As a freelance food and drink writer based in Chicago, I tell stories about eating, drinking and cooking—and what they mean to us. Read my recent work below. (Photo credits in article text.)
Bon Appetit, October 2025: Your phone belongs in your pocket, not on the table
Food & Wine, October 2025: The ‘It’ apples to look out for this fall
The New York Times, August 2025: The allure (and hubris) of candles in restaurants
WBEZ Chicago, August 2025: Has Chicago reached steakhouse saturation?
Wine Enthusiast, June 2025: Natural wine democratized ‘winespeak.’ But does it make any sense?
Bon Appetit, June 2025: Why are restaurants so dark?
Bon Appetit, May 2025: The smartest ways to ask servers for menu recs
WTTW, April 2025: Rapper Blvck Svm turns the tasting menu into a hip hop album
Bon Appetit, April 2025: You’re not imagining it, restaurants really do save the best tables for reservations
VinePair, April 2025: Brandy and eau de vie are seriously uncool — unless you’re a bartender
Bon Appetit, March 2025: Do kids belong in fine-dining restaurants?
WBEZ Chicago, January 2025: Charlie Trotter’s son fires up the stoves at his father’s legendary Chicago restaurant
WTTW, January 2025: As Chinatown expands, can old-school Cantonese restaurants survive?
WTTW: Sotto breathes new life into the century-old Italian Village
The New York Times, November 2024: How the Bonne Maman advent calendar became a hot commodity
Bon Appetit, October 2024: Why doesn’t every restaurant have bar hooks?
Wine Enthusiast, September 2024: What makes red wine chillable?
The New York Times, August 2024: Live, laugh, lowboy. Fine dining’s love affair with inspirational quotes
Food & Wine, August 2024: Learn to survive in the Irish wilderness at Finnebrogue Woods
WBEZ Chicago, July 2024: A restaurant in a rock hall? Oliver Poilevey is just warming up.
WBEZ Chicago, June 2024: Chicago’s 20 quintessential summer foods
Time Out Chicago review, May 2024: Cariño and Cariño omakase
Food & Wine, April 2024: How technology replaced service in fine dining
WTTW, April 2024: Four years after marijuana was legalized in Illinois, cannabis-infused food and drink is all grown up—and still has a ways to go
WBEZ Chicago, April 2024: The ten best breakfast sandwiches in Chicago for a persnickety morning commuter
Food & Wine, February 2024: The most affordable cuts of beef, according to a butcher
WTTW, January 2024: El Alebrije celebrates Mexico’s magical, lesser-known regional specialties
Time Out Chicago restaurant review, December 2023: Anelya
Bon Appetit, December 2023: A restaurant trick for tender, flaky salmon
VinePair, October 2023: The cult of Dean the Deathologist, the bartending skeleton Home Depot can’t keep In stock
WBEZ Chicago, October 2023: This luscious Mexican chicken soup will cure what ails you
Bon Appetit, October 2023: I was so wrong about Texas Roadhouse
WBEZ Chicago, October 2023: Lula Cafe’s signature dish steals the spotlight in a new cookbook from chef Jason Hammel
Salon, September 2023: The tangible joy of quicos, the crunchy Spanish bar snack that's worth the noise
VinePair, August 2023: The spritz is the ultimate f*ck it drink
Plate magazine, August 2023: KultureCity helps make restaurants sensory inclusive
Salon, August 2023: Is menu anxiety real?
Salon, June 2023: The spontaneous joy of eating at the bar
New York Times, May 2023: For a chile con queso like no other, head to southern New Mexico
Bon Appetit, May 2023: Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Is a fantastic game for home cooks
Food52, May 2023: The carbonara formula that took a decade to perfect
VinePair, April 2023: The drinks we order when we want to impress
Salon, March 2023: Please don’t invite me to brunch
Bon Appetit, February 2023: The beverage aisle has gone too far
VinePair, February 2023: Unpacking the cult of Underberg
Food & Wine, January 2023: A food haven for the road weary in Livingston, Montana
Food & Wine, December 2022: El Paso’s Elemi has a passion for tacos that defies the border
VinePair, November 2022: How the Bloody Mary garnish lost its mind
VinePair, October 2022: The winding history of the beer cup snake
VinePair, September 2022: What our glassware choices say about us
Chicago Tribune, August 2022: How a home cook’s muscular dystrophy diagnosis ignited his pizza passion
Plate magazine, July 2022: What is Southwestern cuisine?
Home52, June 2022: How to grow a curry leaf plant
Food52, April 2022: Why is dry Lambrusco so hard to find?
Food & Wine, April 2022: The secret lives of restaurant furnishings
Food52, February 2022: The Black cannabis innovators revolutionizing legal weed
Food52, November 2021: The almost lost, cult-favorite Cuisinart magazine
Salon, August 2021: What’s going out to eat for, anyway?
