Senior Writer

Seattle native Kathryn Robinson, award-winning restaurant critic and senior writer at Seattle Met, has been anonymously reviewing restaurants for over 30 years—first as editor of the Best Places guidebook series, then as staff critic at Seattle Weekly and contributing critic at The Seattle Times and Seattle magazine.

Midcareer she spent a year-long sabbatical studying comparative religion as a Knight Fellow at Stanford University where she had been an undergrad 10 years earlier, gaining a knowledge base she now calls upon for her monthly “Back Fence” column on our collective urban existence and the meaning it holds for our personal lives. In her off hours she is a partner and a parent—which means she has no off hours.

Critic's Notebook

What Privilege Looks Like from a Restaurant Seat

Race and class privilege are top of mind these days, across the country and in “15Now” Seattle. So yeah, it’s uncomfortable when activity right outside a restaurant window reinforces one’s sense of the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots.

06/15/2015 By Kathryn Robinson

Critic's Notebook

Which of Our Next Hot Chefs Got Fired?

And why it doesn’t matter

06/11/2015 By Kathryn Robinson

Critic's Notebook

The 6 Most Craveable New Seattle Restaurant Dishes

Seriously, don’t even try these unless you want them in your dreams forever.

06/08/2015 By Kathryn Robinson

Back Fence

Facebook and the End of Self Reinvention

What will come of the generation that will never lose touch with each other?

06/08/2015 By Kathryn Robinson

Critic's Notebook

Tomorrow: Free Fries at Pike Street Fish Fry

Turns out people will spend a lot of money in the name of free.

06/04/2015 By Kathryn Robinson

Critic's Notebook

It’s Baseball Week in Seattle: New Places to Eat in Pioneer Square

Amid lots of good bars, there’s only one Good Bar.

06/01/2015 By Kathryn Robinson

Introducing

Capitol Hill Can’t Stop

The neighborhood’s extreme development brings an equally extreme influx of restaurants.

05/31/2015 By Kathryn Robinson and Allecia Vermillion

Critic's Notebook

It’s the Party No Seattle Food Lover Should Miss

Partly because Seattle Met throws it. Mostly because the food will be astonishing.

05/28/2015 By Kathryn Robinson

Restaurants

Seattle Met’s Next Hot Chefs 2015

Just watch: These men and women will do great things.

05/26/2015 By Kathryn Robinson and Allecia Vermillion Photography by Andrew Waits

Critic's Notebook

What the Drought Will Mean at Your Dinner Table

It’s not just about expensive guac, folks…

05/26/2015 By Kathryn Robinson

Review

T-Doug’s Cantina Casual

The flavors are big. The nachos are bigger.

05/22/2015 By Kathryn Robinson

Review

What Makes a Good Bar?

One of Pioneer Square’s most stunning spaces harbors intriguing cocktails and the sloppiest of joes.

05/22/2015 By Kathryn Robinson

Critic's Notebook

Quick: Name the Seattle Neighborhood with So Many New Restaurants We Made You a Map!

Dozens of new restaurants. Which one gets our spotlight?

05/21/2015 By Kathryn Robinson

Critic's Notebook

Kurt Timmermeister, Dishing More Than Ice Cream

Seattle’s restless culinary entrepreneur has been a restaurateur, a farmer, a memoirist, a cheesemaker, and now an ice-cream artisan at Kurt Farm Shop in Capitol Hill’s Chophouse Row. So…what is he best at?

05/18/2015 By Kathryn Robinson