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Hi guys, I'd like to invite the users of this board to the just-launched, brand new Menutopia.com! http://www.menutopia.com/ What's the idea behind Menutopia? The basic idea is: we supply the menus, our users supply the opinions - in the form of reviews, lists, tags, etc. There are a lot of great personalization features already built in and many more on the way. How can I use the site? Since you're among the first people to hear about Menutopia Brooklyn, what we'd like most is your input! The site was designed to make it easy to find a place to eat, whether you're ordering delivery (try the smart search -- the phone number pops right up!) or dining out, we have over 600 menus just waiting to be used. Ultimately, we want Menutopia to be as useful as possible, so please let us know how we can make the site better. Other ways of helping out are: writing reviews for restaurants that you feel strongly about (and I've seen some strong opinions on this board!), letting us know if we're missing your favorite restaurants, or telling us if something on the site is confusing. Please feel free to reply to this thread with any feedback. Thanks for your help! Dan Menutopia.com
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how it menutopia very different from Menupages.com?
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Subject: Menutopia v. Menupages
Fair question. Menutopia was built and designed for users, not advertisers. Our smart search is a great example of that! Rather than forcing people to click through 5 pages to view a menu or restaurant info, Menutopia's smart search gives you that info immediately. With the smart search, you're never more than one click away from a restaurant's menu. It's also very easy to browse restaurants if you're not sure what you're looking for. For example, click 'Park Slope' from the main Brooklyn page to see all 180 restaurants in the Slope. You can refine those results on the fly by clicking a tag or cuisine type at the right of the page. Also, by signing up for a free Menutopia account (it only takes seconds) you can really personalize the site. You can invite friends and keep track of their reviews and lists, keep track of your own reviews and lists, save favorites, view your recently view restaurants, and a lot more! More info here: http://www.menutopia.com/learnmore/default.html Dan -
The site is pretty good so far, with 2 notable deficits: 1) it's kind of slow 2) you list many Prospect Heights restaurants on Flatbush as being in Park Slope, including: El Gran Castillo De Jagua (which is especially sacriligious) Joy Parkside Diner JRG Fashion Cafe Franny's Sushi Tatsu Wing Wagon Yummy Taco
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as far as i know, Franny's touts themselves as a park slope restaurant.Drink good beer.
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Captain Salty » as far as i know, Franny's touts themselves as a park slope restaurant.
they price themselves that way, too. doesn't make it so. I weep for them. really, I do.
like a smoked meat with an earthy youth overnote -
Captain Salty » as far as i know, Franny's touts themselves as a park slope restaurant.
For the site to be most useful, it should list restaurants where they ARE, not where they want to be. -
oh, i don't disagree.Drink good beer.
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Subject: Neighorhood boundaries
Thanks for the note Carnivore. I actually got advice on the neighborhood boundaries of PH from this very board, but it looks like we didn't include Flatbush Ave. We made the fix and those restaurants are all now showing up in Prospect Heights. Thanks again! Dan -
A great feature (though I'm sure it's not easy) would be to type in you address and to have a list of restaurants returned that are nearby. I don't think MenuPages does that.
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Subject: that's my one problem with this board
everyone's so concerned with where everything is....I've lived my whole life in brooklyn and have never heard half as many concerns about where restaurants are, or what block is in which neighborhood, etc.... flatbush avenue counts as park slope....jesus. and for that matter so does 4th avenue. -
Subject: Re: that's my one problem with this board
park slope, prospect heig » flatbush avenue counts as park slope....jesus. and for that matter so does 4th avenue.
no baby, both those streets are borders one side is one nabe, one side is the other 'cause you gotta draw the line somewhere -
Subject: cripes
I didn't mean to start a neighborhood zoning war here! -
Subject: How often are menus updated?
I find that with many sites the fact that the menus are always out of date defeats the purpose. How often do you guys plan on making sure the menus are updated? -
Subject: Power to the people!
We're continually updating menus. Since we're brand new, we don't have a large member-base yet, but we hope once there's an entire community involved, it will be self-policing. Members will let us know when something needs updating and we'll update it. Might sound a bit idealistic, but hey, we're shooting for a Menu - UTOPIA here! And we're a small team, but we're very responsive to requests for updates. Dan -
Menupages only recently started adding Brooklyn menus though. Last year I thought about starting a local menu site, but got too busy to ever take the project on. So this is pretty cool. I didn't expect the site to be non-Brooklyn centric.. like i expected it to be a local project. No matter.. Just happy to read the info. I would say, though, that anything on Columbia St is NOT Cobble Hill, but Columbia Waterfront District OR North Red Hook or even Red Hook. It's a completely different vibe on this side of the expressway, and there's definitely enough restaurants to warrent it's own section. I mean, it's at least a 1/2 mile from Court St (cobble hill and carroll gardens). I'd like to be able to search for these restaurants in a separate section. Thanks for posting this though! I'm psyched to have so many more options for the area now!
