Virtual Gourmet About Us

MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET NEWSLETTER
Columnist for Esquire and Bloomberg News

ABOUT US

John Mariani ❘ Christopher Mariani ❘ Robert Mariani

Brian Freedman ❘ Suzanne Wright ❘ Mort Hochstein ❘ Carey Sweet

John Mariani-Chief Editor

John Mariani is a columnist for Esquire and Bloomberg News, an author and journalist of 30 years standing, having begun his writing for New York Magazine in 1973. Since then, he has become known as one of America’s premiere food writers (a three-time nominee for the James Beard Journalism Award) and author of several of the most highly regarded books on food in America today. He has been called by the Philadelphia Inquirer, “the most influential food-wine critic in the popular press.” His first book, The Dictionary of American Food & Drink (Ticknor & Fields, 1983) was hailed as the "American Larousse Gastronomique" and was chosen "best reference book on food for 1983" by Library Journal.    After a decade when the book was declared a "classic" of American food studies, Hearst Books issued a completely revised edition in 1994. In 1999 Lebhar-Friedman published a revised, expanded version entitled The Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink.
     Mariani' s second book. Eating Out: Fearless Dining in Ethnic Restaurants (Quill, 1985) was called by Food & Wine Magazine “a diner's manual to guerilla tactics for restaurant survival." His third book, Mariani's Coast-to-Coast Dining Guide (Times Books, 1986), which he edited, was widely acclaimed as the American counterpart to France's Guide Michelin. His next book, America Eats Out (William Morrow, 1991) won the International Association of Cooking Professionals Award for Best Food Reference Book. From 1989 through 1999 Mariani co-authored annual editions of Passport to New York Restaurants (Passport Press) and was editor of Italian Cuisine: Basic Cooking Techniques (Italian Wine & Food Institute), which became the textbook for Italian cooking studies at the Culinary Institute of America, and he has written the food and restaurant sections of the Encyclopedia of New York City (The New-York Historical Society and Yale University Press, 1995) and contributed entries to Chronicle of America (Chronicle Publications).
   Mariani's other books include The Four Seasons: A History of America's Premier restaurant (Crown, 1997; revised 1999); Vincent's Cookbook (Tenspeed Press, 1995), with chef Vincent Guérithault; The Dictionary of Italian Food & Drink (Broadway Books, 1998) which was nominated for an IACP award; and, with Marie Rama, Grilling for Dummies (IDG Books), which first appeared in 1999 and was revised in 2009. His new book is How Italian Food Conquered the World (Palgrave-MacMillan, 2011).

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Christopher Mariani-Contributing Editor and Writer

Christopher Mariani is a food and travel writer for the Virtual Gourmet and features a weekly column called "Man About Town." Christopher travels around the world reporting on new restaurants, the gastronomy of cities, travel and culinary events. Prior to his writing career Christopher worked for over nine years in the restaurant business starting at a family-style Italian restaurant called Ciao's in Eastchester, NY before working in Greenwich, CT at an upscale modern American restaruant named Rebeccas. He travels most of the year and continues to reveal some of the world's best new restaurants and foods.

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Robert Mariani-Contributing Writer

Born in the North Bronx, Rob Mariani currently lives in Bristol, RI. In addition to a successful career in advertising as creative director, copy writer and agency partner, Rob was the restaurant writer for findri.com for 5 years, and a contributing essayist to allaboutjazz.com. He has also written comedy sketches for The National Lampoon Radio Show. His travel writing has appeared in Specialty Travel Magazine and recently Rob's travel essay on Ireland and Irish Whiskey was a finalist in the New Yorker's "On the Town" sort essay contest. He is the founder and president of the Creative Communications Club of Providence, and has taught Creative Concepts and Copy Writing courses at Rhode Island School of Design and at Johnson & Wales University, and has been a guest lecturer at CCRI and Roger Williams College. His short stories and poems have been published in a number of regional magazines. He is also the co-author with his brother, John, of Almost Golden, a Bronx memoir.

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Brian Freedman-Wine Columnist

Brian Freedman is a food, wine, spirits, and travel writer, wine consultant, and event host and speaker. In addition to contributing to the Virtual Gourmet, he is contributing food and drinks writer for Philadelphia Style Magazine, wine columnist for Affluent Magazine, and wine specialist and resident blogger, at www.UncorkLife.com, for www.WineChateau.com, one of the largest online wine retailers in the country. He is also restaurant critic for Philadelphia Weekly, Suburban Life Magazine, and South Jersey Magazine, and covers wine and the Philadelphia restaurant scene for www.AskMen.com. He also writes a food-and-wine-pairing column for www.FoodRepublic.com, a new online publication co-founded by Chef Marcus Samuelsson. Brian’s freelance work has appeared in a number of other magazines, both domestically and internationally. In addition, he is the Membership Chair of the Wine Media Guild of New York, the Center for Wine Origins’ Philadelphia Ambassador for Port and Champagne, and consults for restaurants and private clients. You can visit him online, see links to past articles, columns, and television appearances, and contact him to speak, consult, or host your next event, at www.BrianFreedmanPhiladelphia.com

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Suzanne Wright-Contributing Writer

Suzanne Wright is a full time, freelance travel writer based in Atlanta. She has written for National Geographic Traveler, Elite Traveler, Golf for Women, Men’s Journal, The Tennessean, Wine & Spirits, Atlanta Style & Design, Birmingham Magazine, Piedmont Review and The Sunday Paper. She is also a radio personality known as “Wander Woman” on Talking Travel Radio Network in Sarasota, Florida, and a contributor to such websites such as Tango Diva and Offbeat Travel. Her specialties include gastronomy, luxury, spa, solo and adventure travel. She is a member of the Society of American Travel Writers. A former Navy brat, this single globetrotter’s bags are always packed and her passport up-to-date. She has visited all 50 states and more than 50 countries on five continents. Visit www.wanderwomanonline.com to read and listen to her travel stories.

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Mort Hochstein-Wine and Spirits Columnist

Mort Hochstein, former editor and producer for NBC News and the Today Show, and former managing editor of Nation's Restaurant News, writes on wine, food and travel for Wine Spectator, Wine Business Monthly, Saveur and other food and wine publications.

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Carey Sweet - Contributing Writer

With almost two decades of writing about food, restaurants and the chefs that make them happen, Carey Sweet has won numerous national restaurant criticism and food writing awards, including First Place in the nation from the Society of Professional Food Journalists. A near-native of Arizona, Sweet now lives in Sonoma County, splitting her time between Scottsdale and the North Bay, where she is active in professional food and wine memberships and activities. She is a regular contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle (covering restaurants, food and wine, and travel), 944 San Francisco magazine (restaurants, chefs and food), and numerous other North Bay publications. In covering Arizona's food industry, she contributes to numerous publications, including a weekly Dining News column for the Arizona Republic, plus regular restaurant reviews and food feature stories for the newspaper and its several affiliate magazines. She has a monthly food feature column in Phoenix Magazine, as well as regularly scheduled restaurant reviews and travel features emphasizing culinary adventures. A wine lover, she also consults for a boutique winery with vineyards in Chile and Argentina. View clips at www.careysweet.com.