We wanted to start off the New Year by reintroducing our friends at GiveBackAmerica (GBA) by providing a little knowledge of what they've been up to. We've been excited to have GBA as a continued partner for our 'Share a Meal & Give Back Program' where for every 5 dishes (or 1 meal) uploaded to dishKarma, we provide 1 meal to Feeding America. Just think about how many meals we could collectively donate?
GiveBackAmerica, better known as 'Your Online Fundraising Partner,' has recently launched a toolbar easily connecting online shoppers to over 1300 retailers and 1200 charities. Once the toolbar has been downloaded, it will automatically tell you when you've hit upon a participating retailer and how much of your spend will go towards the charity of your choice. The coolest part? There is no cost to the end user. The participating retailer pays for the commission and charitable donation on your behalf.
Our partnership with GBA is only the beginning, so many incredible charities can benefit from our everyday online purchases. Here's to making a difference in 2012!
You’ve probably heard the argument that the Internet is making people less social. This point of view suggests we’re uber-connected online, yet less apt to interact face-to-face.
While this may be true in some cases, at dishKarma we believe the best services leverage technology to enhance real world experiences and relationships.
For instance, there are now a number of online tools helping us crawl, spot, share, chew and review our way through meals. Fortunately, the one thing they all have in common is that the actual eating component must take place IRL (in real life).
This month I tried out a new food and friend discovery tool called Grubwithus. The site launched recently in Boston after gaining momentum in Chicago, San Fran, DC, NYC and LA. Soon they’re adding Atlanta and Seattle to the mix.
Basically, Grubwithus was born when two guys moved to Chicago and found it hard to make new friends. The bars and clubs weren’t cutting it, so they decided to build a service that introduced people over a meal. Their inspiration reminds me of the Ultimate Meal Game and the idea that food has the unique ability to bring people together.
Needless to say, my first experience with Grubwithus was great. I began by building a simple profile on their site and then browsing the upcoming meals in Boston. There’s a meal almost every night of the week so it’s easy to make this work with your schedule.
I narrowed down my search by checking out the fixed menus attached to each meal and the profiles of those who had already committed to attend. Most users don’t include in-depth personal info, but there’s enough to get a sense of the who you’ll be dining with.
There‘s room for 7-10 people at each meal, and the site does a nice job creating a sense of urgency by posting messages like ‘only 2 seats left.’ There’s also a monetary incentive to commit early, as the price goes up by $0.50 per-person after each reservation.
I decided on dinner at Hana Sushi in Cambridge and paid to secure my spot. Not long after the confirmation email, I received a separate message from the site’s co-founder offering $5 off my next meal purchase if I added a profile picture. This was a smart way to personalize the experience, encourage further engagement with the site and increase the likelihood of a repeat purchase.
I also received my actual ticket via email, which included instructions for redemption, directions, a detailed menu, a name tag and a ‘Food for Thought’ section reading; ‘Cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college educations,” Mark Twain. Very cool!
When I arrived there were already two people at the table so I joined them and introduced myself. It’s tough to conduct one conversation with a table of eight people, so we casually broke off into smaller discussions once the full group showed up.
We had a fascinating mix of people at the table including an MIT professor, a woman who coaches people through writers block, a former sky diving instructor who now manages a chocolate factory and a woman who had a successful startup as a teenager halfway across the world and now attends college in MA.
The food was great and my favorite dish was the Green Tea Mochi (pounded sticky rice) Ice Cream, which I just added to my personal menu on dishKarma.
Two days after the meal I received a very nice message from the Grubwithus Development Director making sure I had a good time and asking for feedback. Another great touch.
Overall this was a great experience and I will definitely use the service again. I’m even thinking about booking meals when I visit other cities as a way to meet locals and try new restaurants.
Housed in a former Lotus car dealership, Chinawhite of Greenwich opened this past weekend. The preview cocktail reception Saturday night was filled with endless servings of their new menu, a see-and-be-seen crowd and of course signature cocktails. The large 'garage door' windows in the front and surrounding white walls gives this restaurant a feeling of openness and fills the guests with curiosity for what might appear next from the glass lined kitchen.
Jody Pennette and the CB5 Group opened their first Chinawhite in Purchase, NY just a few weeks ago. They're the group well known for Lolita of Greenwich and Boston, Red Lulu of South Norwalk and dozens of other boutique restaurant projects.
