Editor’s Note: Change is Afoot

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Atlanta magazine celebrated its 55th anniversary earlier this year, but we didn’t make too big a deal of it. Not that we’re not proud of the milestone—we’re one of the oldest city magazines in the country—but as I tell people, we’re keeping our powder dry for the 60th. Besides, the year was busy enough as it is.

A few months ago our brilliant young food editor, Evan Mah, left us to join the wine empire of James Suckling. Evan is an unabashed oenophile, and it’s been hard to keep track of where he’s flying to next as part of his new gig. I can’t overstate the importance of a strong food editor at Atlanta magazine. Dining has been part of our DNA since our sixth issue—you hold in your hands our 668th—when we included a recipe for “The World’s Best Pecan Pie” (which, incidentally, called for 4½ pounds of sugar and a half-gallon of corn syrup to make four pies).

Julia Bainbridge
Julia Bainbridge

Photograph by Amelia Tubb

As we launched a nationwide search for Evan’s replacement, we leaned heavily on freelancers to pick up the slack. I’m grateful to Christine Van Dusen, who served as interim food editor. (I’m also grateful to her for marrying me in 2003, but that’s another story.) I’m happy to announce that as of early November, Julia Bainbridge is our new food editor. Julia is a Baltimore native but comes to us via New York City, where she worked, at various times, at Bon Appétit, Yahoo, Food & Wine, and Condé Nast Traveler. Those are impressive bona fides, but what struck me most about Julia was her relentless curiosity, and the recognition that the best food writing tells us as much about who we are as a city as it does about where we should go out to eat. Got an idea for her? Drop her a line at jbainbridge@atlantamagazine.com.

This month is also Corby Kummer’s final one as our restaurant critic. When his predecessor, Bill Addison, left us in 2014 to become national restaurant critic for Eater, Corby’s arrival in Atlanta (thanks to his spouse’s job at the CDC) couldn’t have been more fortuitous. Corby wears a lot of hats. Besides being a longtime restaurant critic for Boston magazine, he’s also a senior editor at the Atlantic. Alas, they’re moving back North next month, though I did persuade Corby to contribute to our upcoming comfort food package. For his final contribution as critic, I asked Corby not to review any specific restaurant, but rather to give his impressions of Atlanta’s dining scene at this moment in time—where it’s succeeding, where it’s falling short, and where we seem to be headed.

Stepping into Corby’s big shoes is Jennifer Zyman, whose name you’ll know if you’ve been a reader of Creative Loafing over the years. Jennifer is as knowledgeable about food and dining in Atlanta as anyone I’ve met. Look for her first review (of Spring restaurant in Marietta) in next month’s issue.

As we enter the final weeks of 2016, there are more changes coming. Look for different names throughout the magazine, as we bring aboard new writers and editors. Atlanta is growing at a breakneck pace, and we’re excited to discover the city anew with each month’s issue.

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