Wednesday, November 22, 2006

An Owner No More, Alpha Dog Prowls

By DAVID HOCHMAN for the New York Times, Published: November 22, 2006

SEVEN thousand miles and 400 restaurants into his North American eating safari, Jim Leff is certain about many things. The only expensive item on an otherwise cheap menu is always worth ordering. Some of the best food in America is served behind bulletproof glass. If a restaurant is jammed with locals, chances are it’s not very good. Finally, there are certain foods you must always pull over for, and strudel is one of them...

...Mr. Leff is nothing if not undaunted when it comes to finding tasty food, which is why they call him Alpha Dog at chowhound.com, the online message board he started on a lark with his friend Bob Okumura 10 years ago...

...Mr. Leff spent much of the last decade eating out or holed up in his Jackson Heights apartment posting thoughts on Salvadoran pupuserías and Korean kimchi places. Now the sale has freed him from day-to-day management of the site...

...His best-known discovery is the “Arepa Lady,” Maria Piedad Cano, who sells Colombian corn cakes from a cart on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. Thanks to Chowhound, she is now stalked by Japanese news crews...
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