Amber Sutton
Amber Sutton turns Alabama food and everyday places into structured, service-oriented guides, with a consistent focus on value, local institutions and reader-friendly formats. She works on AL.com’s features team, covering food and related lifestyle stories across the state with list-based roundups, bucket lists and practical explainers. Her coverage extends beyond dining to include quizzes and cultural features, but food-centric pieces, especially accessible restaurants and regional favorites, are the core of her work.
Alabama restaurant roundups and bucket lists
Sutton’s most distinguishing pattern is her statewide restaurant roundups, where she assembles detailed lists of places to eat built around a clear theme or reader need.
Her food beat includes guides to dishes that should be on an “Alabama bucket list,” spotlighting specific plates at independent restaurants and long-running local favorites. She writes value-focused roundups that highlight restaurants where portions are generous and prices are notably low, drawing on reader recommendations and emphasizing meat-and-three spots, buffets and barbecue joints that deliver “bang for your buck.”
The confirmed ice cream parlor story fits this approach: a curated list of 14 shops across Alabama serving standout scoops, presented as a practical map for where to go.
Her recent coverage also tracks notable restaurant closures, documenting mom-and-pop eateries, barbecue institutions and downtown venues that have shut their doors in 2026. Together, these pieces show her using the list format to cover the full arc of restaurant life in Alabama, from must-visit spots to the places communities have lost.
Fun facts and deep dives on beloved food brands
A second through-line in Sutton’s work is the “fun facts” feature, where she breaks down the history and quirks of well-known Alabama food brands into numbered, digestible sections. She has written “things you might not know” packages on Dreamland Bar-B-Que, Priester’s Pecans, Moe’s Original Bar B Que and Momma Goldberg’s, weaving brand origin stories, expansion timelines and menu details into a single piece. These articles combine concrete business facts - such as founding dates, growth to multiple locations, and revenue estimates - with highly specific menu notes, like signature ribs, sauces, candies and popular sides. Her tone in these deep dives is straightforward and descriptive, avoiding criticism and focusing instead on what makes each brand an institution for Alabama diners.
This mix of historical context and menu-focused detail positions her more as a chronicler of local food culture than a traditional critic, giving readers background that can inform both coverage and consumer decisions.
Quizzes, guides and service pieces beyond food
While food is central, Sutton writes a broader slate of service journalism that keeps the same accessible, list-based structure. Her author page describes her as working in Alabama Media Group since 2012, beginning on a Montgomery reporting beat before moving into feature writing and service pieces.
She produces interactive content such as a quiz built from Alabama-themed “Jeopardy!” clues, inviting readers to test what they know about the state in a playful way.
Earlier work includes list and fact features on Auburn fraternities and sororities, where she catalogues houses, traditions and lesser-known details in a direct, numbered format. She applies similar service logic to non-food topics, such as a “prom survival kit” listing practical items to bring and a compilation of statistics on how teens meet, date and break up in the digital age. Her pieces on Toomer’s Corner’s rolling tradition also show she covers symbolic cultural rituals with the same straightforward, explanatory voice.
Across these stories, she stays close to concrete facts and curated lists, making even non-food topics feel like guides that readers can act on.
Consistent focus on accessible, everyday places
What clearly sets Sutton apart from a generic food reporter is her consistent focus on everyday, accessible venues rather than elite dining. Her restaurant coverage centers on barbecue joints, buffets, meat-and-three cafeterias, comfort food destinations and long-established cafes where price, portion size and familiarity matter as much as culinary innovation.
In comfort-food roundups, she profiles places like Lambert’s Cafe through the lens of hearty plates, “throwed rolls” and pass-around sides, emphasizing the experience and warmth of the meal as much as the menu itself.
Her lists of value restaurants highlight specific price points, buffet formats and daily specials, underscoring affordability as an explicit part of her beat. Even when documenting closures, she frames them in terms of community impact and the loss of everyday gathering spots rather than industry insider angles. Combined with her long tenure in regional journalism, this emphasis on practical detail, reader participation and local institutions makes her a distinct fit for stories that revolve around where and how ordinary people eat, spend time and celebrate across Alabama.
4 more food journalists.
Aaron Guerrero
Aaron Guerrero is head of the digital department at Miami’s Community Newspapers, where he pairs restaurant coverage with community-facing content. He focuses on how Miami-area restaurants evolve, celebrate, and experiment through new concepts, menus, and neighborhood-focused dining experiences. He reports on restaurant openings, such as an Italian food hall at Plaza Coral Gables, new executive lunch menus, and wood-fired Latin steakhouse brunches, explaining what sets each venue apart. He also covers awards, like a Wine Spectator honor for an Italian chophouse, and events that turn dining rooms into social hubs. His bylines extend to features on sports-themed gatherings, civic renamings, local visits to restaurant programs, sponsored community pieces, and official notices. His work is straightforward and descriptive, helping readers and local businesses connect around specific openings, promotions, and dining experiences.
Aarron Fleming
Aarron Fleming reports on how courts, jails and public safety systems work over time. He is a reporter at The Daily Memphian covering public safety, the local court system, suburban news and business developments in North Mississippi. His work follows trials, sentencing, appeals, plea deals and judicial decisions, including major cases tied to Tyre Nichols and rapper Young Dolph. He also covers jail conditions, inmate deaths, crime data, prosecution units, trafficking, shootings and public-order incidents. His suburban reporting examines cannabis businesses, restaurant openings and how commercial growth affects communities such as Olive Branch. Fleming previously covered education in the same newsroom. He uses clear, unadorned prose to explain legal steps, deadlines, institutional problems and the political, commercial and community effects of public-safety decisions.
Alana Al-Hatlani
Alana Al-Hatlani is a food writer and editor who treats recipes, restaurants, and food features as ways to explore culture, community, and the business of eating. She works on the food team at Southern Living, overseeing and contributing to print recipes and reported features. Her pastry-focused, restaurant-tested perspective comes from time in restaurant and bakery kitchens. She helps plan and write monthly food packages, including “The South’s Most Treasured Desserts,” and wrote “8 Summer Recipes Our Editors Make Every Year.” She also writes recipe tips, ingredient explainers, restaurant guides, and reported stories about workers, owners, and communities. Her subjects include regional specialties, dining scenes, kitchen basics, and food industries. Her work has appeared with OpenTable and Yahoo. She reports on the ground, explains techniques clearly, and connects specific dishes and places to larger stories about food and livelihood.
Alana Edgin
Alana Edgin is a business reporter whose strongest focus is food, restaurants and consumer-facing businesses. She works at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal and has also had work syndicated across AOL and Yahoo News. She covers new openings, closings, expansions and franchise growth, along with retail, health, services, corporate news, data incidents, business support programs and sponsorships. Her reporting includes detailed roundups of new restaurants and businesses, coverage of El Pollo Loco’s opening, and stories on burger trucks, dessert shops, Vietnamese sandwich restaurants and gourmet markets. She also contributes to food and drink reviews, including fall coffee and jerky comparisons. Edgin reports with practical “what, when, where” details, structured comparisons and clear explanations of how offers, partnerships and business changes affect consumers and the local economy.