What time/day is best to call?
It is best to call in the morning hours when most restaurants are not open and I’m at my desk mining through information, checking facts and making appointments. Mondays are always wild, better to wait until Tuesday if you can.

How do you like to be contacted? (e-mail, phone, fax, mail)
I prefer to be contacted by email, but snail mail is equally useful for new press releases. I can file them and they become useful for future reference.

Which topics are hot right now? Which are not?
Hot topics include:
Dining:
Cheese and cheese courses. Who is doing creative things with cheese courses…how are restaurants introducing this concept to diners?
Small bites, mezze, tapas, whatever you want to call them, people are into eating lots of little plates and sharing meals.
Game. Which chefs are preparing game, how?
Offbeat and unusual locations (industrial parks, renovated lofts, up-and-coming urban areas)
Wine:
Inventive wine lists that are price and description friendly.
Wine and food pairings
Dessert wines
Travel:
Anywhere in the good ol’ USA. Americans are infatuated with home and exploring their own backyards. Spas are always hot and a spa currently offering interesting new treatments is a good topic.

Which are not?
Brazilian steakhouses

What's your most memorable experience with a PR person?
I have several (PR people are fun) and they all involve meeting over lunch and really getting to know each other. We may talk business a bit, but much of the conversation is about our families and our lives outside of work. I always enjoy hearing about the PR side of the business and what their clients are doing to be successful.

Anything else you'd like Atlanta's public relations industry to know?
As a writer I love lots of advance notice (I know it’s hard). The sooner, the better. Stories are always a work in progress. If something comes across our desk that fits perfectly with our present assignment, it’s nirvana. If you have what you think is a good idea, pitch it to a writer, we need all the help we can get! Media events are quite helpful. I always leave them with new ideas for stories.

Our thanks to this month's Media Pro Guest Columnist.
Katie K. Bell
Freelance Writer
Bureau Chief, The Wine Report
1464 Vista Leaf Drive
Decatur, GA 30033
(404) 320-1981
katiekbell@mindspring.com