The Zagat Restaurant Survey, bastion of epicurean exorbitance, has finally descended upon Texas. Abnormally long enough so that it won't easily fit into your back pocket, these glossy red books review hundreds of the "best" restaurants in a city, culling the frothiest excerpts from thousands of voluntarily-submitted reviews by gluttonous gourmands in each city. These are then slopped together with a few select conjunctions, and topped off with individual ratings for Food, Decor, and Service, based on a somewhat ill-conceived 30 point scale. Overly self-indulgent though it may seem at times, Zagat (pronounced "Zuh-GAT") served us well back in San Francisco and New York, where each neighborhood alone contained more restaurants than we could ever afford or manage to sample.

Despite its size, it would seem that Texas is relatively lacking when it comes to finer dining options -- the inaugural Zagat Survey of Texas Restaurants ends up combining reviews for Austin, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Houston and San Antonio, for a grand total of 1,100 eateries. We've not yet picked up a copy, but browsing Zagat's website we spied a fairly comprehensive list: from French (Capitol Brasserie, Aquarelle, Chez Nous) and Italian (Enoteca Vespaio, Asti Trattoria) to, of course, Barbeque (Iron Works, Rudy's, The County Line), they obviously heeded the advice of local Austinites when putting together the guide. And while it likely won't drop any bombshells, it's nevertheless a solid compendium of options that might serve you well the next time you're racking your brains for a place to take a date.

More info: KUT's William Howell has a podcast here, discussing how the new Zagat Texas Survey reflects the maturation of our restaurant business.