It starts every week the same way. Someone says, “Where should we eat?” and suddenly I’ve got tabs open everywhere.
So I open a restaurant app and start picking neighborhoods. One at a time. Scrolling an alphabetical list, or typing each name into a search bar: West Village, add. Greenwich Village, add. Tribeca, add. Why can’t I just tap the areas I want on a map?
Other nights it’s just the two of us after a long day. What’s genuinely good right here in my own neighborhood, a few blocks from my door?
And some nights I’m not going anywhere. I want something great delivered, not the same three places the app keeps pushing at me.
And every time: does the place even take reservations? Is it Resy? OpenTable? Tock? Something I’ve never heard of? Why do I have to hunt through their website to find a booking button?
Then I want to know if it’s actually good. So I’m opening The Infatuation, then the Times, then Eater, then Bon Appétit, then whatever my friend swears by, trying to piece together one opinion from five different guides.
Some of the best places don’t take reservations at all. They’re walk-in only, or you have to call. Those never show up on the booking apps, so how would I even know they exist?
And then there’s the place everyone’s talking about, the one where every table’s gone the second it opens. When do they release tables? Thirty days out? At midnight? Nine a.m.? Do I call? Get on a waitlist? How does anyone actually get in?
This afternoon I’m meeting a friend for coffee on the Upper East Side, up around Carnegie Hill. Somewhere good, not a Starbucks. But how do I find it? It’s not on Resy or OpenTable. The Infatuation? I doubt they even list coffee shops. Hmm.
And in the spring I’m finally taking the trip: Madrid, then San Sebastián, then Rome. I’m so excited, and honestly a little stressed, because I want to eat fabulously in every one of them, and I don’t want to waste a single meal. But researching restaurants in three countries is a hassle: guides I’ve never heard of, websites and menus I can’t read.
And this fall I’m taking my girlfriend to Paris. She’s a real foodie, so I want to take her somewhere truly great, more than once. But where? My travel agent seems kind of clueless. And the hotel concierge? I can’t help wondering if they get a kickback from the places they send people.
And the worst part? Half the time I can’t remember where I’ve already been. What was that place we loved last spring? What did I order? Was it the pasta or the fish I couldn’t stop talking about? Which one was a letdown?
I keep meaning to keep a list: every place I’ve eaten, my favorite dishes, what I loved and what I didn’t, the places I still want to try. And when a friend asks, “Where should I go?” I’d love to just send them my favorites.