When it comes to food, I’m pretty adventurous. I’ll try just about anything once as long as it’s dead. Traveling as much as I do, I get to experience all sorts of culinary delights and disasters. The UK opened up my palate to what real Indian food could taste like and hopping from state to state across the US has yielded many pleasant surprises. The two months I spent in DC (beginning of ’07) were the most daring when my good friend Andrew Markert introduced me to foie gras, venison, sweetbreads and a ton of other flavor explosions (not to mention Chimay beer… bliss).
Without a personal guide to clue you into the real local spots, the old standby for out-of-towners has been to ask the concierge at the hotel or the client you’re working with. Sometimes this will yield good results, but with taste being such a personal thing one man’s fantastic meal might be another’s inedible garbage. Since one opinion usually isn’t enough to get a good feel for a place, I jump onto the ‘Net for some collective consensus. There are a metric ass load of food reviewing sites from Chowhound to City Search, but one site that’s caught my fancy is Yelp.
I first started using it after I moved to California. With no one nearby to give good recommendations, the ‘Net was all I had when foraging for sustenance. It helped me avoid places that truly sucked and allowed me to set my expectations correctly when trying local establishments. Eventually I started adding to the voices on the site, sharing my joys and defeats. When I was in Houston it helped me find a gem of a Mediterranean restaurant I would have easily driven by a hundred times without noticing. In Burlington, NC (don’t ask) I was able to actually find good THAI food with Yelp’s help. I’m still surprised by that one.
Recently they’ve expanded their realm to include places in the UK. Last night alone I went on a review binge, writing four in a row for eateries in Windsor that I simply loved while living there. For those of you in the cult of Apple there’s even an iPhone app for the site. If you tire of checking out restaurants, they also have reviews on local businesses, clubs, hotels and just about anything else you can think of.
If you want to find me on Yelp the click HERE and I’ve added a widget that pimps my recent reviews. Not sure if I’ll keep it, but it’s cool for now.
What are your experiences with Yelp? Are there other food sites you think are better?
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