Chris Shott

"So, is this a different type of story for you? Because, from what I understand, you can be quite the terror," Steve Abrams, the owner of New York's Magnolia Bakery, once told me. As a reporter, it's always interesting to hear from interview subjects about your own reputation. "A reporter's reporter," that's how chef John DeLucie put it. I like that one better. But perhaps the greatest piece of feedback came in the form of a sandwich, which James Beard Award-winning chef R.J. Cooper created in my honor, titled "Shott in the Heart," a jabbing rebuttal to my own pointed criticisms.

I've been reporting on the hospitality industry for nearly a decade now, dating back to my time covering bars, nightclubs and liquor issues as the "Show & Tell" columnist at Washington City Paper (2004 -2006). I later joined the staff of esteemed editor Peter Kaplan's New York Observer, writing about restaurants, real estate and high society, before returning to D.C. for one last time as City Paper's food editor and "Young & Hungry" columnist. A grizzled vet of the alt-weekly scene, I've long strived to come up with offbeat ways to approach food coverage, from riding shotgun with truffle dealers and restaurant pest exterminators to enlisting the help of a noted presidential scholar to help me properly vet a bizarrely presidential-themed restaurant.

Now an independent journalist, based in Brooklyn, NY, my freelance clients have included Food Republic, Food Network, DNAinfo, Louise Blouin Media and artist Doug Aitken's Station to Station project.