Zagat Survey ( /zəˈɡæt/)^[1] was established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979 as a way to collect and correlate the ratings of restaurants by diners. For their first guide, covering New York City, the Zagats surveyed their friends. As of 2005, the Zagat Survey included 70 cities, with reviews based on the input of 250,000 individuals reporting over the years. In addition to restaurants, Zagat guides rate hotels, nightlife, shopping, zoos, music, movies, theaters, golf courses and airlines. The guides are sold in book form, and formally as a paid subscription on its web site.

As of May 2012, as part of its acquisition by Google in September 2011, Zagat reviews and ratings became tightly integrated into Google's services, and the Zagat.com site became free to use.

Rating system[link]

The ratings are on a 30-point scale, made up of ratings for defined areas including food, decor, service, and cost. In addition to numeric scores, the survey also includes a short descriptive paragraph that incorporates selected quotations (typically a few words) from several reviewers' comments about each restaurant or service, as well as typical pricing and other information.

Ownership[link]

Private equity firm General Atlantic bought a third of parent company Zagat, LLC for $31 million in February 2000 and installed non-Zagat family member Amy B. McIntosh as CEO.^[2]

In 2008, the company was on the block for $200 million. After there were no takers, the company announced in June that it was no longer for sale and that it would seek an organic growth strategy.^[3]

On September 8, 2011 the company was acquired by Google for a reported $151 million. Google planned to use the acquisition to provide more content and reviews for its locally-oriented services. Google had initially planned to acquire competing site Yelp instead.^[4][5] On May 30, 2012, Zagat was officially integrated into Google's services, with its reviews now appearing on Google Maps and Google+ Local pages for relevant restaurants. Additionally, the Zagat.com service became free to use, but now requires a Google+ account to register.^[6]

See also[link]

• Consumer Reports
• Gault Millau
• Harden's, a similar London and UK guide
• Michelin Guide
• Restaurant rating

References[link]

External links[link]

• Zagat Survey Web site
• Zagat Survey Mobile Web site
• Zagat To Go for iPhone and iPod touch (iTunes link)
• Zagat To Go for Smartphones Web site
• Nina and Tim Zagat on the beginnings of the Zagat Surveys
• Zagat Dating & Dumping Guide
• Zagat on Facebook
• Zagat on Twitter
• Zagat Photo Contest
• Works by or about Zagat in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Zagat collected news and commentary at The New York Times

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (April 2008)

Marcus Wareing (born 1970 in Southport, Lancashire),^[1] is an English chef, currently Chef Patron of "Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley (formerly Pétrus) in Knightsbridge, and previously the Grill Room at the Savoy Hotel on the Strand. In September 2008, Pétrus was controversially voted London's Best Restaurant ahead of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay by food bible Harden's.^[2]

Career[link]

A protégé of Gordon Ramsay, Wareing joined Ramsay's Aubergine in 1993, where he became Sous Chef behind Head Chef Ramsay. After running the Grill Room at the Savoy Hotel on the Strand, Wareing opened and operated Pétrus on behalf of Gordon Ramsay Holdings (GRH) at the Berkeley Hotel. The restaurant was awarded two Michelin stars and five AA Rosettes, while the Savoy Grill achieved its first Michelin star in its 100-plus year history since he took over. In 2004 Marcus Wareing was voted Restaurateur of the Year at the Tatler Restaurant Awards.

Following months of industry rumour, in May 2008 the Berkeley Hotel confirmed that it intended to work directly with Wareing to launch its own restaurant, and he would take on the lease from 19 September 2008.^[3] The new restaurant would later be named Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley and would go on to earn two Michelin stars in its own right which it currently retains.

The split after 15 years with Ramsay and GRH resulted in a bitter legal battle between the three parties, which when resolved resulted in Wareing stating in an interview for Waitrose Food Illustrated magazine that Ramsay was a "sad bastard" whose influence had left him feeling "trapped and constrained."^[4]

The Pétrus name which is owned by GRH is likely to transfer to another restaurant in the group with La Noisette identified as the most likely.^[5]

In 2011 Wareing will open his second restaurant, called The Gilbert Scott, in the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel (the building was designed in 1865 by architect Sir George Gilbert Scott). Originally scheduled to open in April it has now been delayed until May.^[6]

Books[link]

• "How to Cook the Perfect...", published by Dorling Kindersley (5 April 2007)
• "One Perfect Ingredient, Three Ways to Cook It", published by Dorling Kindersley (11 Mar 2008)
• "Nutmeg and Custard" published by Bantam Press (25 Sep 2009)

Television[link]

In 2006, Marcus Wareing and Simon Rimmer represented the North of England in the BBC television series Great British Menu.^[7] Wareing beat the Manchester-based chef to go on to the final round. In the final the public chose for him to cook his dessert of egg custard tart with Garibaldi biscuits for the Queen's 80th birthday banquet which was on 17 June 2006. Marcus Wareing is also featured in the television documentary series Boiling Point^[8] and Beyond Boiling Point, documenting his time as Gordon Ramsay's sous chef, his move to Pétrus and the award of his first Michelin star.

