opportunity knocks

Good gracious - can someone in Boston please step up?

New York restaurant rating/news/gossip site Eater has daily posts of “Dealfeed,” and a “recession specials map.”

I get the weekly Yelp Boston roundup, but I need someone to start reporting the recession meal deals! The tapas place around the corner from us offers very decent prix fixe stuff, but good lord I don't think I can stand another evening of their passive aggressive wait staff (if you're gonna give us the stink eye for moving from a dangerously wobbly table in an EMPTY restaurant, you must not want our business that badly).

And it irks me when places are half-assing their "deals." Early bird specials? Monday night menus? Inflated prix fixe? Please. Let me know when you're serious and you want my repeat business. Then we'll talk.

I'm just not find this info. Every Boston food feature relies on Boston's role as the consumate tourist destination: you have to eat at this burger place, that ice cream shop, and have your parents take you out to X, Y, or Z when they come to schlep your stuff to your dorm. Yadda yadda. You know, I HATE the freakin Phantom Gourmet. Please do not pass off commercials as food reviews. This does not contribute to Boston's food culture: it's responsible for its decline. Can you tell I'm hungry?

The South End scene is a good place to start investigating, but it's also part of the problem - it's too scene and is less than inviting to those not in the know.

God forbid I come across like an amateur...

Speaking of: Prez' Day weekend/V-Day weekend is on the horizon. What to do??? A cape trip might be in order, but kind of sleepy. Then again, a romantic VDay dinner is nigh impossible in Boston as yet another amateur night (as Kara's Joe dubbed New Years) - and it's a Saturday, no less. Eeugh.

And maaaybe a ski weekend the following week? We'll see.