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sarajean8 » how it menutopia very different from Menupages.com?
Well for one thing, when you click on "Brooklyn" on menupages.com you are immediately directed to Brooklyn's tasty offerings. When you do the same on menutopia, you are immediately directed to the text below. System.ArgumentException: Item has already been added. Key in dictionary: '7' Key being added: '7' atystem.Collections.Hashtable.Insert(Object key, Object nvalue, Boolean add) at System.Collections.Hashtable.Add(Object key, Object value) at Seamlessweb.JustMenus.Web.Controller.GetMarket.SecurePerform() in c:\data\work\seamlessweb\JustMenus-branch\src\Web\Controller\GetMarket.cs:line 33I blame such comments on beer.
© karlthedruid 2007 -
cheflaura » I would say, though, that anything on Columbia St is NOT Cobble Hill, but Columbia Waterfront District OR North Red Hook or even Red Hook. It's a completely different vibe on this side of the expressway, and there's definitely enough restaurants to warrent it's own section. I mean, it's at least a 1/2 mile from Court St (cobble hill and carroll gardens). I'd like to be able to search for these restaurants in a separate section. Thanks for posting this though! I'm psyched to have so many more options for the area now!
good point. Isn't the hotness of Columbia St generally called Red Hook by civilians? menutopia, look at all this great troubleshooting we're doing for you! -
Subject: Slow
Is there a way to make it faster? -
Subject: menutopia
Thanks for the great neighborhood clarification, cheflaura -- we'll fix that. As for the errors and the slowness, the developers are currently working on fixing this. Annoying, I know...but remember we're brand new and your among the first public users! Thanks for taking the time to check it out, Dan -
Subject: Re: cripes
menutopia » I didn't mean to start a neighborhood zoning war here!
Don't worry Menutopia. What you will find is that many people from Prospect Heights are very, very sensitive about the neighborhood they live in. Most people don't care. And Franny's is in Park Slope! -
Subject: Re: cripes
Anonymous » And Franny's is in Park Slope!
Let me make it real simple-like for ya...
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wanted to check out your site, but i guess i am not patient enough and gave up waiting for the site to load. WAAAAYYY too slow. but please let us know when you folks get that fixed and i'd be happy to try again...Get your paws off my canned chicken
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Subject: Re: cripes
Carnivore » [quote="Anonymous"]And Franny's is in Park Slope!
Let me make it real simple-like for ya...
That is hysterical. Awesome image.I blame such comments on beer.
© karlthedruid 2007 -
Subject: Re: cripes
raw » That is hysterical. Awesome image.
I made it myself!
I might print it out and hang it on my refrigerator! 
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Subject: carne asada
when you click off one of the cuisine choices...let's say mexican
.. then click on the restaurant it works fine. but when i use my back arrow, mexican is still checked off but it's not filtered at all. 
using...firefox 2.0 on a mac -
Subject: Re: cripes
Carnivore » [quote="raw"]That is hysterical. Awesome image.
I made it myself!
I might print it out and hang it on my refrigerator! :lol:[/quote]
Was this hand-drawn-and-scanned, or do you have some kind of nifty tablet and stylus setup?The world will little note nor long remember what we say here. -- Abraham Lincoln -
Subject: Re: cripes
doctorj » Was this hand-drawn-and-scanned, or do you have some kind of nifty tablet and stylus setup?
Neither. I did it with the mouse (actually, it was the touchpad, the mouse equivalent on my laptop). -
Subject: Re: cripes
Carnivore » [quote="doctorj"]Was this hand-drawn-and-scanned, or do you have some kind of nifty tablet and stylus setup?
Neither. I did it with the mouse (actually, it was the touchpad, the mouse equivalent on my laptop).[/quote] Nice. You have much better fine motor control than I do.The world will little note nor long remember what we say here. -- Abraham Lincoln -
Subject: it's not a distinctive line....
"flatbush avenue counts as park slope....jesus. and for that matter so does 4th avenue." it's more of a slippery slope issue....restaurants that are on flatbush are in both neighborhood. -
Subject: this menu should include....
a restaurant that is on the border street as in both neighborhoods...if someone is coming from out of the area and has heard about a restaurant, such as Franny's that is is 'Park Slope', they might not have the wherewithall to know that the restaurant is really in 'Prospect Heights' don't call me baby. -
Subject: hotbed of debate
For the purposes of Menutopia - making places along the highly disputed Flatbush Ave area - they're listed in both nabes. Notice Franny's is found in both Park Slope and Prospect Heights: http://www.menutopia.com/GetVendorInfo.m?vendorId=3466 Menutopia hopes to resolve these conflict like Nelson Mandela, not fuel the fire. -
Subject: Re: hotbed of debate
menutopia » Menutopia hopes to resolve these conflict like Nelson Mandela, not fuel the fire.
