Me + trout friend somewhere off Captiva Island
I have never had a (successful) hobby.
For me, there is only food and writing. I’ve spent the past 15-odd years relentlessly fusing these two life pursuits.
After earning a degree in journalism and mass communication from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I was a financial journalist for Reuters until I was laid off during the Great Recession of 2008. I then impetuously sunk most of my meager life savings into a year in culinary school, earning a certificate in professional cookery from Kendall College in Chicago. There, I learned such wondrous things as the secret to Roman marinara (anchovies!) and the sound a perfectly baked baguette makes.
I worked for six years as a magazine editor and reporter covering the business side of food—from fine dining to baking and pastry, supermarkets and packaged food and beverages. I took the plunge into freelance writing in 2014.
I’m a freelance restaurant critic for The Party Cut Substack and monthly etiquette columnist for Bon Appetit. My work has also appeared in The New York Times, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Punch, Salon, VinePair, WBEZ Chicago, The Chicago Tribune, WTTW and Wine Enthusiast,
Or check out my portfolio of recent work.