Today is Wednesday, which means another Just for Fun post! I got a great recommendation a few weeks ago, which was to write about apps for foodies that you can download to your iphone (or other technology). I thought this was a great idea for a lot of reasons. There are so many times that Ryan are in an unknown area and we want to know where to eat, what to do, where to go. I HATE eating at chain restaurants, and always want to know where the locals eat!! I went through dozens of apps to find what I think are the most diverse and informative apps for all the ways to eat locally. I ran the “Maine Test” on those that applied. We ate at so many places in Maine, that I feel like a somewhat expert on where to go there. If an app recommended places that I enjoyed, it passed. For other apps, I judged them 1-5, 5 is the highest, for what their intended purpose is. All but the Local Eats app is free to download, and I included the Local Eats because I really felt it was worth the purchase. I hope you take the time to download some and use them; I would also love to hear of any that I missed along the way!
Eat St– the best app for food truck finds. Gives a map of what’s available now in your location, a listing of all food trucks in the area, and links to twitter for each truck. The most comprehensive listing of food trucks that I have found through a number of apps, but I always suggest confirming with the actual food truck before driving out of your way to go to one. Sometimes apps are slow to make changes about a truck’s location.
Locavore– the perfect app for all aspects of local eating. I would give a 3 to the farmers’ market section- some listings were very informative with general information, others only had the name of the market, but no days of the week or times. I would give a 5 to the “in season” section because it tells you every fruit and vegetable available this time of year and how much time is left for it to grow. The recipes section gets a 1, for now, because there were few if any recipes available.
Local Eats- 5 for supporting local restaurants that cook phenomenal food. Anytime we move to a new city, I immediately look at all of my dream restaurants. This app had all of those and plenty more. They list all of the general information, have menu examples, and even give occasional deals and promotions through the app. For the traveler, this is the perfect app for finding high quality, non-chain restaurants. I also appreciate that the restaurants are not limited to a high price point. I ran the “Maine Test” and found that some of our favorite fast-food type places, Fit to Eat, Boba Thai food (with $7-$10 entrees) were also featured. Seriously worth your $.99.
Seafood Watch- the app for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Sustainable Seafood Guide. I could write an entire article about the dangers of eating seafood. Without going into too much detail, I will say that it is very important to know where your fish and seafood are coming from. Health regulations in other countries do not meet high standards, and it is important to support correct fishing practices through your purchases. This app allows you to search by a specific fish or seafood, shows which types are best (farmed vs wild caught), and which fish you should absolutely stay away from. For example: it’s best to purchase wild-caught salmon from Alaska, next best to purchase freshwater, wild-caught from Washington, Oregon, and California, and suggested to avoid farmed salmon from anywhere. A beneficial app to take with you to the grocery store before making your purchase.
The Great Food Trail- the best app for any Food Network lover. Load this app to find all of the restaurants in driving range that have been showed on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives; Man vs Food; and The Best Thing I Ever Ate. This app receives a 5 for general information, 2 for specifics. The app only lists the restaurant, address, and contact information. I wish that it listed what was eaten there! I’m not driving to some diner and ordering a cheese burger only to find out that they are famous for their Mexican food. This part of the app receives the 2 for the additional research you’ll need to do to find out what to eat.
Cooking In Red Socks 