Dan Egitto
Dan Egitto covers how everyday places and policies shape local life, with food stories that treat restaurant openings as part of a broader neighborhood and civic landscape. He is an editor and reporter at ARLnow, where his byline runs across food coverage, local government, transportation, public safety, public health and the changing local media environment.
Food businesses as neighborhood change
On the food beat, Egitto focuses on how new restaurants and cafes fit into existing commercial districts and daily routines rather than treating them as lifestyle pieces in isolation. His coverage of Takumi, a Japanese restaurant moving toward opening in Pentagon City, situates the concept within a specific neighborhood and emphasizes the step-by-step progress of the business toward welcoming customers. In Ballston, his “bagel battle” piece on the opening of Call Your Mother frames the arrival of the shop as a competitive moment in a crowded local bagel scene, using the opening as a lens on how one corridor’s mix of food options is evolving. When his work touches legacy food institutions, such as Ben’s Chili Bowl being mentioned in a regional roundup seeking public input on an updated mural, he flags the civic and cultural role these brands play in addition to their menu.
Across these stories, he keeps the focus on what changes for residents—what kind of food is coming in, where it is located, and how it alters choices in specific parts of town—rather than on chef profiles or trends language. His restaurant coverage is grounded in clear, concrete details about openings, locations and timing, making it useful for readers who want to know what is happening on their streets as much as what is happening in the broader dining scene.
Local government, law and policy explained
Much of Egitto’s work digs into complex local and state policy questions and breaks them down into direct, accessible reporting. His coverage of Arlington’s “Missing Middle” zoning fight includes breaking news on a circuit court judge overturning the county’s expanded housing option, with detailed reporting on the judge’s specific findings about localized impacts, procedure and tree canopy requirements. He follows that legal saga forward, explaining how the Virginia Supreme Court’s decision to take up the case affects both the plaintiffs and ongoing development under the ordinance, and clarifying the difference between procedural rulings and the underlying merits.
He also reports on statewide legal changes like Virginia’s “Clean Slate” law, which will seal many criminal convictions, writing for a wider news audience while keeping the focus on what the law does, who it affects and how implementation will work. At the county level, he covers moves such as Arlington considering buying a house on Columbia Pike to realign an intersection, explaining eminent domain, public necessity language and the safety rationale in plain terms. His stories routinely connect statutes, court decisions and board actions to practical consequences for residents, using direct quotations and specific figures while avoiding jargon.
Infrastructure, safety and public health on the ground
Egitto frequently reports on the physical and safety infrastructure that underpins daily life, from roads and parks to emergency response and disease prevention. On transportation and streets, he covers projects such as the long-running Columbia Pike roadwork nearing completion, highlighting the years-long effort and what the finished work will change for people who travel the corridor. He tracks more immediate disruptions too, such as a sinkhole that blocked a road in Pentagon City for days, detailing the closure, repair timeline and effects on the neighborhood.
His reporting on safety includes an exclusive story on local firefighters’ frustration over their water rescue team not being sent to a fatal midair collision over the Potomac River, drawing on union accounts and official statements to reconstruct what happened and why. He also follows county efforts to improve street safety and park facilities, reporting on public feedback opportunities for specific projects and upgrades in places like Doctor’s Run Park. In public health, his coverage of a jump in flu cases explains official vaccination guidance, hygiene recommendations and practical steps residents can take, delivering clear, service-oriented information without editorializing.
Civic life, local culture and the media ecosystem
Beyond policy and infrastructure, Egitto writes about the civic organizations and informal networks that make up local community life. He covers groups such as Arlington’s “buy nothing” community, reporting on how the group survived internal turmoil and expanded into meetups and free yard sales, and showing how residents use these networks to share goods and connect with neighbors. He produces practical guides to local traditions, as in his detailed piece on Halloween in Arlington that lays out typical trick-or-treating hours, popular streets, transit options, sober ride programs and late-night events.
He also turns his attention to the local media ecosystem itself, reporting on how Northern Virginia print newspapers are evolving to survive in a digital industry, and highlighting specialized publications that are finding success. In another piece, he examines a partisan “pink slime” newspaper involved in Virginia’s redistricting battle, explaining how such outlets operate and exploring concerns about uneven reporting and political messaging. Taken together, these stories show a reporter interested not only in what happens in local communities but also in how information about those communities is produced, distributed and trusted.
Outside ARLnow, Egitto writes for other outlets and projects while maintaining his focus on law, policy and local impacts. He is noted as a freelance reporter and managing editor at ARLnow and has experience as a local reporter in other regions. His work is picked up by regional and national outlets when it intersects with wider legal or political developments, underscoring a reporting style that combines close attention to local detail with clear explanation of issues that resonate beyond any single jurisdiction.
4 more food journalists.
Al Culliton
Al Culliton is a writer and historian whose work focuses on the American cocktail as a living part of food and culture, using obscure, historic drinks to show how bars, spirits and cities change. They write reported features that trace how forgotten recipes move from old bar guides back onto modern menus, reconstructing how cocktails originally tasted and explaining how new builds reshape them. Their beat is revived classics, regional specialties and low-proof aperitifs, covered one drink at a time with close attention to specs, technique, glassware and service. They write about cocktails as cultural artifacts tied to specific communities and geographies, using single recipes to explore place, identity, regional traditions and diaspora histories. Across masthead work and recipe writing, they combine primary-source research with present-day reporting from working bars, in precise, accessible prose grounded in technical detail.
Alaina Chou
Alaina Chou stands out for rigorously testing food and kitchen products and turning those hands-on trials into clear shopping advice. She is a commerce writer at Bon Appétit and Epicurious, where she makes newsletters and shopping guides for home cooks. Her beat is food commerce, with coverage of air fryers, meal kits, protein powders, pepper grinders, electrolyte drinks, and cookbooks. She focuses on what is worth buying, how it performs, how it tastes, and how it fits daily routines and wellness. She also writes sale-driven lists and roundup pieces, and she has worked on Bon Appétit’s Feel Good Food Plan. Her reporting is practical, direct, and grounded in product testing.
Amadea Tanner
Amadea Tanner is a food journalist for Daily Meal whose distinct focus is food history, culinary nostalgia, and the way everyday dishes reveal broader cultural stories. She covers canned baked beans, boomer-era casseroles, cowboy trail food, and sailors’ rations to show how preservation, technology, labor, and survival shaped familiar staples. Her beat includes retro recipes, mid‑20th‑century home cooking, old-school ice cream flavors, and vintage cookbooks, treating them as records of household budgets and aspirations. She also reports on kitchen culture and domestic design, from breakfast alcoves and pie safes to milk doors and wall phones. Tanner investigates global dish origins and contested national claims in pieces on haggis and pavlova. Beyond Daily Meal, she has worked across food, travel, and sustainability, contributing to outlets including Atlas Obscura, Beau Monde Media, Yahoo, and Tasting Table.
Amanda Garrity
Amanda Garrity stands out for turning food, holidays, and family traditions into practical service stories that help readers plan specific celebrations. She is a lifestyle editor at TODAY.com and has more than seven years of experience as a lifestyle writer and editor, including five years on staff at Good Housekeeping, where she covered home, holidays, food, entertainment, and other lifestyle news. Her work also appears in consumer titles including Prevention, Men’s Health, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, and Best Products. Her beat centers on event-based menus, holiday explainers, and classic TV and film guides, with clear, list-driven reporting that gives readers specific dates, recipes, viewing options, and simple background for family planning.