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CNN Live At Daybreak
Tim Zagat on America's Finest Restaurants
Aired July 20, 2001 - 09:47 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I hope you're hungry for this next segment. Our next guest is the co-founder and publisher of the "Zagat Survey." That is a best-selling guide to restaurants and hotels.
Tim Zagat has more than 20 years in the leisure survey industry. He is joining us from New York a lucky man. He lives his passion for his business.
Tim, good morning. Good to have you with us.
TIM ZAGAT, "ZAGAT SURVEY": Glad to be with you today.
KAGAN: When you look at the best restaurant, does best have to mean expensive?
ZAGAT: Not at all. And what's the best restaurant may be the best for you. And the most inexpensive restaurant that is a wonderful place to go with your family can be the best restaurant, or it can be the fanciest place in town that costs the most and has the most elegant decor. It's really a question of the particular occasion.
KAGAN: Let's get right to the survey. Of course, it's no big surprise that New York City would come across.
Sorry, I have an uninvited guest here for our segment.
New York City -- tell me about these three restaurants real quickly. I mean, $58: Is that per person?
ZAGAT: That's per person. And that doesn't include having fine wines additional. We always keep the wine question separate, because you can spend...
KAGAN: You don't know about taste.
ZAGAT: ... $20 or $100 for a bottle of wine. It's a matter of your choice.
KAGAN: What is Union Square Cafe?
ZAGAT: Union Square Cafe is a wonderful place owned by Danny Meyer, a very famous chef. It's most renowned for a combination of great hospitality and very, very fair prices and wonderful ambiance.
KAGAN: And just tell me about the other two as well.
ZAGAT: It just happens that Gramercy Tavern is also owned by Danny. It's the only case where we have two restaurants owned by the same person in the 1-2 position -- very -- again, great hospitality, wonderful food, American food. The chef if Tom Colicchio.
KAGAN: And Gotham Bar & Grill.
ZAGAT: Gotham Bar & Grill is another large American restaurant down in the -- around 10th or 12th Street on -- in the Village. It's very, very attractive and wonderful food. It also has a great $20 lunch.
KAGAN: Ah!
Let's put up that top five list, which, in a way, is top six, because in the last spot, San Francisco and New Orleans do tie. But I think what really caught my attention -- look at Las Vegas. What is Las Vegas doing there so high up there on the list?
(CROSSTALK)
KAGAN: No. 4 -- I mean, beating San Francisco and New Orleans for best restaurant cities?
ZAGAT: Well, I was in Las Vegas on Monday and Tuesday. And the great casinos there have imported some of the best chefs from all over the United States. And they've given them spaces that are just phenomenal.
And, essentially, they have imported an entire top-of-the-line restaurant industry within the last five years. Anybody that has not been to Las Vegas to eat in the last five years really has -- will never -- will be terribly surprised by what is out there.
KAGAN: And we're not talking about the $5 buffet all-you-can- eat.
ZAGAT: Well, they still have that. So Las Vegas has both wonderful bargains and also some of the best fine dining in the United States today.
KAGAN: OK. Tim, I want to put you on the spot here for a second. It's your final meal. Which restaurant in the U.S. and which town are you going to? And what are you going to order?
ZAGAT: I am going to go home.
KAGAN: Go home?
ZAGAT: Get my wife to cook me a meal. If that's my final meal, that's where I want to be, with my wife and family. And I am not going to go out to any restaurant for that.
KAGAN: Very good.
But if you did have to go -- if it did have to be in a restaurant, where would it be?
(LAUGHTER)
KAGAN: I am going to put you on the spot. I am not letting you off so easy.
ZAGAT: Well, really, the -- I think it's an impossible question. I really do believe that you -- it depends how you feel on your last day. And if you are feeling like I expect I'll be feeling on my last day, I might want something relatively simple -- you know, eggs and bacon and let's call it is a day.
KAGAN: Not so bad.
ZAGAT: You know?
KAGAN: Well, hopefully, that's many, many days away.
Tim Zagat, thanks for bringing us your list of the top restaurant cities and making us all feel a little bit hungry this morning.
ZAGAT: Glad to be with you.
KAGAN: Appreciate it. Good to have you with us.
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