About · subrecs

What this is

subrecs is a discovery and discussion site for NYC restaurants, built by and for the community that lives in r/FoodNYC. It treats the subreddit's collective taste as ground truth, structures it, and gives that community a better surface to keep generating it.

This is not a business. It's a community resource that pays for itself through tips and merch. No ads, no paywalls, no sponsorships, no premium tiers — ever. That's the brand promise and the moderation criterion in one.

Why it exists

Yelp is gamed. Infatuation is editorial and slow. Google is generic. r/FoodNYC already has thousands of straight, opinionated recommendations from people who actually eat constantly — but they're buried in threads, hard to filter, and fade fast.

subrecs indexes that signal, structures it, and adds a ground-truth data layer from the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. No five-star inflation, no hidden gems marketing, no sponsored placements.

What's in here

~10,000 NYC restaurants seeded from DOHMH open data, with health-inspection grades kept fresh automatically.
Dish-level recommendations — not just restaurant stars, but "the spicy cumin lamb at this specific place."
Reddit discussion tab on every spot page, linked not copied — we don't store Reddit content.
Borough-first navigation because the outer boroughs deserve first-class treatment.
Community-built lists with no algorithmic ranking manipulation.

How it stays alive

The site costs about $22–35/month to run on Railway. It's funded by a tip jar and merch. No other revenue sources. A public transparency page shows current costs and income with real numbers.

Who built it

A food-obsessed New Yorker who got tired of Yelp. If you want to co-steward the site — help moderate, contribute neighborhood guides, or just keep it honest — reach out via r/FoodNYC.

Data sources