MEME MONDAY: THE BASICS

There's a lot of food out there on those crazy interwebs and this feature, Meme Monday, highlights places dedicated to it, be they favored food-related websites, reference sites or, gasp, blogs.

If you're interested in the New York food scene and you haven't visited this site you should get on over to it. Eater is published and edited by Lockhart Steele (the Curbed empire) and Ben Leventhal of She Loves NY who teamed up in July 2005 to launch the site. As Curbed's 'About' page notes, "it's a blog dedicated to the NYC food and drink scene, with an emphasis on ahead-of-the-curve information about restaurant openings and the like."

For people interested in recipes and cooking demonstrations this may not be exactly your place to visit. Eater is very inside baseball: chefs comings and goings, liquor license issues, and links to reviews by Adam Plat, Frank Bruni and other influential New York critics. Features like Eater Deathwatch, the Plywood Report, and Brunibetting, follow the demise of restaurants (be they slow or sudden), the phoenix-like rising of new ones and bet on the number of stars that New York Times food critic, Frank Bruni will be giving to the restaurant he's reviewing that week.

It's is snarky and well-connected, read by public relations people and food enthusiasts alike. It's to the New York food world what Gawker is to New York media news and gossip, it's what Poynter's Romenesko is to journalists, and what Wonkette is to Washington politics. The editors of every food section in New York (or at least their assistants) check it several times a day if not the hour.

Like the reviewers and bloggers in this city of 8 million eaters, Eater taketh and it giveth away...do they know their salsify? Go check 'em out for yourself!