I haven’t gotten my hands on the new Zagat Survey 2006 nor have I been able to find out if any Brooklyn restaurants made it into the top 50. But thanks to to So New York, I was able to get a preview of what’s in there. It seems that Park Slope’s Applewood, Tempo, and Brooklyn Fish Camp (pictured at left) are mentioned this year.

I’m wondering if The Grocery, Smith Street’s surprise winner from last year was a top contender again this year.  That was the big Brooklyn restaurant excitement last year. And you still can’t get in there on a Friday or Saturday night. -OTBKB

From So New York: On Monday Zagat Survey released its 2006 New York City Restaurants guide. The newly-minted edition contains ratings and reviews for over 2,000 restaurant based on roughly 5.4 million meals eaten by a record 30,911 Zagat surveyors across all five boroughs. In addition, the guide spotlights new trends driving the world’s finest culinary scene:

Big Winners: At the top of the charts are the "world class" Le Bernardin (Top Food for six of the last ten years) and the "magical" Gramercy Tavern (Most Popular for three of the last five years). Daniel placed first for Decor and second for Food. Most dramatically, Thomas Keller’s per se in its first full year vaulted to number three for Food and number one for Service — perhaps justifying Keller’s recent decision to add an automatic 20% gratuity to all tabs. When Food, Decor and Service scores are combined, per se nets the highest overall average of any restaurant.

Restaurant Boom: It was an exceptional year for New York food lovers with 247 noteworthy restaurant openings compared to only 83 closings — the strongest showing since before 9/11. Standing out among the newcomers are devi, The Modern, Alto, BLT Prime, Perry Street and Nobu 57. Moreover, survey participants report that they are eating out more and spending more than they did one year ago. "One of the great joys of being a food loving New Yorker is that the culinary scene is regularly being remade," said Tim Zagat, CEO of Zagat Survey. "There’s a dynamism and creativity in New York that surpasses all of the seventy other major cities where we do surveys."

All Corners of NYC: Dining in the outer-boroughs has continued to soar. Fifth Avenue in Park Slope houses eight impressive newcomers including Applewood, Brooklyn Fish Camp and Tempo. The number of Bronx eateries in the guide has doubled from 12 to 25, in part due to an effort by borough president Adolfo Carrion. As a result, the new guide has added such Bronx standouts as Pasquale’s Rigoletto and Jake’s Steakhouse to the list, which is headed by perennial favorite Roberto’s. Reflecting the improving quality of dining outside Manhattan, nine outer borough restaurants made it into this year’s Top 50 Food rankings.

Dollar$ and Cent$: Don’t for a moment think that New York’s culinary
vitality isn’t costing somebody something. Even though meal prices only
edged up a modest 0.4% in the city, the average meal price of $37.61
makes New York the most expensive restaurant city in the country. The
average cost of New York’s 20 most expensive restaurants is up nearly
25% to a stratospheric $112.49, due to the addition of per se and Masa.
At the other end of the spectrum, New York leads the country in terms
of the number of informal, modestly priced restaurants. For the
cost-conscious, the Zagat guide includes three pages listing Bargain
Prix Fixe Menus and Best Buys.

French Resurgence: Despite the demise of such French classics as
Lutece, La Cote Basque, Le Cirque and La Caravelle, French fare —
albeit more casual and modern — has bounced back. Five of the ten Top
Food are French (Le Bernardin, Daniel, Bouley, per se and Jean
Georges). Following on their heels, five of the top twenty are Japanese
(Sushi Yasuda, Nobu, Sushi of Gari, Masa and Tomoe Sushi).

Service: Along with food quality and cost, one of the most important
issues to diners is service. In fact, 49% of respondents say that poor
service is their number one irritant when dining in New York (21% cited
the noise level). New York has one of the top three service deficits
(defined as the difference between average food rating and average
service rating) in the country at 2.21. By comparison, the national
average is 1.85.

Dressing Up and Down: Where it was once de rigueur to wear a tie in New
York’s finer establishments, that practice is now de rigor mortis, with
only the Rainbow Room and 21 Club requiring such formality. But while
diners are dressing down, Asian restaurants are dressing up — with
haute design at East Side newcomer Mainland and TriBeCa’s 66 and Top
Decor honors at Asiate, Kittichai, Matsuri, Megu, Spice Market and Tao.

"In this business we travel a lot, try a lot and frankly eat a lot, but
there is nothing like returning home to eat in New York City’s
restaurants," said Nina Zagat, Co-Founder of Zagat Survey. "New York is
simply tops for dining."

The Book: As with all Zagat Survey guidebooks, the New York City
Restaurants guide is made by consumers for consumers. In addition to
Top Lists for Food, Decor, Service, and Best Buys, the guide also
includes such useful categories as Child-Friendly, Sleepers, Romantic,
Private Rooms, Late Dining, Gardens, Winning Wine Lists and even Cool
Loos. Restaurants are also broken out by cuisine, location, and dozens
of other groupings.

The 2006 New York City Restaurants guide ($13.95) was edited by Curt
Gathje and Carol Diuguid and is available at bookstores, by calling
(888) 371- 5440, and online at zagat.com.

On the Web: Zagat.com will be hosting a week of free access from
November 1-7 sponsored by CitiCards. During the week, zagat.com ratings
and reviews of over 30,000 restaurants, nightspots, hotels and
attractions in 94 countries will be available free of charge. Also in
this year’s guide — a promotional code allowing consumers to try a
sixty-day free trial of zagat.com.