la.foodblogging

There’s two particularly useful websites I’ve discovered. One is Open Table, which I have used for a long time, and the other is one I discovered last night called Menu Pix. Menu Pix looks to be new, I’m not sure how long they’ve been in existence, but they finally got one element of a geschtalt restaurant resource site right: they scanned in the menus.

How often did I lose a menu for a delivery place, or wanted to place a take out order ahead of time, but the restaurant either didn’t offer take-away menus or I lost mine out of sheer negligence and stupidity. Of course, not every restaurant on the list will provide take out service, since almost all the restaurants in LA are reflected. Try to get foie gras three ways and grapefruit lobster take-out from Spago and I think you’ll get laughed at and hung up on. However, you’ll probably find a suprisingly large number of restaurants will accomodate a take out.

Menupix.com is still in its infancy, so there is a dearth of restaurant reviews. It is essentially structured like CitySearch, so it is not in direct competition to LA Food Writers, as our sites tend to offer pictures and more comprehensive reviews and experiences. Still, not a bad concept. I know I’ll be using it.

The veteran OpenTable.com is a great concept in online reservation booking. It is directly tied into the reservation systems of the restaurants it serves, so you don’t have to wonder if the reservation you made was fake, or if they’ll honor it. It isn’t, and they do. I like the convenience of use, plus, if there isn’t a reservation for the time you want, it will show you a short schedule of other free times. There are also links to a restaurant description and, if the restaurant has it, a link to their website.

OpenTable offers a reader’s-digest summary of all the fine points of the restaurant, plus links to external resources like gayot.com for reviews. They do not have user reviews, so you aren’t bombarded with radically varying opinions. That is one of the infuriating aspects of CitySearch, although no fault of their own. Invariably, someone will have a rotten time, and throw a bomb in the form of a bad review that skews the opinions of the majority. This is unreliable because you’re more motivated to run home and write a terrible review of a restaurant while you’re on fire about the experience than you are likely to write a good review about a stellar performance.

Opentable also has a point system, so you can earn credits towards discount cheques the more you make reservations through them. One word of warning, if you can’t make it, cancel your reservation. Opentable will ban you after so many no-shows. In fact, do this always. Restaurants would much rather you call and cancel, even if it is five minutes before you’re supposed to be there, than to not call at all.

So, check them out and take advantage of them, menupix.com and opentable.com. Just two of the valuable restaurant oriented websites serving the nation and LA.

This post was sponsored by menupix.com and opentable.com…I’m kidding.

By Zteve (see more of his posts). You can find more of Zteve's writing at his own website Gastrologica