LTHForum.com

I was googling a restaurant and Yelp came up. Prior to this moment, I had lived in blissful ignorance of Yelp. I started to read.

I happened upon Shannon S' page as she was the cool person who had posted on the place I was looking for. Lucky me, because Shannon sure gets around. Then I noticed the elite designation and I had to check that out. Shannon has been elite designated for two years running .

It made me proud just to be able to be able to partake in Shannon's great knowledge and clear cool-ness. But it got even better, for another yelper elite, Nancy K, who is only cool for 2007 and not two years like Shannon, but is so cool that she has 161 Yelp friends, versus Shannon's 12 and Nancy K is too cool to even post pictures of herself! Wow. Anyway, the uber-cool Nancy actually posted about LTHForum and the GNRs, admitting we introduced her to some new, to her, places. She did, however, criticize our navigation, you will see. Nothing is perfect.

This caused me to consider posting on Yelp and even vying for elite status, though I will admit that before stumbling across Nancy K I was afraid the requirement to post a picture would out me, and make the uncoolness I feel inside obvious like a shining beacon to one and all. But Nancy K has given me hope, both because I know now that one can attain Elite Status based solely on posting stock landscape photos, and because she acknowledged we do have information that can be useful. The fact that no one else acknowledged this gives me some pause, but she did give us three stars, which must be better than average.

So today my life has changed. My mind says I should be satisfied with this, but my heart says, "go for it!" Yelp might really welcome me, and it could change my life. Or, I could be rejected, thrown out of this promised land, and back into my sad, gray world, rejected by all my potential cool, new, online friends. I quiver with the possibilities, fear and expectation. Now that I know there is more, can I be satisfied without going on?

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d
Retired, gone fishing, and exploring my curmudgeon within

How can you not love a site that puts Alinea and Cereality in the same class?

http://www.yelp.com/reviews/9_Chicago_I ... age_0.html

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Chicago Craft Beer Week!

Here's a valuable one I saw last night. 5 stars for Carraba's Italian Grill and four for the Cheesecake Factory.

http://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid ... HW1xGVXQOA

I actually post on and enjoy yelp though I have learned that you have to work much harder to find reliable reviewers there than here.

Hi,

There is a page of instructions on how to join the Elite league, which are defined as:



While I am happy to identify myself as a LTH'r or foodie. I would have a hard time explaining to friends and family that I am now a Yelper. They will be forever checking me out around full moons to see if I grow fur and yelp to the moon.

Regards,

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Cathy2

"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways, Road Food 2012: Podcast

In the kind-of-similar-to-yelp category is menuism. justin from menuism has posted on LTH before, and, to me, it's a notch up from Yelp. That said, I still use menupages for menus, google for addresses, and LTH for actual reviews of restaurants.

But if someone is looking for something more "social" than metromix, I'd send them to menuism over yelp.

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Ed Fisher
my chicago food photos

RIP LTH.

Hey, I'm a double-poster too -- I know there are a number of us on yelp who post in both places. But I completely agree with Will -- it is a challenge to find reliable reviewers and tastemakers. I count on LTHers to set the record straight.

There was a recent discussion on Yelp about Thai food -- best places in town. The level of discourse (and taste) was apalling. Tony C stepped in and told what from where - and a number of us cheered.

From a statistical perspective, the star system doesn't mean much until there's a high n - (50 or more) which sadly, few restaurants, bars, or businesses have achieved.

Come now Cathy, let's see you on Yelp - it can only make the reviews better, right? Yes, it is not LTH, but it is a fun 'community', at times.

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CONNOISSEUR, n. A specialist who knows everything about something and nothing about anything else.
-Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

www.cakeandcommerce.com

You have to admit the name is funny.

Truthfully I spend too much time on this site as well as other culinary interests. The last thing I need is another activity to devote time to. I am at the point I would need to give up something to take on something new.

Regards,

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Cathy2

"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways, Road Food 2012: Podcast

awww! I hear you though, and understand...

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CONNOISSEUR, n. A specialist who knows everything about something and nothing about anything else.
-Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

www.cakeandcommerce.com

TonyC's rather humorous response to the Spoon Thai detractors can be found here:

http://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid ... dj3Gdu6OYg

I feel dirty.



E.M.

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"Don't even touch my gold, I'm good."

I was tearing up with laughter when I read:

"Mike C: you just reviewed a can of Coke at a Thai restaurant."

Overall, a somewhat ad hominem attack that might not be allowed to stay on all boards ( ) but still, one must admit, a somewhat deserved dressing down of the militantly ignorant. When a conversation is taking place at this level, it would take a lot of restraint for someone to just sit there and read it without jumping up and shouting Wait a minute!

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“We all have to stand before the kitchen gods.” Chef Jacob Sahaya Kumar Aruni

utoh, this thread has made it onto the yelp radar with a yelp thread of it's own..


http://www.yelp.com/topic/T7fv8eEv-3fVj ... NSu_yl68-w

i've been yelping for awhile (cross posting a lot of the same reviews here and there actually...), i like the site.

