Meet Bob Vitale, the Dispatch’s new restaurant reporter, in Barcelona
What is Columbus Dispatch food reporter Bob Vitale’s favorite restaurant?
I have been fortunate enough to be able to make a fresh start in my life a few times.
I met my partner in 2007 – and again after seven years in 2016. Twice I took jobs because they seemed more secure. Later I got the chance to return to a job I loved and then left it. In 2019 I thought my life as a journalist was over when I was fired as an editor at a magazine that has since gone out of business.
And here you are, reading these words today. I came to Columbus 20 years ago when I was hired by The Dispatch to cover Franklin County government and politics. I left in 2012 and returned last September to cover Central Ohio’s dining scene.
Politics or food?
In the 1990s, when I covered the federal government in Washington, a U.S. senator called me into his office and said I’d made him look like a (bleep) for writing a story about how he’d raised money in a way that his own campaign finance legislation would have banned. When I covered City Hall in Columbus, the mayor and City Council president (not the current ones) frequently and loudly criticized my work.
It’s easy to guess which beat I prefer, and it’s just as easy to guess which one I think is more important.
Earlier this summer, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that presidents enjoy broad immunity for their official actions, Facebook users pointed out that there was far more important news going on than my story about the evils of supermarket potato salad.
Well, that’s obvious.
Years ago, an editor disagreed with me when he advised us not to do “spinach journalism,” where newspapers essentially tell their readers, “Eat this, it’s healthy.” I told him that if I could, I would eat M&Ms with every meal, but that sometimes I had to eat spinach.
I’m incredibly lucky that I get to write about potato salad, buckeyes, and hand-pulled noodles today, but I still read everything I can find about spinach. And I’m proud to work for a publication that offers both.
Do you rate restaurants?
I can be very grumpy, but I’m not a grumpy foodie.
For now, anyway, The Dispatch has decided to leave the reviews to you and Yelp. I’m not averse to making a recommendation or ten, but my job is to cover the Central Ohio restaurant scene the way I covered politics: without fear or favor.
What do you do then?
I write about what’s coming, going, and enduring in the local restaurant scene. I write about eating and drinking as popular pastimes. I write about the trends that are influencing what and how we eat out. I write about the creative people behind the menus.
Recently, on the 20th anniversary of the release of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, I investigated how and why the fourth-generation, family-run burger chain based in Columbus gave its name to the classic stoner film.
After BJ Lieberman, the chef and owner of Chapman’s Eat Market, told me about his sometimes creative efforts to counter the notion that it’s impossible to snag a reservation at his German Village restaurant, I wrote about the reality of getting a table reservation in post-COVID Columbus. (Spoiler alert: It’s not that hard.)
I wrote about a small barbecue restaurant in the giant Ricart MegaMall car dealership near Groveport and met with the assistant manager of PJ Hot Pot on the Northwest Side to get pro tips on making a DIY Chinese hot pot or Korean barbecue dish.
I wrote about two Columbus spots — FYR in the Columbus Hilton Downtown and Lawbird in the Brewery District — that were named to USA TODAY’s Restaurants of the Year and Bars of the Year lists, respectively. And I wrote about Dime-A-Dog Nights and souped-up Tater Tots at this year’s Columbus Clippers games at Huntington Park.
What do you do outside of work?
I am annoyed with the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Cleveland Browns and the Cleveland Guardians (in that order), but I know that this is the year – seriously, I mean it this time – for all three.
Although I had exactly two summer vacations growing up (in Jersey City, New Jersey and Huntington, West Virginia), I love to travel. In the last five years, I’ve been to Rome and my mother’s family hometown of Bari in Italy; to Amboseli and Tsavo East National Parks in Kenya; and just last month to Japan and the Philippines.
And yes, the food was delicious.
If you have news to share…
Email me at [email protected] to tell me about a restaurant or a new dish you should try. Whatever. I don’t just love writing about food, I love talking about it too. And I invite you to follow my Instagram account: @dispatchdining.
Bob Vitale can be reached at [email protected].
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