Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I would have to disagree with lostfourwords and say that Steve is a critic in the idealistic sense of the term, to the readers of his guide. He makes it clear that his goal is to get you the restaurants "A" game. If this is truly what he intends, then who better to provide reviews than a man renowned for getting the best out of restaurants. After reading his tips, he would expect you to get the best out of each restaurant, and he would therefore be the ideal critic, in the sense that you are now receiving the restaurant's "A" game, as well as him (like an ideal critic, he is reviewing what you are getting)

That said, I would much rather read a guide such as this, presided over by one such as Steve, over the Zagat guide.
Have you ever read those?
They're so boring!
I'm not planning however, on buying any of these guides. The blog posts are much more interesting.

Finally - I don't disagree with Steve about everything. We agree about Mr. Bruni. I dined at Michael's Genuine in Miami this week - Mr. Bruni's 4th or 5th best new restaurant of the year. Left me scratching my head. It's not a bad place - it's quite ok. But almost the best new restaurant in the US? Was about on a par - give or take a bit - with Bistro Aix here in Jacksonville FL (near where I live) - which serves similar food. Bistro Aix is a great Jacksonville restaurant - but I don't think anyone would confuse it with one of the best restaurants in the country. RobynG

The simple fact of the matter is that out of these 900 participants - a sufficient number hadn't dined at Dieter Muller or Vendome in Germany (both 3 star Michelin) to warrant inclusion in the guide. I fought hard to get them included - even if I was the only participant who had dined there - but I lost. So DM and Vendome are excluded - and Joe's Stone Crabs is in. RobynG