NEW YORK--While agents booking travel to France may have long
relied on the dining advice of the Michelin and Gault Millau
guides, make room on the reference shelf now for the 1998/99 Zagat
Survey of Paris Restaurants.
While the French-based guides rely on the judgments of
professional food critics, Zagat has applied its time-tested North
American formula of restaurant evaluation by surveying large
numbers of local restaurant-goers: more than 1,700, in fact, for
the Paris guide.
It's no surprise that French food writers have found the Zagat
Survey "scandalous" in its "poll-based" methodology. On the other
hand, of the Zagat surveyors, 96% are French and all have dined out
an average of 3.7 times per week -- that means 330,000 meals were
sampled a year, or nearly 1,000 meals a day.
Restaurants are rated on costs, quality of food, decor and
service, from poor to fair, good to very good, and on to
extraordinary and to perfection.
To help guide readers to Paris' best meals and best buys, there
are a number of top listings in the front of the guide, which is
priced at $11.95 in the U.S.