Elaine Tait, 88, formerly of Philadelphia, retired longtime Inquirer food writer and editor, restaurant critic, author, teacher, mentor, and volunteer, died Saturday, Dec. 21, of a myocardial infarction at her home in Hallieford, Va.For 35 years, from 1963 to her retirement in 1998, Ms. Tait reached millions of Inquirer readers through more than 3,000 “Dining Out” columns, restaurant reviews, feature stories, and recipes. Her byline in the Food section became one of the paper’s most prominent, and former Inquirer colleague Sally Downey said: “She taught me and a whole generation about food, its varieties, and its preparation.”From the start, Ms.