Hirsch Leaving Examiner, New Quartet Coming In

The previously hidden face of Hirsch, testing out his new role as farm reporter. [Photo: Sarah Kermensky]

In his next restaurant review, which appears tomorrow morning, Jesse Hirsch will officially announce his departure as food critic for the San Francisco Examiner. He held the post for nearly a year after the controversial dismissal of longtime critic Patricia Unterman, who now runs her own site, Unterman on Food. Instead of being replaced by one new critic, Hirsch's column will be rotated among a quartet of new critics: Molly Gore, Alex Hochman, Cynthia Salaysay, and Wendy Hector.

Hirsch is leaving the Examiner for a gig as a staff writer at Modern Farmer, the forthcoming quarterly magazine that's already been dubbed "a slicker, chicer Farmer's Almanac." He will embark upon a glamorous, but temporary, bi-coastal lifestyle, eventually relocating to Hudson, NY, where the magazine is based. Hirsch's move to New York also leaves the New Taste Marketplace in search of a new organizer; he tells us he's suggested a few candidates, but no one has been chosen yet.

All four of Hirsch's replacements have strong food credentials: Gore and Hochman have both written for the SF Weekly, with Hochman filing reviews during the interregnum between Jonathan Kauffman and current critic Anna Roth. Salaysay has written food criticism and articles for the East Bay Express, while you may recognize Hector's name from right here on Eater SF, where she's a regular contributor.

Allie Pape contributed reporting to this story.

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