Immaculate Infatuation

Is it just me, or is it slim-pickins around the meat packing district these days? Finding a good scene with reasonably priced, excellent food isn’t easy. I was recently having drinks with a big group at The Standard Grill, in need of a dinner destination (we sure as hell weren’t eating there). Unfortunately, I didn’t really have a game plan in place. It’s a stressful spot to be in. An entire crew is relying on you to make the right decision and lead them to the promised land for dinner. After a couple of desperate tweets for help, I made the call, and we landed at Perry St. Was it the right call? For a Saturday night, maybe not (this is definitely more of a weekday spot), but it was the best move we could have made under the circumstances.

Perry St is in the ground floor of some super-modern, all glass building on the West Side Highway. It’s a nice place, but it’s completely sterile and a little stuffy. It’s definitely an older, more proper crowd. Got straight-laced family in town from Greenwich? This is the perfect Dinner With The Parents destination. Neither the maître d’ or the tables around us were too thrilled with our quasi-rowdy party, which by Perry St standards might as well have been a table rave. The food was a let down too. After eating a spectacular dinner at ABC Kitchen the week before, I was expecting a more dynamic meal from a Jean Georges restaurant. That being said, we would come back here and order the butter poached lobster anytime. That’s one of the single best dishes we’ve eaten this year, and it saved this review from the toilet. We also hear rumblings that they serve a decent brunch. Maybe we’ll come back and check it out, and this time we’ll bring grandma. On second thought, no we won’t. She’s too cool for this place.

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When our office has a show on the LES, everyone always wants to hit Georgia’s for some BBQ. For the sake of this website, I deny the people what they really want so I can selfishly try something new that we haven’t already written about. This plan has a tendency to backfire when the new place sucks and I’m left with unhappy dinner companions who are pissed at me for depriving them of ribs.

Bia Garden is definitely a place I’d go back to, I just wouldn’t eat. The back Outdoor/Patio Situation is a good hang and a dope spot to meet friends for beers. The tunes were straight off what could have been my own personal iPod. Choice selections from Muse, The Verve, Pearl Jam, Cold War Kids, Silversun Pickups, Franz Ferdinand and Band Of Horses fueled a solid two hour music debate about the merits of each band and whether they’ll matter twenty years from now. I really wanted to back this place, as the vibe and service were both friendly and welcoming. Sadly, the food borders on terrible. Bia tries to make up for low quality ingredients by over-seasoning Vietnamese food. A lot of their meat dishes taste like bad takeout, and they somehow make crab dumplings taste like something from midtown office catering. Also, what’s up with a beer garden being cash only? Known fact: cold bottles of beer go down easier when they’re paid for on plastic. I’m ready for these cash only places to start using Venmo so we can pay with our phones. The future is here people.

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Since we’re giving away a pair of tickets to the Gail Simmons hosted “A Taste Of Home” celebrity chef benefit and tasting next Thursday at Hosing Works and chef Mike Anthony of Gramercy Tavern is one of the chefs, we figured today would be as good a day as any to run his Friday Fives. Do we believe the hype on this guy? Absolutely. He used to be Executive Chef at Blue Hill at Stone Barnes, the highest rated restaurant on our website. Since 2006 Anthony has been Executive Chef at Danny Meyer’s infamous Gramercy Taven, restoring order in style at one of NYC’s most historic and well rounded eating establishments. We appreciate Mike taking the time to weigh in on his favorite spots for us today. Enjoy.

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If you’re like us, and/or any New Yorker that spends some of their free time and all of their money at restaurants, then you probably have this magical farm outside of town on your hit list. We most definitely did, and we finally made an Infatuation Field Trip out of the city to check it out. Here’s what we can tell you that you don’t already know: not much. Blue Hill at Stone Barns is outstanding. But while you might already know the facts, you don’t have Infatuation perspective on the place, and that’s really all that matters isn’t it? Let’s discuss.

New York City has developed quite the obsession with local and sustainable food over the last few years. Ramps show up for the first time of the season at The Union Square Greenmarket, and people buzz about it like someone just figured out time travel. Every year. Those kind of people and that kind of culture has to exist for a place like Blue Hill to be truly appreciated. If you still eat more Fruit By The Foot than actual fruit, this might not be the best way for you to spend a few hundred bucks and four hours of your life. But if you’re the type of person that desperately wants to meet a pig in person and then eat it, rent a car.

As for the facts, you probably know that chef and owner Dan Barber is a badass. You probably also know that the majority of what you eat at Blue Hill comes from the farm that the restaurant is situated on. This makes for an incredible meal that you leave in the chef’s hands, known as the Farmer’s Feast. It’s a marathon of a dinner (ours lasted well into the next morning and we sat at 9:00), but it will blow your mind. The quality of the ingredients and the creativity in which they are presented is unparalleled, and as good as advertised. What really impressed us though, was the attention to the experience as a whole, and the over-the-top efforts that the staff made to ensure that we learned something. Want to know what was in that incredible brioche thing you just had? Suddenly some dude comes out of nowhere and puts a bowl of grains and an ostrich egg on the table. Curious about that watercress? It just so happens that the poor kid that picked it this morning is putting in a shift at the restaurant just so he can serve it to you. That’s dedication to the cause, and it’s executed with class on all levels. We highly reccomend that you make your own field trip to Stone Barns, and if you want to get the most out of your journey, we suggest going well ahead of your reservation time. Roam the grounds, have a drink on the terrace, maybe help that kid pick some watercress. He looked like he could use it.

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Jean-Georges kills it. We know this. The dude is one of the most inventive and creative chefs that’s ever lived. The locavore/farm to table movement that has recently taken hold of the New York dining scene is nothing new to J.G. – he’s been quietly playing that game for decades. That’s why it’s no surprise that when he finally decided to put his cards on the table, he flopped a boat.

Time Out reports that J.G. is calling ABC his “hippie restaurant”. It’s such a well thought out concept, at first you almost want to roll your eyes and brush it off as one big cliche. Don’t do it. Embrace the flannel shirts, recycled paper towels and foliage free branches. This is industrial rustic done right. Everything is incredibly well executed, and the attention to detail really caught our eye. We’re usually not the type to discuss light fixtures or artwork at the dinner table, but for a brief moment in time, we actually managed to sustain a conversation about something other than our typical immature dinner banter. The ladies at our table were in heaven, and we’re honestly surprised that they didn’t try to stuff every piece of mismatched china and clay dinnerware into their purses. Speaking of purses, typically Jean-Georges dining comes with a hefty price tag, but that’s not the case at ABC Kitchen. This is actually an affordable way to experience his cuisine – indulge you should. A diverse mix of salads, pizzas, pastas and main course proteins decorate a menu that’s meant to be shared. Take a hit and pass, it’s the hippie way.

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