Restaurant researcher and editor
Ben Gutenberg is the researcher and editor behind Restaurants1, an independent restaurant guide covering Florida’s Gulf Coast. He researches and maintains the site’s guides across Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, and Naples.
Experience
- Over 10 years researching and writing about restaurants online
- Personal restaurant visits
- Hands-on restaurant research across Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, and Naples
- Every detail checked against the restaurant’s own published information and independent sources
- Closures caught ahead of bigger guides: Pelican Larry’s in Naples and Sea Salt in St. Petersburg never made these lists while other sites were still recommending them
He spends more time than he would like confirming opening hours.
What Ben does
- Maintains about 400 restaurant listings across the four cities
- Verifies operating status and removes closed restaurants
- Checks hours against each restaurant’s own information
- Checks patio and dog policies, with two independent sources required for a dog-friendly listing
- Confirms private dining rooms are real, bookable spaces
- Investigates changes and closures
- Updates guides on a rolling basis
Editorial independence
- Restaurants cannot pay for inclusion or ranking
- No free meals
- No paid placement or sponsored content
Methodology
The full standard for how restaurants get on and off a list: How We Review Restaurants.
Contact
Reach Ben through the contact page or at ben@restaurants1.com. Every message gets read.