Genius!

Being high is the perfect time to eat Mamoun's over Taim. It's like switching to cheaper wine as the night goes on... because once your trashed, it doesn't make a difference.

(Also, more money left over to spend on weed!)

Urgh... if I could bring myself to side with Josh Ozersky, I would point out that you yourself Nick praised last year's Burger Bash (and many of the burgers) on this very site:

http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2009/10/second-annual-burger-bash-new-york-city-wine-and-food-festival-nyc.html

Saying that it "gets better every year." But I can't bring myself to side with Josh, so I will refrain from pointing that out.

Doh!

I agree that all ratings systems could easily be called into question (including the letter grade system that is used on this site), but I think you could also argue that the New York Times star system is the best there is. Years of history make the system fairly easy to understand... because in the end it is about expectations. The stars are only important in how they relate to what a restaurant is striving for.

Motorino and Co. never expected to get reviewed by the NYT and got a 1. That's a victory. Oceana would have been thrilled with a 3, but it wasn't good enough to merit a 3. MDP is right on in his assessment, and it's why a one star review for an unexpected spot (like Motorino) might do wonders for their business, while a 2 star review for Casa Lever or Oceana might be a death blow.

They could try to make the review system more complex, and expansive, with "hollow stars" or numbers or letter grades or whatever, for those restaurants that don't aspire to be reviewed by the Times... or they can just keep doing what they're doing. And in the end, we all *really* know what the stars mean. I guarantee you, Motorino was just happy to be reviewed... and it's why they won't and shouldn't be offended by the 1 star.

Scarpetta for sure... it's like a cut up, warm muffuletta

I don't think it's ok to dry out meat... I just like my carnitas a bit crispy.

I'm a big fan, probably for the same reason that people like this don't like him. No pretentiousness, or coming up with a million new adjectives for describing the same freakin' thing. He's like Conan on the Tonight Show... maybe he won't get the same ratings, or have the same influence, but he's the only chance they have of staying relevant with the next generation.

If you do try St. Viateur, make sure it's the original location. We went to their cafe on Mont Royal and were treated to a pretty mediocre bagel (they had to slice the bagel and toast it because it wasn't fresh out of the oven.)