Are you tired of the same old chain restaurants and fast food joints?  Do you love to find unique local eateries that stand out and offer something a little different?   Roadfood.com is your online guide to great one-of-a-kind local restaurants.   According to Roadfood:

Roadfood means great regional meals along highways, in small towns and in city neighborhoods.  It is non-franchised, sleeves-up food made by cooks, bakers, pitmasters, and sandwich-makers who are America’s culinary folk artists.  Roadfood is almost always informal and inexpensive; and the best Roadfood restaurants are colorful places enjoyed by locals (and savvy travelers) for their character as well as their menu.  It is our intention that Roadfood.com will lead the way to: great local color, the best regional specialties, (and) unforgettable diners, celestial barbecue, and four-star pig-outs galore!

Restaurants can be searched by Location, Food Item, Keyword, or Restaurant Type.  Recipes (some from the featured restaurants, some from local cooks, contests at regional fairs, and small-town cookbooks) can be searched by Recipe Name, Ingredients, Preparation Method, Type of Dish, or Course.  Roadfood also includes discussion forums.

http://www.roadfood.com/

FoodCandy.com is social networking website for foodies including profiles, blog posts, videos, restaurant reviews, discussion forums, and much more.   According to FoodCandy:

FoodCandy is very social like Friendster, MySpace or Yelp, but there’re no music bands or dentists here.  (It) is conversational like eGullet or Chowhound, but it doesn’t take itself as seriously.  FoodCandy discussions are also in rich full color with pictures and videos if you like.  FoodCandy syndicates food blogs like FoodPornWatch, but with full content, virtually intact original layout and a creative license of your choosing.  Then, like no other system FoodCandy extracts pictures from hundreds of syndicated blogs to create the ultimate food porn.  FoodCandy lists restaurants like CitySearch or MenuPages, but does not attempt to be a complete reference.  Instead of ratings, it encourages real human experiences expressed with words and photos.  FoodCandy lets users talk about cooking and recipes, but it is not yet another recipe site.  FoodCandy publishes a member-only free monthly newsletter, but it is produced by amateurs with a unique unpretentious voice.

FoodCandy is divided into several sections including: foodies – where you can browse members of the site by location or most active to find fellow foodie friends, blogs – where you can read select blog posts from nearly 500 syndicated food blogs (if you have a food blog you can sign up on the site to have it syndicated for free), videos – where you can watch videos and podcasts extracted from syndicated food blogs, eat out – where you can read restaurant reviews from site members and write your own, events – where you can search for food events by date and location, and discuss – where you’ll find the FoodCandy discussion forums.

http://www.foodcandy.com/

Are you making an effort to be more “green” because you care about the environment?   Would you like to make more eco-friendly choices when going out for a drink?  ecoDrinking.com is an online guide for green bars, clubs and lounges.  According to ecoDrinking:

Green isn’t black and white, so there’s no single thing a bar can do to be eco-friendly.  However, there’s a wide range of green techniques being explored by different venues…  All bars on ecoDrinking have shown a clear intent to go green by implementing at least a handful of ‘green cred’ points, or by attaining certification from a credible green organization (all of which is detailed on each profile, along with links to external sources when available.)  But in the interest of quality, a bar will be removed if their green efforts are discontinued or shown to be false.

Bars can be browsed by city and state.  Maps are included for each location.  The description for each bar includes reviews and a list of what makes it green.  Do you have a favorite green bar?   If it’s already on the site you can write a review, if it’s not you can suggest it.

http://www.ecodrinking.com/

Are you looking for a great place to have dinner tonight?  Are you traveling to an unfamiliar city and have no idea where to eat?  RestaurantRow.com is a community of restaurant enthusiasts, and an enormous online database of restaurant reviews and information.  According to Restaurant Row:

Restaurant Row’s mission is to help people find and share information on Restaurants…  Currently our database covers over 195,044 restaurants, 31,365 reviews, 80,000 menus and growing every second.  As in the past, restaurantrow.com will always strive the best place to search and find restaurants.

Restaurants are search-able by location (using city or zip code), cuisine, name, or a combination of these.  Searches can be narrowed down with more detailed criteria after the initial search.  You can help Restaurant Row improve its database by adding your own reviews of restaurants in your area.  Need a reservation?  You can make them directly from the site.  There is also a top 10 feature that will compile a list of the top ten restaurants in any city.  With the My Row feature you can easily keep track of your favorite restaurants.

http://www.restaurantrow.com/

Are you having a party and want to serve mixed drinks to your friends?  Do you not have any idea what ingredients, glassware, and bar tools you’ll need, or how to make the drinks once you get them?  DrinksMixer.com is a website with over 21,400 drink recipes, and just about any information imaginable that has to do with drinks.

