Completely Unncessary part 2
I'm going to beat a dead horse-- I just read that Cnet has bought chowhound.com. I was wondering why the hell that site started looking like digg.com... once again, an unnecessary convergence of two good ideas--cnet and chowhound.
I used to love the chowhound culture. Founder, Jim Leff would get on 8 different subways to get to the best hotdog. Then he'd write all about the bun, the condiments, the JOY of eating. Put simply, it is the anti-Citysearch. Citysearch is so hipster-driven wrong that I will avoid restauraunts that get good user reviews. Chowhound was awesome. It was full of food-obsessed strangers coming together to exchage multi-page reviews about everything from the best samosa in Jackson Heights to the best produce stand at the farmers market on Jack London Square. I once received many detailed replies to my query about where to find Kyoho grapes in the East Bay. Not only did I learn where to buy them, but I got lessons in how they were different from Concord grapes. For those who are interested, you can get kyoho grapes at Bezerkeley Bowl between June and July. They aren't as large as the ones in Japan, but they definitely have that kyoho grape essence.
Since it was all about the food, ambience, hype, table service were all secondary. A $2.00 banh mi from Cam Huong in Oakland Chinatown will get more love on chowhound than the much vaunted and rather pricey, but really not all that tasty paella at B44. With the introduction of paid ads, the days of finding the best chive dumplings or taco truck are probably over.