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Taco Loco app helps you chase down your favorite taco truck
Gourmet food trucks are getting to be "all the rage," particularly in Southern California. Based on the old construction site "roach coaches" that served stale doughnuts, ancient plastic-wrapped sandwiches, and hot, acidic coffee to hungry workers, the taco truck appeared as a way for food vendors to set up shop without the need for expensive real estate. In SoCal, taco trucks have gone mainstream and serve much more than just tacos. You can get not only excellent Mexican cuisine, but barbecue, Asian fusion, and a huge spectrum of other palatable yummies. Since the taco trucks and trailers are truly mobile (although the vendors often find a location that becomes their "home territory"), it's sometimes difficult to find a specific vendor. Fried Rice House has made the hunt a lot easier with their app Taco Loco [on sale for US$0.99, iTunes Link]. Taking advantage of the iPhone's geolocation capabilities, Taco Loco displays a map of local taco trucks and other wheeled bistros, with a pin denoting the current location of each truck or trailer. A tap on a pin shows the name of the truck, a detailed map of the location, a phone number (if one has been entered), and a rating by other hungry folks who have used the app. If a truck moves its location, there's a "move" button to note that and send the information to other people looking for a fish taco at 1:30 AM. Of course, no app is worth its seasoned salt if it doesn't let you share the information with your friends. Taco Loco adds the familiar share button for sending tweets and emails to your cohorts who might be craving a movable feast. Although TUAW was unable to try out the app, it should work anywhere there are hungry iPhone owners who are willing to buy Taco Loco and let others know about the best little taco truck they've found. http://www.flickr.com/photos/josewolff/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 [via New York Times Gadgetwise Blog]
5 Christmas gifts for the foodie
You know the foodie in your life. He or she is that person who will drag you miles away from your home to try out a new restaurant that they've heard about, or will spend hours cooking up an "experiment" in the kitchen, only to decide at the last minute to go out to eat. Finding the perfect gift for the Apple-owning gourmet in your life doesn't need to be an exercise in futility. Follow along as I bring you five ideas that are sure to keep your foodie friend on his or her journey to palatable perfection. 1) The first -- and one that I use on a regular basis -- is actually a free present that you can provide. OpenTable [Free, iTunes Link] is a service that is used by many foodie-friendly restaurants to capture reservations. You'll need to sign your gift recipient up for a free account, but once you're done, she'll be able to make reservations at that new French bistro that just opened up with just a few taps. 2) What's a good meal without a good glass (or bottle) of wine? Since your gourmet buddy might also be a budding oenophile, he might enjoy knowing which wines would work well with a certain meal, and how other wine lovers rated a particular wine. My favorite app in this area is The Wine Ratings Guide by Nirvino [US$3.99, iTunes Link]. The app calls upon the huge database of wines at the Nirvino website, and asks for your ratings and tasting notes, as well as photos of the label on the bottle. It's useful for finding highly-rated wines when you're at the local store picking up a few bottles for your enjoyment.
