Blackboard Eats
About Us
All restaurants are reviewed anonymously and we never accept complimentary meals. Our writers hail from publications such as Food & Wine, Bon Appétit, Gourmet, DailyCandy, Gayot, Los Angeles magazine, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Travel + Leisure, and Zagat.
Maggie Nemser, Founder/CEO/Editor-in-Chief
Maggie was a producer at MTV networks while contributing to popular sites including DailyCandy, Thrillist and JuliB. It was at Yahoo! where she served as the food editor, that Maggie’s in-box was flooded with pitches for local restaurant deals, and she began to conceive of an online product that would act as a one-stop shop of highly curated specials that bring value to both the consumer and the restaurant. Maggie also edits the LA edition of BlackboardEats.
Bill Sertl, Executive Editor
Bill was the travel editor of Gourmet for 10 years, having started at the magazine the same year that Ruth Reichl took over, in 1999. The position combined his two great passions—food and travel. Before Gourmet, he was one of the founding editors of Saveur and worked for that magazine from its inception in 1993.
Elyse Viner, New York Editor
Having started as a restaurant publicist, Elyse Viner's understanding of the NYC restaurant space runs deep. As an editor at Food & Wine Magazine, she helped determine the latest trends in the national dining scene. At StarChefs she curated the Rising Star awards, working closely with up and coming Chefs from around the country. At the Rosengarten Report, she was an editor responsible for handpicking top restaurants and artisanal ingredients to feature.
Anne Zimmerman, San Francisco Editor
Anne Zimmerman ditched a job at an Oregon winery to write a biography of a famed food writer M.F.K. Fisher. An Extravagant Hunger: The Passionate Years of M.F.K. Fisher was her first book. She has written for Tasting Table San Francisco, The Kitchen, Culinate, Gayot, and Serious Eats. She teaches writing in Stanford's continuing education department. She's currently crazy about Sightglass Coffee, the pastries at Knead Patisserie, and the La Belle Confusione at Locanda.
Kalena Ross, Market Editor
Kalena Ross received her AA in culinary arts from Le Cordon Bleu San Francisco before interning at the San Francisco Chronicle, where she ran the test kitchen for the Food and Wine Section and contributed to the What's New section of the paper. She then branched into restaurant hospitality and public relations, joining Andrew Freeman & Co.
Kate Bernot, Chicago Editor
After graduating with a journalism degree from Northwestern University, Kate Bernot paused from eating just long enough to write about it for The Feast, The Chicago Sun-Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Serious Eats Chicago and WBEZ-Vocalo. At any given time, she is likely carrying both her laptop and a coffee, and trying desperately not to mix the two.
Kaelin Burns, Director of Operations
Kaelin Burns was the editor for Hungry? City Guides' Los Angeles 10th Anniversary edition, and Hungry? Thirsty? New Orleans. In addition to editing her own city’s content, she managed the other Hungry? city editors’ guide production and worked on new builds for the company. She has written for the Examiner, Caroline on Crack, and, of course, BlackboardEats.
Denise de la Rama, Operational Assistant
Denise de la Rama received her BA from the University of Southern California. While spending time abroad, she traveled and ate her way through Europe. Upon returning, she spent a year in fashion publicity, but ultimately knew she had to return to her one true love – food.
Elizabeth Johnson, Director of Partnerships
Elizabeth Johnson began her career in Los Angeles working in consumer and corporate public relations. Along the way she spent too much time in bars writing for Shecky’s Bar Club and Lounge Guide/LA, and attempted stand-up comedy.
Ninna Gaensler-Debs, SF Partnerships Manager
Ninna Gaensler-Debs graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, CT, and is thrilled to return to her beloved city by the bay. While at Trinity, she served as the Editor-in-Chief of both the school newspaper and literary magazine, and worked as a reader for Paper Lantern Lit., LLC and for adventure travel writer and TV host Julia Dimon. Now she spends much of her time freelance writing and eating her way around the bay!
