About Gael Greene










           Photo: Steven Richter

In her role as restaurant critic of New York Magazine (1968 to January 2002) Detroit-born Gael Greene helped change the way New Yorkers (and many Americans) think about food.

"Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Ice Cream But Were Too Fat To Ask," "The Mafia Guide to Dining Out."   and " Nobody Knows the Truffles I've Seen" were early pieces.   In more recent years her annual roundup of   New York City's dining favorites, Ask Gael, was a gourmand's collectible for many years and she continues to write a weekly Ask Gael column for NYM. Earlier she worked at the New York Post.

As co-founder with James Beard and a continuing force behind Citymeals-on-Wheels as board chair, Ms. Greene has made a significant impact on the city of New York. Citymeals, the largest public/private partnership in the country, has raised $200 million in its twenty-six-year history to help feed the city's frail elderly shut-ins.

Ms. Greene's memoir, "Insatiable, Tales from a Life of Delicious Excess" was published April, 2006. Earlier non-fiction books include "Delicious Sex, A Gourmet Guide for Women and the Men Who Want to Love Them Better" and "BITE: A New York Restaurant Strategy." Her two novels Blue skies, No Candy" and "Doctor Love" were NY Times best sellers.


Gael Greene
Articles used with permission of Gael Greene, Copyright 2008.  All rights reserved. Steven Richter's photographs may not be used without permission.


Do you have a pet peeve about a restaurant?
Email Gael.

Restaurant questions?
Ask Gael.


Gael Greene's New York City Restaurant Reviews and more....
The NYC Insiders Guide
for women who aren't kids
Gael Greene
Gael Greene's New York City Restaurant Reviews and more....
The NYC Insiders Guide
for women who aren't kids
Camera. Action. Bite.














I’m in Lotusland now, one of the judges on "Top Chef Masters."
Photo Alex Gottfryd

       I disappeared from my usual table rounds last week and wasn’t allowed to say why until Wednesday, when Bravo announced the judges for “Top Chef Masters” – its new series produced with Magical Elves and Top Chef’s matinee idol Tom Colicchio as consulting producer. To be aired, I don’t know when. True, the press release left off a crucial “e” on my name. Drat that spell check! Nothing like a missing “e” to deflate a puffed-up ego.

        So here I am in rather generic downtown Los Angeles – not exactly the cliché LA I know from movies – not old Hollywood, not historic Fairfax, not the beach at Santa Monica. I share the judge’s table with Saveur editor-in-chief James Oseland and London Observer restaurant critic Jay Rayner. No, I never heard of him either, but he definitely has a sexy beast look and the swagger of a Brit at loose in the lowly colonies.  

       Pulling our strings in the culinary smackdown role of gorgeous female moderator is Kelly Choi, creator and host of NYC TV’s “Eat Out New York.” I never expect anyone that beautiful to also be funny, irreverent and raucous. It’s a virtual old-home week. Oseland’s a New York import too, sassy, unswervingly opinionated and a great expert on authentic ethnic food in grubby shopping malls. Choi strides the world in five-inch heels like a comic book heroine, all sass and perfect skin, Vargas-girl lips, Vogue model svelte. And she eats. I’ve watched her. But it seems to go directly to her brain – nothing sticks to her hips. I am definitely in the valley of the masters. As for the master chefs: they compete in deviously wicked challenges. I’m sworn not to reveal more.

       Do I have a judgelike persona? Am I a bitch? A Pollyanna? A cuisinary pit bull or a simpering fan? What do you think? What do you like in a TV competition judge? Who’s your judge idol and why? Email me your best advice, please. I need to know.


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