From the rec.food.restaurants newsgroup, 1991 to 2005
Eats Archive
Before Yelp and TripAdvisor, people asked strangers on Usenet where to eat. This is 25,277 of their answers, threaded back into conversations and sorted by place.
- 25,277posts
- 12,830conversations
- 49states and DC
- 49countries and regions
Find conversationsMix and match: a state, a cuisine and a theme
Pick buttons in as many rows as you like. Each row you use narrows the list (for example Texas and Barbecue and Cheap eats). Two buttons in the same row show either one (Texas or Tennessee). Pick a button again to clear it.
Browse the archive
United States
- Alabama27 threads · 38 posts
- Alaska7 threads · 14 posts
- Arizona150 threads · 319 posts
- Arkansas6 threads · 10 posts
- California1,607 threads · 3,212 posts
- Colorado143 threads · 306 posts
- Connecticut51 threads · 96 posts
- Delaware17 threads · 19 posts
- Florida317 threads · 559 posts
- Georgia155 threads · 315 posts
- Hawaii77 threads · 191 posts
- Idaho7 threads · 12 posts
- Illinois1,234 threads · 2,591 posts
- Indiana47 threads · 106 posts
- Iowa6 threads · 7 posts
- Kansas5 threads · 6 posts
- Kentucky19 threads · 33 posts
- Louisiana182 threads · 495 posts
- Maine72 threads · 142 posts
- Maryland119 threads · 224 posts
- Massachusetts861 threads · 1,579 posts
- Michigan73 threads · 153 posts
- Minnesota59 threads · 141 posts
- Mississippi10 threads · 15 posts
- Missouri253 threads · 566 posts
- Montana14 threads · 15 posts
- Nebraska13 threads · 23 posts
- Nevada136 threads · 364 posts
- New Hampshire89 threads · 120 posts
- New Jersey98 threads · 185 posts
- New Mexico105 threads · 253 posts
- New York114 threads · 216 posts
- North Carolina398 threads · 681 posts
- Ohio131 threads · 219 posts
- Oklahoma13 threads · 20 posts
- Oregon71 threads · 166 posts
- Pennsylvania1,661 threads · 3,409 posts
- Rhode Island42 threads · 67 posts
- South Carolina67 threads · 111 posts
- Tennessee77 threads · 166 posts
- Texas756 threads · 1,602 posts
- Utah28 threads · 46 posts
- Vermont47 threads · 90 posts
- Virginia78 threads · 166 posts
- Washington625 threads · 1,084 posts
- Washington, DC678 threads · 1,412 posts
- West Virginia10 threads · 22 posts
- Wisconsin61 threads · 124 posts
- Wyoming5 threads · 11 posts
Around the world
- Argentina2 threads · 2 posts
- Australia19 threads · 20 posts
- Austria7 threads · 9 posts
- Belgium23 threads · 29 posts
- Canada304 threads · 571 posts
- Caribbean16 threads · 29 posts
- Chile1 threads · 1 posts
- China4 threads · 4 posts
- Croatia1 threads · 1 posts
- Czech Republic8 threads · 9 posts
- Denmark3 threads · 4 posts
- Egypt2 threads · 3 posts
- Europe (general)2 threads · 4 posts
- France102 threads · 171 posts
- Germany26 threads · 33 posts
- Greece2 threads · 2 posts
- Hong Kong16 threads · 26 posts
- Hungary5 threads · 10 posts
- Iceland1 threads · 1 posts
- India5 threads · 12 posts
- Ireland14 threads · 26 posts
- Israel7 threads · 19 posts
- Italy54 threads · 91 posts
- Japan11 threads · 19 posts
- Kenya1 threads · 1 posts
- Latvia1 threads · 1 posts
- Lebanon1 threads · 1 posts
- Malaysia2 threads · 4 posts
- Mexico41 threads · 65 posts
- Monaco1 threads · 1 posts
- Netherlands24 threads · 37 posts
- New Zealand2 threads · 5 posts
- Norway5 threads · 5 posts
- Panama1 threads · 1 posts
- Poland1 threads · 1 posts
- Portugal6 threads · 9 posts
- Puerto Rico5 threads · 7 posts
- Russia8 threads · 8 posts
- Singapore13 threads · 16 posts
- South2 threads · 2 posts
- Southeast Asia27 threads · 30 posts
- Spain19 threads · 28 posts
- Sweden6 threads · 7 posts
- Switzerland8 threads · 9 posts
- Turkey3 threads · 4 posts
- Uganda1 threads · 1 posts
- United Arab Emirates1 threads · 1 posts
- United Kingdom616 threads · 1,070 posts
- Yugoslavia1 threads · 1 posts
By food (the original topic files)
- Seafood2,353 threads
- Italian1,304 threads
- Mexican and Tex-Mex1,023 threads
- Barbecue922 threads
- Breakfast and brunch866 threads
- Chinese836 threads
- Desserts, bakeries and ice cream755 threads
- Japanese and sushi718 threads
- French664 threads
- Indian662 threads
- Pizza646 threads
- Steakhouses558 threads
- Thai479 threads
- Vegetarian448 threads
- Greek and Middle Eastern371 threads
- Spanish and Latin American352 threads
- Burgers and hot dogs332 threads
- Cajun and Creole268 threads
- Jewish delis and kosher229 threads
- Southern and soul food216 threads
- Vietnamese213 threads
- Southwestern200 threads
- Korean117 threads
- Beer, wine and bars1,204 threads
- Fine dining1,103 threads
- Lists, guides and FAQs767 threads
- Cheap eats592 threads
- Reviews520 threads
- Travel and road trips508 threads
- Business and conventions345 threads
- Family and kids331 threads
- Waterfront and views324 threads
- Holidays311 threads
- Chains262 threads
- Diners223 threads
- Late night74 threads
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About the archive
rec.food.restaurants was a Usenet newsgroup, a public discussion board that ran on university and company computers years before the web took off. Travelers posted questions like "Where should I eat in Austin?" and locals answered with lists, reviews and arguments.
These posts were originally saved in the 1990s and early 2000s by Robin Lake of the Cleveland area. We give great thanks to his diligence in preserving all this for us to see now many years later. The posts were filed by state, city and country. For this site the posts have been split apart, matched up by reply, and grouped into conversations you can read start to finish.
Organizing these posts by place, cuisine and theme goes back to 1995, when James Lantos edited them into a book, The Best of the Internet Dining Groups (first called Best of DC Dining), and then, with Larry Hunter, Dining on the NET. Inside each state and country, the buttons for neighborhood, cuisine and theme carry that idea forward.
Most of the restaurants are long gone. What survives is a record of how Americans ate out, and talked about it, at the start of the internet age.
How people are named. Each writer is shown by first name and last initial (for example, William H.), with the school or company they posted from. Email addresses and signature blocks have been taken out.