Mark Matthews
Mark Matthews is the publisher and sole reporter at 42 Freeway, a news site focused on development and construction projects, including restaurant and retail changes across South Jersey. He treats food stories as part of the built environment, connecting openings, closures and concept changes at local restaurants to wider patterns of commercial growth and infrastructure. His articles mix clear explanations, visual coverage and on-the-ground detail to show what is changing, why it is happening, and what diners can expect.
Restaurant openings, closures and long-running institutions
Matthews’ food coverage often centers on pivotal moments for individual restaurants, particularly major openings and high-impact closures. One recurring thread is long-tenured neighborhood spots coming to an end, such as Villa Nuova Italian Restaurant in Deptford, where he documents the announcement that the Italian restaurant will close after more than twenty-five years in business.
He gives similar attention to new arrivals, profiling concepts like Mochi Tea Deptford by spelling out its opening date, precise location in a shopping center and the mix of teas, mochi donuts and cream puffs on offer. Chain expansions also fall within his remit: he is credited with getting the scoop on Rocco’s Italian Sausages and Cheesesteaks expanding into South Jersey, treating the move as both a dining development and a broader retail footprint change.
In his restaurant pieces he consistently foregrounds the specifics - addresses, product mix, service style and any notable upgrades to bars or kitchens - so that readers can quickly understand what is changing at a given venue.
Food coverage rooted in development and construction detail
Even when the subject is food, Matthews writes with a development reporter’s eye. The site’s own description frames 42 Freeway as a one-person news operation focused on development and construction projects, with every article, photo, project visit, video and edit produced by him. That emphasis shows up in stories where grocery and specialty food retailers are covered through the lens of remodels and site work, such as a fully remodeled Heritage’s store in Gibbstown reopening after significant upgrades to a nearly seventy-year-old location. He applies the same approach to broader commercial projects - like a new three-story Life Storage facility in Washington Township - using them to explain how changing property uses and construction timelines affect surrounding retail and dining corridors. This combination of restaurant detail and construction context makes his food beat coverage particularly useful when a story hinges on site rebuilds, new-build units in shopping centers or the repurposing of existing structures.
Roadway changes and access to retail and dining
Matthews regularly covers major roadway and toll projects, and he often links these infrastructure changes back to how people reach retail and restaurant destinations. In a detailed explainer on the Atlantic City Expressway’s toll increase and new cashless gantry system, he breaks down how drivers are charged along the route and clarifies that traveling the full length does not result in eleven separate toll events, helping readers understand cost and convenience implications for trips that include dining and shopping stops. He takes a similar structural view in coverage of large-scale initiatives such as the multibillion-dollar New Jersey Turnpike widening between Exits 1 and 4, where he reports on proposals for a Route 42 connector and underscores the scale of the project for the southern portion of the Turnpike.
This infrastructure reporting reinforces his food coverage, because road access, lane configurations and toll structures directly shape the customer base and catchment areas for the restaurants and retail he tracks.
Long-term local beat reporter with a consistent theme
Matthews has been building and refining the 42 Freeway project for more than a decade, after years of community blogging about nearby towns and local issues.
He describes 42 Freeway as the first time he has worked with a consistent theme, channeling his interest in roads, real estate development and commercial projects into a focused masthead that he has operated since 2014. A feature profile on him highlights how he started by concentrating on roadway construction and real estate development along major highways, gradually expanding the coverage area, adding video and launching a companion blog while maintaining an active comments community.
Professional summaries of his work emphasize that he covers commercial, retail and road news across Southern New Jersey, which naturally pulls restaurants, pubs and food concepts into his beat as key parts of those corridors. Regional food outlets quote his reviews and credit his scoops, reinforcing his role as a go-to source when a story involves both what is happening at a restaurant and what is changing around it in the wider built environment.
4 more food journalists.
Adam Chandler
Adam Chandler stands out for treating food as a business and culture story, not a lifestyle beat. He writes a food column for The Wall Street Journal, where he uses familiar dishes and trends to explain pricing, branding, consumer behavior, demographics and shifting tastes. He has covered chicken thighs, Diet Coke versus Coke Zero, the rise of the $100 hot dog, regional American dishes, the U.S. Open food scene and hard-to-get restaurant reservations. His reporting also spans features, video pieces and audio conversations, all in plain, reported prose that focuses on fast food, chains, branded products, access and the real-world marketplace for eating out. He draws on a long career in national magazines and newspapers, plus books on fast food and work, to give his coverage historical context.
Ash Jurberg
Ash Jurberg weaves travel, food, and family stories into personal narratives that show how specific dishes shape relationships and daily life. He is a freelance journalist focused on travel, gastronomy, and family dynamics, with regular contributions to Allrecipes. There he writes personal essays on how culinary traditions define families, treating home cooking as a lived practice and emphasizing the rituals around particular dishes. His travel and lifestyle work links destinations with the flavors, street foods, and dining traditions that define them, including a piece on El Salvador’s rise as a travel destination and pupusas as its national dish. On Allrecipes he also covers simple, flexible recipes that fit busy routines, such as Nigella Lawson’s three-ingredient all-day dish. His voice blends anecdote, reported detail, and light humor informed by standup and improv, and he has authored two books.
Avril Treasure
Avril Treasure is Editor for Time Out Sydney and a food and drink specialist known for critic-led guides that turn restaurants, bars and cafés into clear choices. She writes ranked lists, neighbourhood roundups and occasion-based picks, covering best restaurants, bars, coffee, casual dining, new openings and long-running institutions. Her reviews combine menu, drinks, price, opening hours, location and atmosphere to help readers decide where to go. She also covers things to do, arts and culture, nightlife, news, lifestyle and sport, including city-wide guides and picks for Mexican food and dancefloors. Treasure has written for The Saturday Telegraph, Concrete Playground, Urban List NZ and Broadsheet, and appears as a monthly guest on ABC Radio Sydney. She has more than a decade of print and digital experience across food, drink, news, travel, home and culture.
Bud Kennedy
Bud Kennedy is a long-time Star-Telegram columnist whose defining work is Eats Beat, a practical chronicle of Texas dining and community life. He has written the column in print since 1985 and online since 1992, producing more than 3,000 pieces on cafes, barbecue joints, burger spots and other everyday restaurants. He reports openings, closings, changes and deals with close attention to names, dates and what diners can expect next. His food coverage connects restaurant news to neighborhood change, tradition, development and economic growth. Kennedy also writes opinion columns on city growth, identity, history, sports, media, state politics and national conflict. His reporting draws on a 54-year newspaper career covering two Super Bowls, a presidential inauguration, seven national political conventions and 19 sessions of the Texas Legislature. He appears weekly on Inside Texas Politics and is a frequent broadcast guest and speaker.