Top Journalists in Fine Dining Restaurants
Tejal Rao The New York Times
Tejal Rao is one of The New York Times’ two co–chief restaurant critics (appointed 2025) and the paper’s first California critic. A two-time James Beard Award winner, she covers ambitious tasting menus and chef-driven dining with sharp cultural context. Specialties: Co-chief restaurant critic; fine dining and tasting menus across the U.S.; California and West Coast luxury dining; chef profiles; cultural impacts of high-end restaurants.
Author page | Website | X (Twitter)
Ligaya Mishan The New York Times
Ligaya Mishan is co–chief restaurant critic at The New York Times (2025). Known for lyrically incisive criticism, she spotlights destination dining rooms and the social histories and diasporas that shape them. Specialties: Co-chief restaurant critic; New York and national fine dining; restaurants as immigration and identity stories; long-form criticism and features.
Author page | Muck Rack | Instagram
Tom Sietsema The Washington Post
The Washington Post’s longtime restaurant critic, Tom Sietsema reviews D.C.’s most ambitious dining rooms and tracks national fine-dining trends with meticulous service and hospitality reporting. Specialties: Washington, D.C. fine dining; national dining trends; luxury tasting menus; service and hospitality analysis; annual guides.
Author page | Website | X (Twitter)
Bill Addison Los Angeles Times
Bill Addison is the Los Angeles Times’ restaurant critic and a James Beard–winning writer whose reviews and lists set the agenda for fine dining across Southern California and beyond. Specialties: Los Angeles and California high-end restaurants; tasting menus; chef-driven concepts; annual best-restaurant lists.
Author page | X (Twitter) | Instagram
MacKenzie Chung Fegan San Francisco Chronicle
MacKenzie Chung Fegan is the San Francisco Chronicle’s restaurant critic. She covers the Bay Area’s highest-profile dining rooms and leads the Chronicle’s revived Top 100 restaurants project. Specialties: Bay Area fine dining; Michelin-starred restaurants; ethics and transparency in criticism; Top 100 lists.
Author page | Email | Newsletter
Cesar Hernandez San Francisco Chronicle
Cesar Hernandez is the Chronicle’s associate restaurant critic, with nuanced reviews that range from luxe tasting menus to emerging chef-driven spots shaping Northern California dining. Specialties: Bay Area restaurants from under-the-radar to fine dining; tasting menus; chef interviews; deep dives into culinary culture.
Adam Platt New York Magazine / Grub Street
New York Magazine’s senior restaurant critic, Adam Platt chronicles New York’s fine-dining evolution with wry, deeply reported essays and influential guides. Specialties: New York luxury dining; high-low restaurant culture; long-form critic’s notebooks; citywide lists and rankings.
Hannah Goldfield The New Yorker
Hannah Goldfield writes The New Yorker’s weekly Tables for Two column, rendering intimate, highly read portraits of New York’s most buzzed-about and refined dining rooms. Specialties: New York fine dining; narrative criticism; chef-driven concepts; hospitality and ambience as storytelling.
Jeff Gordinier Esquire
Jeff Gordinier is Esquire’s Food & Drinks editor, co-leading its annual Best New Restaurants in America package and covering chef-driven, big-deal openings nationwide. Specialties: National fine dining; Esquire’s Best New Restaurants; chef profiles; trend analysis at the luxury end of dining.
Brett Martin GQ
A longtime GQ correspondent and multi–James Beard Award winner, Brett Martin travels the U.S. to report immersive features on the country’s most exciting fine-dining rooms. Specialties: Cross-country fine dining itineraries; narrative restaurant features; annual Best New Restaurants reporting.
Kate Krader Bloomberg Pursuits
Kate Krader is Food Editor at Bloomberg Pursuits, breaking news and trends on global luxury dining and profiling marquee chefs and restaurants. Specialties: Global luxury restaurants; chef-news scoops; fine-dining travel; high-end openings and trends.
Author page | Newsletter | X (Twitter)
Tammie Teclemariam New York Magazine / Grub Street
At New York Magazine/Grub Street, Tammie Teclemariam’s ‘Underground Gourmet’ coverage spans scene-defining openings to splurge-worthy dining, with a sharp eye for what truly merits the hype. Specialties: New York’s buzziest restaurants; value vs. luxury; industry power dynamics; ‘Underground Gourmet’ service-forward guides.
Author page | Email | X (Twitter)
Craig LaBan The Philadelphia Inquirer
Craig LaBan is The Philadelphia Inquirer’s veteran critic and a two-time James Beard winner, known for definitive, star-making (and sometimes star-testing) reviews of the city’s top dining rooms. Specialties: Philadelphia fine dining; rigorous criticism; regional chef and tasting-menu coverage; annual city guides.
Jay Rayner The Observer / The Guardian
Jay Rayner, longtime critic for The Observer/Guardian, is a leading voice on fine dining’s pleasures and pitfalls, marrying sharp prose with a deep understanding of hospitality. Specialties: UK and international fine dining; restaurant ethics; incisive, humorous criticism; books and broadcasts on hospitality.
Author page | X (Twitter) | Website
Grace Dent The Guardian
Grace Dent reviews the UK’s most talked-about restaurants for The Guardian, blending wit and warmth with clear-eyed takes on elevated dining rooms. Specialties: London fine dining; tasting menus; national UK openings; accessible criticism with cultural bite.
Nicholas Lander Financial Times
Since 1989, Nicholas Lander has written the Financial Times’ ‘Restaurant Insider,’ focusing on the business of great restaurants and the restaurateurs behind them. Specialties: Global fine-dining business and strategy; restaurateur profiles; industry trends; London’s high-end scene.
Andy Hayler Independent (AndyHayler.com) / Elite Traveler
Independent critic Andy Hayler is known for having visited every three-Michelin-star restaurant multiple times over the years, producing exhaustive reviews of the world’s priciest tables. Specialties: Global three-Michelin-star coverage; rigorous rating methodology; international luxury dining comparisons.
Steve Cuozzo New York Post
Steve Cuozzo is the New York Post’s longtime restaurant critic, known for blunt, influential verdicts on Manhattan’s splashiest fine-dining rooms. Specialties: New York power dining; classic steakhouses and haute cuisine; service and atmosphere; opinionated takes on fine-dining culture.
Jimi Famurewa Freelance (ex–Evening Standard)
A former Evening Standard chief restaurant critic, Jimi Famurewa remains a prominent London voice, reviewing and reporting on the capital’s most ambitious dining rooms. Specialties: London luxury dining and new openings; tasting menus; chef profiles; broader culture-of-hospitality features.
Hillary Dixler Canavan Eater (Vox Media)
Eater’s restaurant editor, Hillary Dixler Canavan, sets the scope for national coverage and co-leads marquee projects that often elevate fine-dining leaders and rising chefs. Specialties: National restaurant trends; Eater’s Best New Restaurants program; fine-dining openings and chef-driven concepts; industry analysis.
Author page | Instagram | X (Twitter)
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