True story…  A friend of mine in town on business just sent me a PIN message asking if I knew of any good places to get something for lunch near the office building he is in downtown.  I haven’t worked downtown for 10 years so I told him to tell me what he was in the mood for and I would look something up.  He said that is what he was going to do but he was already on the street and didn’t have his laptop.

To make a long story short, I told him that there are like a gazillion (a few dozen or more) BlackBerry applications designed to do exactly what he was asking me to do.  Here is a list of 7 of them that you absolutely can’t beat the price.

1. GoodFoodNearYou — GoodFoodNearYou helps you find the best food options at twenty restaurants near you.  In one simple search, you get free and instant access to the menus and nutrition information for popular casual dining restaurants, fast food restaurants, grocery stores, and convenience stores near your location.

   Download GoodFoodNearYou

2. Urbanspoon — Can’t decide where to eat? Urbanspoon can help. Spin the Urbanspoon slot machine and it will pick a good restaurant for you to try. Keep spinning until you find a restaurant you are happy with.The app uses GPS and Urbanspoon’s ratings to find a good restaurant near you. You can filter by neighborhood, cuisine, or price. Search and browse, or see a list of all nearby restaurants. Urbanspoon also shows ratings and reviews from newspapers, bloggers and fellow eaters.

   Download Urbanspoon

3. OpenTable — With OpenTable for BlackBerry® you can make free restaurant reservations at over 11,000 OpenTable network restaurants in the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom.  Plus, OpenTable members earn valuable Dining Rewards Points redeemable for Dining Cheques good at any OpenTable restaurant.

   Download OpenTable

4. Yelp — Looking for a burrito joint open now?  An Irish pub nearby?  A gas station you can drive to before your tank hits empty?  Yelp for your BlackBerry® is here to help.  Use us to search for places to eat, shop, drink, relax and play then read reviews from an active community of locals in the know.

   Download Yelp

5. Good Food — GoodFood is the best way to find great places to eat! See restaurants near you on an interactive map and filter by cuisine or price to find the perfect one.  Browse recommendations from users like you.

   Download GoodFood

6. Poynt — Use Poynt to find people, businesses, movie theatres, retailers and restaurants near you. Poynt uses GPS or cell-site locations to pinpoint you and quickly deliver the information you need whenever and wherever you need it.

   Download Poynt

7. Where — Looking for somewhere new to eat tonight? Want to know what movies are playing at the local theater or somewhere else close by? Traveling and want to find the cheapest gas or closest cup of coffee? Everywhere you go, this app will help you find just about anything local – restaurants, news, weather, cheap gas, movies, friends and more!

   Download Where