Emily Clark, Chicago Partnerships Manager
Emily Clark graduated from Purdue University with a BS in Dietetics and an emphasis in Nutrition, Fitness and Health. After graduating from Purdue she returned to her beloved city, Chicago, and quickly found her niche working with the culinary expert at Allen Brothers. She now enjoys doing what she does best- meeting with restaurants & eating fabulous food!
Writers
LA
Joshua Lurie founded Food GPS (www.foodgps.com), an LA-based website dedicated to pinpointing the highest-quality, best-tasting food and drink, regardless of price or cuisine. He's also a contributing editor for the Feast and writes on a regular basis for DineLA, the LA Times and Riviera magazine.
Nichol Nelson has worked in food journalism for more than a decade, most recently as an editor at Gourmet magazine. Although she grew up eating canned vegetables and "hot dish" in Minnesota, eight years in New York changed her culinary perspective. She is now a freelance writer and editor in Los Angeles.
Grace Jidoun worked as an editor at Bon Appétit and the Zagat Los Angeles guide. Her writing has appeared in Glamour and on Epicurious, and most recently she edited Simply Zov, the latest cookbook from the award-winning chef Zov Karamardian.
Todd Cohen is the LA editor of Zagat 2011. When he’s not writing or producing television, he’s eating his way through the main drags and back alleys of the city, literally following his gut in search of the elusive ‘perfect meal.’
Dani Fisher was the style editor for Food & Wine Magazine before she moved to Campanga, Italy, where she staged for Lina Fischetti in her one Michelin star-rated restaurant, Oasis Sapori Antichi. Dani now freelance writes about food and does food styling for photo shoots throughout the country.
NY
Marisa Robertson-Textor writes about food, travel, and culture for publications including Whole Living, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, and Archaeology. She is the former research chief of Gourmet. Her essay on the untimely demise of that magazine was anthologized in Best Food Writing 2010 (Da Capo).
Alan Brown has written extensively on food and travel for Gourmet (one of those articles was nominated for a James Beard Award), Bon Appétit, and Food & Wine.
Jocelyn Zuckerman worked at Gourmet for 12 years, ending as deputy editor. Now a freelance writer, her articles have appeared in Bon Appetit, Fast Company, OnEarth, Parade, and other publications.
Christian L. Wright is a former senior editor at Gourmet and has written about food, travel, and culture for the New York Times, Condé Nast Traveler, New York magazine, and many others. She loves food but is just as happy eating great grilled chicken at a truck stop in Spain as she is dining at Le Bernardin.
James Oliver Cury, a web director at Hearst, is the former executive editor of Epicurious and restaurant editor of Time Out New York.
SF
Sharron Wood, author of Chow! San Francisco and The Hostess Diary, writes about food, wine, and travel for Zagat and Fodor’s Travel Publications. When not exploring the city’s restaurants she edits cookbooks and blogs about her adventures in entertaining and mixology.
Virginia Miller is a restaurant columnist with the San Francisco Bay Guardian and has written articles in the Guardian's special editions including Best of the Bay, Scene and Feast.
Marcia Gagliardi is best known as the Tablehopper. Her cheeky weekly e-column is chock-full of insider news and gossip about the San Francisco restaurant and bar scene, covering what’s hot, opening or closing, along with restaurant reviews, culinary events, and even star sightings in bars and restaurants.
CHI
Catherine Lambrecht is program chair of Chicago Foodways Roundtable; founder of Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance; and also founder and moderator of LTHforum.com culinary chat site.
James Beard Award-winner Michael Gebert (for documentary Videomaker) is a writer who covers food in the Midwest through his video podcast and blog, Sky Full of Bacon, which was named one of Saveur's "Sites We Love."
Jennifer Olvera writes (and tests recipes) for the Food section of the Chicago Sun-Times and reports on far-flung culinary destinations for the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Orbitz.com and Frommers.com. Food Lovers’ Guide to Chicago is her first book.
As dining editor for CS magazine, Lisa Shames reports on the city's food trends, new restaurants, and chefs. An LA-native, she also contributes to the Chicago Sun-Times and Men's Book, Front Desk and So Good magazines.
