Bite of the Best

A blog?

When I first contacted ContentRobot — the company who built BOTB — a blog was furthest from my mind. What I wanted was a website with a weekly NewsBite newsletter. Karen and Dana (the principals of the company) convinced me that what I was trying to do was a blog. I was planning a weekly a web log (aka blog) about new products. They created this blog for me (yes, Bite of the Best is a blog), and I've never looked back.

But I do look forward — which is why I've read and recommend Bruce C. Brown's "The Secret Power of Blogging: How to promote and market your business, organization, or cause with free blogs" (Atlantic Publishing, 2008). It's chock-full of everything you need to know about having a successful blog, with many case studies and success stories, including a couple pages on Bite of the Best (PDF). The book could be more useful with a decent index. Perhaps they'll update it with the second printing.

Available at Amazon.com

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Bet you thought with that title, this would be about a new Zagat survey. Not!

"Opinionated About Fine Dining Survey 2008: The 100 Best Restaurants of North American & Europe" is a copycat of those popular guides. This guide's written by Steven Plotnicki. It's his list of best of the best places to dine culled from a survey of only 600 respondents from around the world. To be fair, Tim and Nina began their eponymous guides in a similar fashion, that is, surveying their friends.

Is this $6.95 survey worth it? Not really, unless you're a world traveler who likes boasting rights. In fact, each person I've showed the guide to didn't look at where to go as much as where they had been. Me, too.

I've dined at Jean George (NYC) in the category "worth planning a trip around," Comme Chez Soi (Brussels) in "worth going out of your way for," Boulevard (San Francisco) in "important local choices" and many more of those listed. And some others included are on my Bucket List.

If you're interested, this compilation is available at Amazon.com

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CondéNet (the internet unit of Condé Nast) has invested in TasteBook, a startup that binds recipes culled from its cooking site, Epicurious.com, into a personalized hardcover book. Imagine creating your very own  cookbook to keep or give as a gift this holiday season. Or, how about a one-of-a-kind truly personal present for a bride-to-be? Using TasteBook's print-on-demand tools, you can choose from over 25,000 online recipes and also upload your own. Organize, group into collections, store and create a unique  cookbook. Add your kitchen tips or helpful hints to any recipe. Producing one with 100 recipes costs $34.95.

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Not surprisingly, Per Se, Le Bernardin and Jean Georges each kept their three Michelin stars in the just released New York City guide (October 10, $16.95). New Manhattan star holders include Blue Hill, Anthos, and L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon (in the Four Seasons), each with one star, and Gordon Ramsay at The London with two stars.

In addition, two new Michelin Guides to U.S. destinations go on sale this fall—Los Angeles (November 14, $14.95) and Las Vegas (November 16, $12.95). The updated San Francisco guide will be available soon (October 24, $16.95). The Michelins differ from the more populist Zagat series because inclusion and ratings of restaurants and hotels are decided by professional inspectors who visit the sites anonymously. We’ll be watching to see who—if anyone—gets the coveted Michelin stars and how many they get!

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Posted in TidBites | Books | Dining | Restaurants
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