Everyone has one in his or her life: the brother-in-law with a collection of 800 takeout menus, the coworker who's always late from lunch because she HAD to trek to one end of town for the best soup and to the other for the best sandwich.

Chowhounds know where the good stuff is, and they never settle for less than optimal deliciousness, whether dining in splanky splendor or grabbing a quick slice of pizza. They are the one in ten who live to eat.

We're not talking about foodies. Foodies eat where they're told; they eagerly follow trends and rarely go where Zagat hasn't gone before. Chowhounds, on the other hand, blaze trails, combing gleefully through neighborhoods for hidden culinary treasure. They despise hype, and while they appreciate refined ambiance and service, they can't be fooled by mere flash.

No media outlets serve chowhounds. There are no chowhoundish newspapers, magazines or TV shows. And they've never had a place to gather and exchange information. This discerning, passionate crowd has long been completely invisible and utterly disenfranchised.......until now!

www.chowhound.com (http://www.chowhound.com)

chowhound is a very good site.If you really like olive garden, red lobster, taco bell, chances are you will not relate at all to chowhound.com

HOWEVER, a large grain of salt needs to be taken at Chowhound.com as in my recent exerience. Checked out the FL site on Chowhound. there were many who raved about the honey chicken at Canton restaurant in Miami. tried it, it was the most simplistic, cafeteria oriented dish I believe I have ever had at a chinese restaurant.

The site also directed me to an out of the way restaurant that served very good fresh seafood for cheap.

Just beware. But I guess the site really helped me when there was a post on eating fried bugs in Thailand. Thanks for the heads up, I won't be partaking.