By Daniel B. Kline
Boston.com staff

Reviewing: OpenTable
By: OpenTable
Available on: iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone
Price: Free
Should you get it? Yes

Having a useful website does not always translate into having a useful app. Take countless travel apps that perform poorly when compared to their online versions. So just because OpenTable has an easy-to-use, especially useful website does not mean that would carry over to the app.

In this case, however, those fears were unfounded as the OpenTable folks have delivered a perfect, simple, and elegant app. Like its online parent, the OpenTable app lets you make restaurant reservations. And while the website can sometimes feel cluttered and a little hard to navigate, the app offers the bare minimum. There are no bells and whistles; but in this case, you don't need them.

The OpenTable app makes it incredibly easy to use your phone to make a restaurant reservation – be it for tonight in Boston, or six months down the road in San Francisco. After registering (or logging in with an existing account), you simply pick a location, a date, and time. Once you enter that data, a list of available times at various eateries come up and finishing the reservation is just a couple of clicks away.

There's nothing fancy about this app. It doesn't do much to help you decide between the restaurants (though you can see menus and read reviews from other OpenTable customers). You can also get directions by accessing the Maps app from the OpenTable app, but none of that is the point. This is an app that lets you make a reservation in a few simple clicks and it does that fabulously well.

OpenTable also has a rewards system tied into your account where you get points for every reservation you make and keep. Those points can be traded in for gift cards good at any OpenTable restaurant. Since the app offers a useful service without offering a kickback, the rewards system is simply icing on an already delicious cake.

By Rachel Raczka
Boston.com Staff

Reviewing: Epicurious
By: Conde Nast Digital
Price: Free
Platforms: Tested on iPhone, available for iPad, Android, Nook Color, Windows Phone, and Kindle Fire
Should you get it?: Yes.

Let me preface this review by saying: I cook a lot. And I bake more than I cook. So I spent a fair amount of time using this app. But don't let that scare you away; I recommend the app for the experienced cook as well as the kitchen novice.

Touted as a portable version of the popular website that proclaims it's "for people who love to eat," the Epicurious app features the same seemingly endless supply of recipes sourced from the Conde Nast treasure trove of the likes of Bon Appetit, Self, and Gourmet magazines.

By Swati G. Sharma
Boston.com Staff

Reviewing: Matchbook
By: Matchbook Inc.
Price: Free
Platforms: iPhone
Should you get it?: For anyone who likes going out, this is a definite yes

It's Friday night. As usual, I have plans with a group of friends, and again, as usual, no one can decide where to go.

But no worries - it's the Matchbook app to the rescue!

I open the application on my iPhone, and voila! A list of restaurants that I jotted down - either recommended to me by a friend or a spot I walked past at some point - appears on my screen.

The Matchbook app provides a simple service: It keeps track of restaurants, bars, or cafes you wish to explore at a later date.

By Joe Allen-Black
Boston.com Staff

Reviewing: Hello Vino
By: Hello Vino
Available for: iPhone and Android
Price: Free
Should you get it? Yes, if you don't know where to begin in picking out wines.

Pairing food and wine is an art that I wish I were good at on my own. Sure, I can do the basics of making sure to pair my meat with something red, and fruit with whites. But anything more advanced (like exactly WHICH red to pair) is not my specialty.

Now, thanks to the app Hello Vino, it doesn't have to be.

By Rachel Raczka
Boston.com Staff

Reviewing: Martha Stewart Cocktails
By: Callaway Digital Arts
Available on: iPad, iPhone
Price: $0.99
Should you get it? Absolutely. And then invite me over for drinks.

The desire to play hostess kicked in when I hit my early 20s. Sterling silver serving trays, gilded rim cocktail tumblers, impractical but aesthetically adorable paper straws in every color of the rainbow ... I felt well-equipped to hand out the swizzle sticks and call in the troops. Unfortunately, my specialty - gin and tonic with extra limes - was not exactly the height of cocktail sophistication.

So I turned to my muse in most situations like this one: Martha. (Martha, Martha, Martha.)

By Joe Allen-Black
Boston.com Staff

Reviewing: Untappd
Company: Untappd LLC
Price: Free
Platforms: Apple, Android, Blackberry, Palm Pre. Also a website
Should you get it? If you like beer and want to explore new ones -- definitely. If you drink the same thing all the time, it'll be dull.

I'm terrible at remembering what beers I like. I'll remember flavor and color (maybe a logo if I'm lucky), but an actual name? Well, that gets lost in my brain somewhere around calculus and all the state capitals in alphabetical order.

So when my brother introduced me to Untappd, I saw a chance to make my phone remember beer for me. It was Foursquare for beer drinking, which, in my mind, is taking two awesome things and combining them in the best kind of way.