Ryan Sutton is the chief critic and editor at The LO Times, one of the absolute best sources of food writing Substack has to offer. He previously served as Eater New York’s chief food critic for almost a decade, and prior to that, the New York critic at Bloomberg News. He’s won a James Beard Award and been nominated for two more, and today he lets us into his mind to understand not just how one earns the title of “critic,” but what food criticism actually entails. 

After Father Sal and I discussed the LA Times 101 at the end of 2024, it became abundantly clear to me that there’s a lot of confusion out there about what a critic’s role should be. Some believe it’s to put people on to new spots and to protect their dollars from the duds, while others believe it’s to point out the good and especially the bad aspects of the hottest restaurant in town. The truth is, it’s way more nuanced than that, and Ryan does an excellent job of breaking down the true responsibilities of a critic, not just on an individual level, but as a profession as a whole. It also doesn’t hurt that he has some fun anecdotes involving Red Lobster and Chick-fil-A, so if you do nothing else, stick around for those. 

Helpful links:

The LO Times https://www.thelotimes.com/

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