Omnivore - AJC dining critic John Kessler is leaving

• Courtesy Gene Lee
• John Kessler

After reporting on Atlanta's dining scene for nearly two decades, AJC restaurant critic John Kessler is leaving the newspaper — and the city — in "late spring of 2015."

Kessler will head to the Windy City, where his wife has taken an "exciting" new job at the University of Chicago. When asked about the move to the Midwest's most robust food city, he told CL:

"It was definitely a hard decision but I'm kinda looking forward to the unknown for now. Plus, I hear the Polish food is banging."

Since joining the AJC in 1997, Kessler's critical commentary has played an essential role in shaping Atlanta's ever-evolving dining landscape. Along with honest, intelligent restaurant reviews, Kessler often wrote about his travels and at-home cooking experiments, all of which have helped inform and educate diners throughout the metro Atlanta area. Kessler has been nominated for a James Beard Award four times, ultimately winning in the Newspaper Feature Writing With Recipes category in 2002.

On Monday, Atlanta magazine published a nice compilation of comments gathered from fellow food writers and restauranteurs that reflects the impact Kessler had on Atlanta restaurants.

In a blog post Kessler penned Monday afternoon in response to a swirl of rumors about upcoming changes with the paper's dining coverage, he confirmed fellow AJC food critic Jenny Turknett is leaving at the end of November "to pursue new opportunities in writing and food."