David Hammond is a founder and moderator of LTHForum.com, the 10,000+ member Chicago-based culinary chat site, and a regular contributor of food-related features to WBEZ (Chicago’s National Public Radio station); his “Food Detective” column appears every Wednesday in the Chicago Sun-Times.
Maggie Nemser, Founder/CEO/Editor-in-Chief
Maggie was a producer at MTV networks while contributing to popular sites including DailyCandy, Thrillist and JuliB. It was at Yahoo! where she served as the food editor, that Maggie’s in-box was flooded with pitches for local restaurant deals, and she began to conceive of an online product that would act as a one-stop shop of highly curated specials that bring value to both the consumer and the restaurant. Maggie also edits the LA edition of BlackboardEats.
Bill Sertl, Executive Editor
Bill was the travel editor of Gourmet for 10 years, having started at the magazine the same year that Ruth Reichl took over, in 1999. The position combined his two great passions—food and travel. Before Gourmet, he was one of the founding editors of Saveur and worked for that magazine from its inception in 1993.
Elyse Viner, New York Editor
Having started as a restaurant publicist, Elyse Viner's understanding of the NYC restaurant space runs deep. As an editor at Food & Wine Magazine, she helped determine the latest trends in the national dining scene. At StarChefs she curated the Rising Star awards, working closely with up and coming Chefs from around the country. At the Rosengarten Report, she was an editor responsible for handpicking top restaurants and artisanal ingredients to feature.
Anne Zimmerman, San Francisco Editor
Anne Zimmerman ditched a job at an Oregon winery to write a biography of a famed food writer M.F.K. Fisher. An Extravagant Hunger: The Passionate Years of M.F.K. Fisher was her first book. She has written for Tasting Table San Francisco, The Kitchen, Culinate, Gayot, and Serious Eats. She teaches writing in Stanford's continuing education department. She's currently crazy about Sightglass Coffee, the pastries at Knead Patisserie, and the La Belle Confusione at Locanda.
Kalena Ross, Market Editor
Kalena Ross received her AA in culinary arts from Le Cordon Bleu San Francisco before interning at the San Francisco Chronicle, where she ran the test kitchen for the Food and Wine Section and contributed to the What's New section of the paper. She then branched into restaurant hospitality and public relations, joining Andrew Freeman & Co.
Kate Bernot, Chicago Editor
After graduating with a journalism degree from Northwestern University, Kate Bernot paused from eating just long enough to write about it for The Feast, The Chicago Sun-Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Serious Eats Chicago and WBEZ-Vocalo. At any given time, she is likely carrying both her laptop and a coffee, and trying desperately not to mix the two.
Kaelin Burns, Director of Operations
Kaelin Burns was the editor for Hungry? City Guides' Los Angeles 10th Anniversary edition, and Hungry? Thirsty? New Orleans. In addition to editing her own city’s content, she managed the other Hungry? city editors’ guide production and worked on new builds for the company. She has written for the Examiner, Caroline on Crack, and, of course, BlackboardEats.
Denise de la Rama, Operational Assistant
Denise de la Rama received her BA from the University of Southern California. While spending time abroad, she traveled and ate her way through Europe. Upon returning, she spent a year in fashion publicity, but ultimately knew she had to return to her one true love – food.
Elizabeth Johnson, Director of Partnerships
Elizabeth Johnson began her career in Los Angeles working in consumer and corporate public relations. Along the way she spent too much time in bars writing for Shecky’s Bar Club and Lounge Guide/LA, and attempted stand-up comedy.
Ninna Gaensler-Debs, SF Partnerships Manager
Ninna Gaensler-Debs graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, CT, and is thrilled to return to her beloved city by the bay. While at Trinity, she served as the Editor-in-Chief of both the school newspaper and literary magazine, and worked as a reader for Paper Lantern Lit., LLC and for adventure travel writer and TV host Julia Dimon. Now she spends much of her time freelance writing and eating her way around the bay!
Emily Clark, Chicago Partnerships Manager
Emily Clark graduated from Purdue University with a BS in Dietetics and an emphasis in Nutrition, Fitness and Health. After graduating from Purdue she returned to her beloved city, Chicago, and quickly found her niche working with the culinary expert at Allen Brothers. She now enjoys doing what she does best- meeting with restaurants & eating fabulous food!
