Sam Sifton

Sam Sifton
Born	June 5, 1966
Occupation	food editor, national news editor, restaurant critic, cultural news editor, journalist, author
Notable credit(s)	The New York Times, Talk magazine; New York Press (publications); A Field Guide to the Yettie (book)
Spouse(s)	Tina Fallon
Family	Hon. Charles Proctor Sifton (father); Elisabeth Sifton (mother)

Sam Sifton (born June 5, 1966) is an American journalist who is the Food Editor of The New York Times.^[1] He was previously the paper's National Editor.^[2] Sifton has also worked as deputy dining editor (2001); dining editor (2001–04); deputy culture editor (2004–2005) and culture editor (2005–2009).^[3]

In October 2009, Sifton succeeded Frank Bruni as restaurant critic for the Times.^[4] Sifton's last review^[5] as restaurant critic was published October 11, 2011.

Sifton graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with an A.B. degree in history and literature in 1988. He began his journalism career as assistant editor for American Heritage magazine in 1988. From 1990 to 1994, he taught social studies in the New York City public school system.

Sifton held a number of positions at the weekly New York Press during his tenure there from 1990 to 1998, including restaurant critic, contributing editor, senior editor, media critic and managing editor.^[6]

Sifton was a founding editor of Talk (magazine) in 1998. He came to the Times in 2001.

Personal

Sifton is a son of the Hon. Charles Proctor Sifton, a senior district judge (from 1995 until his death in 2009)^[7] of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, and Elisabeth Sifton, a senior vice president at Farrar, Straus & Giroux and author of The Serenity Prayer (2003). Elisabeth Sifton's father was the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. Her mother was Ursula Kepple-Compton Niebuhr, graduate of Oxford University, author of "Remembering Reinhold Niebuhr" (2001) and founder of the Barnard College Religion Department.

Sifton is married to Tina Fallon, an independent theatre producer ^[8] and lives in Brooklyn.

Bibliography

• A Field Guide to the Yettie. New York: Talk Miramax Books, 2000.

Notes

1. Grub Street, July 2014
2. Fox, Nick. "Times Names Sam Sifton Next National Editor." The New York Times, 13 September 2011
3. Finke, Nikki. "New York Times Names Its Top Culture Vulture." L.A. Weekly, 26 May 2005.
4. "Sam Sifton Is Named Restaurant Critic for The Times" 5 August 2009
5. "Per Se - A Critic Selects a Last Meal"
6. "The New York Times Names Sam Sifton Culture Editor; Jim Schachter to Assume Enlarged Role as Deputy Editor" 19th May 2005
7. FindLaw entry - Hon. Charles P. Sifton