Melissa McCart is editor for Heated with Mark Bittman. She's also the co-author with Rick Easton of Bread and How to Eat It (Knopf, 2022). Previously, she was the restaurant critic for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; an editor for Eater NY; a restaurant columnist for Newsday; the Broward-Palm Beach restaurant critic; and a freelancer for Washington Post, Saveur, Bon Appetit, Taste Cooking, Eater National, and others. Pre-pandemic, you'd find her checking out mom-and-pops; in search of dumplings or the perfect bowl of pho. (Pittsburgh, PA) @MelissaMcCart (Twitter)