Dan Dickinson: The Primary Vivid Weblog

My love for the location-focused social network Foursquare (and it’s sibling check-in game, Swarm) is no secret. I’ve found it adept for finding new spots locally and when I travel. The community rating numbers tend to be very on the nose and trustworthy. And it’s also perfect for maintaining lists of places, as I just made heavy use of while in London to tick off places I had been recommended.

With that in mind: the two questions I get the most are “Where should I eat?” and “Where should I drink?”. Typically, my answers immediately start drilling into specifics (neighborhood? price? formality? noise level? occasion?). But I’ve finally gotten to the point where I’d rather just give people a broad list to start with – there’s too many good places to just keep them in my head.

So here are my core lists, “A Restaurant For Everywhere” and “A Cocktail Bar For Everywhere“. They’re not bound to one city (the cocktail list used to be NYC focused), so if you’re traveling places I’ve been, it should come in handy. Both lists run the gamut from quick and casual to super upscale. Take a look and I’m sure you’ll find something to love. (Lists are in no particular order.)

If you’d rather get location specific (and not just food/drink), three lists of loved spots in the cities I can be found most often: New York City, Jersey City, and Portland.