SPOTTER SPOTLIGHT ON MICHAEL M

Earlier this year, Foodspotting teamed up with San Francisco's 7x7 Magazine to create the Big Eat Scavenger Hunt Guide to "100 things to try before you die." It was going to be an epic undertaking so we gave Foodspotters a year to complete it. The first person to spot ALL 100 within twelve months would win various prizes, including dinner with wine pairings plus a hotel stay.

Enter Foodspotter Michael M who not only plowed through the 100 items, he did it under one month. This week, we tracked him down - he's since moved on to The Big Sweet SF Guide - to ask...how?

You finished the 100 item guide in a month. What was your strategy? 

Typically, I'd go by myself, but there were a couple of people who I would drag around town saying, we need to get tofu soup and fish tacos. I divided the city into specific paths and figured out the most efficient route. One Sunday, I started at Ti Couz, then went to Dosa, Foreign Cinema, Beretta, La Taqueria, and Anthony's Cookies before going back for my car at Monk's Kettle. I brought my kids with me on a Market day and we knocked the Ferry Plaza off in one fell swoop.

Toss up between the dry fried chicken wings at San Tung, the scotch egg at Wexler's and the house cappuccino at Tosca.  

Were there dishes in the guide you did not want to eat? How did you get around it?

When I went into Sebo, I mentioned to the staff that I wasn't a fan of white rice and my omakase came out as sashimi, which was really good!

Any tips for fellow Foodspotters?

Call ahead. Track down the dish and don't assume it'll be on the menu when you get there. I had to call Delfina for a week before they brought back the pork sugo, which was my last item. It wasn't even on the menu the day I had it.

Stay focused. When I went to these places, I typically only got what was on the list. If time is not an issue, try other items.

Eat Smart. Though I completed the guide in three weeks, I actually lost weight as I was constantly eating and was only eating a little bit at a time. I haven't been as successful with The Big Sweet Guide; that's why it's taking me longer.

Lastly, expose your friends and family to new dishes. I can't stop my kids from ordering banh mi sandwiches, soup dumplings, and pork belly now.

A few weeks ago, the Foodspotting San Francisco team packed up and ran away to New York City for five days. I invited the gang to stay at my place and, honestly, they were the best house guests. Together, we plowed through three boxes of Trader Joe's frozen chocolate croissants (I keep these stocked in the freezer always), got together for intense company brainstorming sessions, Alexa led a workshop at the Web 2.0 Expo, Fiona and I filmed a snack video, and everyone checked off dishes from our communal "Must Eat" list.

Below are some highlights from the trip. Follow our Foodspotting Ate New York guide to see what we ate! Believe it or not, the week was even more fun than it looks. That week I realized - when we're apart, we're good. But, as a team, we're great.

Fiona is Australian so she insisted we go for meat pies at Tuck Shop.

Shopping around in Chinatown where we got bubble tea and soup dumplings.

We enjoyed an almost all-bacon dinner, including this bacon burger, at FoodParc.

Unleashing our not-so-inner Foodspotting geek at Katsuhama.

Photos by Seth Andrzejewski aka Mr. Alexa

When we're not busy slaying server dragons, hosting cereal gatherings, or being featured as iPhone App of the Week (toot toot, beep beep), the San Francisco crew sometimes travels to the east coast to brainstorm with the New York team.

It's not always food and games since we've got a whole company to upkeep, but sometimes we'll break for a Stupidly Simple Snack when we get hungry. I convinced Fiona to guest star in the latest episode of my online video series. Neither of us have attempted to make cinnamon toast before, but our co-founder Alexa's husband Seth made it sound so easy!

Well, it was simple enough after we tried once and burnt the bread to a crisp.

What are your favorite bread dishes? I'm partial to French toast, bread pudding, and we all now know that Soraya's favorite food is sandwiches...

Last week, we asked you guys to help us find our Super Spotters who have impressed you with their enthusiasm for Foodspotting and excellent food photos. While we have many rewards to share with our first class of Super Spotters in the coming weeks, we sent Ben and Damien, two of our New York-based Super Spotters, to the NYC Wine & Food Festival to take part in the Grand Tasting yesterday. Check out Ben's fantastic food finds from the event. Two things to note - I want Ben's camera. And, second, I want Num Pang's Five Spice Pork Belly Slider that you see here ASAP.

Pronunciation : ah-doe-boe

Common Variations : pork adobo, chicken adobo, or a combination of the two.

