852: Washington Post Food Critic Elazar Sontag on His First Big Best Restaurants List

Matt Rodbard (0:00)

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Elazar Sontag (2:19)

I think that a four star restaurant has to be the best possible version of itself. When people see four stars on a review that I've written, I want them to understand that they're going to go to any number of different kinds of restaurants, but the experience they're going to have at that one is going to be flawless or near flawless.

Matt Rodbard (2:41)

This is TASTE, I'm your host, Matt Rodbard. Elazar Sontag published a cookbook at 18, ran Bon Appétit's Best New Restaurants list in his mid-20s, and last fall succeeded Tom Sietsema as The Washington Post's food critic, no disguise required. On this episode, he joins us to talk about his inaugural best restaurant list, which is likely causing some debate in and around the district. We also talk about bringing back the star ratings, his many travels to Virginia and Maryland, and so much more with one of my favorite voices in modern food writing. It was a real treat to have Elazar in the studio. I hope you enjoy this conversation.

Elazar Sontag, welcome to This Is TASTE. Long time coming. How are you?

Elazar Sontag (3:30)

I am so happy to be here. I am so good.

Matt Rodbard (3:33)

I'm a huge fan of your work.

Elazar Sontag (3:34)

I'm a huge fan of your work.

Matt Rodbard (3:35)

I'm so kind to bring it back. I was looking back at my e-mails and I remember Anna Heasel and I were sitting in an office here at Penguin Random House in 2017, going over the first year of stories for TASTE. I remember receiving this pitch from a 19-year-old Bard student named Elazar Sontag.

We didn't do the story, but I remember vividly saying to Anna, this guy is impressive.

Elazar Sontag (4:00)

Thank you.

Matt Rodbard (4:01)

I loved the pitch. I just loved the way you just thought about food as a 19-year-old. Amazing.

Elazar Sontag (4:06)

Well, I was already, it's funny. So you sent me that e-mail and I did. I had totally forgotten about that whole period, but it sparked a memory of just really how my career started. It's true that TASTE was one of the first places that was doing exactly the thing that I wanted to embody, which was really food culture, heavy on the culture. But that story that you didn't end up running with, ended up changing my career because it landed in the Washington Post, where I now work. So I sort of like, it was a best case scenario, but I love that you sent that to me. It was really sweet.

Matt Rodbard (4:40)

It was a great pitch, and it's a full circle moment, because before you were at the Washington Post, where you are today as a food critic, and we're going to talk all about your career there, your short career there, but also this amazing, you know, top restaurants in DC list that you just released. Amazing work there. Really, I learned so much.