Personal life[link]

Married – Ramsay was his best man; he and his wife have two sons and one daughter.^[4]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bio at BBC Food
• Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley
• Interview with Hot Dinners

Pierre Koffmann (born 21 August 1948) is a French-born professional chef who has worked mainly in the United Kingdom. He was one of a handful of chefs in the United Kingdom to have been awarded the coveted three Michelin stars at his restaurant La Tante Claire in London. He is currently the head chef of Koffmann's at The Berkeley hotel in Knightsbridge, London.

Early life[link]

Born in Tarbes, France on 21 August, 1948. His father worked as a mechanic for Citroën. It was with his maternal grandparents, Camille and Marcel, in Saint-Puy that he learnt how to cook when he visited with them during school holidays. Koffmann reminisced about this period in his 1990 book Memories of Gascony, and discussed in an interview with The Guardian in 2010, "The produce was mostly from the farm. Steak was rare; we ate a lot of poultry. My grandmother did own a cooker, but most of her work was done over an open fire."^[1] In 1963 he left school and applied for a variety of jobs, but ultimately decided to attend cookery school for the next three years.

Career[link]

Koffmann first worked as a chef in Strasbourg and Toulon,^[2] before moving in 1970 to the United Kingdom to work with Michel and Albert Roux at Le Gavroche. He originally only wanted to move to the UK so that he could see England play France in Rugby at Twickenham Stadium.^[1] He moved to the Roux brother's Waterside Inn in Bray, Berkshire in 1972, being made the first head chef of the new restaurant, where he met his future wife Annie who was the restaurant's manager.^[1]

He opened his first restaurant, La Tante Claire in 1977 in Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea.^[2] Six years after it opened, the restaurant gained its third Michelin star.^[2] La Tante Claire moved to The Berkeley hotel in Knightsbridge, London in 1998,^[2] with the former site being sold to become the flagship restaurant of Gordon Ramsey.^[3] During his time at La Tante Claire, Koffmann worked with several eminent chefs, including Ramsey, Marco Pierre White, Marcus Wareing and Tom Kitchin.^[3][1] He did not get on with Wareing, who made his feelings felt about Koffmann in Simon Wright's book Tough Cookies, saying of Koffmann, "Three-star kitchen! This guy didn't tell you anything. He didn't tell you what the lunch menu was, he didn't tell you where to get anything… You didn't know if you were coming or going… I could not click with the man.",^[3] although more recently Wareing speaks better of Koffmann, saying "Koffmann is a complete thoroughbred. He ran the kitchen from the stove."^[3] The signature dish of the restaurant was pig’s trotter with chicken mousseline, sweetbreads and morels.^[2]

Following the death of his wife Annie, he closed La Tante Claire in 2003. The space became the flagship restaurant of Marcus Wareing.^[3] After taking a break from restaurants, he was briefly head chef at the Bleeding Heart pub in Clerkenwell.^[1] In 2009, he opened a pop-up restaurant at Selfridges in London for ten days as part of the London food festival. Although Koffmann wanted to serve new dishes, but decided to serve classic dishes from La Tante Claire, as he described, "but that's not what people want. They want the pig's trotter, the foie gras, the pistachio soufflé. But maybe I do a new dish each day, as a special."^[3] The ten days turned into two months.^[1] Koffmann described the first month as "a kind of hell", but got used to the hours again during the second month, and began to ponder about opening a new restaurant; "I started to think about a new restaurant. I thought: why not? I still enjoy it. When you are a chef, your place is in the kitchen.".^[1]

Koffmann's at The Berkeley hotel opened on 30 June, 2010, at the former site of Gordon Ramsey's Boxwood Cafe; it is Koffmann's first full restaurant venture since the closure of La Tante Claire in 2003 at the same hotel.^[1] He admits that he is no longer chasing Michelin stars, and will instead cook the Gascon style food he remembers from his childhood.^[1]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Koffmann's at The Berkeley