Cathy, I just wanted to clarify that I really value the LTH Forum. It is *the* place I go to looking for Chicago food info because time and time again, I've found that I don't go wrong when I follow a post's advice here. In fact, I wouldn't even say that I prefer blogs to forums- I just don't know of any other city that has a online food forum like Chicago does.
Not only that, but the very fact that the posts are threads with so much feedback, are searchable and indexed... well, that makes getting to the good stuff so much faster. In fact, my second and third choices, I have to admit, would probably be eGullet and Chowhound but I don't know if I trust them as much as LTH (I mean, eGullet just lumps Chicago with the Heartland? Are you kidding? You'd think we'd at least get the state of Illinois...)
At the same time, I also enjoy certain food blogs. I guess if I were to make a comparison, although I love the back and forth of Check Please that is similar to LTH Forum, I also like watching Bourdain eating some bbq meat on the street of Vietnam. Sure, the chance of me being to get that same food myself is slim, but I love living vicariously through him, and that's what a food blog does for me. It takes me on a lil guided trip to someplace and let's me share the experience. If say, Erik M had a blog that just highlighted the best meal he had every month, I'd probably follow it because he probably eats much more adventerously then I would dare, and I've love to see the pictures and hear about the flavor.
That's really what I was looking for in my original post- other sites to enhance my online food ogling experience besides LTH Forum. And I don't want to read yet again only about all the big-name, rave reviewed in the media, multiple starred places that everyone's already heard of on Metromix or Chicago magazine. I may hear about a dining destination at one of those places, but I want to check the review with real people. I want real people telling me what they enjoy eating normally, not just the splurge meals. Sometimes, what really hits the spot is chow fuun, extra extra crispy, not truffles (though who could resist either really).
I always was greedy about food. LTH offers a helpful community of opinions, and now I'm just looking for more sources, if there are any out there.