Pete Wells

January 14, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Pete Wells on Life After the Times, the Social Media Effect on Restaurants, and the Joy of Finding Hidden Gems

Pete Wells spent twelve years as the New York Times restaurant critic, a job that consumed his life so completely that, as he puts it, he was “always either getting ready to eat or eating or digesting or being hungover and then getting ready to eat again.” Now, a few months into retirement, he is mostly staying home, cooking ham, and discovering what it feels like to not think about food all the time. In a conversation with Emily Sundberg on Expense Account, Wells opened up about the mechanics of restaurant criticism, how social media has reshaped the dining landscape, and why the best reviews were always the ones nobody else had written yet.

The Job Nobody Envies (Until You Find Something New)

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What you'll learn

1 (01:20) **Life After Being the NYT Food Critic** - Wells describes the personal shift from constant eating to being a "civilian" who cooks at home and rarely thinks about food.
2 (04:16) **The Ashville Reporting Trip: A Different Kind of Story** - Wells recounts his first post-critic reporting trip to Ashville after Hurricane Helene, where he could finally talk to restaurateurs openly.
3 (08:24) **The Discipline of Anonymity and Friendship** - Wells explains how he maintained the critic's veil by keeping his personal and professional lives completely separate.
4 (10:38) **The Joy of Discovering Undiscovered Restaurants** - Wells discusses the thrill of finding a great, unreviewed restaurant, which was the main thing that kept him going as a critic.
5 (17:52) **The Ethics of "Blowing Up" a Small Spot** - Wells reflects on the responsibility of giving a small, unprepared restaurant a massive wave of attention.
6 (23:35) **The Grind of Exploration and Bad Meals** - Wells details the practical reality of finding hidden gems: eating a massive amount of mediocre or bad food.
7 (27:49) **How Social Media Reshaped the Restaurant** - Wells identifies the single biggest change in the New York restaurant scene from 2012 to 2024: the influence of social media.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Emily Sundberg

Show Notes

This week on Expense Account, J Lee spoke to Pete Wells, former restaurant critic for The New York Times. Topics discussed include:

* The ideal width of sandwiches.

* Why everyone is a food journalist now (social media).

* The increased emphasis on furniture and design in restaurants.

* And whether Pete misses being a critic.

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