Ask Someone Who Knows: ChefsFeed Launches Major Rebrand, New App

San Francisco-based startup ChefsFeed has long strived to be the "anti-Yelp," giving chefs the opportunity to share their opinions on the latest and greatest dishes from restaurants in cities across the country. However, the past year has seen the company ramping up their content and offering more in-depth videos and features along the way.

Now they've upped the ante officially, with today's unveiling of a new app and an accompanying rebrand. They've ditched their classic orange in favor of a color that can only be described as "highlighter yellow," updated the logo to reflect their new, edgier direction and changed the name from two words to one. The old logo, which featured a traditional chef's coat, is now a decidedly more rock 'n roll mouth, with extended tongue. CEO Rich Maggiotto says the new logo is the direct result of chef feedback. "Chefs were overwhelmingly in favor of getting rid of the chef's coat," he said. "They're not as common as they used to be...plus they make it a lot harder to show off your tattoos."

While both the app and the site have undergone significant changes, the app is the real workhorse of the company, offering the ability to seek out the best chef-recommended dishes by geographic location, plus a boatload of featured content in video and written formats. Search by chef to check out their favorite dishes, by type of cuisine (e.g. all the pizzas) or geographic location to seek out what's best in your immediate vicinity. And as for chefs, they've made it super easy to upload recommendations, plus the added incentive of feeding hungry children— every dish posted will be matched by ChefsFeed with a donation to No Kid Hungry.

There are currently 50 cities with participating chefs, though San Francisco is still one of the largest markets on the site, offering intel from chefs like Corey Lee, Daniel Patterson, Charles Phan and more. It's certainly a good way to navigate the often intimidating menus at Chinese restaurants like Z&Y Restaurant, where chef Joshua Skenes (Saison) recommends the Hong You Chao Shou, about which he says "These red oil dumplings are spicy like my wife. They have a thin skin so they're not dumplings in a traditional sense, but more like wontons. There's a sauce made from chilies, soy sauce and vinegar and it is just sweet, salty, sour and spicy." Certainly valuable intel for adventurous diners (and maybe Skenes' wife).