How to find a great restaurant

There we were, me and Nick, wandering up and down Second Avenue,looking for a place to eat lunch.  We'd just left Michael's hospitalroom, we were in an unfamiliar part of town, and there were dozens ofrestaurants. I'd never heard of any of them.
"This is what you're supposed to be able to do, Mom," said Nick."Everyone thinks that you can just look at these places and instantlyknow which one is the best."
Dream on.  We had a great time wandering up and down the street,looking at menus.  As we did I realized that there were a few I'd meantto try.  There was that Turkish restaurant - been there forever, greatreputation, probably good. But did we really want Turkish food at 4 inthe afternoon?  The Italian place looked terrible, but it had pleasantoutdoor seating, and we contemplated it for about a minute.  But whowants mediocre Italian food?  The Greek fish place! Yes, that would bethe one. "Forget it," said a lachrymose woman coming grumpily out thedoor, "they just stopped serving."
So we ended up in a Thai place.
"It wasn't so bad," said Nick as we left.  "And it was a LOT of food for 6 bucks apiece. And don't worry, I won't tell anyone."