Hi folks! Long time lurker, first time poster. Wanted to start off by saying I love the community you all have built on here and I hope to be a helpful contributor moving forward.
I was hoping to start a thread to learn more about how you all discover new restaurants aside from the obvious places (eater, infatuation, and of course, on here). This has been of particular interest for me since I just moved to Oakland after years of living in SF (and very little time spent in the East Bay).
Perhaps you all know of these people already, but I’ll start with a few folks I follow regularly:
@ommmar on instagram (local food writer)
@hungryhungryhoooker on instagram (local restaurant photographer, has a great list of restaurants specifically open on Mondays when most aren’t)
The problem for me with accounts like @ommmar (and others on Instagram) is that their posts often sound more like advertisements for the restaurants and so you get more of a feeling that they just work together with the restaurants and they would never criticize any dish or restaurants (which is important to get more “objective” information on any restaurant.)
I don’t mind at all if people write only about places and dishes they recommend, so long as over time I find that their recommendations are reliable.