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.

Article

Ba Bar’s Love Song to Saigon Street Food

Surprise, surprise: At Ba Bar, the Monsoon folks bring traditional Vietnamese fare to the Central District.

09/21/2011 By Kathryn Robinson

Critic's Notebook

Restaurant Trend of the Year: A Water Bottle on Every Table

Guzzlers, take heart. Ice lovers, you’re outta luck.

09/19/2011 By Kathryn Robinson

Critic's Notebook

A Tale of Two Marchés

Two Northwest chefs, two distinct French restaurants, two separate openings—one popular name.

09/12/2011 By Kathryn Robinson

Critic's Notebook

Gross-taurants

Between the raw food and the guts…where do normal foodies go to eat?

09/06/2011 By Kathryn Robinson

Critic's Notebook

Smelt Good

The little fishy is all over menus right now, fried up crisp and delish.

08/29/2011 By Kathryn Robinson

Critic's Notebook

The Single Most Dazzling Thing a Restaurateur Can Do

Pioneer a new cuisine? Launch a star chef? Not even close.

08/22/2011 By Kathryn Robinson

Article

Unnecessary Roughness

How can we keep watching football when we know what we know?

08/19/2011 By Kathryn Robinson

Article

Stopsky’s Deli Brings Bagels and More to Mercer Island

08/19/2011 By Kathryn Robinson

Article

Skillet Goes All Bricks, Mortar, and Bacon Jam

The Airstream trailer that kicked off our food truck obsession opens permanently on Capitol Hill.

08/19/2011 By Kathryn Robinson

Critic's Notebook

When Service Is So Good, It’s Bad

It’s not easy for floor staff to hit the right sweet spot.

08/15/2011 By Kathryn Robinson

Critic’s Notebook

Trend of the Week: Purches

Is this a new design/utility trend or have I just been staring so hard at my food I haven’t much cared what my purse was up to?

08/08/2011 By Kathryn Robinson

Article

The Bully Backlash

When bad feelings happen to good teenagers, is it bullying?

07/22/2011 By Kathryn Robinson

Article

Tom Douglas’s New South Lake Union Empire

Our biggest restaurateur has colonized Seattle’s Amazon environs with a vengeance, but how’s a diner supposed to keep all those new nosheries straight? Lucky you have us.

07/22/2011 By Kathryn Robinson

Article

Cuoco, Seattle’s Newest Tom Douglas Joint

Expect fresh pasta and some old familiar feelings

07/22/2011 By Kathryn Robinson

Article

Dr. Deisher’s Stem Cell Crusade

When pro-life biotechnologist Tracy Deisher sued to halt federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, it rocked the biotech universe. What’s driving the Seattle researcher to kill the promise of medicine’s greatest hope?

07/22/2011 By Kathryn Robinson