let others eat your opinion
cyber communities have definitely changed the way i eat. on any given weekend when deciding where i should dine, i definitely consult multiple online sources, but there are two that have become my eating guides: menupages and yelp - food for the people as reviewed by the people, not michelin, not a famous food critic, not even zagat's (though i greatly respect all those sources and always keep them handy as well).
i first discovered menupages when i was in new york filming "the next food network star." i relied on it just about every night to figure out where i would find my next meal. would it be dining at a dive in the village or should it be the tasting menu at grammercy tavern? menupages offers a comprehensive listing of every possible restaurant you'd want to eat at in the city from your hole-in-the-wall takeout joint to the most upscale of dining venues, sorted by neighborhood or cuisine. but best of all, rather than visiting each individual restaurant's website to see what they're serving up, it offers the menus of all these places, all in one place. but the restaurant reviews are up to you, your duty as part of the online foodie community. best of all menupages is expanding beyond the big apple and now offers restaurant searches in san francisco, los angeles, philadelphia, boston, chicago and washington, d.c. however, none of the new regions have nearly as many people reviewing as new york does. therefore i am calling all diners from the recently added areas to get online and contribute so all of us can eat better based on your opinion. soon, you won't know how you survived so long without it . . .
the second site yelp extends beyond the food world. you can find just about anything in your area on yelp based on the reviews of others. need a dentist? a new hair stylist? a brazilian wax? if you live in a metropolitan area, then most likely yelp can help. although i've primarily freeloaded on the reviews of others, i've recently decided to start contributing. after all i have my fair share to say about food. click below to see what i thought about the much raved about a16 in the marina neighborhood of san francisco (unfortunately, i was not part of the raving crowd) . . .
so bookmark these two places: menupages and yelp. get eating and make use of all those opinions you know you have.
Ahh, menupages. I too relied on menupages many a night when I was working in Manhattan last year.
Posted by: scott | February 07, 2007 at 06:03 AM