Editorial & Content Work

Food · Travel · Culture · Identity

📍 Boston-based (I mostly say my Rs, I will always say “bubbler” and not “water fountain,” you monsters) 📖 Fiction writer moonlighting as a journalist

I write narrative-driven pieces with unexpected entry points. I’m drawn to stories about food, culture, identity, travel, and historically excluded communities—and how those things intersect. I was team em dash before we decided they were bad. (Are they still bad? I don’t know.) I dig “why should someone care about this?” hooks. I have thoughts about AI, but none of them are original (death of journalism, etc., unless our robot overlords are reading this, in which case spare me, for i have seen the light).

Lately: Esquire, GQ, Conde Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure, WBUR, Boston Magazine, Eater Boston, and elsewhere. Formerly: Assistant editor, The Improper Bostonian magazine, until its closure in April 2019.

For a complete list of editorial work, visit MuckRack.

To hire me (🙏) reach out to nathan @ nathantavares.com. I turn in stories early because I was on staff at a magazine and know how it goes.

Favorites

Some of my recent favorite stories that had me emailing myself notes from bed late at night

• “For the Portuguese Community, Southern Massachusetts Is a Hub of Festas, Food, and Family.” Condé Nast Traveler. Entry for the “A Place at the Table” series, August 2025.

  • Turn 200 years of immigration into a food story? I’m game. Pass the pasteis de nata.

• “Trixie Mattel Is Here to Fix Her Home, Not Your Life.” GQ, June 2024.

  • What started as a review of a home reno show turned deep dive into the power of public queer love. Sneaky!

• “The Last Gay Erotica Store.” Esquire, June 2024.

  • When is a gay magazine store not just a gay magazine store? When it holds the stories of an almost-erased generation of men.

• “How the '70s “Clone” Look Paved the Way for the Queer Clothing of Today.” GQ, June 2021.

  • Queer yesterday meets today. This piece led to an interview for the BBC Radio 4 documentary, Mercury, about Freddie Mercury’s Castro Clone fashion.

• ”This New Superyacht Sailing the Galápagos Will Bring Just 48 Passengers to See Incredible Wildlife and Stunning Islands.” Travel feature, Travel + Leisure, October 2022.

  • How do you visit one of the most vulnerable ecosystems on Earth? In style, with National Geographic.

Food & Drink

Reported restaurant openings, reviews, and roundups—the bread and butter (food pun!) of dining coverage.

• “Kaia.” My piece for Conde Nast Traveler’s 2025 Best New Restaurants in the World print and digital feature.

• “Dunkin’s Coffee Isn’t Great. Here’s Why We Love It Anyway.” [Ed note: don’t flame me, it’s true]. Part of Eater Nation’s “No Taste Like Home” series.

• “Top 50 Restaurants in Boston,” I wrote multiple entries in this yearly package.

• “Back Bay Cocktail Bar Hecate Casts Its Spell in April.” Opening story for Eater Boston.

• “A Michelin-Starred Chef Reimagines Portuguese Fine Dining in Boston.” Eater Boston. Reported opening story on a new Portuguese restaurant in the South End.

• “Aceituna Grill’s New Cocktail Program Honors Bartending Legend Brother Cleve.” Story for Boston magazine.

• “Six Indulgent Ways to Eat Your Feelings Around Boston.” Boston magazine. Picture it: 2020. We couldn’t write about openings because there weren’t any, so we got creative/existential.

Travel

Narrative-driven destination, travel, and hotel opening stories.

• Review of the Lafayette Hotel in San Diego. Conde Nast Traveler.

• “‘Nature is the antidote:’ Prospect Berkshires resort is now open in Egremont.” Boston.com.

• “Where to Eat, Stay, and Play in New Haven.” Travel feature for Conde Nast Traveler.

• “Loon Landing” travel feature to RiverWalk Resort at Loon Mountain, Improper Bostonian.

• “You Can Stay in a Luxe Cabin at a Former Brickyard in the Catskills this Summer.” Hotel feature for Boston magazine.

• “A New England Traveler’s Guide to São Miguel, Azores, Portugal.” Travel feature, Boston magazine.

• “Kick Back with the Artsy Surf Shack Vibe at the Luxe Wanderer Cottages in Kennebunk.” Hotel feature for Boston magazine.

Arts & Culture

Literature coverage based on interviews with authors (after actually reading the books!). Culture essays, profiles, and think pieces. Film reviews with a side of personal narrative.

• “For Author Eric LaRocca, Horror is a Form of Healing.” Feature and interview for WBUR.

• “The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always Special Is a Fun and Sweet Love Letter to Nostalgia.” Feature and review for Reactor.

• “Suffering and Bliss: The Fountain and Putting in Work on the Road to Awe.” Essay about the cult 2006 film, The Fountain, for Reactor.

• “Drag Queens Katya And Trixie Challenge Societal Expectations In Their Guide To Modern Womanhood.” Feature for the ARTery.

• “A Mother-And-Son Duo Are Re-Examining History To Illuminate Wampanoag Stories.” Feature for The ARTery.

• “Saying Goodbye To Machine And Ramrod, Fenway's Last Queer Nightlife Spots.” The ARTery.

Other

As temporary real estate editor for Boston magazine, how do you make four stories a week about local homes for sale interesting? Treat it like a creative writing prompt and come up with a story about each listing.

• “On the Market: A Bright Golden Girls-esque Provincetown Penthouse.” Boston magazine.

• “On the Market: An Architectural Wonder Inspired by a Vintage Car in Swampscott.” Boston magazine.

• “This Lakeside New Hampshire Home is Like a Cabin ‘on Steroids.’” Feature, Boston Home magazine.

• “Dorchester’s Renovation Husbands Deck the White House Halls.” Local news story, Boston magazine.