How do you organize your restaurant knowledge?

Okay, so I recently sat down to list out all the places I've eaten at since moving to Chicago. But how to organize all the info?? Being the cube-monkey that I am, I've opted for an Excel strategy...basically building a database with columns denoting names, addresses, parking info, what I had, how I'd rate it, etc...

After talking to some other fellow dining enthusiasts (and browsing other food blogs...chicagobites.com's cupcake crawl, anyone?) I've come to realize that I'm not the only one displaying such OCD behavior. I thought it might interesting to learn people's different ways of keeping a history of all their great (or not so great) dining excursions. In addition to the traditional blogs, I've heard accounts of other people using spreadsheets, pins on maps, etc...

So, what do you do?

I take lots of pictures, and post about them on LTHForum.

An excellent topic and one I would love to be able to contribute something worthwhile to. Sadly, like so much else in my disorganized and haphazard existence, I rely very largely on my memory. The good news, however, is twofold: I write up reviews of the more memorable dinners for LTH (and thus have something to go back to) and, for some unexplained reason, my sieve-like memory actually seems much better at retaining food-related/meal-related information than anything else. I, like you, will be very interested in seeing what your query brings.

I created an online collaborative spreadsheet referenced here:

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=10329&highlight=

I update it in Excel and use the comment box to list all of the dishes I've liked or want to try....the google version doesn't allow for comments, unfortunately. If you'd like a copy of my Excel sheets, organized by cuisine and alphabetically send me a p.m. I run it on my pda for handy reference whilst on the road

Marc

HI,

You may want to consult this thread on Take menus organization and storage since they are parallel efforts.

Regards,

If I can be unhelpful on this topic, and instead of giving an answer, pose another question, it would be this: Recently, someone posted a way to use Google Maps to find all LTH-mentioned restaurants in a given area. I would love it if someone would repost how to do this! (I have no idea what thread it came up in, and I neglected to make a note of the instructions.) It would be the very most useful thing in the way of "organization," as far as I'm concerned. So many instances come up where we're going to be somewhere (some art opening or something) and the question arises where to go in the same neck of the woods for dinner afterwards. Thanks in advance.

In the last month, I've started two things simultaneously:

1. Weight Watchers. Let's just say that it's time....
2. David Allen's "Getting Things Done" personal management system

The combination of the two yields a very simple strategy that I'm trying out.

The WW part: I have 35 "flex points" each week, so if I include those with the points I would use for a regular dinner, I get one solid "splurge" meal per week - 2000 calories, 100 grams of fat.

The GTD part: When I get back from a place (today it was Los Tamales) I write a brief note (5-6 bullet points) about what I ate in my notebook, what I want to try next time, and if it's a "regular" meal or a splurge. But most importantly, how many weeks from now do I want to go back.

Armed with those two pieces of information, i write myself an appointment in my calendering/scheduling program (for me, it's Lotus Notes due to work), makes sure I have only one splurge per week, and put in my notes.

Takes 3 minutes, set it and forget it.

Most important, it's reinforcing both programs. I've lost 13 pounds in the last four weeks, and during that time have gone to:
- G&M Crabcakes in Baltimore
- Gray's Papaya in Manhattan
- Katy's Dumplings
- Blueberry Hill pancake house
- Chuck's
- La Oaxequena
- El Tesoro
- Los Tamales

This week, I'm going to have Blue Ribbon BBQ in Arlington MA on Thursday, and if I've been good all week then Katy's on Saturday.

riddlemay wrote:If I can be unhelpful on this topic, and instead of giving an answer, pose another question, it would be this: Recently, someone posted a way to use Google Maps to find all LTH-mentioned restaurants in a given area.

I posted that in this thread.

Mentioned briefly in that thread is Google's new "My Maps" feature which makes it pretty easy to create maps including "pinpoints", areas, and routes. I started to put in the LTH Great Neighborhood Restaurants, but it is still a fairly cumbersome process. I'll probably finish eventually, but in the meantime, there's EatChicago's GNR google map, which works in a different way. The potential benefit of this other approach is that you can actually "load" the GNR map into Google Maps while you do a search. I think I'll add a note about that to the original thread, because it's just a little involved.

I have a couple of drawers in one of my filing cabinets given over to food. Regular menus, when available, and take-out menus when necessary, are in files that identify regular destinations, ethnic destinations, and special destination. (Out of town menus are in my travel files, rather than my food files.) The menus have notes as to what I ate and what I thought of it. I also take notes when dining out, especially in those cases (such as Alinea) where you want to be writing while you're eating, both because the menu is given to you after the meal and, even more so, because the menu does't really tell you close to everything.

Other than that, like Gypsy Boy, I rely heavily on my memory, which, though desperately inadequate when it comes to people's names, is very good at remembering food and food-related info.

So, what do you do?

I gave this question some thought last year when I participated in a focus group out of Kellogg about how people choose restaurants. Unfortunately, this was before I knew anything about LTH. I came across as a complete nutcase on the evening I attended the focus group, explaining to the facilitators and other participants my spreadsheet, categories of del.icio.us bookmarks and the organization of the speed-dial on my cell phone. Everyone looked at me like I had severe OCD. I wanted to say, "Imagine if I had a BlackBerry!"

happy_stomach wrote:

So, what do you do?

I gave this question some thought last year when I participated in a focus group out of Kellogg about how people choose restaurants. Unfortunately, this was before I knew anything about LTH. I came across as a complete nutcase on the evening I attended the focus group, explaining to the facilitators and other participants my spreadsheet, categories of del.icio.us bookmarks and the organization of the speed-dial on my cell phone. Everyone looked at me like I had severe OCD. I wanted to say, "Imagine if I had a BlackBerry!"

Ok, that was your response. What was theirs?

Regards,

The other participants at that particular meeting didn't really answer the question in terms of organizing their existing restaurant knowledge (since the main question of the focus group was, "How do you choose which restaurants you eat at?"). None of the answers were that surprising:

* Check Metromix by neighborhood and price
* Ask a friend for a recommendation
* Browse Zagat's

It's too bad there were no LTHers in the group that night. 1) I would have found LTH sooner. 2) I would have looked more sane. In general, I expected there to be more enthusiasm in the group that night, especially since I found out before the meeting that participants names were obtained from Check, Please (i.e. failed attempts to be on Check, Please). In that pool, it seemed from my experience, there's more enthusiasm for being on TV than for gastronomy more broadly.

surprised (or not) no one has said : i use my noggins?

i carry 2 PDA phones, both with broadband access. but other than that... "search is your friend""

My goal is to know when I am going to be near a place I've been meaning to go to, so I take a mapping approach. I have a Microsoft Streets and Trips map file (I call it kt-chowhound) that I update and refer to regularly. Whenever I read a thread on the LTH forum, or a newspaper article, for a place in the Chicago area, with recommendations that intrigue me, I go and add a "pushpin" to the map file. I've also developed a color-coded system for the pushpins, based on my particular interests, (restaurants, Irish pubs, sushi, grocery/specialty food shops, nearby train/metra stations, other landmarks). The pushpin info includes name, address, and phone number.

Here are two examples of upcoming trips the map has helped me with: later this week I'll be catching the El in Wilmette to go to a Cubs game. On the way I'm going to stop at Fujiyama on Dundee in Northbrook for dumplings, and on the way back I'm going to stop by the Costco in Glenview. Sometime soon I also have to drive to Oak Park to get an antique radio repaired. Bit of a hike from where I live, but that's okay because I'll be able to stop by Superdawg on the way down, and/or Nola's Cup when I'm in the neighborhood, and/or Burt's pizza on the way back!