Drink recipes can be browsed alphabetically or searched.  Drink categories include: Cocktails, Shots, Punches, Liqueurs, Non-Alcoholic, Beer & Ale, and Coffee & Tea.  There is a My Handbook feature that allows you to create a personal collection of drink recipes.   The My Cabinet feature allows you to create a list of the liquors and mixers that you have on hand, and search for recipes that you can make with what you have.  DrinksMixer also includes a Bartender guide and a Glossary.   There are also information sections on Shaking/stirring, Terminology, Measurements, Glassware, and Drinking games.  DrinksMixer takes reader submissions; so if you have a great drink recipe not already featured on the site you can send it in and share.   Want to discuss drinks with other people?   DrinksMixer also includes discussion forums.

http://www.drinksmixer.com/

BakeSpace.com a is website that is half social networking and half food.  It is an easy to use, and free to join online community that brings food and friends together.  According to BakeSpace:

Gathering in the kitchen is a uniquely social tradition that connects people from all walks of life.  That’s because the kitchen is where we go when we’re hungry…  not just for food, but for friends, family and great conversation.  BakeSpace is all about preserving and reinventing this tradition in cyberspace.  We’re a grassroots online community where people from around the world gather to share recipes, build new friendships, learn from one another and express their passion for all things food-related.

BakeSpace also has a mentor program where you can connect with someone with specific culinary skills to help you exactly where you need it most.

http://www.bakespace.com/

Do you often have trouble following recipes?  Do you get half way though and wonder if you’re doing it right?  Do you wish you could see what it’s suppose to look like?  VisualRecipes.com is a recipe website, but unlike most others it shows pictures of every step in a recipe, all the way through.  Visual Recipes describes it’s self as: “a community of cooking enthusiasts who share our recipes with step by step pictures.”  Main categories include: Appetizers, Bread, Desert, Breakfast, Dinner, Snacks, Lunch, Sauces & Dips, Vegetarian, Beverages, Cuisine, and Occasion.  Main categories are further divided into subcategories.  Need more help?  Visual Recipes also includes a blog, discussion forums, and even a feature that helps you find cooking schools in your area.

http://visualrecipes.com/

Do you love ridiculously over the top decadent food?  Would you be interested in a burger with “two 1/2 pound beef patties, pulled pork BBQ, bacon, 2 slices of cheddar cheese and a fried egg?”  How about a “Taco Bell Cheesy Double Beef Burritos stuffed inside a sausage log wrapped in bacon?”  Perhaps desert is more to your liking, can I interest you in “balls of dark chocolate and bacon bit ganache coated in a white chocolate and maple-infused syrup the garnished with bacon bits?”  Thisiswhyyourefat.com is website that post pictures and descriptions of the most outrageously fattening food imaginable.  This is why you’re fat calls itself “an ode to junk food porn.”  Entertainment Weekly says: “Nothing illustrates our nation’s bipolar attitude towards eating more hilariously than this visual coronary.  A stomach-turning delight.”  This is why you’re fat takes reader submissions so if you happen to stumble across a culinary masterpiece of decadent gluttony you can share it with the world.

http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/

Are you bored and looking for something to do tonight?  Tired of the same old thing?  Want something a bit different and a lot more exciting?  Thrillist.com is website that sends out free daily emails with recommendations for what is new, unknown or under-appreciated in your city.  There is also a lot of information on the site if you don’t want sign up for the email.  According to Thrillist:

Each weekday, we’ll drop you a must-have recommendation, from the best of what’s new, to deeply under-the-radar goodness.  We’re talking absinthe-only cocktail spots, eateries that dish up BBQ Rattlesnake Salad and Reindeer in Bourbon Sauce…  We’re not going to waste our time or yours with things that suck — you already have your job for that.  So we don’t write reviews, just recommendations, and because we painstakingly wade through the crap to unearth greatness, you get exclusively the best of your city’s food, drinks, gear, services, entertainment, travel options, and events.

Thrillist covers fifteen major cities and counting.  Topics include: Food+Dining, Style, Entertainment, Travel, Bars+Nightlife, Home+Gadgets, Music, Sex+Dating, Sports+Fitness, Career+Money, and Cars

http://www.thrillist.com/homepage

Do you love a beautifully decorated cake?  How about an attempted beautifully decorated cake that went horribly wrong some where along the way?  CakeWrecks.blogspot.com is a blog that posts highly amusing cakes that just aren’t quite right.  According to Cake Wrecks:

A Cake Wreck is any cake that is unintentionally sad, silly, creepy, inappropriate – you name it.  A Wreck is not necessarily a poorly-made cake; it’s simply one I find funny, for any of a number of reasons.  Anyone who has ever smeared frosting on a baked good has made a Wreck at one time or another, so I’m not here to vilify decorators: Cake Wrecks is just about finding the funny in unexpected, sugar-filled places.

All of the cake photos are user submitted, so if you’ve seen a good Cake Wreck you can send it in.

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/