Writers
LA
Joshua Lurie founded Food GPS (www.foodgps.com), an LA-based website dedicated to pinpointing the highest-quality, best-tasting food and drink, regardless of price or cuisine. He's also a contributing editor for the Feast and writes on a regular basis for DineLA, the LA Times and Riviera magazine.
Nichol Nelson has worked in food journalism for more than a decade, most recently as an editor at Gourmet magazine. Although she grew up eating canned vegetables and "hot dish" in Minnesota, eight years in New York changed her culinary perspective. She is now a freelance writer and editor in Los Angeles.
Grace Jidoun worked as an editor at Bon Appétit and the Zagat Los Angeles guide. Her writing has appeared in Glamour and on Epicurious, and most recently she edited Simply Zov, the latest cookbook from the award-winning chef Zov Karamardian.
Todd Cohen is the LA editor of Zagat 2011. When he’s not writing or producing television, he’s eating his way through the main drags and back alleys of the city, literally following his gut in search of the elusive ‘perfect meal.’
Dani Fisher was the style editor for Food & Wine Magazine before she moved to Campanga, Italy, where she staged for Lina Fischetti in her one Michelin star-rated restaurant, Oasis Sapori Antichi. Dani now freelance writes about food and does food styling for photo shoots throughout the country.
NY
Marisa Robertson-Textor writes about food, travel, and culture for publications including Whole Living, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, and Archaeology. She is the former research chief of Gourmet. Her essay on the untimely demise of that magazine was anthologized in Best Food Writing 2010 (Da Capo).
Alan Brown has written extensively on food and travel for Gourmet (one of those articles was nominated for a James Beard Award), Bon Appétit, and Food & Wine.
Jocelyn Zuckerman worked at Gourmet for 12 years, ending as deputy editor. Now a freelance writer, her articles have appeared in Bon Appetit, Fast Company, OnEarth, Parade, and other publications.
Christian L. Wright is a former senior editor at Gourmet and has written about food, travel, and culture for the New York Times, Condé Nast Traveler, New York magazine, and many others. She loves food but is just as happy eating great grilled chicken at a truck stop in Spain as she is dining at Le Bernardin.
James Oliver Cury, a web director at Hearst, is the former executive editor of Epicurious and restaurant editor of Time Out New York.
SF
Sharron Wood, author of Chow! San Francisco and The Hostess Diary, writes about food, wine, and travel for Zagat and Fodor’s Travel Publications. When not exploring the city’s restaurants she edits cookbooks and blogs about her adventures in entertaining and mixology.
Virginia Miller is a restaurant columnist with the San Francisco Bay Guardian and has written articles in the Guardian's special editions including Best of the Bay, Scene and Feast.
Marcia Gagliardi is best known as the Tablehopper. Her cheeky weekly e-column is chock-full of insider news and gossip about the San Francisco restaurant and bar scene, covering what’s hot, opening or closing, along with restaurant reviews, culinary events, and even star sightings in bars and restaurants.
CHI
Catherine Lambrecht is program chair of Chicago Foodways Roundtable; founder of Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance; and also founder and moderator of LTHforum.com culinary chat site.
James Beard Award-winner Michael Gebert (for documentary Videomaker) is a writer who covers food in the Midwest through his video podcast and blog, Sky Full of Bacon, which was named one of Saveur's "Sites We Love."
Jennifer Olvera writes (and tests recipes) for the Food section of the Chicago Sun-Times and reports on far-flung culinary destinations for the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Orbitz.com and Frommers.com. Food Lovers’ Guide to Chicago is her first book.
As dining editor for CS magazine, Lisa Shames reports on the city's food trends, new restaurants, and chefs. An LA-native, she also contributes to the Chicago Sun-Times and Men's Book, Front Desk and So Good magazines.
David Hammond is a founder and moderator of LTHForum.com, the 10,000+ member Chicago-based culinary chat site, and a regular contributor of food-related features to WBEZ (Chicago’s National Public Radio station); his “Food Detective” column appears every Wednesday in the Chicago Sun-Times.
