Dan Egitto
Dan Egitto is an editor and reporter at ARLnow.com who focuses on how new food destinations, infrastructure projects and local policies reshape everyday life, writing in a clear, service-oriented style that foregrounds practical details for people who live and work in Arlington.
Restaurant openings and neighborhood food scene
In his food coverage, Egitto treats restaurant news as part of the broader evolution of local commercial corridors, rather than as standalone lifestyle pieces. His work on openings like Takumi Japanese restaurant in Pentagon City follows the progress from build-out to opening, emphasizing timing, location and what the concept adds to the existing mix of nearby dining options. When he covers other new spaces, such as a planned art venue in Green Valley expected to open in the spring, he brings the same attention to who is investing in the project, when it will open and how it is meant to serve neighborhood residents.
Development pieces on projects like converting a Crystal City office building into apartments often note ground-floor uses and amenities, further tying his reporting on the built environment back to where people eat, gather and spend time.
Across these stories, his tone is straightforward and informational rather than promotional. He typically anchors leads in a specific change - a restaurant moving toward opening, a space nearing completion, a project beginning construction - and then walks through the key facts: location, timeline, stakeholders, and the expected impact on nearby businesses and residents. That approach makes his food-related coverage useful for understanding how individual openings fit into longer-running shifts in neighborhoods like Pentagon City and Green Valley.
Transportation, infrastructure and street safety
A large share of Egitto’s recent work focuses on transportation infrastructure and street design, often linking technical projects to safety and everyday travel. He covers studies such as a “near miss” report on Washington Boulevard and S. Glebe Road by explaining what the data shows about conflict points, how agencies propose to respond, and what changes residents might see on the ground. Stories on parts of the Custis Trail closing for repaving set out the exact stretches affected, the timing of closures and detours, and why the maintenance work is being done now. When a contract is awarded for rehabilitating the I-395 bridge over the Potomac River, he details the scope of work and the expected benefits, tying a regional project back to local drivers and commuters.
His coverage of lane redesign on S. Four Mile Run Drive and the rollout of a microtransit program in northwest Arlington shows a consistent emphasis on how design decisions and new services are meant to reduce speeding, add parking or change travel choices. These pieces typically quote or summarize official plans and then translate them into concrete outcomes: new parking counts, lane configurations, service areas, and implementation timelines.
The result is transport reporting that serves as both a record of government decisions and a practical guide for how residents’ routes, options and safety conditions are expected to change.
Local government, policy and growth
Egitto regularly reports on county government, growth policy and politically charged issues, treating them with a news-first frame that foregrounds decisions, documents and public statements. His coverage of a House committee criticizing local “sanctuary” policies walks through the committee’s claims, the sheriff’s position and the potential implications for local enforcement practices. In pieces on county leadership, such as an interview with the County Board chair outlining goals for smart growth and a more stable economy in 2026, he organizes the story around specific priorities - land use, economic resilience, and budgeting - rather than broad rhetoric.
When a judge overturns the county’s “Missing Middle” zoning changes, he frames it as breaking news and focuses on the ruling, its reasoning and the immediate consequences for housing policy and pending projects.
Growth and policy coverage often intersects with his infrastructure and development reporting, such as in stories on office-to-residential conversions in Crystal City or major transportation contracts.
He tends to connect board actions, committee scrutiny and court decisions back to their effects on where housing can be built, how streets are configured and what kinds of services the county can afford to expand. That makes his government reporting particularly relevant for readers tracking long-term debates over zoning, immigration enforcement and economic strategy alongside the tangible changes those debates produce.
Community events, weather and human interest
Alongside hard news, Egitto covers community events and lighter features that document how residents experience the place where they live. His piece on Arlington Palooza highlights activities like dancing, vendors and craft stations, giving a clear sense of what the event offers families and local organizations. A story about a man traveling by foot with three goats into Arlington leans into the unusual nature of the journey while still noting where he arrived and how the trip unfolded. During a winter storm, he assembles photos that show people enjoying the snow and the way familiar landmarks look in different conditions, turning a weather event into a visual record of the community’s day.
