Along the lines of East 20s Eats, Zagat’s is reportedly soon to launch a New York City restaurant deal site. As best I can surmise, members who join the site would get discounts to Zagat-rated eateries. Sounds familiar ….

I had a few thoughts about features to incorporate in the site that I wanted to put in writing. One idea that I think we should consider for the East 20s food site is the whole phenomenon of “coffee-house journalists ” — reporters who set up shop in a coffee house and look to other patrons for story ideas and sources. The Washington Post carried out an experiment like this over the summer and the results were interesting. Here’s a story that includes some other examples. It seems to me that given our desire to reach out to the community, we might want to experiment with this ourselves.

And on a quick note, I am interested in this open-source technology that offers streamlined log-ins for websites. It has modules that work with WordPress so it may be something we want to look at. Here is the link.

We’re not the only ones looking to cover the food sector. CNN today unveiled its new “Eatocracy” blog. Here is how the blog’s managing editor, Kat Kinsman, described it:

“Eatocracy is your online home for smart, passionate conversation and information about food news, politics, culture. We’ll highlight regional and family recipes, dive into restaurants and food shopping, chat with celebrity and local chefs, and show you what’s for dinner around the world tonight. Grab a place at the table and read with your mouth full.”

Prof. Roz Bernstein assigned students in the fall section of her Perspectives on the News course to report on the food cart business in the East 20s. The “a la Carte” project, which Prof. Bernstein conceived, will be developed into a feature for the East 20s food site. Read the students’ stories on the department-sponsored Writing New York blog.

As promised earlier,  marketing director Noah Xfir has filed his full report on the student focus group we held in December.  Continue reading for his full report: (more…)

On Saturday, I wandered down to the Meatpacking District to see what was happening at the blogger room of the Food Network’s NYC Food and Wine Festival.

My mission was to mingle and possibly round up some business cards of potential bloggers for the new site.

The blogger room, set up in the lobby of the new and chic Standard Hotel,  was humming. People were sitting around small tables, typing away at their Mac laptops. A photographer was uploading pictures and one blogger was interviewing a bubbly Mark Dacascos,  chairman of the Food Network’s Iron Chef America show. (A friend since told me he’s also a contestant on this season’s “Dancing With The Stars.”)

I mingled and collected a couple of cards, including that of Jeffrey Gurwin, a food photographer (Time Out, New York  Magazine) who also Twitters about the New York City restaurant scene.  His site is www.gurwinphotography.com. Find him on Twitter as “restaurantstud.”

I also met a very friendly vegan blogger, Brooke Guthrie, who is described on her business card as an “earth friendly baker.” Her site is www.MamaEarthRocks.com

Most interesting was my brief conversation with Lockhart Steele, co-founder of eater.com and curbed.com. (Eater.com was sponsoring the blogger’s room at the festival and offered extensive coverage of the event.)

Lockhart said he was interested in our project and would be glad to come talk to the faculty about his experience creating and running a food site in the city.

Eater.com (www.eater.com) is very impressive, with a national site as well as sites covering the restaurant and bar scenes in New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. If you go to the New York site, you can also click on coverage by neighborhood.

Definitely worth checking out.  And I think it would be very interesting to hear what Lockhart has to say.

The photo used in the blog’s header was taken by student Yulia Borovskaya for a story she did over the summer about Kalustayan’s, an international food emporium in Curry Hill. The scene you see is taken in the upstairs eating area overlooking Lexington Avenue.