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  Tejal Rao

Tejal Rao

 Hi! I'm a writer and I live in Los Angeles. The best way to get in touch is via email: tejal.rao@nytimes.com. 

I'm the California restaurant critic for The New York Times, and a columnist for The New York Times Magazine. Previously, I was a restaurant critic for the Village Voice, and for Bloomberg News, and before writing, I worked as a cook, copy editor and translator.

In 2019, I was awarded a Vilcek Prize for my reporting. I've won two James Beard Foundation awards for my restaurant criticism, been named one of Forbes Magazine's "30 Under 30," and my writing has been included in two editions of "The Best American Food Writing" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). 

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REVIEWS
Hotville in Los Angeles, NYT
Punjabi Dhaba in Bakersfield, NYT
Poncho's Tlayudas in Los Angeles, NYT

Cafe Ohlone in San Francisco, NYT
​
REPORTING 
How Kit Kat Got Big in Japan, NYTMag
On a Mister Softee Truck
, NYT
Midwestern Indigenous Cuisines, NYT
New Food Magazines, NYT

​ESSAYS 
Mall Pizza, NYTMag
The Imperative Mood, NYTBR
Oysters, a Love Story,  NYTMag
An Appetite for Anime, NYTMag
​
PROFILES
Usha Prabakaran, NYT
Diana Kennedy, NYT
Tiny Chef, NYT
Pim Techamuanvivit, 
NYT

COOKING 
Panettone,
NYT
Shrikhand, NYTMag​
Pork Dumplings, NYTMag
Onion Pie, NYTMag

​​​all recent clips here

BOOKS​
​-The Best American Food Writing 2019
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019)

- Women on Food 
​(Rizzoli, 2019)

​- The Good Immigrant USA 
(Little Brown, 2019)

​​
- The Best American Food Writing 2018
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018)

INTERVIEWS 
​- The Daily
- The Believer
- Foxy Browns
- Cherry Bombe
- The New York Times
- Times Insider 
- Good Food
​- Diaspora Co.
- Tiffin

​​EMAIL
tejal.rao@nytimes.com

TWITTER 
@tejalrao 

INSTAGRAM
​@tejalxrao​

​
​photo: radicchio del Veneto by Tony Cenicola (c) 2017 The New York Times
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