Tejal Rao

Tejal Rao (born ) is a restaurant critic, recipe developer and writer based in Los Angeles. She is one of the two chief restaurant critics for ''The New York Times''. In 2018, she was named the first California restaurant critic for ''The New York Times''. In 2021, she was named editor of the ''New York Times'' subscription cooking newsletter ''The Veggie''.

Early life and education

Rao was born in London, but spent time in Kuwait, Sudan, and France during her youth before settling in Cobb County, Georgia as a teenager. Rao's mother was born in Uganda and her father was raised in India.

Rao attended Emerson College, where she earned a BA in literature.

Career

In 2012, Rao joined ''The Village Voice'' as a food critic. In 2013, Rao won the James Beard Foundation’s Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Review Award for her work for ''The Village Voice.''

In 2014, Rao joined ''Bloomberg'' as a food editor and restaurant critic. In 2016, she won the James Beard Foundation’s Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Review Award once again, this time for her work at ''Bloomberg''. In the same year, Rao joined ''The'' ''New York Times'' as a food department staff writer and monthly columnist for its magazine. In 2018, she was named T''he'' ''New York Times first California restaurant critic, to better serve the growing number of ''New York Times'' readers in the state.

In 2021, Rao was named ''The'' ''New York Times'' writer for the vegetarian recipe newsletter ''The Veggie''. Although she is not a vegetarian, Rao enjoys cooking vegetarian food.

In June 2025, ''The New York Times'' appointed Rao as one of its two new chief restaurant critics, marking a shift toward nationally focused restaurant coverage and ending the tradition of critic anonymity.

Rao has also contributed to a range of other publications, such as ''The Atlantic, Edible,'' and ''Gourmet,'' among others.

Personal life

In December 2020, she contracted COVID-19 and lost her sense of smell. She used smell therapy to regain it over the course of two months. She lives in Los Angeles.

Awards and accolades

* 2012 – Forbes 30 under 30, Food & Wine
*2013 – James Beard Foundation Awards, Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Review Award for "Bangkok Pop, No F etishes,; The Sweet Taste of Success,; Enter the Comfort Zone at 606 R&D"
*2016 – James Beard Foundation Awards, Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Review Award for "A Health Food Restaurant So Cool It Will Have You Happily Eating Seeds"; "Revisiting Momofuku Ko, After the Revolution"; "Polo Bar Review: Ralph Lauren Corrals the Fashionable Herd"
*2019 – Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Culinary Arts

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Tejal
American restaurant critics
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American women critics
American women food writers
Journalists from London
American women writers of Indian descent
British people of Indian descent
British emigrants to the United States
Emerson College alumni
21st-century American women journalists
21st-century American journalists
21st-century American women writers
The Village Voice people
Bloomberg L.P. people