...re the "elite" squad... Anyone can join the elite squad, you just write them an e-mail. they probably have some sort of minimum qualifications (maybe a certain amount of activity), but it seems like a lot of ppl are in it. ... there's been a lot of talk lately that getting "elite" is too easy and meaningless, so who knows if the threshhold will change soon or not. it doesn't necessarily mean the person is super elite, but it does get them into free events that are sponsored by the host place so it's a way to get free entertainment for a night if nothing else (they've done improv comedy nights, spa nights, drinking out nights, etc in the last few months)... i seem to always miss them because i'm chaotically busy or out of town lately ..

Yelp seems to focus on a more intangible quality - "is this a good place to eat?"

The 5 star review of Carrabas (meh) might be funny on LTH, but for someone who may not be interested in finding a mom & pop joint and is looking for reliable food in a chain-ish setting, that's a useful review.

I find yelp to be a good middle ground between the extremes of food snobbery and reviewing the actually popular restaurants in the area. It's a place where you can find a place you may never have heard of, but also chime in with a review of the best Starbucks in town.

And from a usability perspective alone, Yelp blows LTH out of the water. Imagine a search function that doesn't require massaging, and reviews sorted by cuisine!

Intriguing outsider perspective of LTH -- and I'm surprised that some of the stuff that goes up there stays up there.

I'm sure we would have pulled a line like "Talking to you is like trying to fuck jello. Except jello has a higher IQ," but that's probably because, as another Yelper mentioned, "LTH is full of grumpy old dudes and nazi mods."

It's interesting, too, that most posters in this Yelp thread clearly see that LTH provides higher quality food discussion, but that such is not actually the goal of Yelp.

David "Achtung, Baby" Hammond

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“We all have to stand before the kitchen gods.” Chef Jacob Sahaya Kumar Aruni

Hi,

Noting Hammond's reaction to Tony C's dressing down those reviewing Spoon Thai, I went back for a more careful read to find this:



The last sentence was a killer.

Regards,

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Cathy2

"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways, Road Food 2012: Podcast

I think LTH would be more fun with personal attacks

for the most part, it's community driven (things get pulled based off of flagging, much like craigslist. occasionally staff intervenes)..

but yes, i think there's no question that the content here is much more higher quality when it comes to actual food discussion... but yelp in turn is more casual and appeals to a less-foodie crowd (though inevitably with any site like this, users who frequent it become foodies via experience). but some people could really care less who has the best creme brulee in town (or more importantly how a given place prepares it to make a better one), they just care where the best place to eat within a mile of them might be

Perhaps, but it would not be fun in the way that most people look for when they come to LTH and, honestly, name-calling seems to lose its charm rather quickly, don't you think?

Yelp seems to attract a younger audience, and it probably addresses the needs of that audience better than LTH, and even for grumps like me, it's nice to know there's a place to go where it's cool to simply hurl invectives at one another for the amusement (though obviously not the edification) of fellow yelping posters.

Hammond

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“We all have to stand before the kitchen gods.” Chef Jacob Sahaya Kumar Aruni

I disagree, you old fart.

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Ed Fisher
my chicago food photos

RIP LTH.

Well, I was encouraged by the fact that some of my fellow LTH'ers were also Yelp Elite, and then I read the post about grumpy old men, and nazi mods and I knew there could never be any hope for me.

But I do not think I was trashing Nancy K - celebrate, don't hate for me. Sure it was a little tongue in cheek, but in my book it does not even come close to trashing. Grumpy old men and Nazi mods, that is trashing.

Less seriously, there are many ways and reasons to pick a place, and if one can find some people whose tastes map to yours, it is all good. And if they also are people you like to hang around with, it is even better. And if the web site is more friendly, I might even register, lurk and learn.

And I realize some of this is generational, no question, but some of the things about Yelp are a little over the top, and funny, just like I could do a pretty wicked parody of LTH, like, ummm, a service with grumpy mods refusing to answer someone's question because they did not respect what was being asked for, and another poster dismissing all the many restaurants offering Chinese food in Chicago because they did not meet his standards - it could work, and it is okay to laugh about these things.

I do like their approach to having elite posters - it is discussed and struggled with here at times, and was avoided back when I was a mod because it seemed too divisive. But to just let anyone who asks become an elite poster! Very egalitarian in the best, and worst, ways.

How long has Yelp been around?

Nice that there seem to be more than a few people that cover both sites, btw.

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d
Retired, gone fishing, and exploring my curmudgeon within

I decided to register an account at LTH since I've read a number of reviews here when searching for restaurants that didn't have information elsewhere, and I obviously was reading this from the post at Yelp. I agree with you in many scenarios language like that would've been removed David, but Yelp is an interesting beast. It's standards often vary, and sometimes it won't take much for a thread to get deleted. You'd also find it interesting that your own YourPalWill was the poster of that lovely remark.

As has been discussed on both sites, Yelp and LTH serve a different purpose, and that purpose lends itself to the quality of results on each site.

Just to clarify my position, I certainly do respect LTH as a much more informative source of restaurant reviews, however I don't desire as much when I look for a review. I'd much rather read a quick paragraph and get a summary, than a few page report on two or three dishes. It's just a different audience.

