BIOGRAPHY
Brad A. Johnson is a writer and photographer specializing in food and travel. He is the only critic in America to win both the James Beard Award and the World Food Media Award for restaurant criticism—two of the largest prizes for restaurant critics in America and worldwide, respectively.
Brad’s writing on food has also garnered recognition from the International Association of Culinary Professionals, the Association of Food Journalists, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Los Angeles Press Club, the Orange County Press Club, the California Journalism Awards (CNPA), the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards, the Society for Features Journalism and the Jesse H. Neal Business Journalism Foundation.
Brad’s travel writing and photography have been equally distinguished, winning two dozen awards from the North American Travel Journalists Association, the Society of American Travel Writers and others. Award-winning subjects include a gorilla trek through Uganda’s Impenetrable Forest, an exhaustive quest to find the best pizza in Naples, a deep dive into pozole in Zihuatanejo, and a poignant exploration of the food and wine of Basilicata. He has visited 37 countries on six continents and has traveled by train, boat, bicycle, vintage car, private jet… even by camel. Brad was the only travel journalist from the United States to fly aboard the maiden voyage of the Airbus A380 Super Jumbo, the world’s largest airplane, on its inaugural flight from Singapore to Sydney.
Brad currently serves as restaurant critic for the Orange County Register in Southern California. He is a former longtime contributing reporter at Food & Wine, frequent contributor to Robb Report and columnist at Food Republic and Mexico Today. He previously helped pioneer Modern Luxury Media, the largest publisher of luxury lifestyle magazines in the U.S., where for more than a decade he served as national food and travel editor. His writing and photography have appeared in dozens of publications worldwide, including New York Post, Toronto Star, The Hollywood Reporter, The Star Malaysia, B-Eat Magazin (Berlin), Time Out Los Angeles, Sunset, Angeleno, Manhattan, St. Regis Bespoke, and Mandarin Oriental’s Destination MO. Brad also served as the resident critic on the tv show Beat The Chefs, which aired nationally on GSN.
AWARDS
This is an abbreviated list of global achievements.
WORLD FOOD MEDIA AWARDS
Best Restaurant Critic, 2010
Best Restaurant Critic – Nominee, 2007
Best Restaurant Critic – Nominee, 2005
JAMES BEARD AWARDS
Best Restaurant Critic, 2008
Best Restaurant Critic – Nominee, 2007
Best Restaurant Critic – Nominee, 2004
NORTH AMERICAN TRAVEL JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION
2002 – 2020, 22 Awards, including:
Best Travel Blog 2020
Best Culinary Travel Writing 2020
Best International Destination Travel Writing
Best Travel Column
Best Travel Photography
Best Travel Series
LOWELL THOMAS TRAVEL JOURNALISM AWARDS / SOCIETY OF AMERICAN TRAVEL WRITERS
Best Travel Blog, 2019-2020
Best Travel Photography / Illustrated Story, 2017
Best Travel Blog, 2011
SOCIETY FOR FEATURES JOURNALISM
Best Food Criticism, 2019, 2021
Best Food Writing Portfolio (finalist), 2019
ASSOCIATION OF FOOD JOURNALISTS
Best Restaurant Critic (nominee), 2019
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CULINARY PROFESSIONALS
Best Individual Instagram – Finalist, 2021
Best Food Column – Finalist, 2016
FOOD PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR AWARDS
Finalist, 2021
PdN TASTE – INTERNATIONAL FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS
Best Food Photography on Social Media, 2016
Best Food Photography – Professional, 2016
CALIFORNIA JOURNALISM AWARDS
California News Publishers Association
Best Newspaper Columnist – Finalist, 2020
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA JOURNALISM AWARDS
Best Restaurant Critic – 2017, 2018; Finalist, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021
Best Travel Writing – Finalist, 2015, 2017, 2020, 2021
Best Independent Blog – Finalist, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021
NATIONAL ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALISM AWARDS
Best Criticism, Food/Culture – Finalist, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
Best Independent Blog – Finalist, 2019, 2020
ORANGE COUNTY PRESS CLUB
9x Best Restaurant Critic
4x Best Food Story
4x Best Travel Writing
Best Blog, Entertainment/Culture
2x Best Roundup Feature
Marjorie Freeman Award for Humorous Writing
3x David McQuay Award, Columnist of the Year (finalist)
3x Best Photography (finalist)
Real OC Award (finalist)