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- Be Like Johnny
Johnny loves chicken.
If you looked at his Instagram one year ago, you’d have no idea. He’s clearly creative and has a great sense of humor, but you wouldn’t peg him as a food creator. He had about 2K followers and a handful of reels—none of them cracking six-digit views.
Then he dropped his first chicken reel. Nearly 300K views.
He started sharing his favorite chicken spots around his neighborhood. Friends told him about others, some farther away. He made the commute to try them out.
Johnny’s passion intensified. He ate Dominican chicken, Peruvian chicken, Mexican chicken—he called it his spiritual chicken quest.
He needed to organize his chicken thoughts, so he started making lists. He made a top three chicken spots in the LES list. He created a ‘first team all chicken”.
People started paying attention. They dropped recs in the comments. They rooted him on. They wanted to know what Johnny thought of their favorite chicken.
Then Johnny took a left turn—into a grocery store. Thus began the next phase of his evolution: reviewing grocery store chickens. No better bang for your buck, he said.
Wegmans. Whole Foods. Erewhon. Albertsons. Sprouts. They all had their moment in Johnny’s ever-expanding chicken universe. He ranked them all.
Johnny has spent months thinking about, eating, writing about, and comparing chickens. This didn’t just happen - Johnny has been WORKING. Last year alone, he wrote over 300 Yelp reviews.
Instagram has spent billions of dollars, years of engineering, and mind-bending machine learning to build an algorithm that—somehow—connected people in NYC who love roast chicken with Johnny’s spiritual quest to find the best one.
All of that work comes to a head when a teenager scrolls past a clip of Johnny mid-bite, double-takes, scrolls back, and taps follow.
That’s what makes the internet great. Not the scale, or the brands, or the platforms. The magic is that anyone, anywhere, can stumble across someone doing something oddly specific—and find it deeply fascinating.
That used to be the point.
But somewhere along the way, we lost it. What made the internet great got buried in the noise. The curiosity, the niche obsessions, the weird brilliance—they all got pushed aside for what was safe, scalable, and easy to monetize. Search became cluttered with ads. A few publishers now control most of what we read—and it all looks the same.
And now, with AI writing half the internet, it somehow looks even more the same.
The only pure thing left? Finding something you love, and giving it everything.
If you do that, people will notice. Not all the people. But the right people—your community.
When Johnny started his chicken quest, he had 2,000 followers. Now he has over 30K, and multiple reels with 1M+ views. And I’m pretty sure he’s just getting started.
Find your thing. Go all in.
Be like Johnny.
Hidden in Plane Sight
Nobody wants to be the 45th creator to review the same overexposed restaurant. People follow you to be a taste maker—not a taste follower.
We want to help you do that. So we pulled the data.
Here are 10 San Francisco spots with 4.5+ stars on Google Maps and zero food influencer reels.
These aren’t duds either—an oyster bar that turns into a nightclub, a cozy neighborhood bar with two brick fireplaces, and possibly the best cheesesteak in SF.
Go forth and create. Be the change. Be the first.
San Francisco
Mayes Oyster House - An oyster bar that turns into a night club after dark.
Upfordayz - A cafe and bakery with locations on two very jaunt-able streets - Valencia and Polk.
Woods Cevizeria - Small store, big selection of beers and wines inspired by nature. At the corner of Dolores Park, making it a perfect pit stop.
Zeki’s - Cozy 82 year old Nob Hill bar with two brick fireplaces.
Say Cheese - Long-standing gourmet food shop with a LOT of cheese (and counter-serve sandwiches).
Golden Goat Coffee - Artsy pours and pastries near the Embarcadero.
Amphawa Thai Noodle House - Casual Thai spot known for unusually authentic dishes like Kao Ka Moo, a slow-braised pork-leg stew.
Newkirk’s - East Coast-style fried egg sandwiches and (allegedly) the best Cheesesteak in SF?
Otherwise Brewing - Award-winning gluten free beer. How San Francisco is THAT.
Gialina - A local Glen Park favorite for thin crust pizzas. 🤫
Chase the Vibe
If you’re looking for something to cover this weekend, here are six events across SF and NYC with viral potential and a food tie-in baked in. Show up early. Stay late. Eat well.
📍 San Francisco
1. Castro Night Market
Friday, April 19 | 5–10PM
Queer-owned food vendors, DJs, tarot readers, and neon everywhere. Cover it like a block party-meets-artist alley—with a standout dish as your anchor.
2. Bay Area Brew Fest @ Fort Mason
Saturday, April 20 | 1–5PM
200+ beers, food trucks, and a bay view that wants to be in your B-roll. Bonus points for capturing rare beer/food pairings or the guy in lederhosen trying to explain barrel aging.
3. Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival
Saturday & Sunday | Japantown
Taiko drumming, food booths, and cultural performances in full bloom. Spotlight the mochi, the takoyaki, or just the magic of spring in the city.
📍 New York City
1. Smorgasburg: 3 Boroughs, 3 Bites
Every Friday–Sunday through October | Locations vary
WTC on Friday, Williamsburg Saturday, Prospect Park Sunday. Make it a miniseries: “One weekend. Three boroughs. Three bites you can’t miss.”
2. Sakura Matsuri @ Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Saturday & Sunday | 10AM–6PM
Cherry blossoms, Japanese street food, cosplay and kimonos. Find a matcha soft serve. Capture the petal fall in slo-mo. Instant vibe.
3. Queens Night Market Sneak Preview
Saturday, April 19 | 5PM–Midnight
Flushing Meadows-Corona Park lights up with global street food, live music, and art. Over 80 countries represented. $6 price cap on all food. It’s a content buffet
Under the Hood
Here’s what’s in the latest Seekeasy release:
Push notifications for when users follow you or save your lists
Update your display name
Creators can publish lists to their creator profile
Updated search experience (opt-in)
Haven’t downloaded the app yet?
Grab it here and see how your content shows up. Build lists, get discovered, and help people actually find the spots you love.
Ok, that’s a wrap. Go tell your story.
Got an idea for The Drop? Want to be featured?
Just hit reply and say hi. Seriously—we read every message.
Until next week,
-Andrew
Seekeasy | Community Lead