Tom Sietsema’s 25 year reign as food critic of the Washington Post is coming to an end. He announced today that this will be his last week on the job—while also publicly revealing his face for the first time. Sources tell Washingtonian that Sietsema was among the journalists who took a buyout in July, though he stayed on to finish his fall dining guide.
Until now, Sietsema was one of the longest tenured full-time critics still reviewing restaurants in America. His term just barely exceeds that of his predecessor, Phyllis Richman, who was Post critic for 24 years. Only the Philadelphia Inquirer‘s Craig LaBan remains in the same job longer.
It’s a role that most people tend to hold onto like Supreme Court justices. Critic Michael Bauer departed the San Francisco Chronicle after 32 years in 2018. The Chicago Tribune’s Phil Vettel retired in 2021 after 31 years. He was shortly followed by the Star Tribune’s Rick Nelson, who covered the Twin Cities’ dining scene for 23 years. Our own Ann Limpert clocks nine years as lead Washingtonian critic.
Sietsema was also among a shrinking class of food critics who still attempted to remain anonymous—though most restaurateurs who cared to recognize him did. Over the years, some restaurants went to extreme lengths to identify and cater to Sietsema, even as the make-or-break influence of mainstream print critics has waned in the social media era. Among their tactics: tracking aliases and phone numbers, offering cash bonuses to staff who spotted Sietsema, keeping dossiers of his preferences (and those of other critics), making duplicates of dishes and sending out the best one, and sometimes even planting spies next to his table.
For his own part, Sietsema has been known to occasionally wear wigs or other disguises to avoid detection, while also sending in scouts to see how their experiences compare. “I’ll be glad to stop playing cat and mouse in public, where, as food critic Jonathan Gold once wrote, ‘I have become adept at pretending not to notice that a restaurant staff is pretending not to notice me noticing them noticing me,'” Sietsema writes in a goodbye column.
Over his tenure, Sietsema estimates he’s written 1,200 full reviews, 50 dining guides, and answered thousands of reader Q&As. Among Sietsema’s notable contributions to Post restaurant reviews: noting sound levels. After escalating complaints about noise, Sietsema started clocking the volume of dining room decibels beginning in 2008. He stopped giving stars during the pandemic and then permanently abandoned them.
As for his next move? “Far from retiring, I’ve got plans to cook more, travel more and stay connected with fellow food enthusiasts,” Sietsema writes.
Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind D.C.’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.
