“Ultimate Guide to Bay Area Dining” — Food Gal’s First App — Plus A Give-Away

Yes, your favorite Food Gal has joined the app world.

I’m proud to be part of the new venture, “Know What,” an app that takes the guess-work out of figuring out the food and cultural hot spots most worth visiting in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Los Angeles region. The recommendations come already vetted by experts in those areas, including yours truly.

Here’s how it works: Purchase the “Know What Essentials” app for $2.99 to get 250 top picks for food, hikes, museums and bars in both Northern and Southern California. Then, you can add on more specific modules for an additional nominal fee, including my “Ultimate Guide to Bay Area Dining” ($3.99), which includes my spotlights on 72 delicious places around the Bay Area not to be missed. My guide will be updated regularly, too, at no future charge to you.

Since it’s map-based, it couldn’t be easier to use. Just click on the map to see the places near you worth checking out. So, for folks who regularly email me questions such as, “Where should I go eat after the game today at AT&T Park in San Francisco?” or “What’s a new place to try in downtown Palo Alto?” — and you know who you are — having my guide at your fingertips is the next best thing to me being right there with you to lead the way.

Other Bay Area guides available by local writers include: “The City’s Best Cocktail Spots” by Camper English; “Things in San Jose that Don’t Suck” by Gary Singh; and “San Francisco’s Top 30 Taquerias” by Burritoeater.

“Know What” and my “Ultimate Guide to Bay Area Dining” are available for iPhones via the iTunes store. Look for an Android version possibly toward the end of the year.

Contest: One lucky Food Gal reader will win a free copy of the “Know What Essentials” app, along with my “Ultimate Guide to Bay Area Dining.” Entries, limited to those in the continental United States, will be accepted through midnight PST Feb. 25. Winner will be announced Feb. 27.

How to win?

Just tell me what wondrous app you most wish existed — and why. Most memorable answer wins.

Here’s my own answer to that question: “I would kill for an app that could clean my house. I’d hold the app up in the center of a room, push a button on my phone, and magically, the vacuum cleaner would start up, the dusters would go to town on the furniture, the squeegee would do its thing on the window panes and any clutter would put itself away. If anyone can come up with that, I’ll kiss the ground you walk on — well, once it’s been mopped clean by the app.”

Print This Post



13 comments

  • Congrats! You go girl!
    The very app ever would be my own.
    It would tell what goes with what when baking or cooking. And the 3D version would include me being able to slap someone when they chose the wrong ingredient.

  • I don’t have an iphone, so don’t enter me in the giveaway, but I just wanted to say CONGRATS!!! I’ll look for the android version later…

    Love your dream app! 🙂 Any cleaning/organizing app would definitely be the best! My dream app would be an app that kept my kid’s room organized! 🙂

  • I would love an app that could tell when the weather changed or was changing and then text me. It would show me selections of sweaters, umbrellas, boots, scarves, sunblock etc and with a touch of a finger I could touch one and it would appear in front of me. No more need to carry a thousand layers with me when I travel. It of course would customize itself over time to know exactly at what temperature I need a sweat shirt etc.

    Love the sound of your app!

  • ntegrated recipe, shopping, menu app–basically: You pick out some recipes for a dinner party, enter the number of attendees, and you get a shopping list. Has to be integrated across all devices. But the recipes come from published cookbooks, with permissions, including out of print books like my favorite (Gotham Bar & Grill Cookbook with that warm chocolate cake recipe that I am required by my friends to make for every dinner party). And the app allows you to inventory your pantry (preferably with bar code scanning) so that you don’t buy yet another bottle of rooster sauce. And then…you have the option to have everything premeasured and delivered by an online grocery service.

    And it would be really cool if it integrated with classes, like at draegers, where you would download your recipes from a class you took into it.

  • This is sad, I know, but what if one doesn’t have a smart phone? Is there a way to buy an app that will go to a computer, or am I totally out of touch?

  • Suzy Marsden: I only traded my old flip phone for a smart phone a year and a half ago. So, you’re not sad at all! But nope, don’t believe you can use the app on a regular computer, unfortunately.

  • This probably exists, but I want a personal shopper app! Take my measurements and style preferences, likes and dislikes and recommend clothes and outfits for me! Congrats on the app, going to buy it if I don’t win it!

  • With your advice I wouldn’t be surprised if it quickly becomes a top app! Love that pic of you too! 😀

  • CONGRATS!!!!!! Wow, everyone on blogosphere is going on app nowadays. You are so high tech! This will be quite helpful as I live in the same area as you are in. 😉

    You are funny Carolyn! I wish that app is available!

    I have one that I wish to have. I take picture of meals and tell me EVERYTHING about the meal. Calories, nutritious information, how much exercise I need to burn the calorie (this is important). See, I’m trying to lose weight, but it’s so hard to control the portion. I try some app to calculate and record my food intake, but WHO HAS THAT TIME?! I need the photo record and my app will do all the recording and calculation, so all I need is take a look at the info. I hope this will be available soon. It has to be accurate though otherwise I won’t buy it! 😉

  • Woohoo! HOW AWESOME! If I win, I’m gifting it to my best friend who lives in SF. 🙂

    Hmm app I most want. I want an app that will tell me what running clothes to wear based on the weather. I’m so bad at judging whether I’ll be too hot or too cold!

  • I love your idea of a house-cleaning app! Mine would definitely be a laundry-doing app! Or better yet, house-cleaning AND laundry-doing AND it doesn’t just do it by itself, it makes the hubby do it! LOL

  • LOVE this Carolyn. Guide to SF restaurants app!You are brilliant. Wish I had a smart phone to use it.

  • Apps are usually all about technology, but I wish for an app that could improve communication. We always get caught up in the daily grind, and emotions like frustration and anger cloud what we are really trying to say. I want an app where I could just turn on my phone when someone is speaking and it would gauge what they are really trying to say. Next time my mother is speaking in riddles because she is fed up about something, or my friends are too embarrassed to say what they really feel, I could use it to decipher the true meaning without having to pry or forcing them to swallow their pride.

    Welcome to the app world! Maybe an emagazine for our tablets will be next?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *