restaurants

Looks like we were right: PaidContent reported Thursday that restaurant and take-out menu listing site MenuPages has been acquired. The buyer, they say, is New York magazine.

No financial details were provided.

We reported back in May that MenuPages had been acquired, but didn't have any hints as to a buyer. We speculated that it was possibly Yelp or IAC's Citysearch. With New York as a buyer, it's likely that MenuPages will stay locally rooted rather than continuing to expand nationally: there are editions for Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, the Miami region, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, … Read more

The rest of the world might not know about it, but MenuPages, an online compendium of restaurant and take-out menus for eight major U.S. cities, is a pretty big deal in New York. But is it ripe for the picking? A source close to MenuPages told us that the Gotham-based start-up has been acquired, or is close to it, but didn't know who the buyer was, which means this one remains a rumor.

The ad-supported MenuPages, operated under the company name Slick City Media, runs local sites for New York to Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, the Miami region, … Read more

Earlier this week the National Restaurant Association unveiled its new green-centric Web site. Green is in, and the 90-year-old trade group does not wish to be left behind. The new Web site offers tips and tricks on how to conserve energy, and therefore money. At the heart of its new conservation-minded site is what it's calling the "Virtual Green Restaurant." It's Flash-based and interactive, allowing users to better visualize what they can do to improve efficiency in their own restaurants.

Understandably, the National Restaurant Association is focused on saving money for its members and the bulk … Read more

Yelp, the business reviews site famed for a vociferous user base willing to be brutally honest about the quality of their local restaurants, bars, bookstores, dog groomers, adult gift shops, and what-have-you, has launched a new service for those business owners to interact with the site's users.

Called "Yelp for Business Owners," the section of the site lets business owners register for special Yelp accounts, which they then need to verify by phone. Once registered, they have access to some analytics (namely to see how many people have been viewing their business page), receive e-mail alerts when … Read more

Ever tried Restaurant.com? Me neither, but I've heard good things. Basically, you search for a participating restaurant in your area, then buy a gift certificate on the cheap: $3 for a $10 certificate, for example, or $10 for $25. There are requirements, of course, usually in the form of a minimum food and/or drink purchase. But it's not like you have to order three bottles of wine or anything. And you can print the coupon right on your own printer: It's immediately ready for use.

To make an already good deal even better, Restaurant.com … Read more

Now in its fifth version, Zagat To Go, compatible with the PDA and platform in-crowd, gives locomotive users access to Zagat's sprawling database of cleverly amalgamated dining reviews and ratings for the best spots in town for food, service, and decor.

The mobile version of the gastro-household brand makes good use of cell phone technology to deliver maps and directions, though Zagat strangely passes up some low-hanging functionality that forces users to do extra legwork as a result. Watch the First Look video below or read the hands-on review for more detail.

Try Zagat To Go for free: Zagat To Go for BlackBerry … Read more

NEW YORK--What if you could get that coveted table for two at one of the hottest restaurants in town...by paying $25 for the reservation?

New York's famed Restaurant Week is fast approaching, which means that black books and BlackBerrys are filling with reservations aplenty. But this year, a new start-up called Tablexchange.com might put a fork in the system. The New York-based company has a simple model: it's a marketplace for buying and selling reservations at chic, trendy restaurants. It's brand new, and it's already controversial.

"So let's have a show of … Read more

Like every year, the Consumer Electronics Show is jam-packed with gadgets, from shiny new cell phones to giant TVs.

But this year, reporters scouring the CES show floor found a few goodies for the foodies too.

CNET News.com's Ina Fried sat down Wednesday with Mark Bolger of Microsoft's surface computing team to see what types of applications the tabletop technology could be used for. One of the ideas they've come up with is a system called Wine Bar that would allow restaurant-goers to select from a restaurant's wine list based on their taste preferences. So … Read more

I've discovered over the past week that Vegas has an awesome food scene I never knew about, and it is delicious. Now, before I hit you with my recommendations, let me be clear: There's no shortage of food in Vegas. The parties serve all the free egg rolls, chocolate fountains, cheese and crackers, and mini hamburgers you could ever want. There are hotel buffets, there are the hundreds of high-end gourmet restaurants that have been cropping up all over Vegas in the past few years, and there are hamburger joints galore, and every night in our hotel (across … Read more