what's the big deal w/CHOWHOUND?

what was the question?

on a thread about conveyor-belt sushi restaurants I asked if anybody else remembered a place like this on 5th Ave in the early 80s that was reputed to be the first conveyor-belt sushi place outside of japan. it was a bizarre place, you'd grab a plate of maki rolls off the belt as it slowly chugged along. one of the first places I tried raw fish. off-topic I guess and obviously the chowhounders don't share my interest in history.

just my irish temper flaring up again. but like you said lauren, their moderation just seems arbitrary. whatever in the future I'll stick to hyping my current favorite restaurants.

how weird! i would be pissed.

East is the only conveyor sushi i know,,, it grossed me out last time i was there,. Some guy that was coughing into his hands took some touched it and put it back. YUCK

like many online communities, it's very elitist and cold to newbies (hey like ILX!)

i personally found far too many opinions outweighing too few facts (and untrue ones at that) to have Chowhound or eGullet be worth participating in. An avid foodie friend of mine had a few of his new topics deleted after the mod-era settled in so he attempted to delete all of his posts and he was blocked before he could delete more than a handful... :-\

far too many opinions outweighing too few facts

OTM. this is what's always bugged me about ILM too.

The L.A.-area board is quite frustrating - lots of emphasis on trendy, "named" places and not as much on corner joints with really good food. I'd estimate that 80-85% of the "recommendations" on the board are for places that hold no interest for me (the few that I have tried have been a disappointment in terms of food and what I was charged for the lousy food).

On the other hand, there's 5-10% of the other posts that are really good - and I'm slowly learning which posters have tastes and interests similar to mine, to the point where I'll undertake a cross-town drive based on their recommendations. And I have found some wonderful "now on our regular rotation" places thanks to those recommendations.

I'm always amused (and horrified) by the amount of vitriol evidenced on the "Not About Food" threads.

Sometimes I fear I was born too late for a good meal in New York. I arrived at Country as Doug Psaltis headed out, at Parea as Michael Symon closed shop and at Gramercy Tavern as Tom Colicchio was selling his interest. That said, Michael Anthony reinvigorated Gramercy’s dated menu and proved a restaurant need not lose its soul in a shift from rustic to refined cuisine. So I hold out hope as I watch the Harrison go in the opposite direction, with hearty Italian to be the new idiom under Amanda Freitag and the refined French-American of Brian Bistrong to be a thing of the past. For curiosity’s sake, I took in one last supper before the transition. Here are a few high and low points of my visit.

yeah I mean who wants to eat food cooked by some NOBODY

looked at "the hound" for the first time in awhile and wow, the manhattan board has really slipped. makes ILX these days look like Grand Central Station. mostly tourists posting.
but the threads where out of town foodies come to NYC and try to cram every restaurant they've heard about into a three day eating orgy are awesome. I read the reviews thinking: YOU'RE GONNA DIE...

i feel like all these regional kinds of boards get dominated by a handful of annoying pedants

yeah that definitely happens w/ the london one, it's pretty horrible but then i dont know what i expected from a website that says 'We're not talking about foodies. Foodies eat where they're told. Chowhounds blaze trails. They comb through neighborhoods for culinary treasure. They despise hype. And while they appreciate ambiance and service, they can't be fooled by flash.'

chowhounds are pretty amazing if that's all true

http://kapgar.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/spaceballs_combing.jpg

:D

looking at this board occ for absurd LOLs - like NRO/the corner. restaurant "reviewers" writing abt five hour lunches in impossibly OTT flowery prose, beyond self-parody.

I've visited this board twice recently! Once after googling 'raw pasta' and once for 'raw potato'. You will be delighted to know that I have only perpetuated the former sin.