I indulged in many of the new menu items they were sampling which included General Tso's Fish, Vegetable Spring Rolls, Chicken Fried Rice, Crispy Vegetable Dumplings, Chicken Chow Fun, and my favorite, the Tangerine Beef. The presentation was also impressive - many dishes arrived in classic white 'takeout' containers with chop sticks.
If you're in Greenwich and have a hankering for a twist on classic Chinese food, be sure to check out Chinawhite Noodle Bar.
Some newer facilities have chain restaurants, local delicacies and even sushi bars, but for the most part dinning options at sporting events are fairly limited. While the same holds true for the concerts in these venues, what happens when music festivals take over non-traditional sites like parks and campgrounds?
At dishKarma we believe in giving back, that's why we've had a charitable component built into our Web app from the start. For every 5 dishes you share, our partners will make a donation to a food-related charity that provides a meal to someone in need. Currently our efforts support Feeding America thanks to the generosity of our partners at GiveBackAmerica.com.
Beyond our efforts through the Web site, it's always interesting to take part in creative events that share a similar vision. This week I had the pleasure of volunteering at one of these events in Connecticut; 'A Tasting Evening to Benefit the Food Bank of Lower Fairfield County.' This event brings together over sixty restaurants, beverage purveyors, caterers and merchants who provide an amazing mix of sampling opportunities.
I'm really glad I had a chance to help out and fortunately I had a little time to taste a few dishes as well. One of my favorites was the pulled pork and 'fall off the bone' ribs from Bobby Q's. You might remember that we caught up with Bobby this past fall and heard about his favorite BBQ joints in Kansas.
Fresh off the ALF event with Marc Summers, I had the privilege of attending another great fundraising event this week; the Taste of the Nation in Manchester, NH. This food and wine event takes place in cities across the country and raises funds for Share Our Strength. We've covered this great organization and their events before, including Justin's visit to the LA Taste last year.
Restaurants from around the region and vintners from around the world provide attendees with an amazing mix of food and drink. However, this year one of my favorite discoveries didn’t come from a restaurant. It was Mitchell's Fresh salsa, dips and tortilla chips. We all have our go-to salsa spots, but Mitchell’s pineapple flavor immediately became one of my all time favorites. Their business is based in NH, but the products are sold through a variety of retailers around the country, including The Meat House, another foodie favorite based in the Granite State.
This year's special guest at the Taste was our old friend Billy Costa. Billy is a great MC and someone who is extremely familiar with the food world. He hosts the popular NECN show TV Diner.
You might remember when we caught up with Billy at the Boston Food and Wine expo where he shared his Ultimate Meal:
Congrats to the Manchester Taste team for another amazing event.
Hit up the Taste when it comes to your city and stay tuned for Justin's report from the CT Taste next month.
Last month I crossed paths with Paul Reubens (Pee-wee) at SXSW (I hear Soleil, aka Punky, was there too) and this week I had a chance to chat with the former host of Double Dare Marc Summers.
Paul is still doing the Pee-wee thing, but Marc’s career has evolved quite a bit and turned him into a familiar face for foodies. Some say Seacrest is the hardest working man in showbiz, but Summers has been hustling and hosting for a few more years than Ryan.
The night I met Marc he was taking on hosting duties, as usual, but this time as the special guest and Master of Ceremonies for Flavors of Connecticut, a fundraiser organized by the American Liver Foundation (disclosure: my sister Marla is the rock star event planner for the ALF in CT).
The event brings together over 30 chefs from restaurants around the state. Each one prepares an elaborate menu for a small group of guests, creating a completely unique experience for each table. Before the dinner begins every restaurant sends out a few different hors d'oeuvres, and I can honestly say it was the most impressive cocktail hour I’ve ever experienced.
Marc was extremely gracious and took a few minutes to chat with me about the food world. He was digging the dishKarma concept and asked about the specific dishes we tasted during the Boston episode of dK TV.
It’s always fascinating to meet people you grew up watching on TV, and this was especially relevant given his prolific career in the food biz. I’m hoping to catch up with Marc again so we can capture his official Ultimate Meal, but until then I was able to track down this video where he talks about some of his favorite hometown dishes. I'm thinking we might have to film the Philly dK TV sooner than later.
