Bob Lape (born Robert Cable Lape in 1934 in Akron, Ohio) is an American broadcast journalist, writer, restaurant reviewer, and food critic.
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Lape worked as a reporter and news director at WCUE in Akron, Ohio, WICE in Providence, Rhode Island and WBZ in Boston, Massachusetts, before joining WABC-TV in New York City as a charter member of the Eyewitness News team in 1968. Originally hired as a political and crime reporter (beats which he would continue to cover throughout his run with the station), as well as being an occasional anchor, Lape started a segment called "The Eyewitness Gourmet" in 1970; it became a popular feature on the program and would run for 12 years. After leaving channel 7, he hosted a phone in talk show, Bob Lape's Food Show, on WABC (AM) and wrote a restaurant column in the New York Law Journal.
His food column in Crain's New York Business and Dining Diary broadcast on WCBS focuses on general lifestyle subjects, travel, categories of wine, and fine dining.
Lape is the author of the journals Epicurean Rendezvous, 1990-1996, and Bob Lape's Restaurant Index, 1987-1991 (along with art by Milton Glaser). Lape is a co-author with his wife Joanna Pruess of the book Seduced by Bacon : Recipes & Lore About America's Favorite Indulgence [ISBN 1-59228-851-0]
Bob Lape's awards include Chevalier d'honneur Swiss Ordre du Channe, awarded in 2004 and an Emmy award for TV News Coverage in 1980.
He is a member of the Broadcasters' Hall of Fame, the Commanderie de Cordon Bleu de France, and the Friars Club. He received his bachelor's degree at Kent State University in 1955. He and his wife live in the Bronx, New York.