For nearly three years,  Wendy Schapiro has been Newton restaurant owners’ best friend.

A regular food columnist for Newton Patch and author of the “Newton in the Kitchen” column (and an active participant on this blog), you’d be hard pressed to find a restaurant in our city that she hadn’t visited or a chef she didn’t know. And, as someone who used to compete against Patch in a prior life, I can tell you that, when it came to restaurant news, it was virtually impossible to not get scooped by Wendy.

Recently, I had a chance to work with Wendy when she agreed to help the Newton-Needham Chamber with our annual “Spring Seasonings: A Taste of Newton & Needham” event. She was a total pro, but just as importantly a blast to work with.

Alas, Wendy is leaving Newton in a few weeks to move to Los Angeles, something that’s been in the works even before Melanie Graham’s recent departure. Both are a big loss for our city.