BIOGRAPHY
Photographer | Writer | Editor | Critic | Traveler
I’m a full-spectrum content creator at the vanguard of food-and-travel storytelling.
Photography: In 2026, I earned the distinction of Photographer of the Year from both the Society of American Travel Writers and the North American Travel Journalists Association (the second year in a row for NATJA). I’ve earned additional honors in photography from the International Association of Culinary Professionals, the worldwide Taste Food Photography Awards and the most-prestigious World Food Photography Awards, the latter for which my work has been chosen for exhibitions at the Mall Galleries and Fortnum & Mason in London and at the Royal Photographic Society in Bristol, England.
Writing: I launched this blog in 2008 to chronicle my global adventures in food (and my writing for various publications around the world). Across various roles in an illustrious journalism career, I’m proud to have earned the world’s top honors for restaurant criticism and travel writing from the James Beard Foundation, the World Food Media Awards, the FOLIO Eddie & Ozzie Awards, the California Journalism Awards, the Society for Features Journalism, the Association of Food Journalists, the Society of Professional Journalists and more. The trophy case includes dozens of awards spanning two-and-a-half decades from both the NATJA Awards and the Society of American Travel Writers’ Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, among others.
Travel: Two things inspire most of my travels: great food and beautiful hotels. These dueling passions have lured me to 45 countries on six continents. I’ve devoted weeks at a time to studying pozole in Zihuatanejo or pizza in Naples. I’ve tracked highland gorillas on foot through Uganda’s Impenetrable Forest, fished for spotted trout in the Himalayas of Kashmir, hunted black truffles (with the cutest dogs) in Western Australia and traveled by rail for 1,500 miles through Southeast Asia. I was the only consumer travel journalist from the U.S. invited to fly the historic maiden voyage of the Airbus A380 on its first-ever commercial flight with Singapore Airlines. An admitted luxury-hotel junkie, I’ve slept in 23 Four Seasons and 11 Park Hyatts around the world (and counting) — but I also enjoy a good roadside motel, as long as the pillows are soft and the linens not polyester.
The backstory: I created, launched and led the award-winning OLTRE magazine for Internova. Before that, I served as the anonymous restaurant critic (and travel writer) for the Orange County Register in Southern California, the second-largest newspaper west of the Mississippi. Going back further, as national food and travel editor, I helped pioneer Modern Luxury Media into the largest publisher of luxury lifestyle magazines in the Americas. I was also a longtime contributing reporter at Food & Wine and was the chief dining critic for the launch of Time Out Los Angeles and Microsoft’s Chicago Sidewalk. I’ve served as a frequent contributor to Robb Report and a travel columnist at Food Republic and Mexico Today. My writing and photography have appeared in dozens of other publications worldwide, including Travel & Leisure, New York Post, Toronto Star, The Hollywood Reporter, The Star Malaysia, Mandarin Oriental and B-Eat Magazin (Berlin), to name a few.
AWARDS
This is an abbreviated list of global achievements.
FOLIO AWARDS / EDDIES
Best Magazine Launch
Best Columnist, Consumer/Travel x2
Best Range of Work by a Single Author
Best Photography, Consumer Magazine
Best Travel Magazine – Finalist
Best Magazine Full Issue, Consumer/Travel – Finalist
Editorial Team of the Year – Finalist
WORLD FOOD MEDIA AWARDS
Best Restaurant Critic x1; nominee x3
Best Food Section in a Magazine – Nominee x2
JAMES BEARD AWARDS
Best Restaurant Critic x1; nominee x3
SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS
2025 Sigma Delta Chi Award for Excellence in Travel Journalism
NORTH AMERICAN TRAVEL JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION
2002 – 2026, 47 Awards, including:
Photographer of the Year
Best Travel Magazine, finalist
Best Travel Blog
Best Culinary Travel Writing
Best Travel Photography
Best International Destination Travel Writing
Best Travel Column
Best Travel Series
SOCIETY OF AMERICAN TRAVEL WRITERS / MUSTER / LOWELL THOMAS TRAVEL JOURNALISM AWARDS
2004 – 2026, 21 awards, national and Western Chapter, including:
Best Travel Magazine, finalist
Bill Muster Photo Award, Photographer of the Year
Best Short Narrative Writing
Best Travel Blog
Best Illustrated Story
Best Culinary Travel Writing
SOCIETY FOR FEATURES JOURNALISM
Best Arts & Entertainment Criticism Portfolio x2
Best Editorial Package/Project
Best Food Criticism x3
Best Food Writing Portfolio (finalist) x2
ASSOCIATION OF FOOD JOURNALISTS
Best Restaurant Critic (nominee)
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CULINARY PROFESSIONALS
Best Restaurant Criticism – Finalist
Best Individual Instagram – Finalist x2
Best Food Column – Finalist
WORLD FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS
Formerly known as Food Photographer of the Year Awards
Food Portraiture
James Beard Foundation Photography Award
Food at Table
Shot on the Phone
PdN TASTE – INTERNATIONAL FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS
Best Food Photography on Social Media
Best Food Photography – Professional
CALIFORNIA JOURNALISM AWARDS
California News Publishers Association
Best Newspaper Columnist – Finalist
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA JOURNALISM AWARDS
Journalist of the Year – Finalist x2
Magazine Columnist of the Year x2
Best Restaurant Critic – x4; Finalist, x9
Best Travel Writing – Finalist x5
Best Independent Blog – Finalist x4
Best Use of Social Media – Finalist x2
Best Feature Photography – Finalist x3
NATIONAL ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALISM AWARDS
Journalist of the Year – Finalist x2
Magazine Columnist of the Year – Finalist
Best Criticism, Food/Culture x2; Finalist x11
Best Independent Blog – Finalist x4
Best Social Media – Finalist x3
Best Portrait Photography – Finalist
ORANGE COUNTY PRESS CLUB
Best Restaurant Critic x13
Best Food Story x5
Best Travel Writing x10
Best Blog x2
Best Roundup Feature x3
David McQuay Award, Columnist of the Year x5
Best Photography x6
Marjorie Freeman Award for Humorous Writing
Real OC Award