What is it? The New York Times calls it the "spicy stew of the Philippines." I first came across adobo when a tiny Filipino takeaway business opened up near my home in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The hole-in-the-wall is not there anymore, but I'll never forget the distinct aroma of vinegar, soy sauce, and spices wafting from that small storefront. According to the Times, adobo is a process by which fish, fowl, vegetables or meat is marinated for five hours or more in the aforementioned ingredients, then cooked in hot oil, topped with an egg and served with boiled rice. It's often accompanied by grilled plantains, which offers some sweetness that cuts through the high sodium content of the dish. Day-old adobo is equally as delicious as fresh adobo and the best part is the taste of fatty pork or taking a bite of chicken that's so tender, it falls off the bone.

Click here to see where adobo has been spotted around the world.

We don’t sell golf shirts with the Foodspotting logo, but that didn’t stop dedicated Foodspotter Peter H. of Florida from making his own! He went to an embroidery shop that digitized the logo and created the shirt for him. Our jaws dropped when we saw this. Thanks so much for your support, Peter! Now, who’s going to get the first “I Spot Food” tattoo?

Food events abound, but few make quite the mark that Food Network’s Wine & Food Festival does every year. We’re talking about the mass convening of celeb chefs and food personalities who became household names long before loving food and cooking it well was something to brag about. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that we’re practically falling out of our seats with excitement to tell you we’re giving away tickets to this week’s NYC Wine & Food Fest to two exemplary Super Spotters who will join me and savvy Foodspotting business lead, Soraya, as we spot up a storm - and stalk Alton Brown - at the festival.

The way to win is to be yourself, which means…

1) Keep foodspotting

2) Ask your friends to nominate you as a Super Spotter. The number of votes count as much as a thoughtful reason why. For more info, click here to read the post in which we announced our Super Spotter program.

We’ll be announcing the winners starting tomorrow, but the nomination window officially closes this Friday, October 8th at midnight Pacific Time. For our friends who can’t make it to the event, keep spotting your way to those top spots. We haven’t forgotten you and appreciate all our loyal spotters from Thailand to Tallahassee, so we’re working to bring rewards to you too.

In the meantime, don’t forget to follow our South Beach Wine & Food Festival Hunt for Rare Ingredients Guide for a chance to take home the South Beach Festival’s signature cookbook. Start your search for green almonds, yuzu juice, and sugarcane sticks here.

With that, I sign off. Hope to see you at the NYC Wine & Food Festival this week.

We've been busy bees behind the scenes here at Foodspotting and one of our top priorities has been to find ways to reward you for being, well, you! We're planning events, food crawls and trying to connect with Foodspotters all over the world. Believe me, if we could hug you all, we would. So, for now, we're participating in four fun contests across the States. All it takes is a slushie photo with a clever caption or a pic of fire roasted meat. Take a look and see what we mean.

• Kelvin Natural Slush Co. Super Natural, Super Cool Foodspotting Photo Competition

Given the epic name, we won't win points for brevity. But you might win for slurping delicious ice beverages from this Vendy Award-nominated slushie truck that just hit the streets in New York City. WHAT Take a photo of a Kelvin slush, give it a witty caption and upload it to Kelvin Natural Slush Company here. WHY Apparel from super swank Gansevoort Hotel, an "I Shoot Food" Foodspotting tee and 20 free Kelvin slushies. WHEN Deadline is midnight Friday, October 1st. Get on it.

• Inside Look at Marcus Samuelsson's Los Angeles

World-class chef, cookbook author and Top Chef master Marcus Samuelsson has handpicked ten dishes for you to try in Los Angeles. First to get them all wins New American Table and his likeness on Foodspotting. We've a huge crush on Chef Samuelsson so we're eager to hunt down tarte flambe in exchange for a badge with his face on it. WHAT Follow and complete Marcus Samuelsson's Los Angeles Guide here. WHY Signed copy of New American Table and the Marcus Samuelsson badge on Foodspotting. WHEN ASAP

• Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival Cookbook Hunt #2

After the great success of the first SoBe Wine & Food Festival giveaway, we're back with Foodspotting Hunt #2 - the search for rare ingredients. WHAT Spot dishes which use ingredients like agave nectar, green almonds and yuzu juice anywhere in the States. Then add your spottings to the SoBe Foodspotting Guide here. WHY Win a signed copy of the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival Cookbook. WHEN First come, first serve!

• Primal Napa Valley 2010 Ticket Giveaway

Primal Napa Valley 2010 is a celebration of "fire cooking, meat and the art of butchering". In other words, a meat fest of large proportions happening this Saturday, September 25th. Hungry? Yeah, that's what we thought. WHAT Add your favorite pic of roasted meat to Foodspotting here. Then tweet the link to @artofthebutcher and include the hashtag #PrimalNapaPics. WHY Two of the best roasted meat pics will win a pair of tickets to Primal. WHEN The event is this Saturday, so as soon as you can!

With that, good luck and happy foodspotting!