Top 6 Apps for the Foodie

When was the last time you had a delicious meal? One that was so memorable, it's burned into your memory? If you're one of those people who still daydreams about that day, who believes eating is a treasured experience, or who looks forward to your next meal even before you've finished your last, then most likely you're a foodie or someone who absolutely loves food. What separates these people from the rest is their passion. Just for these food enthusiasts, apps have been developed that help make their food choices, easier, faster and more thought out. Now let's find out which apps we're talking about.

1. Yelp

The highly popular review website Yelp started back in 2004 but released their iPhone app only back in 2008. In 3Q 2011, an average of more than 5 million monthly unique visitors used this mobile application! Yelp Mobile has been providing its many users with an easy way to search for the best places to eat and drink. You can easily narrow down your search by neighborhood, distance, price and "what's open now" or browse reviews to find recommended dishes. This year, Yelp partnered with OpenTable so that you can make your next dinner reservation straight from their app. Just click to select a date, time and party size, and you're done!

2. Urbanspoon

Urbanspoon is a great app for those who can't necessarily decide on what to eat. Just select your city, food type and price range and let Urbanspoon do the rest. Can't narrow down these fields? No problem. This fun app, which has been downloaded over 20 million times across mobile platforms, acts like a slot machine, helping you fill in the missing pieces. Just looking for somewhere close by? Click "Nearby" to see a list of local eats in your area. Urbanspoon recently added a new social feature called Dineline which acts like a "dining diary." This allows users to check-in to restaurants in order to track their dining habits. You can also add a photo, meal price and notes so that you keep track of or share your best dining experiences.

3. Allrecipes.com Dinner Spinner

The world's #1 food website, Allrecipes.com has a handy app called Allrecipes.com Dinner Spinner that helps provide you with quick recipe inspiration wherever you go. Search through over 40,000 recipes from their site and find top-rated recipes along with some useful tips on how to change up the dish straight from the community. To use the spinner, select your dish type, ingredients and time period and then find your matches. If you're not exactly sure what you're looking for, let this app randomly select for you.

4. Epicurious

With over 6 million downloads for mobile devices, Epicurious is not only an award-winning app, it's also a highly popular one. Named one of Time's 2011 50 Best iPhone Apps, Epicurious makes it easy for you to search from its over 30,000 food and drink recipe database to help plan your meals. Need some inspiration? Browse their recipe collection that includes categories like Weeknight Dinners, Decadent Desserts and Healthy Lunches. Unlike other apps, this one shows you professionally created recipes from Bon Appetit, Gourmet, Self, and renowned chefs and cookbooks so you'll be able to whip up snazzy dishes like bacon and spinach-stuffed rib-eye roast or maple syrup-soaked veal osso buco.



5. OpenTable

Planning an important night out and need to make a quick restaurant reservation? OpenTable lets you search for restaurants that have openings by asking you to fill in the date, time and number of people in your party. It will then work its magic and pull up places that have "open tables." You can always filter further by price range and cuisine to narrow down your search. You can also pull up menus and read diner reviews.

6. Foodspotting

Foodspotting began in 2009 because its founders realized that there was no easy way to rate individual dishes. It has since grown to become a popular social networking app for those who are all about food. Looking for your next great meal? This app will show you the nearest, latest and best dishes around you. If you're more interesting in telling people about your savory dinner, you can share photos of it with others. Mixing food reviews with photo sharing, Foodspotting is the place to be if you're a visual eater. They also have a Guides section where you can check out recommended eats from companies like Zagat and Thrillist or chefs like Anthony Bourdain and Wolfgang Puck.

What are your favorite food apps?