Tom Sietsema here, full-time food enthusiast.

Photo by: Deb Lindsey Photography

About Me

The year 2025 has been one of major change. I traded a spacious home for a small apartment and said so long to my job as food critic for The Washington Post, after a run of almost 26 years. No more dining out 10 meals a week; more time to cook, travel, and follow all my passions.

Before my tenure at The Post, where I won various honors including a 2016 James Beard Award, I wrote for Microsoft (yep, as a critic), the San Francisco Chronicle, and publications nationwide. My byline has appeared in Gourmet, GQ, Travel and Leisure, and elsewhere.

I’m a proud Minnesota native, a graduate of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, and a resident of D.C., ensconced with my partner and a Whippet named Henry.

“Dream out loud,” I heard superstar chef Jose Andres tell a rapt audience at a food symposium in Copenhagen in the spring.

So I’m doing just that, turning occasional, casual dinners with friends — Lamb Burger Nights (LBN), because that’s what I typically serve at home  — into more of a mission. The idea is to bring people together from different walks of life for a simple meal and to exchange ideas, which sounds a little fancy but is actually the opposite. In fact, I’m calling the discussions around our table NON salons. People might assume the best part of being a food critic was all the “free” food, when for me it was much more: breaking bread with folks who made me think, and enhancing the joy in my life.

Who knows? I might invite YOU to come over. Stay tuned for details.

I hope you follow along here and on my social media as I chronicle my LBNs and prepare for my next project, which I hope to launch in early 2026. A lifetime of writing about food and traveling the world in search of the best has prepared me for this journey.

Join me!