SEATTLE, March 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Urbanspoon, the leading mobile restaurant discovery application and reservation management system, today announced its newly designed iPhone app -- featuring a brand new user interface and filters that enable diners to discover great restaurants based on the elements most important to them, including awards recognition from the James Beard Foundation and content from both Eater and the Village Voice.

The new app provides a more comprehensive view of the restaurant experience based on likes, expert content, and visual elements, with an emphasis on user photos. Together, these inputs help Urbanspoon users get an immediate snapshot and find the right restaurant for their preferences, at the right time. Diners can now also filter restaurants by James Beard Restaurant and Chef Award winners and nominees, the essential 38 Restaurants in major cities as selected by Eater ("Eater 38"), and Critics' Top Picks from the Village Voice.

"People are faced with restaurant review overload, so our goal is to give users a quick expert snapshot allowing them to find the right place, based on both their history and what's trending nearby," said Kara Nortman, SVP of Consumer Businesses, CityGrid Media. "Combining valuable content from industry leaders like the James Beard Foundation, with our own food blogger reviews and diner feedback, gives Urbanspoon users a richer understanding of a restaurant's food or experience in just a few taps."

New features include:

The Urbanspoon app for iPhone can be downloaded for free in the iTunes store: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/urbanspoon/id284708449

About Urbanspoon

Urbanspoon is a leading online local restaurant guide, aggregating restaurant content from across the Web including newspapers, professional food critics, bloggers and diners. Urbanspoon allows diners to make restaurant reservations through its online booking service, both on the Web and mobile. In addition, Urbanspoon offers restaurants Urbanspoon Rezbook - a complete reservation and table management system built to run on the Apple iPad. Urbanspoon is a subsidiary of CityGrid Media, LLC (www.citygridmedia.com), an IAC (NASDAQ: IACI - News) operating company, and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

About the James Beard Foundation

Founded in 1986, the James Beard Foundation is dedicated to celebrating, nurturing, and preserving America's diverse culinary heritage and future. A cookbook author and teacher, James Beard was a champion of American cuisine who helped educate and mentor generations of professional chefs and food enthusiasts. Today, the Beard Foundation continues in the same spirit by offering a variety of events and programs designed to educate, inspire, entertain and foster a deeper understanding of our culinary culture. These programs include educational initiatives, food industry awards, an annual national food conference, Leadership Awards program, culinary scholarships, and publications. In addition to maintaining the historic James Beard House in New York City's Greenwich Village as a "performance space" for visiting chefs, the Foundation has created a robust online community and hosts tastings, lectures, workshops, and food-related art exhibits in New York City and around the country. For more information, please visit http://www.jamesbeard.org. Find insights on food at the James Beard Foundation's blog Delights & Prejudices. Join the James Beard Foundation onFacebook. Follow the James Beard Foundation on Twitter.

About Eater

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