By Larry Levine –
Our sister web site, atLarrys.com, where you turn for restaurant recommendations, celebrates its second anniversary today (October 6, 2011) and what a two years it has been.
Since it was launched, atLarrys.com has drawn visitors from 1,245 cities in 52 countries around the world. Nineteen atLarrys.com co-hosts have posted 219 recommendations for restaurants throughout California. Another 128 restaurants are recommended in the rest of the U.S. and other nations. Recommended restaurants range from a taco truck in California’s central valley to fine dining establishments everywhere.
atLarrys.com is unique among online restaurant sites in several ways. 1) It does only recommendations of restaurants, not reviews. 2) Only restaurants at which we would recommend that someone eat are listed. If a restaurant isn’t good enough to recommend, you won’t find it on the site. 3) Only designated co-hosts are permitted to post recommendations on the site. This prevents mischief by restaurant owners who want to tout their own places or disparage the competition.
At atLarrys.com you can read the biographies of the co-hosts who are posting the recommendations. You can get to know them and their tastes and see how they match up with your own. There are no anonymous posts by faceless people using made up names. Where ever a restaurant has its own web site, we provide a link so visitors and take a look at the place and its menu before making a reservation. We receive no payment from any restaurant we list.
Here are the top 10 restaurants based on how many people have read their recommendations since atLarrys.com was launched:
1. Wine Expo Tasting Room in Santa Monica, recommended by Larry Dietz
2. Al’s Place (Al the Wop’s) in Locke, recommended by Tab Berg
3. Angelini Osteria in Los Angeles, recommended by Larry Levine
4. Capital Seafood in Irvine, recommended by Janice & Jim Lacy
5. Ink eats & drink in Sacramento, recommended by Tab Berg
6. Chalet Edelweiss in Westchester, recommended by Gale Block & Elias Davis
7. The Mug in San Bernardino, recommended by Larry Sheingold
8. Panzanella in Sherman Oaks, recommended by Larry Levine
9. Homegirl Café in Los Angeles, recommended by Victor Griego
10. Melisse in Santa Monica, recommended by Gale Block, Elias Davis & Larry Levine
There are a few places that joined the list of recommendations within the last year and showed strong numbers:
1. La Huasteca in Lynwood, recommended by Larry Dietz & Larry Levine
2. Trattoria Tre Venizie in Pasadena, recommended by Larry Levine
3. A.R. Valentien in La Jolla, recommended by Larry Levine
4. La Cevicheria in Los Angeles, recommended by David Aragon
5. 900 Grayson in Berkeley, recommended by Larry Sheingold
For ease of selection, California restaurants recommended at atLarrys.com are divided into 35 geographical regions and the types of cuisine are listed in 55 categories. Restaurants in the rest of the U.S. are listed by state and city. Restaurants outside the U.S. are listed by country and city.
In the year ahead, as we add more and more restaurants to the list of recommendations, remember: a recommendation is only as good as its source and at atLarrys.com you’ll always know who’s making that recommendation.
