[hkmurakami]

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I myself rely on RL friends, which is quite similar to what your proposed solution is actually doing :).

(My friend used to work in the food/restaurant business and had hundreds of restaurants in the area as customers, plus I've known him for 15+ years now so he is an ideal guy to ask for recommendations for me)

I'll also point you to Gladwell's TED talk on the same subject. He's a wonderful storyteller with a very distinct style: http://www.ted.com/talks/malcolm_gladwell_on_spaghetti_sauce...