His name is Seth Ragusa, but you can call him Guse.

Guse – pronounced “goose” – is a familiar face on his corner of social media and an increasingly recognizable presence at restaurants around Illinois. He’s the personality behind Grazing Guse, a restaurant review channel on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Born and raised in Streator, Guse now lives in Springfield. He dedicates Monday through Friday to his full-time job, but the weekends are devoted to his passion: exploring the state and its eateries, one community at a time.

New reviews are posted daily, each featuring a different destination. That means visiting seven restaurants each weekend so Guse can post fresh content seven days a week.

It also means eating a lot of food.

“I eat very healthy Monday through Friday so I can do this on the weekend,” Guse said during a January dining tour of the La Salle-Peru area. “I went through a huge weight loss. I’m not trying to put it all back on.”

Guse’s channel originally launched under the name Cook and Crop, where he featured cooking and gardening videos documenting his healthier eating habits after losing more than 100 pounds. His restaurant reviews began as “cheat day” videos, in which he would treat himself to dining out once a week.

When the cheat day videos gained more traction, he pivoted the direction of the channel to restaurant reviews and rebranded as Grazing Guse.

“Initially it started out that I would pick the old-school spots,” Guse said. His grandparents operated Streator’s Dog ’n Suds drive-in for 20 years, which made him fond of 1950s and ’60s diners. “Then I went to the most recommended spots.”

Recommendations now guide his journey. Guse regularly posts a map showing a region of Illinois on his Facebook page, and he tells people to vote for a town within that region. Whichever community receives the most votes determines where he’ll travel next. In February, his hometown rallied to bring him back to Streator.

Guse has two rules when he travels to a new area. One: He needs seven eateries to visit. Two: At least one bakery is required to sate his sweet tooth. As a general guideline, he also tries to avoid expensive restaurants so his destinations are accessible to the widest variety of incomes.

Each Grazing Guse review includes the background and story behind the restaurant, plus a glimpse of several menu items with Guse’s rating of each one. Videos are never sponsored, and he rarely alerts a destination in advance of his arrival.

“I want to keep it as authentic as possible,” he said. “I don’t want them to prepare in any type of way. I don’t want them to roll out the red carpet. I just want the normal experience.”

Many of the restaurants Guse visits are highly recommended by followers, but occasionally he encounters a meal that receives a low score. When posting a negative review about food or service, he makes an effort to be respectful.

“I’m never going to bash a place. I try to keep it positive,” he said. “I’m honest, so I’m not going to tell people it’s good if it’s not, but I also do say everybody’s taste is different, so it doesn’t mean if I don’t like it, you won’t like it. Or if I like it, it doesn’t mean you’re going to. Everybody’s taste and opinions are different. That’s the great thing about food. Everybody has a different experience with it.”

He also noted there’s more than one reason people choose to dine out. Just because one aspect of a restaurant receives a low grade, the location can still attract visitors.

“Sometimes there are different aspects to why you go to places,” Guse said. “Some places you go for the aesthetic. Sometimes you go for the service. Sometimes you go for the food. It’s great when all three are there, but each place has its own niche that you’re going for.”

As his viewership grows, so does restaurant patronage. He said a small burger spot in Springfield witnessed a surge of hundreds of new diners days after appearing on the Grazing Guse channel. When Grazing Guse featured a barbecue restaurant, it tallied its best January sales in what is typically its slowest month.

“That’s what it’s all about,” Guse said. “Getting new faces in the door.”

If the channel garners enough demand, Guse would consider transitioning his reviews and travels to a full-time job and expand to cover the entire Midwest.

For now, there are still plenty of Illinois destinations on the menu.