He also produces year-end wrap-ups such as the ranking of the top Arlington stories of 2025, drawing together major threads from zoning, transportation, politics and community life in one place. Across these pieces, his writing stays restrained and descriptive, relying on specific scenes, activities and images rather than editorializing.
Combined with his infrastructure and policy reporting, this work gives a rounded view of how official decisions, physical changes and everyday experiences interact, with food and local businesses embedded in that wider narrative.
Egitto has reported for regional newspapers before joining ARLnow.com in 2024, bringing daily newsroom experience to his current mix of editing and reporting. His portfolio combines breaking news, explanatory pieces and on-the-ground features, unified by a focus on concrete changes - from restaurant openings to lane redesigns - and what they mean for the people who navigate and patronize Arlington’s streets, trails and commercial districts.
4 more food journalists.
Adam Maidment
Adam Maidment is a senior What's On and LGBTQ+ reporter whose food and leisure coverage is built around immersive, first-person reporting and concrete detail. He works at the Manchester Evening News, focusing on new restaurant and bar openings, regular food reviews, gig and event coverage, and issues affecting LGBTQ+ people. He treats restaurants, pubs, bars and experiences as stories about place, people and community, explaining what makes a venue different and how it fits into the local dining scene. His pieces cover pricing, service, atmosphere, crowds and concept, and he is willing to be critical when gimmicks undermine the experience. He writes character-led pub profiles, works shifts, joins treasure hunts and attends major cultural events, inviting readers to follow what he does and use his straightforward assessments to decide where to eat, drink and spend time.
Alice Lorenzato-Lloyd
Alice Lorenzato-Lloyd is editor at Secret Manchester, where she treats food as part of how people live in the city, not as an isolated subject. She covers restaurants, bars, street food and casual dining, linking new openings and food trends to neighbourhood change, local businesses and everyday routines. Her pieces focus on accessible spots, comfort dishes like pizza and tacos, and clear details of menus, presentation, atmosphere and practical information such as opening hours and booking. She often combines food, drink and live events, producing guides to venues for major sports tournaments and themed pop-ups as part of wider things to do. Alice also reports on hospitality business pressures, city-centre public spaces, charity initiatives, transport and infrastructure, always showing how food and drink fit into community and lifestyle stories. She previously wrote for other regional “Secret” sites as a staff writer and describes herself as a writer and food fanatic.
Aly Walansky
Aly Walansky specializes in service-driven food coverage that treats cocktails and dining as tools for celebration, focusing on how logistics, ordering options, and menu choices turn everyday meals and major holidays into shared experiences. She is a longtime food and travel journalist now writing for Forbes, where her beat centers on cocktails and occasion-driven dining. Her work includes practical, expert-driven roundups such as guides to many variations on the classic martini, shipped-meals gift lists for Mother’s Day, and accessible formats for Thanksgiving and other holidays. She reports through structured lists, restaurant features, and menu-focused profiles that highlight signature dishes and dining trends. Across outlets, she extends this approach to home cooking, grocery shopping, and recipes, and runs a newsletter that shares her current assignments and industry commentary.
Amy Clarke
Amy Clarke stands out for turning food trends, sustainability and rising costs into practical guidance. She writes about changing tastes, new ingredients, formats and dining habits, as well as budget-friendly sustainable eating, nutrition, food shopping and the pressures extreme weather places on small food businesses. Her work includes forward-looking trend round-ups, advice on eating sustainably on a budget, cheaper alternatives to expensive superfoods and a report on how ice cream vans manage heat, logistics and profitability. She works as a multimedia reporter for News Shopper Series, with past work published in Sutton & Croydon Guardian, Yahoo News UK and The Conversation. Clarke combines reported features with clear explainers, expert voices and step-by-step advice. She uses plain language, specific examples and practical tips to show what food changes mean for readers and businesses.