Food & Wine, June 2021: Interior Secretary Deb Haaland cooks to share her Indigenous heritage.
WBEZ Chicago, October 2025: Trump’s deportation blitz is hurting Belmont Cragin’s restaurants: Can neighbors save them?
The New York Times, October 2025: How much dirtier can the dirty martini get?
Bon Appetit, September 2025: The art of building a menu with shared plates
WBEZ Chicago, July 2025: Little Manila, Chicago’s newest food boom, is a sign of hope for indie restaurants
WTTW, July 2025: An experimental test kitchen helped save Giant restaurant—and brought joy back to the kitchen
The New York Times, May 2025: When did restaurant salads get so … unwieldy?
WBEZ Chicago, April 2025: Sloppy restaurant reservation etiquette? In Chicago, that means no dinner for you.
Food & Wine, March 2025: How pantry staples became status symbols
WBEZ Chicago, March 2025: Beloved by chefs, Chicago’s rare tea mastermind Rod Markus makes his retail move
Best Food Blog, February 2025: Why everyone wants to order last
Wine Enthusiast, January 2025: The most essential bars in Chicago
Plate magazine, December 2024: What should we really call boneless chicken wings?
Bon Appetit, November 2024: Dear diners, You don’t have to help clear the table at a sit-down restaurant
WBEZ Chicago, November 2024: What makes a diner great?
Wine Enthusiast: The best wineries (and more) to visit in Michigan right now
Food & Wine, October 2024: Why do we cook too much for the people we love?
WTTW Chicago, August 2024: An unexpected culinary globetrot on Chicago’s far Northwest Side
Food & Wine, August 2024: What makes Hatch chiles so special?
WTTW Chicago, August 2024: Simon’s Tavern turns 90
VinePair, July 2024: Hipster beer is dead. Long live ‘lifestyle’ beer.
Food & Wine, May 2024: How to navigate the farmers market successfully, according to farmers
VinePair, April 2024: What we miss when we write off warm sake
Block Club Chicago, March 2024: Undercover Books turns private eye’s office into bookstore, community hub
VinePair, March 2024: The enduring obsession with the two-part Guinness pour
Salon, March 2024: The art and allure of awful food photos
Wine Enthusiast, February 2024: The house wine is getting a makeover
Time Out Chicago restaurant review, January 2024: John’s Food and Wine
Punch, December 2023: Two words: hot Campari
WBEZ Chicago, December 2023: When the kids want to open a speakeasy in their parents’ iconic Chinese restaurant
Salon, November 2023: Are restaurant dining rooms getting louder (again)?
Salon, October 2023: The tactile delight of culinary bookshops
WBEZ Chicago, October 2023: Is the ephemeral pop-up food moment becoming the new normal?
WBEZ Chicago, September 2023: Apple Fritter season is Chicago’s best season
VinePair, September 2023: As cities evolve, these longtime bars preserve the past
VinePair, August 2023: The timeless charm of cheap chianti
Food & Wine, June 2023: Dominique Leach is staking a claim for Black women in the barbecue world
VinePair, June 2023: The glorious subculture of grocery store bar regulars
Food52, May 2023: It’s been 14 years since I went to culinary school—these are the lessons I’ll never forget
Salon, February 2023: Grape-Nuts is cereal for the self-deprecating humorist
Conde Nast Traveler, January 2023: Retracing the history of Freetown through the life and legacy of Edna Lewis
VinePair, December 2022: The glamorous highs and turbulent lows of a century spent drinking on planes
Salon, November 2022: This Thanksgiving, don’t f**k with tradition
Chicago Tribune, October 2022: What’s it like when your downstairs neighbor is a restaurant?
Bon Appetit, October 2022: How a deep-fried pork chop sandwich became a classic Montana meal
Bon Appetit, September 2022: New York’s hottest club is … the deli
Salon, August 2022: Where do we stand with MSG?
Milk Street Radio, July 2022: Christopher Kimball interviews me about trendy restaurant names, from animals to ampersands.
Food52, July 2022: The very ‘90s history of the flavored latte
Food52, June 2022: Don’t hate on bouillon powder.
Bon Appetit, May 2022: Why are we endlessly fascinated by sculptures of food?
Bon Appetit, April 2022: The great restaurant name vibe shift
Bon Appetit, April 2022: If you must only eat one burrito, make it the cheesy chile relleno
Philadelphia Inquirer, February 2022: Coping with scent distortion
Chicago Tribune, November 2021: There’s nothing like dining (in) at your favorite restaurant
Food52, September 2021: Why does organic mayo taste funny?
Epicurious, September 2021: Is it crispy or is it crunchy?
Salon, July 2021: Observations from a Chicago Dunkin’ Donuts
Bon Appetit, April 2021: Reviewing Maggie’s Townhouse