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Oklahoma

The Oklahoman seeks to avoid the typical "Chamber of Commerce" view of restaurants (not wanting to say anything negative). Instead, it stands apart from many newspapers in presenting a balanced approach in its review of Oklahoma City restaurants while at the same time emphasizing the positive features of each establishment. Much of the success in accomplishing these goals is due to the newspaper's "Food Dude," aka food editor David Cathey. Dave has two blogs that are very helpful in finding good eats:

The Food Dude blog provides interesting information about food and events around the city.

OKC Talk is a forum and discussion board that talks about a number of local issues, including the very popular:

OKC Talk Food & Restaurants Forum with interesting topics and good information, especially about new and lesser known restaurants. The forum mainly talks about Oklahoma City restaurants, but I have seen very good information on places throughout the state (and the discussion sometimes focuses on Tulsa).

Oklahoma Gazette is a weekly newspaper that can be picked up free in many restaurants around town, and it is a valuable source of information (especially for new restaurants and to keep track of closings and other restaurant news).

Wheeling Around Town focuses on the handicapped accessibility of restaurants in Oklahoma City and the real issues faced by those in wheelchairs. In my previous life as a transportation planner I have seen how property developers provide beautiful looking ramps, handicapped parking, and other features to make buildings accessible, only to change them (for the worse) once the city inspectors have come and gone. Because of this my own web site tries to identify accessibility to the building as part of the review, but Wheeling Around Town additionally covers seating, restrooms, serving lines, and other issues such as whether ramps and sidewalks are in disrepair. Also not to be missed are the reviews of the food at each restaurant covered.

Texas

Dining Out with Rob Balon. I think what sold me on this site is the fact that Chinatown was in the "Top Twenty" list of restaurants in Austin on an early version of the web site. However, his picks tend to be upscale restaurants, and I would probably want to consult Urbanspoon for lower priced options.

Won't Read Directions is an interesting blog that provides excellent information about Southwestern food and some of El Paso's classic restaurants. One of my favorite features is the collection of articles that are taken from the Griggs Family Cookbook that give some of the recipes from the old Griggs Restaurant as well as a step-by-step account, with photos, of how to successfully prepare the dishes at home. I take every chance I have to mention that although Griggs Restaurant has been closed for a number of years, the Griggs family recipes are still being served in Canutillo at Peppe's Restaurant & Cantina (6761 Doniphan Dr.).

Yelp El Paso does what some other web sites do not seem to do-- provide a credible list of good Mexican restaurants in El Paso. I also find it useful to look at some of the user reviews such as:

Scott P.'s El Paso favorites not only reaffirms some of my own favorite picks, but gives a good list of places I would like to try. Scott's Yelp reviews also includes a very good list of restaurants in the San Diego, CA area.

Washington

Chowhound was the first web site that helped me find really good restaurants in the Seattle area, and it also has a general board for the Pacific Northwest states. Chowhound does not focus exclusively on individual restaurants, but allows readers to ask general questions such as "Where is the best seafood?" (and other readers generally provide very good answers).

The Zagat web site has limited information if you are a non-member, but I am including it because the Zagat Guide for Seattle which I bought in a bookstore was invaluable in helping me come up with an accurate rating system for restaurants. The Zagat Guide tends to include only high-end restaurants, but these are the ones where it probably best pays to read other people's opinions before spending your own money.

URBANSPOON (Now Zomato), TRIP ADVISOR, AND YELP

These are national web sites which post reader reviews of restaurants, and then analyze the results to give you a "best of" list for each city and for each cuisine or category of food. I find all of these to be interesting, and each of the three web sites seems to be more active in different parts of the country. Also, based on the lists that are produced, I think contributors to each site must have different tastes in restaurants. Some of the sites seem more traditional while others give a more trendy and cutting edge feeling.

Since I might need to rely on these sites for recommendations in cities I plan to visit, I thought it would be good to look at some cities I know. Even in places I have lived, a large part of the recommended restaurant lists consist of restaurants I have not visited, so my analysis is far from perfect. However, here are some of my impressions:

El Paso

Best Restaurant List: I am torn because none of the web sites seem to include as many Mexican restaurants in the "best" list as I think they should, but Urbanspoon seems to be the most accurate at listing the best restaurants in the city. I looked at the top three in each cost category, and they all seem to be solid choices.

Mexican Food: I think Yelp seems to have the most solid list, although their inclusion of Chico's Tacos in the top ten might be a little suspect.

Chinese Food: For Chinese restaurants it is strictly a matter of who has the least bad list, and I think that dubious honor goes to Urbanspoon, although it is only because they omit some of the buffet restaurants in the top ten that the other two web sites include.

Las Cruces

Best Restaurant List: Urbanspoon has a credible list of all types of cuisines-- all except Mexican (which is mostly absent except from the Cheap Eats). Because of this, I think the best list is probably found on Trip Advisor which includes Nellie's in the top ten (Yelp also includes Nellie's, but at a lower rank).

Mexican Food: I have to give this to Urbanspoon, which is the only site which lists both Chope's and Nellie's in the top ten.

Oklahoma City

Best Restaurant List: Urbanspoon seems to do the best job of any of the web sites. The list for Metro Oklahoma City includes Ranch Steakhouse, Red Prime, and Boulevard Steakhouse (all of which I have been to and which I would put on the list of best restaurants). The other sites have some good restaurants listed, but I think Urbanspoon is the best for visitors coming into the city and wanting the type of local cuisine for which this part of the country is known.

Mexican Food: I think Urbanspoon has only a fairly adequate list of Mexican restaurants, but it is a lot better than the one I found on Trip Advisor (and is somewhat better than Yelp).

Chinese Food: All three web sites have fairly good lists of the best Chinese restaurants, but the difference is in the number of restaurants included which I do not think should be on the list. In this regard I think Yelp does the best job of listing only the Chinese restaurants where knowledgeable diners who want authentic food should go.

OTHER SITES

Food Related

Barry Popik's Web Site explores the origins of foods and food terms, and is an interesting web site both in terms of serious research and the fun facts it presents. Barry is an editor of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America (2004), and lives in New York City.

Eating Chinese by Gary Soup provides good information about "real" Chinese food.

Yum of China gives very good instructions about cooking authentic Chinese dishes, but also provides ideas about what you may want to order in restaurants.

Food Goblin is a food blog from the United Kingdom that provides some unusually interesting insights about food and restaurants internationally. The blog provides a wealth of information about different foods and recipes, and I think of particular interest to readers will be the Food Travel Blog which includes a cross country tour of America during summer 2012. One reason I particularly like this blog is that it covers the type of food that I find appealing when I am looking for something good to eat.