"web" news and stories

You know the drill. You and your pals want to go out for dinner, but the reliable old places are well, getting a little played out. You want to try a new place, but how do you know what the new places are, let alone which ones have good food, a good bar, or a good scene?

At one time, we might have looked back through the archives of our local newspapers for professional restaurant critics' reviews. These days however, more and more people are turning to websites that aggregate reviews from average, everyday customers like you and me. These websites, like Yelp, CitySearch, Angie's List and Yahoo Local, allow "citizen" reviewers to post ratings and reviews, and it has businesses changing their approach to marketing. Where once restaurants catered to professional critics, now they must take into account all their potential customers.

Do you use these sites when you need to make a decision about a restaurant? If so, why? And which sites do you find the most helpful?

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We've mentioned the new Netscape here on Slashfood before. In case you haven't heard, what used to be an alternative web browser to Internet Explorer, netscape.com, got an extreme makeover in mid-June and has become a social bookmarking site, similar to del.icio.us, digg (technology) or flickr (photos), but for news. In case you're not familiar with social bookmarking, it is the concept of users collecting bookmarks of their favorite websites, and sharing them with the community. Users can collect, categorize, and "tag" bookmarks, which makes it easier for other users to find similar bookmarks. On sites like digg and newsvine, users can "vote" on each others' stories.

Over on Netscape, it's mostly about news, but users can also submit stories in a number of "channels," or categories - from Art & Design to Careers & Jobs to Health & Fitness to Popular Videos. It goes without saying that Slashfood's favorite channel is Food & Travel, but we'll get into more detail about that shortly.

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Is anyone a fan of Dave Lieberman? The Food Network is counting on what they believe is his appeal with younger audiences to make his newest ventures, Dave Does, a success. Dave Does is a web-based series that is launching on the Food Network's website in August. This is the second internet-only show for Lieberman, who starred in a series titled Eat This a few months ago. Unlike Dave Does, the previous show only ran for a few episodes, though Food Network reps say it was very popular. The new show will deal with the latest food trends, gadgets and "insider" restaurant locations in cities including Boston, Philadelphia, New York and Portland in each of its thirteen, 5-minute episodes.

Lieberman is entertaining in small doses, so the "webisode" format works well for him. The unfortunate thin about the show is that it is not a cooking show. That makes this just another example of the Food Network moving further away from people who like to cook. How many shows can they have that feature "insider restaurant locations"?

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