It's the end of an era. New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells announced yesterday in an article titled "After 12 Years of Reviewing Restaurants, I'm Leaving the Table."
"Early this year, I went for my first physical in longer than I’d care to admit," Wells wrote, noting that he was "about halfway through a list of 140 or so restaurants I planned to visit before I wrote the 2024 edition of 'The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City.'" The article then discusses his "scores," which he deemed "bad across the board," listing cholesterol, blood sugar and hypertension, along with pre-diabetes, fatty liver disease and the fact that he was "technically obese." He writes that after he "got to the end of all that eating," he realized he "wasn't hungry."
Wells clarifies that while his twelve years as the restaurant critic for the esteemed publication is coming to a close, he will indeed remain in the newsroom. Wells writes that "I’ve decided to bow out as gracefully as my state of technical obesity will allow."
Interestingly, Wells talks about how the job is often viewed as such an amazing opportunity — which it is — but something that is "almost never [brought] up . . . is our health." He credits politeness, but also writes that "Mostly, though, we all know that we’re standing on the rim of an endlessly deep hole and that if we look down we might fall in."
Adam Platt, who was a critic for New York Magazine for nearly 25 years before stepping down in 2022, told Wells that "it's the least healthy job in America, probably." Wells also lists the men who died young in their line of work: A.A. Gill, Jonathan Gold, A.J. Liebling (he also notes that many female critics happened to live longer, such as Gael Greene and Mimi Sheraton).
He concludes "It’s time to return the tux. I’ve had the trousers let out a few inches, but a tailor can take them in again. As for the stain on the jacket, that’s just pork fat. I think it adds character."