It sounds like Mahatma Gandhi approach. Didn't work for Kashmir, but maybe it will work for Flatbush Ave.The world will little note nor long remember what we say here. -- Abraham Lincoln -
check this out: Franny's Pizza the Best Pizza in Park Slope, Sort Oflike a smoked meat with an earthy youth overnote
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alafairnadia » check this out: Franny's Pizza the Best Pizza in Park Slope, Sort Of
That post is from 11/16/06, so I think they almost certainly got the idea from this thread!!1!!1 And no credit... Grrr!
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Carnivore » [quote="alafairnadia"]check this out: Franny's Pizza the Best Pizza in Park Slope, Sort Of
That post is from 11/16/06, so I think they almost certainly got the idea from this thread!!1!!1 And no credit... Grrr! :x[/quote] totes. whatev.like a smoked meat with an earthy youth overnote -
Subject: Menutopia - now blazing fast!
Quick FYI: some people commented on the speed of the site and got some errors. We fixed all that so http://www.menutopia.com should be blazing fast! Please let me know if you still encounter any bugs. Thanks to everyone here at Brooklynian who pointed out problems with the site! -
YES THANK YOU!!! It's much faster now...
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Agreed.
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Anonymous
Posts: 9,622I can't use this using IE. I get all kinds of popups saying "inCommand", "isCommand", "addedCommand", etc. Works fine under Firefox, but if I need to switch browsers I'd be more likely to stick with MenuPages.com -
I tried it on IE 6.0 and it's fine. But I also block popups so maybe that's why I'm not seeing the errors.
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Anonymous
Posts: 9,622I block popups too. They aren't advertisements, they're error messages. Have to cancel about 8 of them to get to a search area. -
Subject: Re: that's my one problem with this board
park slope, prospect heig » everyone's so concerned with where everything is....I've lived my whole life in brooklyn and have never heard half as many concerns about where restaurants are, or what block is in which neighborhood, etc.... flatbush avenue counts as park slope....jesus. and for that matter so does 4th avenue.
Yeah, but, if I'm looking for restaurants close to my house, I'll start by looking at all the restaurants in PH. Because otherwise I have to take the time to weed out all of the stuff on 5th Ave. and 16th St., which is pretty dang far from here. -
good update! The $ ratings are a little off - al di la is $$$$ (entrees roughly $16-$25) and Biscuit is $ (entrees in teens, some low twenties), Brooklyn Fish Camp is $$ (entrees teens and twenties) Actually, I think it's just al di la that is screwed up -- it says $40-$60 at the top. is that the price of three courses or something? The other places aren't listed that way.
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AND Sheep Station is in Park Slope, not Boreum Hill (you need their menu )
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pitu » good update! The $ ratings are a little off - al di la is $$$$ (entrees roughly $16-$25) and Biscuit is $ (entrees in teens, some low twenties), Brooklyn Fish Camp is $$ (entrees teens and twenties) Actually, I think it's just al di la that is screwed up -- it says $40-$60 at the top. is that the price of three courses or something? The other places aren't listed that way.
Not just Al Di La. Tavern On Dean, which is pretty cheap, got $$$$, while Garden Cafe got $$. -
Carnivore, why are you not pitching a fit about Carneviento being PH not PS?
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pitu » Carnivore, why are you not pitching a fit about Carneviento being PH not PS?
I was the one that argued it should be PH. It's on the PH side of Flatbush. -
Carnivore » [quote="pitu"]Carnivore, why are you not pitching a fit about Carneviento being PH not PS?
I was the one that argued it should be PH. It's on the PH side of Flatbush.[/quote] Brooklyn to Menutopia: El Gran Castillo de Jagua is on the Prospect Heights side of Flatbush. Your trouble-shooting did not *quite* work. -
pitu » [quote="Carnivore"][quote="pitu"]Carnivore, why are you not pitching a fit about Carneviento being PH not PS?
I was the one that argued it should be PH. It's on the PH side of Flatbush.[/quote] Brooklyn to Menutopia: El Gran Castillo de Jagua is on the Prospect Heights side of Flatbush. Your trouble-shooting did not *quite* work. :D[/quote] I think Menutopia's solution was to list places on Flatbush as being in both neighborhoods (even though most of the restaurants besides Antonios and Vegetarian Palate are actually in PH).
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