It’s a Mob, Mob, “Food Mafia” World. Foodies and Angelinos seeking honest, legit and un-baised restaurant reviews now have a new place to go online and the opportunity to join the Food Mafia’s newest chapter right here in Los Angeles, either by invitation or by requesting exclusive membership from local Los Angeles Food Mafia representatives.

The site has already had amazing success in Chicago where FoodMafia.com made its debut as a restaurant review site and social community. Food Mafia has become an exclusive online destination for foodies and it focuses on supporting local restaurant communities by bringing food and lifestyle enthusiasts together who share a passion for food. 



Food Mafia is the offspring of CEO Stacy Johnson, who became unsatisfied with the food reviews she was reading online while visiting major US cities.  Like most, she wanted credible suggestions about where to go for great dining experiences, so with necessity being the mother of inventions, she created Food Mafia.  



According to Stacy her biggest complaint was “When going online to popular food review sites I kept finding reviews of why people didn’t like a certain restaurant, when I just wanted to know great places to go and why,” said Johnson.  “I think it is important to highlight what’s special about your favorite place to eat, to give other readers options about what they may also enjoy.”

Membership is exclusive to those passionate about food so chefs, bloggers, local foodies, food writers, and restaurant industry professionals are encouraged to join the three level membership site.  Upon submission, members are granted Associate, Goodfella or Godfather status.  First members gain Associate level by signing up on the website to post reviews, the more restaurants a member visits and reviews the more eligible they will be for promotion to “Goodfella.” Once a member is invited to be a “Goodfella” their continued posting allows them to be recognized as a restaurant aficionado and they are invited to become a top level “Godfather.”  Restaurateur, Chef Art Smith, who in 1997 became the personal chef to Oprah Winfrey for 10 years, recently joined the Food Mafia LA site as a coveted “Godfather”.  Noted “Godfathers” are sometimes featured in the Food Mafia monthly e-newsletter and across all Food Mafia social networking sites.



Food Mafia connects foodies with restaurant industry veterans allowing for a more personal connection and interaction between the customer and the chef.  Members can also “follow” their favorite chefs and see their reviews and visit the places they recommend.  Chefs can use the site as a way to promote their restaurant to local foodies and build relationships with their loyal customers.  “If you want to find out what’s the best in any industry, who do you go to?  You go to the source, you go to the people that are in that actual industry and that’s what FoodMafia.com does, says restaurateur Kevin Boehm.



“Los Angeles has sometimes been overlooked as a great city for food, with the voice of the people who frequent restaurants; Food Mafia hopes to offer a platform that will redefine that perception. There are so many undiscovered restaurants here; it was an obvious choice for our next launch city. I can’t wait to explore all the hidden gems our Mafia family here in Los Angeles has to offer,” said Johnson.



We hope to see all of our loyal foodie followers attain membership status in the elite Food Mafia. It is the community at large that will make the site that much better by providing a plethora of information about our ever changing Los Angeles dining scene. Lets show Chicago that the West-Coast has it dialed in. Its a Mafia World and we’re living in it! In the words of Jimmy Two Times: “I’m gonna go get the papers, get the papers.” Goodfellas (1990)



For more on Food Mafia, visit www.FoodMafia.com,  Facebook and  Twitter. 
 
Join the Los Angeles Food Mafia here with your Facebook or Twitter profile…It’s that easy

All food imagery provided as a courtesy to VivaLAfoodies from our team photographer, Becky Reams from the “Delicious View” and was taken in Los Angeles at Hostaria del Piccolo in Santa Monica, CA