It’s been a few weeks and we’re finally catching our breath from an amazing week in Austin.We’ve decided to keep our recap simple and highlight 7 of the top food-related experiences we had at SXSW.
This was a great event to connect with others in the space while testing out the new Grubster app.Props to Danielle of Food + Tech Connect, the guys at The NobleRot and Highlands Dinner Club for creating unique collaborations betweenrestaurant chefs and tech apps. #foodtech
This event proved to be a great concept with an equally impressive turnout.We love mixing together different dishes and this event nailed that experience.iPhone and Android were everywhere at SXSW, but this was one of the only events where we saw Blackberry front and center. Smart partnership.
Another food/tech hit was the food truck offering up free eats from four of Austin’s hottest food vendors sponsored by Squarespace and hosted by Dan Delaney. Dan is killing it right now by dropping a new food video every day and it was great to see a growing tech company hire him for this kind of promo. You may also remember Dan from his dK Ultimate Meal video last year. Thanks again, Dan!
4. MT BBQ
We joined our friends from Media Temple at Stubbs for an afternoon BBQ and sampled some of Austin’s best. We know there are many choices for BBQ in and around the city, but Stubbs is always solid and the number of quality bands that played their outdoor venue over the course of the week was ridiculous (Foo Fighters and Duran Duran!).
Just a couple blocks up from Stubb’s on Red River is a Tex-Mex restaurant that’s attached to Symphony Square, an outdoor stage/amphitheater that is unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Serrano’s guacamole is fantastic, but it’s really the environment that makes this one of the best outdoor music venues in Austin. Fortunately they were able to host ‘the party that almost didn’t happen’ and we have the video to prove it from our friends at Dyn Inc.
Who says some of the best light fare can’t come from a chain?We haven’t experienced Pita Pit in the northeast yet (although one recently opened in Boston), so it’s extremely refreshing when we hit Austin.If you need a quick meal before hitting 6th, Pita Pit is a great option. We recommend the Local and the Hawaiian is right up there.
You have two somewhat intimidating options for entering this hole-in-the-wall taco joint. The first is through a tiny club that is home to some very heavy music, or through a random staircase that leads to an empty apartment/smoke shop, depending on the day (true story, we went twice and it changed mid-week). Regardless of your entry point, it’s well worth the journey! Service comes with a smile, the tacos are tasty and they stay open late. Most people aren’t brave enough to roll through these two entrances so you don’t have to wait in a long line either….another rarity at SXSW!
We’re already planning for next year, but in the meantime, what were your favorite food moments at this past SXSW?
Technology plays a vital role in the food world and it’s increasingly impacting the way we cook, where we dine out and what we consume. While traditional restaurant critics still play their part, and the local newspapers still publish reviews, there are now an infinite number of online resources and tools we can use to help track down a satisfying meal.
There are also a number of events and organizations focused on bringing together the people who are driving this innovation. We recently attended 'Eats & Apps' hosted by a group of entrepreneurs in NYC: Danielle Gould - founder of Food + Tech Connect, Emily Cavalier - founder of Mouth of the Border and hostess / chef / founder of Midnight Brunch, and Brian Quinn and Jonny Cigar founders of The Noble Rot. The event served as a great networking opportunity and showcase for those interested in the interplay of food and technology. A few of the featured Apps in attendance were Dinevore, FoodSpotting, FoodNetwork, Snooth and gojee. Some of the team members behind Eats & Apps have planned another event that's tied into quite possibly the largest technology conference on the planet: SXSW 2011. The goal for this event is to help build a virtual farm to table community and promises to be another fascinating gathering. The event is called IdeaCOMM: Instant Data Evolves A Community and you can be sure the dK crew will be there.As we continue working towards the launch of our own mobile application we look forward to participating in events like IdeaCOMM and others focused on the evolving food meets technology space. Are you heading to SXSW? We'd love to meet up in Austin so give us a shout - @dishKarma
We’ve all heard stories about the dinning habits of different U.S. Presidents, and many of us have fantasized about what it would be like to have a chef on call at all times. There’s even a dishKarma post from two years ago featuring some of the favorite dishes prepared at the White House.
Recently we had an opportunity to chat with White House Guest Chef Guy Mitchell and he shared some of the dishes George Bush would order up.
What would you have Chef Guy Mitchell and his culinary team create for you?
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