When food-loving photographer Liz Traks moved to the Design District in June, she set about exploring her new neighborhood's restaurant scene in the usual way: asking her friends, searching the streets and gradually compiling a list of favorites.

Then, in November, she joined an online community of foodies, and her options multipled.

''I found so many places in my area that I probably would never have found without Yelp,'' Traks says.

The 25-year-old found a new pastime, too: In three months, she has posted almost 200 reviews on yelp.com, a social networking site that solicits user comment on businesses of all kinds in more than 150 U.S. cities.

Users can search Yelp via ZIP code, post questions on message boards and ''friend'' other users who share their tastes.

''You get to find people whose reviews you know you can trust,'' says Traks.

Word of mouth is the gold standard of restaurant recommendations, and increasingly, the Web is the place to find it. From national networking sites like Yelp.com and discussion boards like Chowhound.com to quirky local blogs, South Floridians are dishing online about food.

As always on the Web, it's user beware. Some cyber diners are so negative you wonder about their agenda, and others are so effusive you doubt their standards.

Here's a look at four blogs that convey the flavors of South Florida and the personalities of their creators.

ISHOTTHECHEF.COM

After two years as a pastry chef at the Four Seasons hotel in Houston,

Candace Maloman was burned out.

''It was fun until I had to make 50 pounds of cookie dough,'' says Maloman, 33. In 2001, she moved to Florida, where she met her husband, a high-end wedding photographer. They live in Hollywood.

While she didn't like the pressures of the job, Maloman still loved to cook, and kept planning and plating her meals as if they were being served at the Four Seasons.

''My husband pushed me to start blogging about my dishes,'' she says.

I Shot the Chef debuted in August, featuring two or three homemade recipes at a time, with mouthwatering snaps by Stephan Maloman.

''I'll cook at night, my husband will take photos right after and then the next day or day after I'll blog on it,'' she says.

``On a regular day, I get 200 to 300 hits. A lot of the recipes are from dishes I've made over the years. I even make doggie treats!''

Maloman has waded deeper into the blogosphere, joined Daring Bakers (daringbakersblogroll.blogspot.com), a national network of foodies who bake the same dish once a month and compare results. This month's treat? Lemon meringue pie.

MEATLESSMIAMI.BLOGSPOT.COM

''Miami doesn't have the reputation of being vegetarian-friendly,'' says Lauren Reskin, who began her blog for vegetarians and vegans a year ago. ``But I have no problem eating every day.''

Her more than 130 posts are organized by neighborhood, city and county (Miami-Dade and Broward). She ranks them ''under $10'' to ''under $30,'' and rates them one to four hearts for veg-friendliness. Reskin says she's still finding recommendable new joints every week.

``I'm a very social person and I go out to eat all the time.''

The 25-year-old, who gave up meat at 13, is a music and club promoter and the owner of Little Haiti's Sweat Records. One of her favorite restaurants is Lost & Found Saloon in Wynwood.

``It's not strictly vegetarian, but most places aren't, and you need places to go with your meat-eater friends.''

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