For Your Fix on L.A.

2 of 25: After my interview with Dan Dunne, The Imbiber, at Pourtal on October 14, I swung by the launch party for new iPhone app WineDJ. The app is essentially a marketing tool for Hope Family Wines which pairs their wine with music. The party itself featured not only neverending pours of their wines but Jason Bentley as dj. Suffice it to say, the party was all right, but the app sounded like a fun idea and I had meant to include it in a post about five more favorite iPhone apps. Anyway, here tis.

foursquare (Free): Seems like no one gets just why I love this app so much. What can I say? Letting my friends and Tweeps know where I am, getting points for checking in and winning badges just appeals to me. It’s like a game with the goal being to become mayor of EVERYwhere.

Happy Houred (Free): If I could make a Caroline on Crack app it would be something like this one! Full disclosure, though: My friends @livethelushlife and @mysteryaction have something to do with this app. But even if they didn’t, I’d still love it. It’s easy to use and finds some of the best drinking specials in cities across the U.S., L.A. included. What’s not to love? You can search by location, type of bar, type of drink, day and even time of day in addition to name.

LA Weekly (Free): This nifty app from our city’s fave alternative weekly gives you easy access to tips, restaurant reviews, event listings and nightlife coverage. Now if only it linked to the other blogs on the Weekly. Ahem, Squid Ink. But you can also email items to your friends and say, “Hey! Go here!”

RedLaser ($1.99): My brother introduced me to this app and I can’t stop playing with it. I’m sure there are tons of other apps like this out there but this is the one I use and like. In any case, it’s great for comparison-shopping. You go to a store, scan an item’s bar code (the iPhone emits a little sound once the scan has gone through) and the app will generate a list of online retailers via thefind and Google Search that sell that same item and for what price.

Liberty School WineDJ (Free): This is simply a fun app to play with. It’s made especially to showcase the Hope Family Wines. You select which wine you want and then it gives you the option to create a playlist or locate the wine in your area. Each varietal represents a different music genre, i.e. Zinfandel is The Roots, Marsanne/Viognier is Paul Simon and Cabernet Sauvignon/Syrah is James Brown.

I frickin’ LOVE my new iPhone and if you’ve seen me lately you’ve probably noticed that my iPreciousss is permanently attached to my left hand, sometimes my right when I have to open doors and stuff. But as soon as I got it, I went crazy with the applications. They really do have an app for everything!

Now besides the blogger basics like Tweet Deck, Facebook, Loopt, Brightkite, Yelp, UrbanSpoon…pfew!…Tumblr, Flickr Mobile Fotos, Free Wifi, here’s a list of my faves thus far:

DrinkTracker ($1.99): This is a good guide to keep track of how many drinks I’ve had and how long it’ll take me to get my BAC to at least below 0.02. Only thing is, I still have to remember to enter drinks when I drink ‘em. And it’s fine if I have a glass of wine or beer but if I want to enter cocktails, I’m lost. There’s no listing or database for cocktails. You can add a new drink to the list but you’d have to know how many ounces it has as well as what percent alcohol. Um! But I won’t give up on it. I think it’s a handy tool.

Epicurious (free): I’m not much of a cook but I love the fact that this app contains recipes from Bon Appétit, Gourmet, Self, Cookie and Parade. That’s about 25,000 recipes to choose from! There’s even a “Cool Cocktails” section where you can find recipes for Bon Appetit’s The Widow’s Touch to Self’s Watermelon Rum Mash. And the shopping list feature allows you to save your fave recipes so you have them handy when picking up ingredients at the grocery store. The only thing is that since it’s a free app, the occasional ad pops up. Meh.

Flip N Drink ($1.99): This special cocktail application features recipes from renowned mixologists, like Ryan Magarian (who created Westside Tavern’s cocktail menu). It also offers some cocktail history, drool-inducing cocktail photos and suggestions of other cocktails you might like.

Going.com (Free): I just started using this one but love how it’s a combination of Brightkite and Yelp functions in that you can pick a venue to meet your friends and then share the location with them so they can meet up wit choo. You can also rate the place in real time and tell your friends whether they should avoid it or “get here now.” Of course it helps if all your peeps are on Going.com, too.

iWhiskey ($10.99): This is great for when you’re at a cool bar that has a huge variety of whiskey or if you’re lost in the whiskey aisle at Wally’s Wine & Spirits. This app features 600 reviews by Paul Pacult (founder of Beverage Alcohol Resource) on different brands of the brown spirit — from American, Irish, etc. to most expensive and five stars. It has purty pictures of cocktails which you can tap once to flip over and get the recipe of.

KCRW Fringe Benefits (Free): Get the most out of your KCRW membership with this free app. It lists over 1,000 businesses that honor your discount card. And with its handy-dandy GPS function, you can locate which ones are in the 3-, 5- or 10-mile radius. It’ll even map out how to get there or offers a direct dial feature so you can call ahead for ressies or hours.

Nat Decants ($2.99): Now since I don’t cook the chances that I’ll have to plan which wine to serve with which dish are nil, but I still like playing with this app that pairs drinks (i.e. red or white wine) to food and food to drinks. Wonder what goes with Mead? Why that would be orange glazed cornish hens of course. What pairs well with bourbon? Why, bacon! Mmm.

OpenTable (Free): Rarely do I eat anywhere that requires a reservation. I’m not that fancy, but just in case, this is a cool app to have at the ready. At the tap of the screen, I can find out which restaurant in my area can seat my party of four at 7:30 tonight.

Miscellaneous:

iFitness ($1.99): I’m not crazy about those apps that let you keep track of what you’ve eaten because I don’t like having to search for the exact thing I ate just to count some calories. I do, however, love this gym-friendly app. You can search a database of 115 exercises to find which best works out those arms, legs, back, etc. and also keep track of your workout. It also uses pics of real people with detailed instructions on how to perform each rep. The only thing is that it seems to be targeted for men in terms of saying which exercise will help increase their shirt size. As if women don’t work out, too. Hmf.

WordJong ($2.99): I discovered this hybrid of Mah Jong and Scrabble for my DS but was ecstatic to find that there’s an app for it, too! I love playing this game when I’m just waiting in line, waiting for someone or having a quiet moment. I like it because I don’t need good hand-eye coordination to play it and it’s not the sort of game where if I make the wrong move my car blows up or I die. Peaceful music and smiley Kung Fu Panda-like animals. Aaaah.

Any other applications I should look into?