That being said, I hope the two communities can maintain a modest amount of decorum, and acknowledge that each has it's own place and audience among the vastness of the Internet.

-Brandon H

As an infrequent poster but addicted lurker to this site and a more frequent poster but less enamored lurker to chowhound (never been on yelp) etc, I just wanted to jump in a say that I feel that this site is invaluable. I feel that I have learned so much about different cuisines, the history of food, different neighborhoods, etc, etc. I also am so glad that this site hasn't gotten down to the level of verbal attacks when people disagree and that posts aren't pulled with no reason at all (which just drives me crazy at CH.) Anyways, I've been to post a big thank for a while and I figure this was a good enough thread. So thanks!

Well, as a far-more-frequent yelper than LTH'er (although I still read up LTH every so often) I can say that what is strikingly different between the two sites is how much more relaxed it is on yelp. When posting on LTH, I always feel the need to be super-careful because I know that posts are often pulled (with no room for debate) and if posting about a restaurant that's been covered already, other posters are wont to chime in with links to another, years-old other thread, rather than initiate discussion in a new setting.

It seems that the community on LTH self-polices its own idea of a perfect LTH garden, where anything out of alignment or expectation is removed. Yelp, on the other hand, is completely ad-hoc, allowing the community to vote out stuff that is deemed negative.

The younger crowd is probably true, and I think that you're right also in saying that it meets the needs of its community. However I'll go one step further and say that it meets better the needs of the Chicagoland area than LTH, because it doesn't dismiss the more "bourgeois" restaurants out of hand. It caters to what people actually eat, rather than what people "should" eat.

Absolutely. Internet is a big place.

You know, we discussed Yelp in another context recently (http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=12578&highlight=yelp). This "business-side" of the Yelp board would be another differentiator. Apologies if I came off a little hard on Yelp management's actions (referring to them as "disgraceful" and "extortionate"), but given what was reported, I would tend to stick with that evaluation...though I'm open to hearing another side of the story, of course.

Hammond

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“We all have to stand before the kitchen gods.” Chef Jacob Sahaya Kumar Aruni

Not sure I follow. Could you define "bourgeois restaurant"?



Not too old to kick your ass.

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“We all have to stand before the kitchen gods.” Chef Jacob Sahaya Kumar Aruni

JonJonJon, I must admit that upon my first exposure to this group of people who now comprise LTH (over on the old chowhound forums), I too was a bit intimidated by them. To this day, I remember the first carefully worded review i made among them (now us). It was an endorsement of AP Deli for which I was generally dismissed.

Not being shy, I decided to introduce myself into their fraternity in person. It was a great move and one which has paid dividends for now. What I learned is that the 'grumpy old men" and "grumpy old Cathy2" are really among the most convivial company with whom one may explore the incredibly rich culinary gems that exist out there in Chicago.

Join up on an outing of LTHers. You won't be disappointed.

And don't be disappointed that nobody likes Baladoche. Still Nobody likes AP Deli either (except me).

Only one I can think of:

Bourgeois Pig
738 W. Fullerton Pky., Chicago

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Chicago Craft Beer Week!

I dunno...I'm a member of Yelp...tho' I rarely post or even read. I was invited by a friend(a regular contributer of Yelp) who I dine out with(read: try a new restaurant) every so often.

I'm not *that* much older than Yelp's intended demographic and yet still am irritated by the base level of discourse and criticism(I'm no fan of My Space, either).

Point being: I feel like I *get away with* quite a bit of irascibility and freedom on LTH that wouldn't for a nanosecond be tolerated on CH(and the voice I deploy here is even further toned down from my blogish thing).

Any yelper complaining of LTH old farts and nazis has their microcephalic head up their butt.

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"Johnny thought when all purpose had been forgotten the world would end this way, with a dance. He slumped back in a corner, drew his knees up to his chin, and watched."-Derek Jarman

Two things.

First, I have been here for two three years and I think that in the period, maybe two of my posts have been pulled. One was related to a place where I suffered from food poisoning.

The moderators here generally set up a few rules (no advertising, no flaming attacks, no politics, and no accusations of food poisoning) and as long as you live by them, your posts are broadcast at no charge, I might ad.

Unlike Chowhound, there is no deleted posts without explanation.

Before you post on the board, it is proper etiquette that you search first. I have no problem typing in a two page essay about a place that I have been to. However, why should I have to do it fifteen times? Most of us have day jobs and we don't like to spend all of our time in front of the computer.

I don't like sites like Yelp - they remind me too much of the old AOL days. "this sucks, that sucks" - too much chatter with too little thought behind it. Also, the constant stream of profanities don;t really do a lot for me.


While it has been twenty five years since my Marxist days, wouldn't the LTH group be more "bourgeois" and dismissing the restaurants of the proletariat?

I was getting worried w/ this whole war btwn LTH & Yelp "holier-than-thou" thing, but thank god I'm pretentious on both Yelp and LTH... phew... problem narrowly averted...