For nearly 25 years, Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema has been helping people in the D.C. region decide where they’ll dine out with his honest reviews. From lavish sit-down restaurants to hole-in-the-wall spots, he’s secretly reviewed hundreds of restaurants.
“I was taking notes under the table on pieces of paper with this thing called a pen, and stealing menus, or ‘filching menus,’ we like to say,” Sietsema recalled of his early days on the job.
His job and the job of a spy have a lot in common.
“Over the years, I have used hair pieces, facial hair. I’ve used stained teeth,” he said.
The teeth idea didn’t work out well: “I would have to take the stained teeth off, put them in my napkin and actually chew the food separately, and then put my stained teeth back on and sort of look around in the dining room,” Sietsema said.
With better technology, he knows more restaurants likely have his picture up on kitchen walls, so it’s also not uncommon for him to dine with a group or show up late, once the waitstaff is set and the appetizer orders are in.
When deciding which restaurant to review, he likes to mix things up, from the neighborhood and city to the cuisine type — though he said a famous chef’s new restaurant also has news value.
His first review in August of 2000 was at The Prime Rib on K Street because he said steakhouses, at the time, were places where people would go for celebrations, meetings or just a special dinner out.
Times have since changed.
“We can let that descriptor, ‘Washington is a steakhouse town,’ just die,” he said. “It hasn’t been true for a long time.”
He said since then, D.C. has seen a boom of neighborhood restaurants, many of which are not aimed at people in a specific tax bracket.
“What we have now is these really great, solid, middle-tier restaurants. Places where you would choose to go if you don’t feel like cooking on a Tuesday or Wednesday night,” he said.
Sietsema said that over the years, he’s also watched people out in the suburbs get more and more great options, so a trip to D.C. wasn’t needed to get a good meal. His examples ranged from Padeak — a “Thai plus Laotian” restaurant in Arlington — to Melina, a Greek restaurant in North Bethesda.
“There are dozens of places like that. That means you can stay close to home and eat well at the same time,” he said.
In his 25th year at the Post, Sietsema said he is trying to be “reflective” with his annual guide for foodies. That means with “The 40 best restaurants in and around D.C.,” he said readers will get some classics, along with some new arrivals.
The classics include OBELISK and its five-course Italian dinners, as well as The Bombay Club, known for its Indian cuisine.
“I look at them, I think, ‘Wow, to be able to do something so well at such a good, high level for such a long time, is really an honor,’” he said.
His No. 1 restaurant is Chicatana, which opened during the pandemic in Columbia Heights and, despite being close to his home, he didn’t learn about it until recently.
“I’m celebrating Chicatana, which is owned by three young guys who have worked hard, kept their nose the grindstone, and are quietly doing a fabulous job of serving Mexican food,” he said.
As newspapers across the country do away with their food critics, Sietsema said he is lucky the Post supports him in his role.
“I think the Washington Post treats restaurant criticism as seriously as it does government and politics, which we are best known for,” he said.
This includes paying for multiple dinners that include multiple diners on several occasions, because he doesn’t only visit restaurants once before reviewing them. Instead, they are thoroughly vetted through multiple visits.
“A restaurant on Monday night is much different than a restaurant on Saturday night. Dining by yourself at the bar is a much different experience than dining with four or six people in the dining room,” he said.
He also said in today’s world, the critic can find himself criticized after a review not everyone agrees with.
“I think it’s kind of fun, because years ago, if people had a beef with a restaurant critic, they would call the restaurant critic, they would write in,” Sietsema said. “Now … if you read the comments following a review, we’re all being reviewed, right?”
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