Me + trout friend somewhere off Captiva Island
I have never had a (successful) hobby.
For me, there is only food and writing. I’ve spent the past 15-odd years relentlessly fusing these two life pursuits.
After earning a degree in journalism and mass communication from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I was a financial journalist for Reuters until I was laid off during the Great Recession of 2008. I then impetuously sunk most of my meager life savings into a year in culinary school, earning a certificate in professional cookery from Kendall College in Chicago. There, I learned such wondrous things as the secret to Roman marinara (anchovies!) and the sound a perfectly baked baguette makes.
I worked for six years as a magazine editor and reporter covering the business side of food—from fine dining to baking and pastry, supermarkets and packaged food and beverages. I took the plunge into freelance writing in 2014.
I’m now the restaurant critic for Time Out Chicago and columnist for Salon. My work has also appeared in the New York Times, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Punch, VinePair, Conde Nast Traveler, WBEZ Chicago, Saveur, the Chicago Tribune, Food52, Allrecipes, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Wine Enthusiast, Taste, Plate, and the Takeout.
Or check out my portfolio of recent work.