Pete Wells is the restaurant critic for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. He has held the position since November 2011, succeeding Sam Sifton. Wells was adopted as an infant and grew up in

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

. He lives in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and is married to the novelist

Susan Choi Susan Choi (born 1969) is an American novelist. Early life and education Choi was born in South Bend, Indiana to a Korean father and a Jewish mother. She attended public schools. When she was nine years old, her parents divorced. She and her m ...

; they met while working for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

''. From 1999 to 2001, Wells was a columnist and editor for ''

Food & Wine ''Food & Wine'' is an American monthly magazine published by Dotdash Meredith. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine pairings and sea ...

.'' Wells was articles editors at '' Details'' from 2001 until 2006, when he joined the ''Times'' as dining editor. Wells is the recipient of five

James Beard award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media awa ...

s for food writing. Wells's caustic 14 November 2012 review of

Guy Fieri Guy Ramsay Fieri (, ; ''né'' Ferry; born January 22, 1968) is an American restaurateur, author, and an Emmy Award winning television presenter. He co-owns three restaurants in California, licenses his name to restaurants in New York City, Las ...

's American Kitchen and Bar, which consisted entirely of questions about the poor quality of the food, was described by Larry Olmsted of ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' as "the most scathing review in the history of the ''New York Times''," and "likely the most widely read restaurant review ever." It was the fifth-most-e-mailed ''New York Times'' article of 2012. His 2016 review of ''Per Se'', downgrading the restaurant from 4 stars to 2 stars, also attracted wide attention, with an ''Esquire'' headline stating: “Why That Per Se Review May Change Fine Dining Forever.” He also attracted considerable attention for his October 29, 2019 zero-star review of Peter Luger Steak House.

References

The New York Times columnists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Critics employed by The New York Times American restaurant critics American male non-fiction writers James Beard Foundation Award winners Writers from Brooklyn Writers from Rhode Island {{US-nonfiction-writer-stub