Check, Please: The Pete Wells Exit Interview - The New York Times

For more audio journalism and storytelling, download New York Times Audio, a new iOS app available for news subscribers. Produced by Alex Barron Edited by Paula Szuchman and Wendy Dorr Engineered by Marion Lozano Featuring Melissa Kirsch and Pete Wells Pete Wells announced on Tuesday that he was stepping down as The Times’s restaurant critic. Wells became the restaurant critic in 2012, and his insights into the dining experience, alongside his biting wit, have made him a favorite of our readers. But recent health issues have caused him to reconsider his relationship with dining out. Wells joins Melissa Kirsch, the deputy editor of Culture and Lifestyle for The Times, to discuss why he’s leaving his post, the highs and lows of his life as a critic, and what he hopes for the future. Below are a few excerpts from their conversation, lightly edited for clarity. Melissa Kirsch: When you wrote about the very real health implications of being a restaurant critic, what I was struck by was how

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