Dev Patel
Dev Patel covers how new and notable food spots land in the city, with a focus on openings that add something distinctive to the local dining scene. His work looks closely at what makes a place special, from its concept to its menu, rather than just noting that it exists.
Spotlighting new food destinations
Much of Patel’s recent coverage introduces readers to restaurants and shops that are just opening their doors, often with a clear angle on what they bring to the area’s food culture. In his piece on the city’s only frozen custard shop, he frames the story around the arrival of a dessert style that had not previously had a dedicated venue locally, underlining the “only” in the market and what that means for people who seek out specific treats. He spends time on the shop’s core offering and how it differs from more familiar ice cream, positioning the opening as both a business story and a change in the local dessert landscape. This kind of work shows a recurring interest in firsts, rarity and niche concepts within the broader food beat, rather than treating each opening as interchangeable.
When he writes about restaurant launches, Patel tends to anchor pieces in straightforward, current details: what the place serves, where it is, when it opens and why it matters. He highlights signature items and distinctive formats on the menu, along with any notable twists on familiar dishes, giving readers enough information to decide if the spot fits their tastes without slipping into review territory. His tone stays descriptive and factual, with emphasis on clarity over flourish, which makes his coverage useful for anyone tracking how the city’s food map is changing week by week.
Exploring the city through its food
Patel’s author bio describes him as a summer intern with a keen interest in exploring the city and working his way around it, and this perspective shows up in the way he writes about food. He often treats a new restaurant or shop as a way into a neighbourhood, noting how a venue fits into its surroundings and what kind of experience it offers compared to what is already there. Rather than focusing on chefs’ personalities or industry gossip, he stays close to the ground, looking at everyday details that matter to people deciding where to eat: type of cuisine, atmosphere, price point and accessibility.
Across his food pieces, there is a sense of discovery that mirrors the vantage point of someone still mapping out the city for themselves. That gives his coverage an immediacy that differs from long-time critics who lean heavily on historical comparisons or deep chef profiles. Patel instead presents new places as part of an ongoing exploration, where each opening is another stop on a broader tour of local food culture. This approach makes his writing particularly attuned to readers who want to try what is new and different, rather than rely on established staples.
Straightforward service journalism on the food beat
Patel’s work sits firmly in service journalism: his articles aim to tell readers what is happening on the food beat right now and how they can participate. Headlines zero in on the main draw—whether a unique dessert offering, a particular style of cuisine or a notable concept—so that the value of the story is clear at a glance. Inside the pieces, he keeps the structure tight and practical, moving quickly from context to concrete details like opening dates, locations and key menu items. This distinguishes his output from more generic event listings, because there is enough depth for readers to understand why an opening is worth attention, but not so much opinion that the work becomes full review writing.
His coverage also reflects the masthead’s broader focus on local life and culture, connecting food stories to the everyday rhythms of the city rather than to national trends. Patel writes about places as they are experienced by people living and working nearby, which keeps his food reporting grounded and specific. The combination of a discovery-led lens, attention to distinctive concepts and a clear, factual style marks his work out from more routine beat reporting that might simply catalogue openings without much sense of what they add to the local scene.
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.