So I spent a nice weekend in the city with my family recently and I realized how much smart phone apps can change the experience of finding your way around New York. When we visit I usually go to many of my old favorite spots but I’m always interested in new places as well. One night we decided to go to a restaurant and I knew it would be someplace new. Unfortunately I didn’t have too much time to do some research about where to go.

Fast forward to around 8:30 PM that evening. I’m standing on the corner of 2nd Avenue and 6th Street with my wife. I asked her, “What type of food are you interested in?” She answered, “Mexican would be fun.” At that point I opened up the Urbanspoon application on my iPhone and searched for Mexican food “near me”. At the top of the list was a place called Mayahuel which I could quickly see had 6 of 6 “likes” which translated to a 100% rating. I checked a couple of review snippets that called the place “hidden” and mentioned “come for the drinks”. It sounded good so we crossed the street and realized that the restaurant was right there on the other side of the street. We almost passed it up (it really is sort of hidden) but we found the door and were quickly whisked by a helpful employee through a cozy bar to a small table on the second floor of a brownstone. The time from, “What type of food…” to seating was less than five minutes.

I thought that the whole process was pretty amazing. It really was the first time I had experienced such “in the moment” synergy with a mobile application. When I started this site I hoped to bring my experiences and opinions about New York City to a wide audience. Back then (in 2005) we didn’t have the iPhone, Android or app stores. I think blogs and podcasts still have a strong role to play in helping people to prepare for (or perhaps reminisce after) trips. But these new mobile applications play an important part in creating enjoyable experiences too. Apps like Urbanspoon are location savvy, which is wonderful. They offer access to the “crowd” right in your pocket or pocketbook. Twitter and Facebook also offer the possibility of near real-time feedback from your social connections too. In fact, after “checking in” using Facebook places at Coney Island I found out that an old friend had been there just before I was. Had I checked in sooner we might have met up. It’s all really great and something to consider before you travel to New York.

So you might be wondering how the restaurant was. It was good. We had a nice tortilla appetizer with salsa, salsa verde and guacamole. My wife had tacos and I had a nice plate of paella for an entrée. The drinks were definitely a highlight as mentioned in the review that I read on Urbanspoon. I even shot a photo prior to consuming the Blanco tequila flight that I ordered shortly after sitting down.

My Blanco tequila flight at Mayahuel