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The next few weeks will be crucial ones for the ODP's new restaurant
guide, ChefMoz. The final preparations
are being made before the directory goes live to a wide audience. There
are no more bulk adds of restaurant listings to report after the May additions
of CitySearch and DigitalCity data, but that's just as well for the US
part of directory. At the moment the 250 or so editors are a bit overwhelmed,
checking for duplicate listings, and moving incorrectly placed ones into
the proper city
Autumn continues to make strides in improving ChefMoz's software, so much so that one editor dubbed her "compu-goddess" recently. Just waiting in the wings are features like browsing restaurants by city neighborhoods and MapQuest links for the UK and Canada. Autumn is also working on the scripts that will create the publicly available directory data, due out by the beginning of August. Anyone familiar with the Resource Description Framework (RDF) and willing to help check the output should contact her. Chris Tolles, ODP marketing guru, hints that ChefMoz data "may appear on other AOL properties" soon. That should raise the level of excitement a bit. A Tale of Two Meals An important business partner is coming to town. You think that a lunch meeting would go over very well. You pick a new place you've heard about, but never been to, Herb's French Bistro. It's a disaster from the word go. Even though you've made a reservation and arrived on time, they make you stand in the cramped entrance for fifteen minutes. No one takes your coat. The waiters seem to have just been hired off the street; they have no idea about proper service, never mind what the special of the day is, what kind of dressing is on the salad or where the house red is from. The kitchen delivers what the service promises. Soggy, greasy pommes frites, an overdone, stringy steak. And even though provençal cooking is supposed to be a specialty, Herb doesn't seem to know his herbs; everything is very bland. Your colleague is not only unimpressed, the awful meal has thrown a
pall over what was supposed to be a pleasant meeting to finalize a deal.
Your discreet attempts to let the waiter know that all is not well result
in Herb himself storming out of the kitchen and loudly demanding to know
what could
A few days later a friend of yours, about whom you've secretly had romantic thoughts, phones unexpectedly and asks if you'd like to go out for dinner, to an Italian place called Pinot Grigio. You agree immediately. You and your date arrive half an hour late, but no problem, they've held the table for you. The atmosphere is perfect: paintings by local artists grace the walls, there's a nice view from your table at the window and soft music plays in the background. The service is friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. Fish special of
the day? Black cod or arctic char, prepared according to your taste.
Recommendations? Try the smoked salmon pizza appetizer, it's great. Wine?
The house wine is an Italian Pinot Grigio (what else?) and it's fine. But
try the California
The dinner stretches out over three very enjoyable hours. The waiters are so good; you hardly notice them. At the end, Isabella the owner and chef comes out of the kitchen and checks with you to make sure that everything was fine. The evening ends very pleasantly. Now what should you do about those dining experiences? Submit them to ChefMoz, of course! Exercise your sweet revenge upon graceless Herb by writing a scathing review revealing all the shortcomings of his bistro. And then sing the praises of Isabella and her able staff. Other diners in your city need to know about the good restaurants to go to and the bad ones to avoid. The next step is to sign up as editor for your hometown so that you can help build this new restaurant guide. ChefMoz only has about two hundred active people right now and desperately needs more involvement from ODP editors. Interested? Check the May Newsletter for details on how to sign up. See you at dinner. Statistics (as of June 24, 2000)
Countries with the most listings:
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