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January 26, 2007
Urban Dish Seattle Goes Live
Late in the summer of 2005 I was having a glass of wine at the Monsoon bar waiting for my friend Ryan to get off work and an idea suddenly hit me from out of nowhere: an online guide to Seattle restaurants with blogging and listings. Not necessarily an original idea, but one I’d yet to see done properly in Seattle. So I got out my notebook and began furiously mind-mapping and made sure Ryan kept the wine coming. An hour later the idea for Urban Dish was formed: A restaurant guide that had an inside edge and focused on the good stuff, the local stuff, the chefs, etc.
Over the next few months my other pal Dayton and I would meet at 611 Supreme every Friday and expand upon the mind map while gulping down martinis. Site maps evolved, wireframes gathered, and eventually the name itself was born.
Then we realized it had to be done. There was no turning back. But unfortunately my developer friends got busy (I write code, but I don’t program) and then I got busy and then the project seemed to fade in and out of focus for half a year.
Enter Paul Mealy who became my new office mate at PBDH in early 2006. For whatever reason he took a look at my Photoshop comps and HTML builds and decided Urban Dish needed to happen. He started hacking Word Press and setting up data bases and right around the end of the summer things began to take shape. By the end of the year we were all putting in late nights and as of yesterday the site is officially live to the world.
So go check out Urban Dish. Tell me what you think. It’s the project I am certainly the most proud of thus far in my design career. It brings together all the things I love: design, food, wine, banter, and even the interweb. And I’m pretty sure it’s only going to get better over the next year.
And thanks to Paul and Dayton. As they say: it couldn’t have happened without you. And, thanks in advance to the writers who have agreed to jump on board early, your support makes it viable and will surely be the greatest value moving forward. Cheers!
Geoffrey sez:
Done.
I just purchased the URL www.surlysommelier.com. Let me know when you are ready for publishing.
Posted at January 26, 2007 11:05 PM
evaldi sez:
Geoff! Brilliant. Thanks to you, Dayton and Paul for a great site. Oh sure, I don’t live there, but I have been thinking about a site like this since my last trip up there in September. I realized that for the drive between here and there, I had no idea where the good restaurants were. I found some by asking around, but this style of site is exactly what’s needed.
I was talking with a friend about restaurantquest.com (or perhaps a better name) - with features just like you have, but on a grander scale, covering a larger area.
Posted at January 29, 2007 7:28 PM
Geoffrey sez:
Thanks Eric. We have a lot more plans for the next year as this is just the humble beginnings. I’m gonna need some good writers too, any chance you’re moving up here?
Posted at January 29, 2007 10:00 PM
Kevin Tamura sez:
This is a great site. I even hit up La Spiga last night since it’s down the street and I had no clue.
Posted at February 1, 2007 3:16 PM
Geoffrey sez:
Thanks Kevin. How was Spiga for you? I know they are still adjusting to the increase in size, so it’s probably not up to 100% just yet.
Posted at February 1, 2007 3:33 PM
Matthew Anderson sez:
Dude, I found Urban Dish on CSS Import this morning and, kid you not, thought “this looks like Geoff’s work”. Unbelievable.
Pass my kudos along to the rest of the crew. On a personal note, this will definitely help me out now that I’m officially in the area.
Posted at February 6, 2007 12:22 PM
Geoffrey sez:
Thanks Matt! How are liking Seattle so far? Hang on for the summer, it gets better!
Cheers.
Posted at February 6, 2007 4:04 PM
Matthew Anderson sez:
Loving it. Some day soon, I might even write a blog post about it!
Actually, compared to winters in Toronto and Minneapolis, Seattle is a dream come true actually. I’m definitely excited to experience the summers that I hear everyone talking about. Right now though, I’m just glad it isn’t 20 below like it was in Saint Paul, MN last week ;)
Posted at February 15, 2007 11:54 AM
ryan sez:
every week i work a thousand billion hours and then i go home and eat dinner with my girlfriend and it’s late and we watch dvds and stuff and then sometimes somebody seems cool or amuses me and i say “You know what helen, kind of more than anything I miss Geoff!”. You are my friend. Also I need you to help me create a blog called the surly sommelier cause i have a lot of really mean things to say about new yorkers and i want to say them in a funny way plus pictures with celebrity faces like that of abe lincoln superimposed over action shots of me in action pouring amarone for people who like to pair chocolate cherry ass juice with a dozen fucking oysters!(!)
Posted at January 26, 2007 9:55 PM