Bob Vitale
Bob Vitale covers the dining scene with a reporter’s eye for value, tracking how restaurants, bars and food businesses evolve while showing what a good meal or drink is really worth. He focuses on food trends, news and features across the restaurant landscape, with a particular emphasis on prices, deals and the connections between local spots and national recognition. His beat is food, but his through-line is how the economics of dining, from menu prices to “best-of” lists, shape where and how people eat.
Restaurant Openings, Closings and Local Dining Maps
Vitale’s regular coverage charts new restaurant and bar openings alongside closures, creating a running map of how the dining scene changes month by month. In a September report he detailed 18 new restaurants and bars opening across central Ohio, from pizza places with unconventional toppings to contemporary Asian spots and neighborhood eateries, while also noting six closures in the same period. He uses these roundups to highlight both emerging concepts and the fate of long-standing businesses, giving equal attention to creative menus and the business realities behind them.
His work also extends beyond city centers, with pieces that explore dining options in smaller communities and growing neighborhoods as their food and drink scenes expand.
Tracking Prices, Deals and Value
Vitale treats menu prices as a reporting beat, not background detail.
He has launched a yearlong research project built on a list of 100 menu items from restaurants, bars and coffee shops, tracking their prices month by month to show how inflation plays out on actual plates and in actual glasses. That project spans everything from fast-food breakfast meals to buffets, appetizers and desserts at both local restaurants and national chains, tying economic trends directly to everyday dining decisions. He pairs this quantitative work with stories focused on bargains and “good value for a fair price,” emphasizing that his goal is not simply to find the cheapest options but to identify where the quality and the cost line up.
His reporting also includes immersive pieces, such as a three-day series of meals at a regional convenience chain to understand how its food fits into the broader dining landscape.
Best-of Lists and National Spotlight
Vitale plays a central role in how local restaurants and bars are presented in regional and national “best-of” coverage. Through his recommendations to a national network of editors, he has helped put multiple local establishments on annual Restaurants of the Year and Bars of the Year lists, including fine-dining and neighborhood spots that reflect a range of styles and locations. His work has contributed to recognition for restaurants such as Veritas, FYR and Agni, and for bars such as Law Bird, Threes Above High and Land-Grant Brewing Co. In his own writing he explains how these lists are compiled, distinguishing his coverage from generic ranking content by laying out the criteria, editorial process and subjectivity behind “top places” stories.
That transparency extends to his frequent list-style pieces on topics like steakhouses, burger joints, romantic restaurants and specialty categories, where he uses the format to surface a broad cross-section of the dining scene rather than a narrow, personal favorites list.
Breweries, Bars and Taco Culture
Alongside restaurants, Vitale devotes significant coverage to breweries, taprooms and bar culture. He reports on milestones such as a brewery’s multi-day anniversary celebration, using event coverage to showcase the role of beer-focused businesses in local nightlife and community life.
He also covers more difficult moments, such as plans by a brewery and taproom to close, documenting what the loss means for regulars and for the broader craft beer ecosystem. His expertise in this area extends beyond print, with appearances discussing the state of local breweries in Ohio and nationally, where he connects trends in production, openings and closures to consumer habits and the bar side of dining.
Within food coverage, he regularly returns to tacos and related street-food culture, producing call-out pieces that seek reader input on standout taco spots and follow-up features that profile specific trucks, cantinas and restaurants known for their birria menus and other specialties.
Chef Profiles, Specialty Menus and Creative Pizzas
Vitale often frames new openings and concepts through the chefs and owners behind them, especially when a chef is expanding a portfolio or exploring a new cuisine. In coverage of projects like a Mexican-inspired restaurant from a chef already operating multiple nearby venues, he explains how the new menu and cocktail program relate to the chef’s existing work and to broader trends in contemporary cooking.
He also pays close attention to specialty items and creative menus, including all-you-can-eat buffets that mix hotpot, sushi and seafood, and pizza programs that go far beyond standard toppings. His writing on specialty pizzas, for example, digs into seasonal combinations, unusual ingredients and award-winning sides, treating creative pies as a lens on local sourcing, flavor experimentation and the competitive dynamics among pizzerias.
These stories punctuate his beat with detailed, dish-level reporting that shows how individual menu choices embody larger shifts in taste and technique.
Beat Experience and Reporting Style
Vitale has decades of experience as a journalist and has been in his current dining role since 2023, after earlier years covering local government and politics for the same newsroom. That background informs a reporting style that treats food coverage as hard news, incorporating structured research, clear sourcing and attention to policy and economic context alongside the sensory appeal of meals and drinks. His beat work blends routine coverage - openings, closings, events - with long-running projects, interactive reader engagement and contributions to national lists, making his dining reporting both a guide to where to eat and a record of how the food scene changes over time.
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.