Ken Rodriguez
Ken Rodriguez writes feature stories about the local culinary scene, spotlighting the people, places and traditions that define how residents eat and gather. He treats food as culture and narrative more than as lifestyle consumption, tracing lineages, honors and neighborhood institutions rather than chasing openings and trends.
Culinary culture and recognition
Rodriguez often uses individual honors and competitions as a lens on the broader food community.
In his coverage of a James Beard Media Award for author Dora Ramírez, he contrasts national recognition for storytelling with the absence of James Beard restaurant and chef awards for the city, framing the piece around what that gap means for local culinary ambition and identity. He applies a similar approach to chef-driven stories, such as highlighting 2M Smokehouse chefs preparing to compete on Food Network’s “Pitmasters,” where the narrative is as much about the restaurant’s journey and craft barbecue culture as the television appearance itself.
These pieces combine award or competition news with context about the city’s evolving food reputation. He gives space to how recognition intersects with heritage, representation and the sense of being overlooked, using profiles and reported features rather than brief announcements. The result is coverage that uses individual milestones to map the larger arc of the culinary scene.
Chef profiles and restaurant concepts
A significant share of Rodriguez’s recent work profiles chefs and their concepts, with attention to how they design service and experience. In a feature on chef Andrew Weissman, he reports on plans for a new American/French restaurant with a no-tipping model, explaining how that choice fits into Weissman’s broader philosophy and the local market. He returns to Weissman’s burger spot, Mr. Juicy, to explore how the chef reimagines a casual format while keeping a strong personal imprint on the menu and atmosphere.
Rodriguez also covers fast-growing and transplanted concepts, such as reporting on “Chicago Hot Dogs,” a business firing up the grill for Independence Day hot dogs adapted to local tastes. Across these stories, he balances operational details - service models, menu choices, holiday promotions - with narrative about the people behind the counters.
He writes in a feature style, often grounding each piece in a central personality or decision that illustrates how the restaurant fits into the wider scene.
Food traditions, family businesses and festivals
Beyond chef-driven concepts, Rodriguez pays close attention to longstanding food traditions and multigenerational businesses. In his coverage of the Conservation Society’s Night in Old San Antonio, he tells the story of a family selling buñuelos across three generations, using the single booth to show how festival food can anchor identity and continuity.
His reporting on a UTSA professor featured in a James Beard–nominated documentary about “La Mera Mera Tamalera” connects academic life, street-level food work and cultural documentation, positioning tamales as both livelihood and symbol.
These stories emphasize continuity and community service more than novelty.
He reports from festivals, neighborhood gatherings and small operations, often letting family history and long-running commitments drive the narrative arc. His food coverage therefore includes both high-profile restaurants and the quieter, generational work that sustains local traditions.
Local escapes and everyday experiences
Within the Live Like a Local section, Rodriguez occasionally widens his focus beyond food to include nearby trips and leisure, while still grounding those pieces in lived experience. In a guide on how residents can “Get Outta Town” with nearby trips, he organizes the story around short-distance escapes, building itineraries that reflect how people actually use their weekends and holidays. Even in these travel-oriented features, he treats food stops, local businesses and community touchpoints as central to the experience rather than add-ons.
Across his work, Rodriguez writes as a long-time features reporter with a consistent interest in narrative detail, scene-setting and character. He favors reported features over quick hits, and he uses awards, new concepts, festivals and short trips as entry points to show how the culinary scene and everyday life intersect.
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.