Hendrick Hertzberg of the New Yorker observes that his writing is "so well prepared, so expertly seasoned, and so full of flavorsome surprises... that if it were a meal even Mr. Steingarten himself would have difficulty finding fault in it."

Working with Ed Levine, he was co-host of the show New York Eats, which aired in 1998–2000 on a local Metro channel.

His father was attorney Henry Steingarten, who represented, among his many clients, the rock and roll pioneer Jimi Hendrix.

[2] On Bastille Day, 1994, in recognition of his writings on French gastronomy, Steingarten was made a Chevalier in the Order of Merit by the Republic of France.

William Rice of the Chicago Tribune named Steingarten "our most original and investigative food writer," and he has been hailed by The Wall Street Journal as "one of gastronomy's first citizens."