Maybe it\’s because I\’m from the sad generation that never learned how to cook. Well. I\’ve been eating out since about age 16 and although my taste have gotten better in terms of what I\’m comfortable eating, I still get a little bored trying to find good local food but that\’s all about to change. With the new Eats Channel on the Zipper App, I\’ll have no problem continuing my weakness for good, fast, and cheap local food. Let\’s take a look at how the Zipper Eats Channel is going to be your new best friend around lunch time or late night after the parties close down.

To start, I\’m jealous of Pete from basketball. Petey\’s been to every little hole in the wall local restaurant. Funky Vietnamese Pho hidden gems with the slippery floors and 100 flavors of Boba Teas? Pete\’s been there. Indian buffet with all you can eat butter chicken? Yep, Petey just went there yesterday and he\’s ordering off the back side of the menu where you don\’t recognize any of the names. Micro brewpub with English bangers and mash hidden in a little strip mall? Check. He\’s like a little connoisseur of local food and there\’s lots of Pete\’s out there. How do we get all that information of great local restaurants big and small, well know and unknown to everyone? The Zipper App. That was the first (but not last) reason we came up with the Eats Channel for the Zipper. So how does it work?

Glad you asked. It\’s really easy. You download the free App for your Iphone of Droid smart phone. After a few seconds of setting it up, you can now flip the Channel setting up top to \”Eats\”. The Zipper will automatically filter all the Zips or posts to those with the Eats setting. You\’re there. This is where you\’ll find threads reflecting all the different Zips pertaining to local food in your area. There will be Zips (and the corresponding threads) by all kinds of different topics. Some will be based on individual restaurants, some will be based on types of food (Italian, Chinese, etc), while others will be based on deals, events, or entertainment. For example, if a restaurant is having a 2 for 1 sushi boat on Friday\’s from 5pm to 7pm, game on. Float some Sushi down this way! $2.50 beers for the big game at the the local sports bar? Nice. On the flip side, food poisoning on chicken not well cooked, it will be there on the Zipper as well so chicken masters, better cook it well! Now local news means local food and local restaurant news at the touch of a person\’s thumbs on the Zipper smart phone app. It\’s a local food app at its best and it\’s completely free.

What if a restaurant starts to spam the Eats Channel or someone puts info up that\’s not appropriate. Enter the Thumbs (cue Kung Fu music with obligatory cymbal crash). The Thumbs (one up and one down, Sensei) is there for a quick vote on any given zip. If you see something that\’s wrong, misleading, or just plain lame, BAM! Blast it with a Thumbs down. Too many of those and the zip quickly falls into oblivion which is where it belongs. This leaves us with all the cool local eats reviews, ideas, secrets, and events . Hmmmmm. Where should I eat today?

Dennis Jarvis writes extensively about local news and local gossip smart phone apps.