A couple of weeks ago, a reporter in the social-mediaverse asked me if I knew of any local eateries represented on Twitter who took customer comments seriously when they arrived via tweet. I had to think hard about that one. I see lots of local businesses tweet out specials, but the only one that I personally engage with–and on a consistent basis, too–is @BaoMouth. That’s the talking steamed pork bun character who tweets for Wow Bao, LEYE‘s small but popular local chain of Asian bun storefront eateries. I shouted them out to the reporter on Twitter, sure the Mouth would prove me right and shout right back.
After a couple of hours of crickets, a contrite BaoMouth shouted back, which probably didn’t help my case with the reporter, but I’ve seen Wow Bao’s Twitter account at-reply thoughtfully more than enough times to know the delay was an aberration. The Mouth didn’t really need to be all that contrite anyway. I’m a big fan. I used to practically live on their Thai Curry Chicken bao and rice bowls when I lived at Marina City, across the river from the State/Lake location.
So they knew I’d be an easy mark when the Mouth and RedEye “Social Mediaologist” @ScottKleinberg asked me to ask you to consider making a fool of yourself for their co-sponsored WOW in Bao Contest. Details are after the contest link (or here), but the idea is Wow Bao and Red Eye want to know what you would do to “put the WOW in Wow Bao.” You know, like “What would you do for a Klondike bar?” only meatier. You can tell them by leaving a comment through Friday (9/24) under the contest announcement linked above. The Grand Prize is a party at Wow Bao for the winner and 50 grateful friends.
Food flew the same week the Mouth and Kleinberg asked me to show their contest some love. Someone who showed me some love recently, OutsideIn’s Esther Ildikó Brown (@estheribrown), told me about their foodie blog. Brown interviewed me for a September 1st blog post on OutsideIn that let me start to make amends with my blogging community (with my heartfelt self-pointed advice, “don’t be a dick” when you blog.)
Brown, herself, is blogging her way through her family heritage at Y’all Hungary?. The North Carolina-born daughter of a Southern father and Hungarian mother (she calls herself the “Budapest Belle”), Brown says on her new blog she intends to “cook my way through my family tree, from gulyás to grits.” Good luck, Esther. When you get to the gulyás, send samples.
Categories: Food and Drink Social Media
Mike Doyle
I’m an #OpenlyAutistic gay, Hispanic, urbanist, Disney World fan, New York native, politically independent, Jewish blogger in Chicago. I believe in social justice, big cities, and public transit. I write words and raise money for nonprofits. I’ve written this blog since 2005. And counting...
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Thanks so much for the mention, Mike! Much appreciated! I bet you guys have some good Hungarian eats there in Chi-town. Unfortunately, we don’t really have any here in NYC. You have to go to Jersey for that 😉
I don’t know if we do, actually. We’re more about Germany, Austria, Poland in terms of East/Central Europe. And I know how you feel. When I moved to Chicago in 2003, the one culinary thing I didn’t count on was the absolute and total lack of Portuguese restaurants here. Not a single one. Almost killed me, since I’m a big Lusophile and always loved eating and shopping for Portuguese groceries in Newark, NJ’s Ironbound, getting a trashy meal in a fusion Portuguese/Brazilian lunch eatery in Midtown, and buying yummy stinky Quijo da Serra in Jamaica, Queens. Here in Chicago, if I don’t cook it myself, I don’t eat Portuguese. So you know I’ve learned how to make codfish balls, Alentejan garlic cilantro soup, and salt codfish casseroles pretty well by now!