Restaurants

Geek Out

Annoy This Coffee Shop’s Patrons From The Safety Of Your Browser

1:15PM Yesterday | Andrew Liszewski

They say nothing in life is truly free, and that’s perfectly demonstrated in this experimental coffee shop in Helsinki. The coffee is technically gratis, except for the cost of having to enjoy it in a setting controlled by the internet. More »

Science

How To Read A Menu, The Scientific Way

6:00AM February 8, 2012 | Jamie Condliffe

For decades, the restaurant trade has believed that there’s a sweet spot on the menus they hand to you — a section in the the upper right corner, where your gaze will focus — and that’s where they tend to list their highest mark-up dishes. But are we really that gullible? Surprisingly enough, no. More »

News

Google Just Bought Zagat, Making It The New King Of Restaurant Ratings

1:37AM September 9, 2011 | Adrian Covert

The official Google blog says it all: the Mountain View tech monster bought Zagat, whose restaurant ratings are used and respected all over the world. Yelp should be worried. More »

Online

Restaurant Customer Tossed Out For Angry Tweet

6:20AM August 18, 2011 | Sam Biddle

The war of phone wielder against chef rages on: despite today’s pro-phone victory in Washington, Texan comrades have been hit with a setback. Allison Matsu was having a drink. She didn’t like her bartender. She tweeted about it. BOOM: booted. More »

Mobile

Fascist Phone-Banishing Restaurant Liberates Customers

5:00AM August 18, 2011 | Sam Biddle

Dining Instagrammers of the world, rejoice — the totalitarian owner at DC’s Rogue24 is no longer forcing you to sign a contract before choosing to eat and pay for his food. So pull out that smartphone! Screw talking! Tweet! FILTERS! More »

Mobile

Restaurant Forces Customers To Sign No Mobile Phone Contract

8:55AM August 16, 2011 | Sam Biddle

A shout of OHHH MY GODDDD ARE YOU SERIOUS? SHE DID? The LED flash of someone Instagramming their entree, followed by look of smug gratification. Some jerk waving his phone around trying to get a mobile signal Foursquare. Not anymore! More »

Online

Why Do Restaurant Websites Suck?

1:20AM August 11, 2011 | Kwame Opam

Slate’s Farhad Manjoo did a piece recently taking restaurant websites to task for being so awful most of the time. Flash-heavy and obsessed with entertaining instead of informing, they’re often murder on the eyes. But why? Probably because designers get paid so well to do it. More »

Geek Out

A Look At The Most Insane Restaurant In The World

6:00AM July 28, 2011 | Matt Buchanan

El Bulli: Cooking in Progress is a documentary about the most insane — and one of the most influential — restaurants in the world, El Bulli, which is closing this month. More »

News

The Real-World Bitcoin Business Is (Kind Of) Booming

5:30AM July 1, 2011 | Kwame Opam

Bitcoin is everyone’s favourite made-up digital money, sure. But whaddya know? Turns out there are plenty of legitimate brick-and-mortar shops out there that are ready to conduct awkward-yet-satisfying bitcoin transactions with you in the flesh. More »

Geek Out

Get Paid By American Express When You Use Foursquare

12:55PM June 23, 2011 | Kelly Hodgkins

Foursquare and American Express supposedly inked a deal that offers discounts to Amex card holders in stores like Sports Authority and NYC restaurants like the Union Square Cafe. This is just an early trial and limited in scope, but the discounts are impressive. I’m not a big Foursquare user but I would use it more if got a $US20 credit each time I spent $US50 at Sports Authority. [NY Times via Business Insider]