I’m often asked how I decide where I’m going to eat. I think everyone keeps some sort of running list, particularly in the area they live. In new places, it’s entirely different. As it is for many, food is a pillar of traveling for me. When I’m in a new city or country, my days revolve around the meals, and deciding where to have those meals requires some heavy lifting. Every trip is different, of course, and there’s only so much time to cram in as much as possible. The preparation is massively important. Here’s the process I go through to curate and vet a list of restaurants, bars, coffee shops, etc. to hit. And to incentivize you read through, the most important puzzle piece comes at the end.

I ask for recommendations.
First order of business is to ask you, the people, for your recommendations. Whether you were born and raised there, lived there for some time, or visited once, nobody’s shy about calling out their favorite spots. I’ll post an Instagram Story with a question box for people to answer. This is the most overwhelming part of my process because I’ll get dozens of responses, sometimes into the hundreds. I love it, I love the participation, I love that I can connect with my audience this way. As the responses roll in, I’ll start building a list in my Notes app. Generally I’ll just write the name down, but if people give specific notes or descriptions I’ll maybe jot those down as well so I can start to categorize them (ex. Breakfast, quick lunch, fancy dinner). And for the places that get mentioned by multiple people, I’ll add a star next to the name as a note for myself.

Then I vet the list and cut it down.
Now I’ve got a long list of restaurants that I know almost nothing about. I appreciate that you love the spot you recommended, but I need to do some homework now. Ultimately, does it pass my initial vibe check enough to seriously consider? Beli is my first stop—if you’re not using Beli to get restaurant recommendations and see where your friends are eating, you’ve gotta get with the times. If friends have been there and liked it, I’ll know it. I get a good glimpse of photos, learn what’s popular, and can get a general sense of the menu. If I like what I see, I’ll bookmark it on Beli and keep it on my list—I’ll probably add a few notes as well about the type of food for when I come back to the list. If I’m not impressed, I’ll likely remove the place from my list altogether or move it down to the bottom. I’ll also check Google Maps for a deeper library of photos and reviews but more importantly its location—if I know what neighborhood a place is in, that can hugely drive my plans and decision making.

TikTok is another tremendous search engine.
TikTok has completely replaced Google for something like this. A “best restaurants in LA” Google search is gonna yield terrible results from gigantic publications. Granted, “best restaurants in ____” is too vague a search anyway, but I wanna see first hand accounts of dining experiences, and TikTok scratches that itch. The downside here is I know I’m gonna see the same TikTok-viral spots from the majority of users. I’m not suggesting I’m not interested in those places, but I’m really looking for the deeper cuts. This takes a good amount of time as I go wide and deep with the search terms. Chicago River North cocktail bars. Florence Italy gelato. Best cocktails Williamsburg. Best seafood San Francisco. Most overrated LA restaurants. Best beach bars San Diego. Best paella Mallorca. Best coffee Seattle. And of course I’ll dig deeper with specific restaurants that I’m curious about. With that being said, I am not the type of person who studies menus in advance—I don’t want to know everything about a restaurant before I go. I want to know just enough to be intrigued and curious.

Prioritize my list.
At this point I’ve somewhat quickly vetted all of the recommendations that’ve come my way. I have a pretty good sense of what places I’m legitimately interested in and or planning to get to. Cuts need to be made. The list has to be significantly narrowed down, or at least put into tiers. And that’s typically how it ends up. I still have a long list, broken up into categories. I’ll bold and/or star the ones I’m particularly keen about. I’ll add notes about location if it makes sense. I can’t say for sure that someone else would be able to interpret everything in the note, but it works for me.

Making reservations in advance.
I’m big on this. I strongly advise against having every meal planned out in advance and set to a firm schedule. But sometimes I need to make a reservation weeks out to have a chance of getting in when I’m actually in town. I’m not bound to those plans by any means, and I often cancel reservations, but it’s nice to have a guarantee especially for more popular spots.

I always leave room for local recommendations.
I cannot stress this enough. I love talking to hotel receptionists, coffee baristas, restaurant servers, locals I meet at a bar, to ask for their favorite spots. They’re not gonna call out the viral places that everyone on TikTok pours hype fuel on. These are the people who know where and how the locals truly eat. You want a great cocktail? Ask a bartender where they like to drink and they’re gonna shout out a few spots. Coffee baristas are more than happy to give alternative coffee shop recos. Talk to your servers, they’ve got friends in the industry and will often guide you to a great meal. And they’ll tell you when to go, what to order, and who to ask for. You get the idea. Spontaneity creates magic. This piece of the process is a non negotiable for me.

Content is secondary to a good meal.
Obviously I wanna make awesome content documenting the most awesome meals. But having a great meal is agenda item #1. If I get great content from it, terrific. If not, no big deal. Sure, I’m thinking about which places would be great for content, but it’s not the driving factor into where I go. At the same time, if a city is known for something, that’s gonna determine what I’m eating—I’m eating sandwiches in Florence, as much pasta as possible in Rome, BBQ in Austin, hot dogs in Chicago, lobster in Maine. And I can almost guarantee some content will be born from that. But I want to eat great food first and foremost. That’s of utmost importance.

And there you have it. A glimpse into how the sausage gets made. A lot of work goes into it. I want to set myself up for success, but part of that journey is being open to impromptu meals and experiences. I would imagine most people don’t like uncertainty with travel—I’m doing my best to lean more and more into it. Highly recommend it.