Culinary Pros Lend Credibility to a Dining App Chefs Feed has a network of more than 600 chefs that rate and review items at restaurants in 15 U.S. cities.

Everybody has an opinion about food. While sites such as Yelp make it easy to see what other members of the eating public think, the reviews can be suspect--who are these commenters, and what do they know about balanced flavors, anyway?

Chefs Feed brings a dash of credibility to online reviews by adding expert opinions to the mix. Brothers Steve and Jared Rivera launched the San Francisco-based company in 2011; since then, they have recruited a network of more than 600 chefs to contribute to their free interactive app (currently available only for Apple's iOS). The chefs rate and review items at restaurants in 15 U.S. cities and in London; the app's users can search the recommendations for specific dishes, or follow particular chefs to see what they're eating.

The idea grew out of the Riveras' public relations business, which served some of the biggest restaurateurs in San Francisco. Back in 2010, during a meeting with Michael Mina, Jared asked the celebrity chef to recommend a burrito joint in the city's Mission District. Mina fired back with a number of options--some of which didn't even appear on Yelp. "We realized that every city has this great resource of people who have been in the industry for years and know food better than anybody," says Jared, who serves as Chefs Feed's chief marketing officer. "We wanted to build a platform around them and their expertise."