N&O’s dining critic Greg Cox says farewell after feasting in NC restaurants for 25 years

To say that I was excited when I got the job as restaurant critic for The News & Observer would be an understatement on the order of saying I like oysters.

The editor who hired me couldn’t help but notice my enthusiasm when she gave me the good news. No doubt, she was also aware of the burnout rate in a career that isn’t always as glamorous as the public perceives it to be — which would explain why she ended our meeting on a cautionary note: “Let’s see if you feel the same way six months from now.”

That was 25 years ago.

I still find it hard to believe I’ve been able to make a career out of my two passions of food and writing. I grew up in a small town in North Carolina, where restaurant options were pretty much limited to a barbecue joint, a fish camp and a soda fountain at the local drugstore. Now I can say I’ve explored the gastronomic world from Argentina to Zimbabwe.

Compounding my good fortune is the fact that I landed the job at the beginning of what would prove to be the most exciting, rapidly expanding and diversifying period in the history of Triangle restaurants. We’ve had chefs win James Beard Awards, including Raleigh restaurateur Ashley Christensen for best chef in the country and Andrea Reusing of Lantern and The Durham, for Best Chef: Southeast.

But as it turns out, 25 years has been just long enough to be a full-time restaurant critic. Now it’s time for me to retire the star rating key on my keyboard.

I turned 65 this year, and celebrated the 25th anniversary of my first review in June — a milestone I never dreamed of reaching.

If I was tempted to prolong my career (and there have been moments when I was), coronavirus put an end to that. Restaurants have closed, with many changing their models to survive during the pandemic, including many of my favorites. And while we are now permitted to dine indoors (within reason) and outdoors, that’s not something I’m prepared to do for the foreseeable future.

Takeout and delivery, lifelines that they are, can’t match that magic of dining in a restaurant. Memorable feasts at Herons, with its Art Tour menu, and at Yamazushi, with its intimate, multi-course kaiseki meal, remain seared in my memory years after the fact — not just for their extraordinary food but for their immersive dining experiences. (I named both of these places Restaurants of the Year.)

Then there’s Saint James in Durham. Longtime readers will know of my affinity for fresh oysters, and I enjoyed the seafood tower there so much, I returned as soon as it reopened earlier this year following the nearby gas explosion. It was the perfect way to celebrate my birthday, and before restaurants as we know it shut down during the pandemic.

Sure, there have been times when I would rather have stayed at home with a frozen pizza in front of the fireplace than go out on a cold, rainy night for the requisite second meal at a restaurant I was reviewing. Especially if the restaurant hadn’t been particularly impressive the first time around.

And yes, writing on a deadline week after week, year after year, does instill a deep understanding of the saying, “feeding the beast.”

But with a few rare exceptions, once I was seated in that restaurant with a menu and a glass of wine in hand and a dining companion across the table, I would fall under that magic spell of hospitality and conviviality that a restaurant meal conjures up. And, procrastinator that I am, when a deadline forced me to sit down at the keyboard, I invariably found myself savoring the challenge of telling a restaurant’s story honestly and, I hope, entertainingly.

As a result, I’ve written about more than 70 Chinese restaurants alone, discovering along the way that Chinese isn’t a single cuisine but many regional cuisines, as distinct from one another as Tex-Mex chili is from New England clam chowder.

When people ask me about my favorite cuisine, I say it depends on my mood. I’m partial to Thai and French bistro, but I can honestly say I’ve never experienced a cuisine that I haven’t been able to appreciate on its own terms. I’m only half-joking when I say that my indiscriminate palate — not normally considered a desirable trait in a restaurant critic — is the reason I’ve lasted so long.

I’ve never lost my sense of excitement and curiosity about the next restaurant on my list of review candidates, or my admiration for the chefs and servers who make the adventure possible.

I’ve also made a few friends (albeit virtual ones) among my readers, some of whom I’ve corresponded with so many times I recognize their email addresses. I’ve worked with eight editors over the years, who managed to improve my writing while at the same time letting me write about (and eat) pretty much whatever I wanted. Photojournalist Juli Leonard has been my partner in this culinary adventure, helping me tell these stories with her exquisite photos. While I do my best to describe my experiences and meals in words, her photos and videos bring them to life.

I’ve been honored to play a part in sharing the word about restaurants that have continued to feed us, in spite of the risks, and my admiration for the people who work in them is stronger than ever.

This is not a final farewell. After taking a break for a while, I hope to return for an occasional guest column. Until then, stay safe and bon appétit!

This story was originally published November 2, 2020 at 5:55 AM with the headline "N&O’s dining critic Greg Cox says farewell after feasting in NC restaurants for 25 years."