Eat Salem. No, it's not a plea for Portland to annex Salem and engulf  the Cherry City with its culture. Eat Salem (eatsalem.blogspot.com) is a new local blog shining the spotlight on the good (and the bad) of Salem's cuisine. While it may not be hard to find someone with a poor opinion of Salem's palate offerings, "Aaron Pierce" has set out to find the diamonds in the rough.

"It started sort of as an experiment," said Pierce, who kicked off his blogging career in June. "Several things came together at the right time and I wanted to see what would happen."

Pierce moved to the Salem area about four years ago after life in L.A. became too costly to justify. He's reticent to reveal the details of his day job, only that writing professionally is not something he's done before. "I worked in restaurants up to the point [where] I started my current career. I've been a cook, a dish washer, a delivery guy, and I've waited tables," he said.

"We have this great potential but there's no vibrancy to it," he said. "If downtown had remained the center of the city, I think it would have been different."

On the blog, Pierce strives to paint a picture of the entire Salem dining scene from the quick meals he encounters on the fly to the hot dogs served at movie theaters. Eat Salem also includes links to county food inspector ratings and advice for local restaurant owners. "When I go into a place and the tables are clean, I know they got that way because the managers and employees cared enough to make sure it was done," Pierce said. Even so, there are places in town that mystify him.

"I went into one place and sat in a booth that had duct tape covering the seats. I went back nearly a year later and it was still covered in duct tape. It amazes me that places like that not only survive, but do well," he said.

Pierce doesn't expect everyone to agree with his reviews. In fact, he welcomes people with differing opinions to leave comments on the site. He's constantly trying to make it easier for readers to share their opinions.

"We'll have a more complete picture of Salem dining if I'm not the only voice on the site," he said. All work and no play makes Aaron a dull boy, however. While Pierce is hoping to spur a more energized cuisine scene, food blogging itself provides a fair share of adrenalin rushes: "Like surreptitiously taking pictures in busy restaurants while the manager is walking around," he said.